Welcome back to The Fog! The new Malicious Expansion for Dead by Daylight: The Board Game is coming out soon and will introduce new Survivors, new Killers, and new Maps. In these monthly previews, I’ll share some of the new content with you as we lead up to release!

Our first survivor is Jonah. 

One of the challenges for the new expansion was creating boon perks. These are powerful perks in the video game that provide passive benefits to the Survivors but require exploiting a Hex Totem. I chose to simulate Boons by triggering the perk at the time when you cleanse a Hex Totem and giving it global reach, mirroring the area of effect of most boons in the video game.

Exponential: After you successfully cleanse a Hex Totem, instead of gaining BP, a sacrificed Survivor moves along any path. They are no longer sacrificed. (This does not count as sabotaging the hook.)

Jonah’s signature perk, Exponential, allows him to rescue a Survivor from across the map using a Hex Totem. This can be very effective against Killers who are able to set up barriers and cut off routes.

Overcome: At the end of your turn, if you are wounded, gain 1 BP.

Overcome is an excellent perk that passively gives BP each turn that Jonah is wounded.

Corrective Action: When you or another Survivor in your space or a connected space rolls a "4", treat it as a great success instead.

Jonah can then put that BP to good use with Corrective Action, a perk that can double the chances of critical success in his room.

The Artist was an interesting challenge, because we didn’t want to make another ranged Killer. In the video game, the Artist is more of an information-control Killer, and I wanted to reflect that ability in the board game.

The Artist has additional Crows that she can deploy to the board. Additionally, Crows used by the Artist move to her board and are able to be deployed again.

The Artist’s real ability is in her Passive—Survivors in a space with a Dire Crow have to play their cards face-up, fully revealing their movement intentions and allowing the Artist to plan around them. Knowing the right Survivor’s movement at the right moment can flip the entire game’s outcome.

Let’s talk perks:

Grim Embrace: After a Survivor sabotages an occupied hook, place a BP from the supply on the saboteur's board. When that Survivor is sacrificed, remove all BP on their board. Gain a sacrifice progress for each BP removed this way.

Grim Embrace is one of my favorite perks from the new expansion. Grim Embrace allows you to effectively load a Survivor’s board with additional sacrifice progress markers, making them even more valuable to hook later on in the game.

Pain Resonance: As an interaction, interact with an unoccupied hook. A Survivor in a connected space becomes wounded.

Pain Resonance allows the Artist to wound Survivors in connected spaces by interacting with an unoccupied hook. It's expensive, but this can be a valuable tempo control tool for setting up next-turn’s play.

Pentimento: After a Survivor successfully cleanses a Hex Totem, you gain 2 BP.

Finally, Pentimento helps to power these high-cost perks by providing the Artist with 2BP extra each time a Hex Totem is cleansed. 

All these skills together make the Artist a terrifying information-focused Killer who can perfectly read and react to Survivor’s movements, chasing down marked prey for high-value kills.

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I hope that you’ve enjoyed this preview of a new Killer and Survivor for Dead by Daylight: The Board Game! Look out for more reveals in the coming weeks! And don't forget to pre-order the Malicious Expansion, coming out in fall 2024!

Thanks for playing, and see you next time in The Fog!

— D. Brad Talton Jr.
Dead by Daylight™: The Board Game Lead Designer