Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive rolled out a significant mid-chapter update today, addressing ongoing community feedback on the recent rework of The Onryo, Sadako Yamamura. The update introduces substantial changes to her mechanics, aiming to balance the new gameplay introduced in the original rework and elements cherished by veteran Onryo mains.
The biggest part of the update revealed today is in adjustments to Condemned, The Onryo’s unique meter that can lead to survivors’ demise. Previously, teleporting to any powered TV inflicted Condemned on all nearby survivors, regardless of whether they held a Cursed Tape. This, many argued, de-emphasized strategic chases and encouraged immediate teleportation.
The update addresses this by limiting Condemned spread to survivors within 16 meters of a powered TV when The Onryo teleports. However, to compensate for this change, her teleport no longer has a cooldown. Additionally, hooked survivors’ Condemned progress becomes locked, preventing them from easily mitigating the curse later.
Cursed Tapes themselves see revisions as well. They no longer offer Condemned immunity or inflict the penalty upon being struck. Instead, they can only be deposited in the TV furthest from where they were picked up. This forces survivors to make strategic choices regarding their use and location and doesn’t make anything too overpowered.
Demanifested gameplay, where The Onryo assumes a ghostly form, also receives tweaks. She can now chase survivors while Demanifested, addressing complaints that her presence became easily telegraphed during chases when she switched phases. Her invisibility duration in this form also gets a slight bump, increasing from 1 to 1.2 seconds.
The update further incorporates fan-favorite elements from The Onryo’s pre-rework Add-Ons. Reiko’s Watch, previously an Add-On, now baseline extends her Demanifested invisibility duration, making it a core part of her kit.
This is a good middle ground for the developers to set up. There were people who liked the original changes and those who hated them, so making everyone happy would be difficult. Whether these changes appease the community and achieve the desired balance remains to be seen, but it is clear that Behavior Interactive did its best to please everyone.
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