Dead By Daylight et la dissonance ludonarrative.

Ludonarrative dissonance is a term used when a video game's gameplay does not tell the same story as its narrative.

The term was coined in 2007 by Clint Hocking, who used it to criticize the first BioShock.

• The player embodies a character supposed to flee a ruined city. • However, he must help a stranger and cross the entire city. • The gameplay encourages killing children to progress maximally. • This contradiction between narrative and gameplay creates the dissonance.

This dissonance shocked no one because players are conditioned to accept the narrative paths imposed by video games.

In real life, you can refuse, accept, say nothing, or act differently. In a video game, freedom is an illusion because you advance along a script written by the studio.

When an NPC gives an order to the main character, it is truly the developers speaking directly to the player to tell him what he must do.

Players are condemned to accept because they know that refusing means quitting the game. This acceptance is reinforced by the habit of playing video games.

Players enthusiastically welcome anything that adds depth to gameplay, even when this depth does not align with the story being told.

• Four players embody survivors who must activate five generators. • Survivors must then open a door to escape. • A fifth player embodies a killer who must catch them before they flee.

Dead By Daylight is a difficult and highly technical game where killers and survivors must learn to use dozens of powers.

The game has an extremely active community and is one of the best-selling games on Steam in 2019.

Despite the game's quality, the author was surprised to feel discouraged and use Alt+F4 far more often than usual, contrary to his habits with other multiplayer games.

• The killer is blinded by flashlight strikes. • He is stunned by pallets and dragged around. • Survivors he catches are saved thanks to the powers of others.

The game is filled with tools that allow survivors to make the killer's life miserable, which means survivors are never truly defenseless.

In a horror game, victims are supposed to be defenseless. This vulnerability creates terror, as in Alien Isolation.

The gameplay says the killer is a cat chasing a mouse, while the story says he is a relentless creature spreading terror.

The fleeing survivor counts the number of turns around obstacles, the seconds until sprint returns, and plans his next position. There is no room for fear.

Dead By Daylight is a chase game with horror game window dressing, not a true horror game. Players who came for chills leave empty-handed.

It would have been possible to imagine a game with larger maps, many more hiding spots, and gameplay based on stealth, resembling hide-and-seek.

Despite these issues, the game remains enjoyable to play and many new players stay engaged.

• A police officer catching thieves would be more logical with current gameplay. • Four truant students and a principal chasing them would work particularly well.

Horror is far more marketable. The game would never have gained this prominence with a different aesthetic, hence the choice of a horror universe.

Dead By Daylight is not a bad game. It is a very rich and fascinating game with balance issues typical of any multiplayer game.

The killer's true frustration comes from the combination of losing an online match while not feeling like a killer, which was the initial reason for buying the game.