The Dead by Daylight dating simulator is cute but cowardly

polygon.com:

The Dead by Daylight dating simulator, cheekily titled Hooked on You, is an interesting paradox. This is a project that, for most studios, would exist in the form of an April Fools’ joke or Easter egg. But Dead by Daylight has a notoriously thirsty fan base, and developer Behaviour has leaned into this, giving players a dedicated game where they can get to know their favorite notorious Killers. The studio is publishing developer Psyop’s Hooked on You: A Dead by Daylight Dating Sim.

The premise is simple: You wake up on an island surrounded by some of the sexiest Killers in Dead by Daylight, and instead of instantly shanking you and hanging you up on a hook, they want to play beach volleyball and smooch. The player chooses which Killer they want to spend time with, attends beach activities coordinated by awkward Survivors Dwight and Claudette, and plays the occasional minigame. It’s the logical endgame of the fandom’s horniness, and yet the writing is very earnest and charming.

If the player is lucky and makes the right choices, they get to cuddle up to one of these deadly Killers. If they’re unlucky, they get stabbed. The narrative also hints at something darker going on beneath the surface, almost as if this is just some kind of misery-generating machine cloaked in the cheery vibes of a dating simulator. As a premise, this is great. But the trick with a jokey concept like Hooked on You is that you actually have to deliver a full product. This is where developer Psyop stumbles, constantly turning to the player to ask “Isn’t this weird? A whole dating sim… about a horror game? Wild, right?”

This isn’t a bad game by any means; in fact, it’s surprisingly solid. If you’re a Dead by Daylight lore fan, it’s quite wholesome to