Fallen now is Babylon the Great.
The Public Test Build for the “Demise of the Faithful” chapter of Dead by Daylight went live for PC players on Wednesday, allowing participants their first chance to play the new Killer, The Plague. After reading through her power and perks, as well as watching gameplay of her from YouTubers BigBrickPlays and Monto, I can safely say that the hype behind The Plague is very much justified. The devastating Adiris is imposing, disgusting, and effective all at once. The Plague is not for the squeamish, as the High Priestess of Babylon uses her Vile Purge to projectile vomit at unsuspecting Survivors, with the effects ramping up as the sickness sets in. The bile can also be used to coat objects in the trial, including pallets and even generators, creating little bile booby traps along the way. The longer a Survivor goes without cleansing themselves, the closer they come to becoming injured. They will also then suffer from the Broken status effect, forbidding healing actions until they are cured at a Pool of Devotion. The sickness also becomes contagious at this point. At that time, fully infected Survivors will also periodically vomit, giving a visual and aural notification to the Killer, giving away their position. Once The Plague catches up, a good whack with her Incenser will do the trick to injure or down a Survivor. What if a Survivor cleanses themselves at a Pool of Devotion? They’re fine for a bit, right? Not if The Plague consumes the corruption created by said cleansing, turning the Vile Purge into Corrupted Purge, damaging Survivors rather than infecting them if they are hit by it. This stream of “oh Jesus, gross” is a delicious dark red color, rather than the pea soup green of the standard bile. Though it only lasts for a short time, the Corrupted Purge is powerful, and should be avoided like… well, you get the idea. (Note: Any hard numbers used from this point on are taken from the in-game text as of the 2.6.0 Public Test Build. Should these numbers change, said changes will be addressed once the new chapter is fully available to the public.) Her perks only add to the devastation. Corrupt Intervention blocks the furthest three generators from her starting point from being worked on for as long as two minutes (depending on the rank of the perk), slowing the early game to something of an ass-grinding halt. Infectious Fright startles Survivors within your Terror Radius when a Survivor gets downed, giving away the spooked Survivor with a visual notification and revealing their aura in red for up to six seconds. This is great for busting up any hiding Survivors looking to bum rush the hook, as well as expose anyone looking for a surprise flashlight save. Finally, Dark Devotion is the Obsession’s worst nightmare, as taking a hit causes the Obsession to take on the Killer’s terror radius for 20 seconds, while removing the Killer’s terror radius for that time. Higher ranks of the perk trim down the cooldown timer for this perk, allowing for a quicker turnaround on making that unfortunate Laurie player’s life a living hell. The Plague’s Mori is a fun one, using both her Incenser and her Regan-style vomitus, but I desperately wish the effects of the Moris would be stepped up some. What exactly makes this version of her Vile Purge fatal? Is it acidic? Why is it that when I use the Cannibal’s Mori, in which he literally saws the Survivor in fucking half, that the character model of the victim does not reflect this? This is a game rife with serial killers, including licensed characters like Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Bubba Sawyer (the aforementioned Cannibal in the game’s meta) and Halloween’s Michael Myers. The kid gloves can be left at home, please and thank you. Finisher critiques aside, The Plague is living up to my expectations thus far. The Public Test Build is a beta of sorts, meaning any number of changes (read: nerfs) could be made before the final version is released in the upcoming “Demise of the Faithful” DLC later this month. In her current form, though, The Plague looks to be one of the most gut-wrenching Killers that the game has seen yet. I can’t wait to see Adiris in the fog.