The Casting Of Frank Stone Review: A Love Letter To Dead By Daylight Fans

When The Casting of Frank Stone was announced, I was intrigued by the idea of a narrative adventure set in the Dead By Daylight. Would this game include any existing Dead By Daylight characters? Will it include a lot of the dark and twisted lore of Behaviour Interactive? And will this game appeal to fans outside of the asymmetrical horror game?

That last question has been plaguing me since I finished my first run-through of The Casting Of Frank Stone. It has been pretty difficult to place myself outside of the position of a Dead By Daylight fan and try to experience the game as a stand-alone piece of work.

I’ve been playing Dead By Daylight since 2020 after watching a favorite drag artist stream during lockdown. Since then, I have invested thousands of hours into Dead By Daylight, spent possibly far too much money, and made lifelong friends. So, believe me when I say this review is heavily influenced by my love and knowledge of the DBD universe.

After playing through sections of The Casting Of Frank Stone multiple times, and taking the time to step out of the role of Dead By Daylight nerd, I can safely say casual non-DBD players will enjoy this game. The story is gripping, the characterization is superb, and the gameplay is engaging. However, Dead By Daylight players will get more out of it than anyone. The Casting Of Frank Stone is, essentially, a love letter to Dead By Daylight players.

It is no secret that The Casting Of Frank Stone is set in the Dead By Daylight universe, so players will probably expect the odd easter egg and a casual reference here and there. Dead By Daylight references litter the game throughout. Did they go a bit overboard with just the sheer amount of nods to the multiplayer game? I can’t answer that, I loved every single one of them. There is no such thing as too much. Show me more, give me red scratch marks, mentions of Lery’s Insitute, pallets, generators, and crows. It was so fun and unexpected to see and hear elements of the Dead By Daylight.

Would the game have been as exciting without the DBD easter eggs? Almost certainly. The tale weaves through three timelines, with decisions and consequences creating pathways as you play. Once you finish the first playthrough, you get to go back to the Cutting Room and discover ways to carve new pathways. Like a film editor crafting the perfect story, your place as a player is to discover ways to tell the story your way. How does the movie end for you? Will everyone die? Does the hero survive? What happens if one character changes their path earlier in the story?

The story is dark and intense at times, made more so by having to react or make decisions quickly. There were moments when, in trying to unlock hidden paths in the Cutting Room, I had to make gut-wrenching choices. The characterization and voice acting helped create an immersive and engaging story. It is always a good sign when you are playing a narrative game like this if the death or injury of a character hurts a little. Or, in fact, when it didn’t hurt at all (I hate you, Stan, I am not sorry in the slightest.)

My only gripe about the characters is the design of a few of their faces. Why do the young girls look like middle-aged women? Chris is the spitting image of Amy Poehler, and Linda… Well, her face just looks strange. We already meet her as an older woman and it looks like her more mature face was just superimposed on to a teenager. It’s kind of bizarre. Also, everyone’s teeth look odd to me. As if maybe they have too many bottom teeth. It was easy to ignore after a while but it threw me off when I first started playing.

Aside from those small discrepancies, I loved how lifelike many of the facial expressions are. So many times in video games we see characters talking to each other but they are dead behind the eyes. In The Casting Of Frank Stone, micro-expressions, eyebrow movements and subtle animations around the eyes and mouth really make a difference.

It is so important in a game like this to see the horror, stress, and shock in their faces. Most of the time, the devs pulled it off brilliantly. It’s not perfect, at times Amy Poehler Chris looks menacing instead of excited, but it was a valiant effort. The worry and anguish on Robert’s face (below) I thought was particularly well done.

Another star of the show is the sound design. The horror ASMR is top tier with spine-chilling vinyl pops and scratches and eerie almost-human (but not quite…) vocals. It switches between haunting to creepy and back again with ease. Dead By Daylight players will almost certainly recognize many of the motifs here and there. My favorite DBD easter egg is a small sound notification when your character picks up an item. It is the same noise you hear when picking up an item in Dead By Daylight. Those small surprises are so fun to stumble across.

Overall, The Casting Of Frank Stone is thrilling and engaging as a Dead By Daylight player and as a narrative adventure gamer. The gameplay mechanics are simplistic, but that was to be expected with a narrative game such as this.

My only gripe is the lack of a ‘skip scene’ feature when replaying certain chapters. If I could skip every scene where Stan is speaking, I would. The Cutting Room feature makes up for a lot of any small annoyances. though. Any missed Trinkets or Relliks can be uncovered later and there are so many more paths to unlock. I look forward to discovering what other horrors await the film crew in The Casting Of Frank Stone.

8

The Casting Of Frank Stone

A blood-soaked narrative adventure that is perfect for Dead By Daylight players.

Pros

• Engaging story
• Well-written characters
• Plenty of Dead By Daylight references

Cons

• Off-putting character design
• Long and unskippable cut scenes

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on PC.