Multiplayer survival horror title Dead By Daylight previously announced that its latest pop culture collaboration would bring Sadako, the iconic vengeful ghost from the Japanese film franchise Ringu, into the game as a playable killer. Unfortunately, Sadako’s debut was delayed due to developer Behaviour Interactive’s choice to focus on necessary quality-of-life updates and responding to player concerns.
However, a newly released trailer confirms that the Sadako Rising DLC chapter will officially launch on March 8, 2022. In addition to Sadako herself, the character Yoichi Asakawa will be added to the game as a playable survivor.
Sadako Rising will pay tribute to the original Japanese novel Ringu by Koji Suzuki, as well as its popular 1998 film adaptation, rather than the American remake Ring, which changed the film’s setting to the United States and renamed Sadako “Samara.”
The trailer reveals that Sadako will be a stealth-oriented killer, able to silently teleport and appear from television monitors scattered around the map. Her in-game appearance is extremely faithful to the original film, as she moves with her signature jerky, offbeat, irregular motions and keeps her long black hair over her face at all times. Yoichi’s special Survivor abilities have not yet been revealed, but presumably center around the unique ‘sixth sense’ the character possessed that allowed him to evade and study Sadako’s curse.
The appearance of Sadako was a surprise to fans, who were expecting the next crossover to be The Conjuring based on now-discredited leaks. However, Public Test Build, which is currently available for players to try out ahead of her official March 8 release, has generally received praise for her unique mechanics.
Dead by Daylight, which initially released in 2016, currently features a mix of original survivors and killers and guest stars from popular horror franchises including Halloween, Saw, Stranger Things, Silent Hill, and more. In a recent interview, creative director David Richard revealed that he also hopes to add characters from the works of Stephen King to the game, but is currently unsure whether King would be interested in collaborating.
Dead by Daylight is available for Android and iOS devices, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S.
