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"Hello, Sidney - remember me?"
I don't usually review DLC, but here we go! Scream is iconic. Born in 1996 and an icon of horror cinema, this long running meta-slasher series has been an important part of the genre for some 30 plus years now. The story of determined Final Girl Sidney Prescott (now the Carpenter Sisters) and her stalker, the enigmatic, twisty, and stealthy Ghostface Killer in their many iterations, is truly one that is near and dear to many people's hearts. So it was a no-brainer that Dead by Daylight had to bring this slasher villain to the game in one way or another, even if they didn't get the Scream license. Here we are, almost 7 to 8 years into this game's release, and the Ghost Face chapter is still though early one of the most fun additions to the game - provided you can handle him, Blondie.
Of course the appeal of the Ghostface Killer is that they're an everyman - anyone can be under the mask, killing for whatever sick reason they find feasible. It's just a shame there's no Sidney Survivor or Macher House map to run around in like in Scream, but I get it. They could only get the mask... but you do get the option to get the classic robes, and even the option to swap masks as you see fit, just in case you wanted to, IDK, play the Scream VI iteration of Ghostie instead. This Ghostface is definitely not the same as any of the film iterations, he's his own thing - a serial killing mastermind that might be the sharpest version of this character yet. He's actually based directly on the same real-life horror that inspired Scream - the Gainesville Ripper case. While that murderous psycho was caught, this one never was - instead, he went on a spree of violence across the US, taking a job as a journalist even to cover up his crimes, using that to spread further paranoia about his murderous persona. Mild-mannered by day, monster by night - and who doesn't love a good true crime inspired serial killing masked madman, huh?
His lore is interesting but that's not the main draw - the draw is the gameplay, and the gameplay is pretty damn fun. Hard, but fun! His kit is built a little different from other Killers and it's a wall some people will bounce off of. While you do have no terror radius with him, you also don't have a lot of speed or map pressure, which can feel underwhelming. But for the right person playing him like he's Agent 47 or an evil Batman, you can have a hell of a lot of fun stalking and skulking around like a mastermind of paranoia. And of course, that's exactly what you do here with him - stealthy ambush jumpscares. He still has, all these years later, some of the best mindgame and jumpscare potential in the game, an important aspect of making DBD, well... scary again, and doesn't everyone love a good scary movie?
Unlike other characters in this game, Ghostie isn't a chasedown Killer. He's more of a wait and see approach, a passive style that is meant to cause tension in the Survivors. While this may not always work against the 1000+ hour squads at higher levels of play, it's still a grand old time, if you can get the stalks in and close the gaps. To this end you need to put on the right perks, just as a forewarning - his kit is decent, but not that good. I personally run my Ghostie as a high-info, high-gen-pressure build that keeps Survivors still long enough to be stalked, exposed, and downed in one hit. You also need to be precise and tactical because he's a bit like the knife he wields: if you are handling him well he can stomp, but if you handle him poorly you're only going to hurt yourself. He is not the strongest, no, but in the right hands, you can have loads of fun and do quite well. To do well, you have to learn the maps, the tiles, Survivor tactics, and how the game operates to really get good with him, and even then it can be a bit luck-dependent. Make no mistake, for an M1 Killer with a seemingly simple kit, he is deceptively tough to use well. But when you do get the good game, when you are able to keep Exposing people left and right, stalking and stealthing around, coming from corners for jumpscares and scattering them in a panic? Oh my God is it the most amazing feeling ever. No wonder at least six iterations of people in the films grew a bit... addicted to the feeling of being the Ghostface Killer. And what's even better is that because he's still a spookier character with a different kit, he's often just as fun and funny to go against as Survivor, too! Some of my favorite rounds in this game have been against Ghostfaces, and some of the scariest have been too.
If that isn't enough to sell you on this, maybe the fact you can crouch will. Oh yes, you can finally teabag those annoying Survivors back. Because of this you have a bit more expressiveness than the average Killer, leading to some super funny moments in rounds. Also, his Mori animation is hilarious - dude straight up stabs you four times and then takes a murder selfie. I might be slightly addicted to collecting these. Scratch that - I definitely am, and it's a problem I don't want help for. Playing the Ghostface is fun, often funny as hell, and really quite a different experience if you know what you are doing. If you like playing stealth games, grab this chapter. Why not take up the Buck 120 and don the mask of a legend in horror cinema with us? After all, "It's a fun game, Sidney..."