Dead By Daylight Adds Its First LGBTQ+ Character
It's hard to believe that in the years since Behaviour Interactive released Dead by Daylight, the asymmetric horror is only getting its first LGBTQ+ character.
28th Apr 2022 12:16
Behaviour Interactive
Dead By Daylight Adds Its First LGBTQ+ Character
It's hard to believe that in the years since Behaviour Interactive released Dead by Daylight, the asymmetric horror is only getting its first LGBTQ+ character.
28th Apr 2022 12:16
Behaviour Interactive
Come on, horror is for the gays. From Freddy Krueger's camp one-liners to the pure sass oozing from Gale Weathers, gays and slashers go together like Jason and Camp Crystal Lake. Much like how the horror movie scene has seen a revival in recent years, the video game world has followed suit.
Away from your Resident Evils, Dark Pictures Anthology games, and Little Nightmares, Dead by Daylight has been hacking away in the background. We've seen plenty of imaginative Dead by Daylight characters over the past six years, but it's hard to believe we're only just being introduced to our first openly LGBTQ+ character.
Who Is Dead By Daylight's LGBTQ+ Character?
As Behaviour Interactive reveals what's on the way with Tome 11: Devotion, we get to know more about David King and his sexuality. Introduced in 2017's Chapter V: Lullaby, King is a rich kid who had his promising rugby career ended when he assaulted a referee.
Tome 11 promises to reveal more about the conjoined serial killers known as The Twins, as well as David King struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality. According to promo material, you'll be able to explore his memories in a pub, with a revelation that he used to have a boyfriend. Promoting King's coming out, Creative Director Dave Richard said: "Representation of diversity in entertainment matters, so it was important for us to take time and to surround ourselves with experts in order to do things properly."
The developer describes King as a "hot-tempered ruffian with a penchant for a good scrap," so to be honest, the word "ruffian" should've given us a hint he was about to come out of the closet. Behaviour Interactive has always embraced DbD's popularity among the LGBTQ+ community, teaming up with US non-profit organisation GaymerX to bring a queer character to the asymmetrical horror.
Why Is Now The Time For Dead By Daylight To Embrace The LGBTQ+ Community?
Speaking to Eurogamer, Richard went on to explain why the team had originally shied away from an LGBTQ+ storyline. "It was a long effort to get here today because we wanted - like any type of representation that we do in DbD - we wanted to make sure that we do it right, that it's not token, and that players will feel represented by this character."
As for why Behaviour picked an already established character instead of introducing a new one, Richard concluded that because it was via the Archive, we could go more in-depth: "It needed to be retroactive, it needed to be a character that's already in DbD. It added to the challenge: which character would fit the best, which character makes sense to do this narrative and how?" You could imply that the inclusion of Leatherface's Pretty Woman skin means they identify with the LGBTQ+ community, but given the discourse surrounding "trans hysteria" in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series, it's probably best to leave that landmine alone.
About The Author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
