I have never especially enjoyed multiplayer games. With the notable exception of the Splatoon franchise (no in-game chat!) and a brief Overwatch phase, I’ve simply never been down with the idea of logging on and being perceived, no matter through many layers of digitized separation, by other people. For the most part, gaming is an experience of blessed solitude for me, even when the thing I’m playing is nerve-shreddingly scary. But although I do not personally enjoy most multiplayer experiences, I see exactly why and how others do. The extra layer of emergent chance, the different strategy you must employ when playing against other humans, hell, even the possibility of a positive social encounter. All of these things, I feel, are valuable.

Except when the game you’re talking about is Dead By Daylight, or one of its nauseatingly infinite knock-offs (Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Evil Dead, etc.). “Asymmetrical horror” games, as the genre has become known, pit one player – playing as the villain, monster, or otherwise Big Bad – against four other players who are trying to escape the first player’s clutches. These matches take place on a maze-like map and involve a series of simple puzzles and even simpler stealth, and end either when the Villain Player has killed all other players, or a certain number of living human players escape. There are frequent film tie-in hijinks, creepy character models, and slasher-movie references galore. Sounds like a fun, schlocky time, right?

WRONG.