Dead By Daylightfans rejoice!The Casting of Frank Stone, which provides a deeper look at the universe behind Behavior Interactive’s wildly-successful asymmetrical horror game, is here. The game goes back and forth between two timelines - 1980, where a group of young filmmakers set out to make an amateur horror movie at an old mill connected to serial killer Frank Stone - and 2024, where a group of strangers who all possess pieces of that film are called to a mysterious mansion. All characters are connected through a strange woman named Augustine Liber (who possesses ties to an Eldritch horror known as the Entity).
Review: The Casting of Frank Stone
The Casting of Frank Stone combines horror game giants with the world of Dead by Daylight and the gameplay of Supermassive, but the results are mixed.
While you don’t by any means have to be a Dead By Daylight die-hard to enjoy what The Casting of Frank Stone has to offer, being a fan of that game will allow you to enjoy the universe that much more. There are odes to Dead by Daylight all throughout, from the scenery to the objects you can interact with, dialogue teases and even sounds lifted from the original game.
This article may contain spoilers for The Casting of Frank Stone. Proceed at your own risk.
1Generators In The Wild
Because What Would a DBD Verse Game be Without Them?
Multiple times during The Casting of Frank Stone, you’ll be tasked with repairing generators in order to proceed with the story. If you’ve played Dead by Daylight, you will recognize these machines as the same rusty old red ones from trials - and that’s because they’ve been lifted directly from the original game.
What makes these generators really special, however, are the sounds. These sounds, fromthe noises the generator makes while you’re repairing it to the ambient sounds of the completed generator humming in the immediate area after you finish it, have also been lifted directly from Dead by Daylight.
2Skill Checks
No One Escapes Skill Checks
Anyone who’s played Dead by Daylight will recognize the alert noise when a skill check is about to pop up on your screen, and that same mechanic is used throughout The Casting of Frank Stone, from repairing generators (sound familiar?) to other quick-time action events that will pop up. Once you hear the skill check noise, just like in Dead by Daylight, you have a short amount of time to react and hit the skill check before it ends.
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These are perks that can make your lives easier, allowing you to hold your own in a team that might be falling apart around you.
But don’t worry, Dead by Daylight fans: there are no killer perks like Huntress Lullaby or Overcharge here that will make the skill checks tricky to hit. They’re straight-forward and easy, but the nod to the original game is nice to see throughout the story.
3Scratch Marks
Blink And You’ll Miss Them
This is a nice little reference to Dead by Daylight tucked into the early part of the game. It only happens in one early scene - when you’re playing Madison, and you walk out of her house into the woods - so it’s easy to miss if you’re not paying attention.
As you walk through the woods,Madison leaves red scratch marks behind her on the ground. Anyone who’s played the killer in Dead by Daylight will recognize these red scratch marks; they’re the same scratch marks that survivors leave behind when they run, and the same scratch marks killers use to hunt someone down. It’s a shame that this only happens once, but it was a nice surprise to see.
4Toolboxes Aplenty
Flashlights and Firecrackers Too
Dead by Daylight players will recognizethe trusty red toolboxes that can be found in just about every scene. When you interact with them, you’ll be able to open them to keep track of trinkets you collect during your playthrough. Similarly, treasure chests found throughout the game - the same model from Dead by Daylight’s treasure chests - will contain bonus items you can collect.
But the supply references don’t stop there. When the group first arrives at the old steel mill, Robert pulls out four flashlights from his bookbag, and as he hands them out, he says ““At least you’ll be able to see them as they tear you to pieces.” There are even firecrackers, which Chris spots in the store early on in the game. Firecrackers were a limited-time item offered in several Dead by Daylight events throughout the years, and can be used to blind, deafen and stun killers. (Unfortunately, you can’t buy them to use for this purpose later… Chris doesn’t have enough money!)
5Killer Dolls
Some Have Special Effects
As you progress through the story, in both timelines, you’ll occasionally find dolls on the floor that you can pick up. It’s no coincidence thatthe dolls are modeled after different Dead by Daylight killers- The Wraith, The Hillbilly, The Huntress, The Legion. When you pick up a doll for the first time, it’ll even tell you their killer name in Dead by Daylight, and give you a brief one-line description about them.
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Playing as the Killer in Dead by Daylight is a unique challenge that involves strategy, anticipation, and control of the game environment.
As an added bonus, several of these dolls have special effects that are reminiscent of the actual killers in Dead by Daylight. Pull a string on The Clown doll, and he makes his tell-tale ghastly laugh; The Nurse doll wheezes; and if you hold it long enough, Victor springs out of The Twins doll.
