Developer Behaviour Interactive has stated the identify Dead by Daylight gamers have waited 10 lengthy years and one 13-hour livestream to hear: Jason Voorhees.
The hockey mask-wearing slasher icon from Friday the thirteenth confirmed up after weeks of hypothesis from followers with a quick teaser at this time. He is undeniably one of many most-requested Killers the long-running asymmetrical horror recreation has ever had, and whereas most are simply glad to see the “Mount Rushmore of horror” lastly accomplished, the street to Jason was something however simple.
Dead by Daylight will have fun its tenth anniversary this June, so to say expectations for its annual birthday festivities had been by way of the roof can be an understatement. An unusual absence of leaks left followers to swim in a lake of rumors all year long, so regardless of Jason remaining atop the shortlist of potential Killers, followers have remained in the dead of night when it got here to Behaviour’s plans.
A sequence of latest teasers polluted with references to the number 13 ought to have felt like a useless giveaway that the Friday the thirteenth rep was on the best way, however the group of horror followers had different concepts. Fan predictions within the weeks main up to at this time’s reveal started earnestly sufficient, as many hoped to see final 12 months’s 5 Nights at Freddy’s anniversary collaboration adopted up with notorious monsters like Pennywise from Stephen King’s It or Artwork the Clown from the Terrifier sequence.
Theories about Good day Neighbor and BioShock adopted quickly after, however as names like Jaws, one other half-joke character followers have talked about for years, entered the dialog, issues really started to spiral uncontrolled. As a mixture of honest Killer predictions, memes, and pure chaos crammed social channels, Behaviour launched its anniversary livestream yesterday, Might 22, at 9 p.m. ET. The place followers hoped to discover quick solutions to their questions, they had been as a substitute met with a nonetheless picture of a cabin within the woods.
Tens of 1000’s of viewers then stayed locked into the stream of that picture for 13 hours.
“It is 4 a.m. and I am being ragebaited,” one fan said.
“BHVR is about to flip me into the tenth anniversary killer,” one other joked.
“In a couple of years?” another person said in response to the above Reddit put up. “It is traumatizing us proper now!”
One thing like 90% of the Dead by Daylight cabin stream was…nothing. The opposite 10% helped break up the wait with eerie moments – corresponding to chook calls, somebody using a motorcycle, monsters crawling throughout the bottom, camera glitches, and far, far more – however it did not take lengthy for the anticipation to bubble into disappointment.
Within the time gamers waited for the stream to present something resembling a Dead by Daylight anniversary Killer reveal, many genuinely started to imagine Slender Man would quickly be part of the roster. Others spent their time making mock-ups for the notorious cabin to turn out to be the following playable character. Then, because the 13-hour mark handed, Jason was lastly revealed.
Was it value it? After 10 years of asking, it actually looks like it, however not everybody within the Dead by Daylight group is thrilled with how the reveal got here to be.
“NEVER STOPPED BELIEVING THAT IT’D HAPPEN ONE DAY,” one Reddit consumer stated.
“You are telling me Jason was standing nonetheless observing that f****ss cabin for 13 hours?” one other said.
MY LIVE REACTION TO THE JASON REVEAL! pic.twitter.com/eO31yVWt4b
— SpooknJukes (@SpooknJukes) May 23, 2026
— Outcast Andrew (@OutcastAndrew) May 23, 2026
“I’m each glad it’s Jason lastly being added, however underwhelmed by his reveal,” another person replied. “This whole setup actually felt prefer it had nothing to do with something associated to him. The entire stream felt very analogue horror, and the entire teasers on Twitter echoed that.”
There’s some concern that the Friday the thirteenth Dead by Daylight crossover can be restricted to Jason Voorhees because the Killer and will not embrace any Survivors and even maps, however most are nonetheless making an attempt to course of seeing the machete-wielding slasher included in any respect.
Tangled rights revolving round Jason and Friday the thirteenth are rumored to have been the reason for his lack of presence in Dead by Daylight for years. It is even one thing Behaviour has commented on up to now, with recreation director Mathieu Cote calling the scenario a “authorized quagmire” and “tar pit” throughout a dialog with The King in 2023. Now, nevertheless, no matter points holding the horror icon from becoming a member of the likes of Killers like Freddy Krueger, Chucky, Ghostface, Dracula, Michael Myers, and Leatherface have been put to relaxation.
Jason I knew you had been the anniversary killer see test my telephone https://t.co/7hYDvHYmyE pic.twitter.com/wVhN39lV1O
— Chainsaw Man for DBD (@ChainsawMan4DBD) May 23, 2026
LETS GOOOOOO!!!! pic.twitter.com/0royYHj8LQ
— Turkey 🔜 DBD EVENT 💕 (@QuestionedTurke) May 23, 2026
Jason joins Dead by Daylight as its anniversary Killer June 16. We’ll study extra about how he’ll lastly enter the Fog within the coming weeks, however till then, you’ll be able to see what Behaviour had to inform us about its live-service secrets and techniques, and you may also study the Soulslike spin-off the workforce has been dreaming about.
Michael Cripe is a contract author with IGN. He is greatest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Make sure to give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).