Why is Dbd so popular despite so many flaws?

[Tormented]

This is not a hate thread tho it's looks like it
How I see Dbd

Graphic: PS3

Gameplay: solid for a game based on chases

Animations: PS1 era or mobile games

Designs & Character Models: ugly and Glitchy (Check out Cheryl from Silent Hill 3 then comeback to Dbd)

Voice acting: Nothing but screaming & moaning (Except Wesker/Trickster/Pinhead)

Music: Decent, Chase musics always keeps you on your toes

Content: Infinite

So in my point of view Dbd visually looks awful but what made Dbd so popular in the first place (beside licensed characters)?

[DRIFTER]

• Licensed characters
  
• Simple controls, nothing demanding
  
• Easy to jump back in after year(s) hiatus, simple gameplay
  
• People like perk customization and build interplay
  
• Able to play with friends
  
• Matches are generally fast
  
• People like watching it more than playing it? As seen on twitch
  
• Crossplay, all platforms

[Voidlines]

I'll give you one thing, your opinion on what are flaws are different than what I normally see here.

[Dollmaker]

Originally posted by Drifter:

• Licensed characters
  
• Simple controls, nothing demanding
  
• Easy to jump back in after year(s) hiatus, simple gameplay
  
• People like perk customization and build interplay
  
• Able to play with friends
  
• Matches are generally fast
  
• People like watching it more than playing it? As seen on twitch
  
• Crossplay, all platforms

Worth mentioning how it has next to no real competition.

[Tormented]

Originally posted by Drifter:

• Licensed characters
  
• Simple controls, nothing demanding
  
• Easy to jump back in after year(s) hiatus, simple gameplay
  
• People like perk customization and build interplay
  
• Able to play with friends
  
• Matches are generally fast
  
• People like watching it more than playing it? As seen on twitch
  
• Crossplay, all platforms

You forgot content creators
Noob videos "toxic series" got millions of viewers

[Zelph]

Originally posted by Soulless One:

This is not a hate thread tho it's looks like it
How I see Dbd

Graphic: PS3

Animations: PS1 era or mobile games

Designs & Character Models: ugly and Glitchy (Check out Cheryl from Silent Hill 3 then comeback to Dbd)

Voice acting: Nothing but screaming & moaning (Except Wesker/Trickster/Pinhead)

(beside licensed characters)?

A: Graphics don't matter.
B. I don't think you have seen ps1 animations. DBDs aren't fantastic by any means, but are much better then ps1 games.
C. Subjective. Most of the models look fine to me. Glitchy... I haven't been paying enough attention, so I'll leave that alone.
D. Voice acting isn't required to have a fun game.

[ClareKurea]

Originally posted by Drifter:

• Licensed characters
  
• Simple controls, nothing demanding
  
• Easy to jump back in after year(s) hiatus, simple gameplay
  
• People like perk customization and build interplay
  
• Able to play with friends
  
• Matches are generally fast
  
• People like watching it more than playing it? As seen on twitch
  
• Crossplay, all platforms

Nah, its cheap. U can play at potato pc. People don't have money for real games, better pc.

[CEO of Genrush]

I like dbd visual style. It definitely looks much better than valorant, fortnite, apex legends, overwatch or even cs:go.

[Oni]

Originally posted by Poltergeist:

The game has no competitors due to it being a niche genre, admittedly not worth that much money. If a game ever comes along that scratches the same itch and has a competent dev team, DBD will fall apart at the seams. They rest on their laurels 100%.

Indeed, no other DbD-like game has the weaponless chase concept down like DbD

Propnight and HSH:S are the closest to DbD's chase gameplay-loop but still lack a lot of the strengths of DbD's license chapters, years of content and cash shop + FOMO

newer games are going to require bigger hardware, TCSM tech test recommended specs are RTX 3070 just to reach 1080p/60FPS 👀

[asa0199]

Because at its most basic, it's Pac-Man. You're chased through maze-like structures by creatures that are faster than you except around turns and through gates, so you have to try to loop them through those kinds of structures; there are a few areas where you can retaliate, but they're temporary, and once you've used them up, they're gone; and your goal is to "collect" a certain amount of a MacGuffin (pellets vs. generator progress) that will enable you to leave the maze.

Which may also be why it's more successful than other attempts at survival horror games with no/limited weaponry. Instead of following the RE formula but just taking out the guns, it got its inspiration from THE chased-by-invincible-monsters game.

[￭ Yuri ￭]

Lack of real competition with a simple cat-mouse chase oriented game.

I don't even think that ips/collabs are a requirement for there to be real weight competition, I don't think people still care about that much today, at least not in the asymmetrical horror game niche, but something that in the long term can solve various game design issues that games like this inherently carry.

Identity V and propnight were basically the most similar, and precisely that was the defect, they didn't fix any of the asymmetrical design problems that dbd has. HsH and VHS were the most original, but in addition to running away from the simplicity of a simple cat-mouse chase oriented system, it has its own flaws and some equal to dbd, such as slug.

[thefollowingcharacters]

Because its actually a fantastically polished game. Its multiplayer however, so people will always complain because too many see their losses or frustrations as game flaws opposed to lack of skill or knowledge.

[DRIFTER]

Originally posted by thefollowingcharacters:

Because its actually a fantastically polished game. Its multiplayer however, so people will always complain because too many see their losses or frustrations as game flaws opposed to lack of skill or knowledge.

That's a bit overstated. It's not impressively polished, but their effort is impressive to keep the train going, to attempt to shake up the meta and still introduce new playstyles. The problem is that they are confined within the game's engine which seems to be a bit of spaghetti code, with every iteration and balance patch messing only with values instead of fixing the core mechanics. It's outdated, and we were way overdue for a DBD 2 or an engine overhaul.

[Evilnapkin]

The Deck is basically a PS4 and it can't run this game on Ultra 100% res scale 60fps lock@720p (Deck is 800p but DbD gameplay is 720p with black bars on top and bottom). This isn't a PS3 game.

Animations are funny. Leave them alone!

It's just plain fun to play.

[Mewsha]

They provide consistent updates and have an open line of communication with the community, as well as set realistic goals for themselves. You'd be surprised how rare that is within this genre.

Games that release within this genre have a nasty habit of killing any and all hype by having an inconsistent release schedule (Video Horror Society), introducing an absurd monetization system (Home Sweet Home: Survive), releasing on platforms other than Steam (Last Year), or releasing in beta quality and charging an absurd amount to play it (Friday the 13th: The Game).

Since around 2018 people have stopped calling things DbD clones because I think we all now recognize that competition is important even if you don't plan to play the other titles within this genre. That's a far cry from the Steam forum wars between DbD and F13 in the summer of 2017, or all the DbD content creators that mindlessly labeled Soul at Stake a Chinese DbD ripoff before that tanked in the west.

However, other developers still fail to reach the bare minimum set by BHVR, so BHVR has never had to deal with sustained competition as a result and with nothing else to play this is what a lot of people default to.

Horror IPs and content creators interested in the game is not and has never been unique to DbD, and there does need to be more than that if you wish to create a devoted playerbase.

[Squishy boi thighs]

No clue, this game is trash. My best guess would be all the licensed killers and no real competition