S1E1 - An Introduction to Dead by Daylight

In which Caro finds out just what kind of game these characters are from.

Let the game begin.

Welcome to a sort of Episode Zero situation in which Caro, Cole, and Gavin sit down to talk about the video game Dead by Daylight. Never played the game before? This might be a good first episode. Played a lot of it yourself or have watched a streamer play a few hours? You might be good to skip the bits where we talk about mechanics.

Welcome to the Trials.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E2 - The Huntress: Death from Afar

She's hot, she's resourceful, she's awful with children.

She'd like to axe you a question.

The Huntress. The first ranged killer in DBD, this probably-Russian badass runs around the map humming a lullaby about wolves stealing children in the night and throwing axes at people. She's a tough character to top, so much so she jumped in front of three other killers on a show covering killers in the order they were released.

Dead by Daylight has some great lore. Anna is an example of that and a great place to kick off our horror-filled journey. Hope you're not eating by the time we talk about her kid-raising tactics.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E3 - The Trapper: Angry Swol Capitalist

He's rich, he's got daddy issues, he's got some bear traps for SOME reason.

Evan's Got Issues.

He's on the box art, he's the face of Dead by Daylight, which begs the question: why is Dollar Tree Jason Vorhees the character Behaviour sold the game with? Why does he have all that metal sticking out of him? Why is he burned? Why are bear traps such a huge part of his design?

Spoiler alert: the answers are either unsatisfactory or don't exist. Everything about Trapper that isn't gameplay-based is BAFFLING.

  • Find Caroline on Twitter @SaucyMincks
  • Find Gavin at @GavGaddis or @GavinGWhiz
  • Do not find Cole.
  • Find the show at @ReadDaylightPod (someone's sitting on the @ we would have used for a project that has been dead for quite some time :'( )

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E4 - The Wraith: An Invisible Dorito in the Night

He's got a bell, he's got a knife-club made out of his old boss. He rocks.

He ALWAYS skips leg day.

Wraith. One of the original three killers to launch with Dead by Daylight. The game's answer to Michael Myers, only for them to actually license Michael Myers several months later. What's Philip's backstory? Is it at all problematic? Did the predominantly white Canadian developer do a good job of writing their first POC character back in 2016? Let's find out.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E5 - The Hillbilly: Chicken-Fried Chainsaw Action

What if rich people Cask of Amontillado'd their kid?

Which Rich Farmers Go Bad

The Hillbilly. None of his lore really establishes any sense of location or culture that would make him a hillbilly, yet we're calling him that anyway. This is a rough one, folks. Both from the ableism and the fact that the character's rocking some stolen southern valor. Everyone's accents get real thick by the end of this.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E6 - The Nurse: Floating Eugenicist Girlboss

From a time when nursing was more of a vibe than a science.

The Nurse

She could've been so cool, yet she ends up so frustrating. Join us on the adventure of picking through the wreckage that is Sally Smithson's lore, as well as attempting to convince Caro she gets kinda cool from a gameplay perspective.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E7 - The Shape: Literal Stalker Michael Myers

Local Clown Boy Grows Up, Finds Knife

Big daddy head tilt is here.

It's time to talk about the first copyrighted killer to enter the Entity's clutches. This one gets a little saucy, a little pro-Myers, and Gavin introduces a bit for every time they say the wrong person with the same name as Michael Myers.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E8 - The Hag: Cannibal Tree Witch

She's literally named after a forest. No joke I write will top that.

Have you tried NOT tempting fate?

Lisa Sherwood, a woman named after a famous forest who gets turned into a tree-cannibal. A character so loosely-written they had to retroactively add more lore just to make it more clear as to why the Entity considered her a killer and took her in the first place. Stay through to the end for a full-throated smutty book series recommendation from Cole that has nothing to do with this week's topic in the slightest.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E9 - The Doctor: A Shocking Backstory

His Methods Have Electrifying Results

He's gonna zap ya.

Prepare the Pepe Silvia gif reactions, it's time to talk about the killer with a potentially bonkers pseudo-coverup attached to his backstory. Is he fully fiction? Was he originally based on a real person before having his identity scrubbed at the last minute to protect the game from criticism in another country?

Regardless, Herman Carter is the second Black man in Dead by Daylight and they did NOT handle that side of him well.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

S1E10 - The Cannibal: His Chainsaw Hungers

Bubba wants to snap into a slim Jim.

Hope you saved some room for dessert.

That's right. It's time to talk Leatherface. The second instance of the developers patching in a character who they'd only just created an off-brand version of for the launch of the game. Where Michael Myers was the proto-Wraith, Hillbilly owes his existence of Bubba.

How fitting we talk about him just weeks after the changes to both BBQ and Chili and Monstrous Shrine completely kneecap the thing toxic players used Bubba for. RIP in pieces.

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co

Find out more at https://read-by-daylight.pinecast.co