Until Dawn studio’s narrative Dead by Daylight spin-off The Casting of Frank Stone out in September
Supermassive Games’ narrative-focused single-player Dead by Daylight spin-off, The Casting of Frank Stone, launches for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on 3rd September.
Announced last December, The Casting of Frank Stone’s story begins in Cedar Hills, Oregon, in the summer of 1980, when a group of young filmmakers travels to an abandoned steel mill in order to shoot their horror movie, Murder Mill. Unbeknown to the teenagers, however, a dormant evil lies waiting, and the group ends up capturing far more on camera than it bargained for, creating a “soon-to-be cult classic with an insidious influence.”
In gameplay terms, The Casting of Frank Stone follows the interactive horror movie template Supermassive has been steadily refining across the likes of Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and 2022’s The Quarry. By making choices as the branching cinematic story unfolds, players can shift the narrative, influencing the direction of the shoot, affecting characters’ relationships, and even their fates.
“Change reality with your choices, unlock new paths with your actions, and discover what horrors your final cut may hold,” explains publisher (and Dead by Daylight developer) Behaviour Interactive. “In a story where every move matters, actions can speak louder than words. Explore a cinematic nightmare, testing your wits as you solve environmental puzzles and react to Quick Time Events. Guide your cast of characters through eerie locations and search for clues that hide the bigger picture.”
The Casting of Frank Stone’s 3rd September release date is just one of several announcements made during Behaviour Interative’s Dead by Daylight 8th anniversary livestream. As well as highlighting the arrival of Lara Croft in its asymmetrical multiplayer horror game, the studio has also confirmed it’s releasing a new 2v8 game mode on 25th July, enabling eight survivors to face off against two killers across five classic maps.
Maps have been expanded to accommodate the increased player count, and the number of generators has also doubled, with survivors (who’ll now be sent directly to cages if downed) needing to repair eight out of 13 to escape. Other changes include a new survivor class system, which ditches Perks in favour of clearer player “roles”, and Power alterations for killers, including a new team-based ability that can be unleashed as a duo.
And finally, Behaviour Interactive has confirmed cross-progression is coming to Dead by Daylight on 22nd July, enabling players to share their progress, inventory (excluding platform-exclusive items), paid currency, and DLC between owned versions of the game on PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Windows Store using a Behaviour Account. On Switch, however, things are little more convoluted.
Progression and inventory can still be shared between platforms via Switch but paid currency and DLC bought on Nintendo’s console can’t be shared elsewhere. However, paid currency and DLC bought on a different platform can be used on Switch, and if that sounds excessively confusing, Behaviour Interactive has released an FAQ to clarify some details.
