Dead by Daylight 2v8 mode goes live next week

Developer Behaviour Interactive has announced that Dead by Daylight‘s 2v8 game mode will be a limited-time event, launching next week on July 25, 2024, and running until August 1, 2024. The new game mode doubles the number of Killers and Survivors in each Trial, adding more chaos to Dead by Daylight’s wild game of cat-and-mouse.

In 2v8 mode, two Killers hunt eight Survivors across expanded versions of five Dead by Daylight maps. Survivors need to repair a total of 8 out of 13 generators to unlock the exit gate and escape, but Killers can work together to drive their prey into traps of increasing complexity, making it so much easier to hunt down every Survivor and bait them with their caged allies. Everything from the base game has been streamlined for this mode, offering something unexpected that gives you a chance to get away from the solo Survivor and Killer grind.

A bigger party means more blood to spill

Behaviour Interactive detailed Dead by Daylight 2v8 in a livestream, showing exactly how the mode is different from the base game. Survivors have classes to pick from, each with abilities that can help the entire team. For example, The Guide can see every generator on the map and track Survivors once they’re all repaired, while The Medic has increased healing speed and can see the auras of injured Survivors.

Killers are also slightly different in 2v8 mode. You can’t equip Perks or Add-Ons, but their abilities have been ever so slightly buffed to bring them in line with the increased number of Survivors they’ve got to hunt, such as increased Traps on the map for The Trapper. Killers also have unique abilities that help them buff each other. The Trapper will speed up a fellow Killer, while The Wraith can hide both from detection.

Behaviour Interactive is trailing the game mode for this limited run to see how players react to it and what needs improving for the next iteration. The game mode will eventually become a core part of Dead by Daylight, but it needs some refining first.

I’m really excited to try this game mode out. The added player numbers are definitely going to make Trials feel much more stressful at first, but I think the community will quickly settle into a new way of playing that’ll see Killers and Survivors taking risks to ambush or repair generators, making wins even more thrilling.