6Killer Items, Perks
Small Details In Small Spaces
There are nods to Dead by Daylight perks, add-ons and other items throughout the game. Many of these items you don’t run into naturally during the story, so make sure you explore each new scene to find something new in each one. In 1984, when the young filmmakers' crew wanders into a Curiosities Shop to try and repair their camera,there’s a smiley face pin from The Legion on a table; a Huntress mask on a shelf; and one of The Wraith’s weapons on a table.
Later on in the game, back in 2024, while trying to unlock an elevator door to progress the story, you’ll see it’s blocked off by a fancy locking mechanism. Upon closer inspection,these locks have perk icons engraved into them. Dead by Daylight fans will recognize perk designs likePlay With Your Food and Pop Goes The Weasel. As you solve the lock to progress the story, you’ll be able to rotate through the different designs, seeing how many you’re able to recognize from the original game.
7Hooks And Entity Claws
Nods to Trial Gameplay
At several points during The Casting of Frank Stone,characters will get impaled on rusty hooks - in true Dead by Daylight fashion. There’s even one point where, as Bonnie, you rescue Linda from the hook, and that involves pulling her down much like you do a fellow survivor in a trial in the original game.
There’s also a nod to the end-game collapse - in Dead by Daylight, this is when time’s up and the Entity’s claws come up through the ground and pierce any remaining survivors. That exact thing happens in The Casting of Frank Stone, and while we won’t spoil who it happens to, it’s nice to see the Entity dig its claws into someone in real time.
8The Hatch
Finding A Way To Escape
OK, when I sawthe hatch show up as a means to escape a room in The Casting of Frank Stone, I nearly chuckled. Not because of the sight, but because - as any longtime Dead by Daylight player will tell you - half of the time the killer gets to the hatch before you do, and it’s false hope. At any rate, after accidentally stumbling across Frank Stone’s “lair” and finding body parts on the shelves, Robert suggests that he, Jaime, and Chris escape through a hatch that he opens up to get out of danger and find help.
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There are still plenty of strategies to maximize your earnings during matches.
While reluctant to accompany him at first, Chris and Jaime do eventually follow him through the hatch but, unlike in Dead by Daylight, that doesn’t mean the game is over. Unfortunately, in this case, the hatch doesn’t lead to immediate safety for any of them, but it is still a nice reference to the original game’s escape hatch.
9Dialogue And Audio
It’s Not Just Visual
While a lot of the Dead by Daylight references are visuals, there are just as manygreat Dead by Daylight references in audio cues. Some of them are even in spoken dialogue between the characters. Upon first arriving at the mysterious manor, Madison asks: “Oh God, this is when some guy with a chainsaw rushes up from the basement isn’t it?” (Dead by Daylight fans will recognize this dread a little too well.) In another scene, Linda reassures Madi by saying: “We’ve been invited here for a reason. And I don’t think it’s so our host can wear our faces as leather masks.” Stan, too, rattles off a list of Linda’s film credits after finding out that she’s the filmmaker. Among those credits is “Bloodpoint,” just like the currency in Dead by Daylight.
Other audio cues can be found throughout the game, too. When you pick up an item that can be used later, it’s the same noise you hear when you pick up an item in Dead by Daylight. At another point, when you’re being chased by Frank Stone, you can hear the telltale heartbeat getting closer and closer, just like in chases in Dead by Daylight.
10Back To The Campfire
Where Some Familiar Faces Await You
The final scene in The Casting of Frank Stone will take you through the woods toa campfire, the place both killers and survivors start in a Dead by Daylight lobby.What makes this really special, however, is the surprise guests: a number of original Dead by Daylight survivors will be waiting for you at the campfire, depending on your ending.
In one ending, Madi approaches the campfire, where Linda is waiting for her along with Dead by Daylight characters Meg and Claudette. “Who are they?” Madi asks, but they don’t answer. Linda tells her they’ve been here longer than her, and that they’ve all been waiting for her. “Let the trial begin,” Linda says, and we can tell by the music that starts - the same music that plays when the lobby countdown timer runs out in Dead by Daylight - that a match is about to begin.
The Casting of Frank Stone
A horror adventure game set in the world of Dead by Daylight, The Casting of Frank Stone centers around a group of young filmmakers and how a serial killer that plagued the town nearly two decades prior will greatly impact their film for decades to come.
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