Dead by Daylight Developer Update February 2023: Red Forest Update, Perk Changes & More

Another Dead by Daylight Developer Update, another list of exciting change! We got hints of some of these in the last update, but now we’ve gotten more details on how some of this year’s upcoming changes will look. Among them are a Red Forest Visual Update, Bot Loadouts, Perk Changes, and Map Repeat Prevention. We also got to hear about some of the devs new Outfit Plans, plus word on their ongoing efforts to combat cheating.

TL;DR summary of the February DBD Developer Update:

• Red Forest will receive a visual update similar, as its one of the remaining old maps without improved visuals.
• Map repeat prevention will be implemented, making it impossible to play on the same map twice
• Bots will be improved — you’ll be able to give them loadouts, and they should be smarter as well
• Perks will be changed, with Eruption seeing nerfs to bring it in line with other slowdown perks, and Any Means Necessary being buffed to make it actually useful for more than the memes.
• New outfits are coming
• Cheating continues to be a focus, with another Team Lead added to BHVR’s security team

Red Forest Visual Update

The home turf of both the Plague and the Huntress, the Red Forest is — in this author’s opinion — the realm with the most pleasant color pallet, and it’s finally receiving a visual update! Check it out:

Map Repeat Prevention

This will work exactly like it says on the tin — it will be impossible for you to play the same map multiple times in a row once this update rolls out. There is an exception to this: if a map offering is used, you might still be sent to the same map. So yes, you can still troll your friends.

Additionally, playing on a map will also reduce the odds of you seeing it again for the “next few matches”, so with any luck you won’t even have to play the same map twice in each play session.

Bot Loadouts & Improvements

Since their introduction, the Survivor Bots have made for a great way to practice either playing Killer or Survivor against a team of the worst players you could possibly imagine. That should change with the next update to Bots — not only will you be able to give them Perks, but they should be a bit smarter as well. Here are some of the improvements to them:

• Improved navigation in some areas, preventing bots from getting stuck in some places or attempting to loop something that they shouldn’t.
• Bots are now more bold when it comes to unhooking their fellow Survivors. Though they prefer to go for the save when it’s safe, they will now attempt an unsafe rescue as a last resort.
• Bots will now actively attempt to seek out Totems when using Totem hunting perks such as Small Game or Counterforce.
• Bots will now react to some audio queues (e.g. The Wraith’s bell). Previously, they would only respond to the Terror Radius.
• Bots have learned to better respond to certain Killer powers. For example, they will now crouch near The Hag’s Traps and disarm Bear Traps.
• Bots will now attempt to break line of sights in a loop while a ranged Killer is aiming at them.
• And many, many more!

Perk Changes

Eruption

Eruption shows up in far, far too many games at the moment. Additionally, it’s yet another game mechanic that punishes Solo Survivors far more than it does an SWF on Discord. So, BHVR is nerfing the gen progress reduction from 10% Max progress to 10% Current progress, which will make it less oppressive against teams already struggling to finish gens (while not changing how it affects SWFs with Brand New Parts who have every gen at 99% four minutes in).

Eruption will also no longer apply Incapacitated to Survivors who were working on the generator when it explodes. They will still scream, and will now reveal their aura to the Killer for 10 seconds. This makes the perk much more interactive, which is a nice change.

Any Means Necessary

While it was always funny to see people pick up pallets and drop them repeatedly, there wasn’t much other use for this Perk — generally speaking, any strong pallets would always be broken by the Killer immediately. That, plus the fact that this perk had a cooldown, meant it was very difficult to use effectively. This perk is losing its cooldown, meaning you can use it whenever you see a dropped, unbroken pallet. Whether this will actually make it worth running, well, we’ll let you decide.

New Outfit Plans

It’s a staple of gaming communities: complaining that your favorite character hasn’t had an outfit in [insert number of days here] days. Generally, this is because developers — wanting to make money — focus on making cosmetics for the most popular characters. Surprisingly, BHVR is acknowledging this. Apparently they’ve “expanded their production capacity” for making cosmetics, and are going to use some of that expanded capacity to make outfits for a wider variety of characters. Jeff outfits, here we come!

Cheating Update

BHVR has declared war on cheaters, and while it’s hard to say for sure how well it’s going, they’ve certainly been banning a lot of people. In today’s announcement, they shared that they’ve got a new Team Lead for their security team, further beefing up their efforts to clamp down on those sad, sweaty script kiddies.

When are these changes coming?

According to the official announcement, all of these changes are coming in the next update, which will also include a brand new chapter. These changes should hit the PTB soon, so we’ll be able to see the exact notes on the update in just a little while.

Excited about the Eruption nerf? Wondering what slowdown perk you’ll replace it with? Let us know in the comments!