Another game-as-a-service, another battle pass to secure its revenue stream. We've seen it time and time again, and it's now spreading beyond the confines of the battle royale genre and into other online gaming spaces. Much like the Entity, battle passes cannot be stopped. Dead By Daylight is the newest title to adopt the battle pass model, and while it is of course capitalizing on the concept in obvious ways - such as to sell more in-game items - it also appears to be a sort of neat way to expand on the game's lore.
From what I can tell, this new feature, called "the Archives", involves mystical tomes that act as conduits for players to dive deeper into Dead By Daylight's lore. There's a contraption called the "Auris" that allows one to view the memories of those that have been trapped by the "Fog", but in a more practical sense, means players will be able to participate in new challenges centered around various characters from the game - such as Claudette Morel and The Trapper.
With each tome comes a new "Rift", which is, according to Dead By Daylight's website, "a tear in space-time containing a multitude of rewards from other worlds and memories". These rifts are limited in their duration and include exclusive items that can only be unlocked by playing the game while they're open. Additionally, there will be some premium rewards that can only be unlocked with what is known as "The Rift Pass".
Dead By Daylight is fun, if not a little self-deprecating. However, one of its main draws is how little of an upfront cost there is to enjoy most of the game's content. With a new battle pass feature that will ultimately lock upcoming content and items behind a paywall, I'm a little bit wary of how that will effect its more casual player base.
