From the same universe as Dead by Daylight, Behaviour, and Supermassive Games presents, The Casting of Frank Stone. Set in the 1980s to the 2020s, it takes place in a small town in Oregon. From Sam Green, a police officer in the 60s, investigating a disappearance at a steel mill, to a young team of aspiring filmmakers in the 80s, to a girl named Madison Rivera in the present day. Going from flashback to flashback to flash-forwards of the storylines, it gives the player a lot to find and make connections to.
While I enjoy the gameplay options where you can make choices in conversations and go into certain rooms and interact with certain characters and items, it can be very repetitive at times. The game is packed with easter eggs and while that is cool to see and makes players go “Hey that’s cool, that’s nice to see that.” Or “Hey that’s the weapon or mask that the killer is known for using or even the add-ons the killers have access to that makes their powers stronger in the trials.”
It’s great to see all of that but to enter a room or section of the game where you can find a handful of cross-over items like the iconic mask of a white-haired hare that the huntress uses or the weapon that the wraith uses to injure the survivors in his trials, it just gets kind of boring to see. It has its stages where it’s like “Oh that’s really neat to see” to “Oh look, another thing from the other game, thank god it’s here or I wouldn’t have known these games are connected”. I think that if they used these connections more sparingly it would’ve had more impact.
The dialog is alright but leaves so much to be desired. Sometimes the lines feel forced or emotionless and stale. One moment, the character sounds like a cheap AI, then the next they sound like a hired top-dollar voice actor and it definitely can ruin a moment when it stands out. Some audio shares the same problem as the collectibles and the connections from Dead by Daylight, they can be overused and placed with bad timing. Also, it can feel like they just reused assets because it was cheaper. Within the first 30 minutes of the game, I felt the same rollercoaster of emotions, “Hey I know that sound!” To “Hey I know that one too!” And eventually to “Are there any new sounds that are original to this brand new title?”.
The scenery on the other hand is amazing, I find the explorable sections to be beautiful. The only thing that annoys me is the invisible barriers. For example, there are some places where you have to climb up a small ledge but just a stone’s throw away is a path that could be walked down but it’s blocked off. It gets bad when you want to run past your allies in a tight space and they have a horrible collision that reaches quite far. It’s not the end of the world or anything but it can be annoying when you need to get to your objective.
Like many other games, the Casting of Frank Stone featured a cat-and-mouse gameplay style where you run from threats. The game reminds me of Outlast with your camera being the only thing keeping you from death. The enemy you go up against will kill you without a second thought but as long as you have a camera, you have a chance to fight back. Recording the entities that chase you will dispel your attacker and buy you enough time to get to a safe place. Given that this is the only action you get in the game besides the quick-time punches and kicks you get occasionally, I think it’s safe to say that it’s very disappointing.
When the game isn’t screaming at you to remind you that this takes place within the same universe as Dead by Daylight it has a really good plot with great characters and great gameplay. I love how the story ties in with the universe of Dead by Daylight with the Entity, an unknown sentient being with the power to go and take people from any timeline from the start of humans’ time on Earth to probably the end of humanity. My only gripes with the game are that it has way too many references to Dead by Daylight, the UI seems to be dated by at least a decade, animations and voice lines can feel forced and stale, and they reuse audio from the main game.
While I personally liked the game I just feel as if Behaviour is milking Dead by Daylight for everything it’s worth. While it is a smart thing to do money-wise for a company, it’s kind of annoying to see as a player. If we look at the projects we have, the main game Dead by Daylight, a full official simulator, “What The Fog”, a digital board game, The Casting of Frank Stone, and the now-canceled “Project T”. I think Dead by Daylight is a great game with an interesting backstory but truthfully I don’t think they are fleshing out the universe properly.
I feel as if they could do a comic-styled storyline where they go in-depth about characters, map backgrounds, perk backgrounds, and so much more. They already have something like this but it’s locked behind challenges and it’s really boring or annoying with the voice they picked out for the narrator. Getting back to the casting of Frank Stone I would give it maybe a 6 out of 10. It’s fun at times but I lose focus on the game when it struggles to make a name for itself. The only redeeming factor for me is that I got a lot of cosmetics in Dead by Daylight and a semi-decent game to play for a weekend. I wouldn’t recommend this game unless you want the cosmetics but even then I think they were only available from the pre-order period and is no longer available.
