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Dead by Daylight colorblind options on the way in upcoming updates

Following a bit of controversy, Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive has revealed its plans to roll out colorblind accessibility options for the game.

TJ Denzer

January 22, 2021 7:50 AM

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Creating accessibility for gamers with various disabilities has become an important part of modern gaming. By offering more accessibility, more players can engage in and have fun with the game on the same level. Behaviour Interactive isn’t necessarily at the forefront of this, and it seems to have come after some controversial statements from the staff, but some new options will open the game up to colorblind players that have issues with the game’s numerous indicators and alerts.

Dead by Daylight Lead Programmer Ethan 'Amos' Larson was apparently streaming the game on his personal Twitch when the matter came up in a question from a viewer. Allegedly, Larson went hard to the paint on the question.

“We've heard it a million times.” Larson said. “We know. Continuing to badger us about it isn't going to change anything. If it gets done, it'll get done when we have time to do it… We know a lot of players want it.”

It was a response that was clipped and drew the ire of a lot of people, including AbleGamers COO Steven Spohn. It would also push Behaviour Interactive to reveal that it had indeed been working on colorblind accessibility.

In recent months, we have been hard at work bringing colorblind modes to Dead by Daylight. While these are not the circumstances we would have liked to announce this, we feel the time is right.

— Dead by Daylight (@DeadByBHVR) January 21, 2021

For those who don’t know, Behaviour Interactive’s updates roll out in the form of Chapters with Chapter start and Mid-Chapter updates throughout the year with a goal of shipping four Chapters each year. By the count, since the last chapter launched in December, we can likely expect the next by March 2021. Even so, Behaviour Interactive suggested that colorblind consideration will be adapted into further updates as early as the next Mid-Chapter update, such as an upcoming HUD redesign. Tentatively, full colorblind options can likely be expected by the next Chapter.

As for Larson, it’s hard to say if any further action will be taken regarding the lash out on his stream. Behaviour obviously understands the situation was in poor taste, but it also seems the studio had this option in the works for a while based on the reveals made. It’s obviously not the way Behaviour Interactive wanted to reveal them, but at least now we know they’re on the way. Stay tuned for more Dead by Daylight news on colorblind accessibility, community questions, sequels, and more, right here at Shacknews.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.