Behavior Interactive’s Dead by Daylight has announced its first-ever LGBTQ+ playable character.
If you’re a fan of survival horror games, then there’s a high probability you’ve heard of Dead by Daylight.
In the game, players choose between the role of the killer or one of the four survivors.
At the start of each round, the survivors are tasked with fixing five generators to escape while the killer tries to kill them.
For the last six years, players have immersed themselves in the game’s diverse stories, its batch of 30 survivors and numerous DLC themes.
However, for the first time in the game’s history, developers have added its first LGBTQ+ character.
On 27 April, Behavior Interactive announced that fan-favourite character David King would become canonically queer.
The beloved survivor, who is described as a “hot-tempered ruffian”, was first introduced in the game’s fifth chapter, A Lullaby for the Dark.
“As the world of [Dead by Daylight] widened, it was integral to ensure that our growing cast of characters was representative of our vast and diverse community, all of whom have stories of their own,” the game developer said in a statement.
“One of the cornerstones of that community are our LGBTQIA2+ players, who continue to elevate Dead by Daylight with their tireless passion for horror, gaming, and of course – horror gaming.
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“The fact that our character roster did not openly feature any confirmed LGBTQIA2+ representation was something we have been determined to change.”
The statement also revealed that players would be able to explore David’s new backstory in the game’s latest Tome titled DEVOTION.
In an additional interview with Eurogamer, Death by Daylight’s creative director Dave Richard gave further insight into their decision to update the character’s backstory.
“It was a long effort to get here today because we wanted – like any type of representation that we do in DbD – we wanted to make sure that we do it right, that it’s not token, and that players will feel represented by this character,” he explained.
Richard then revealed that the best way to introduce an LGBTQ+ character to the game was by using its Archive game events – which is a feature that expands on existing storylines.
The creative director also said that the team consulted with the LGBTQ+ organisation GaymerX in order to select the right existing character.
“David King is a loved character, a youthful character, he is loved by a lot of players, the LGBTQ community already considers this character in their fan love story as being gay as well. So it was a great fit to tell an amazing story,” he explained.
Check out the trailer for David’s LGBTQ+ inclusive storyline below.
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