In 2026, Dead by Daylight and Darkest Dungeon marked ten-year milestones with a crossover that brought Darkest Dungeon-inspired cosmetics to Behaviour Interactive’s horror game. The collaboration added outfits, badges and banners—not a new playable Darkest Dungeon character, killer, map or game mode. Its creators describe the designs as adaptations: Dead by Daylight characters dressing up as figures from Darkest Dungeon, with recognizable visual elements adjusted to fit the game’s characters and production needs.
What did the Dead by Daylight and Darkest Dungeon crossover add?
Behaviour Interactive’s Ruin Rift featured six outfit pairings, alongside themed badges and banners, according to its April 28, 2026 announcement.
| Dead by Daylight character | Darkest Dungeon inspiration |
|---|---|
| Meg Thomas | Hellion |
| The Nurse | The Collector |
| David King | The Highwayman |
| The Blight | The Prophet |
| Vittorio Toscano | The Leper |
| Zarina Kassir | The Plague Doctor |
The crossover’s role was cosmetic. Darkest Dungeon supplied the visual inspirations, while Dead by Daylight hosted the event; the announcement does not describe the games as merging their worlds or mechanics.
How did the idea for the collaboration come about?
Behaviour acquired Vancouver-based Red Hook Studios in 2024 and said Red Hook would continue as an independent studio within the company. In an April 21, 2026 MobileSyrup interview, Dead by Daylight senior creative director Dave Richard said the crossover made sense because the studios were part of the same family and Behaviour’s team were fans of Darkest Dungeon. He recalled: “Both studios are part of the same family, so it was like, ‘Yeah, we absolutely need to do something at some point.’”
Red Hook co-founder and creative director Chris Bourassa said the possibility had been raised during the acquisition process. He described the relationship as a functional partnership and said Behaviour supported Red Hook’s plans. Those are Bourassa’s accounts of the acquisition and collaboration, rather than an independent evaluation of the companies’ relationship.
Why are the outfits adaptations rather than literal character transfers?
Bourassa said the teams agreed that Dead by Daylight characters would “cosplay as Darkest Dungeon characters.” That framework let the designers preserve recognizable ideas while making the outfits work with Dead by Daylight’s character rigs and production pipeline. As he put it, the collaboration was “more just like a good-natured influence and an idea sharing” than making a Dead by Daylight character literally be someone from Darkest Dungeon.
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- Play as 5 new resourceful Survivors with their own unique Perks!
- Play as 5 new Killers with horrifying Powers that defy logic to hunt your prey!
- Customize your experience with all-new Perks and set-up options!
- Bring the game to life with 10 hauntingly detailed miniature figurines!
Richard said the team wanted to retain iconic features and get the tone right. The interview also notes that some pairings posed challenges because of the characters’ identities and clothing in their respective games. The result is best understood as an interpretation shaped by both visual fidelity and the practical demands of fitting the designs to Dead by Daylight—not evidence that these outfits are canonical appearances for the Darkest Dungeon characters.
What did each franchise do for its tenth anniversary?
The crossover landed in a year when both games reached ten-year milestones, but it was only one part of each franchise’s anniversary story.
Dead by Daylight’s anniversary
Dead by Daylight launched in 2016. In a June 2026 release, Behaviour said the game had reached more than 70 million players since launch and averaged over a million players daily across platforms. These are company-reported figures, not independent measurements. The same release said more than 3,000 fans were expected at a Montreal anniversary gathering on June 14, followed by a livestream and announcements; that was a pre-event expectation, not a verified attendance count.
Darkest Dungeon’s anniversary
Red Hook’s August 18, 2026 announcement marked ten years of the original Darkest Dungeon by revealing The Fire’s Edge, its first new DLC since 2020. The expansion adds The Runaway and The Duelist, a combat mechanic, trinkets and three Hamlet districts. Red Hook listed Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, PlayStation and Xbox, and announced a Nintendo Switch release for August 20. Platform and storefront availability can change, so the announcement should not be treated as a guarantee of current availability in every region.
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- EXPAND YOUR GAMEPLAY – Take your Dead by Daylight board game further with 5 new Survivors and 5 terrifying Killers, each with unique abilities for fresh strategies and tension. Requires the base set to play.
- HORROR-THEMED STRATEGY – Escape or become the ultimate ghost killer game villain with new Perks and Powers that heighten suspense and excitement. Will you survive the night or fall to the darkness?
- DETAILED MINIATURES – Includes 10 hauntingly sculpted miniatures, bringing characters to life with eerie precision. A must-have for fans of horror board games, collectible art, and immersive tabletop play.
- MULTIPLE WAYS TO PLAY – Customize matches with new setup options, creating fresh scenarios for replayability. Whether you love betrayal, hidden movement, or outsmarting foes, this expansion enhances your Dead by Daylight experience.
- PERFECT FOR HORROR FANS – Great for teens, adults, and couples who love strategy, tabletop, or party games. A top pick for game nights, mystery lovers, and fans of monsters and survival horror.
The Fire’s Edge is separate from Ruin Rift: it adds content to the original turn-based RPG, while Ruin Rift brought themed cosmetics into the multiplayer horror game.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How are the games and their audiences different?
The collaboration connected games with distinct formats rather than trying to make them interchangeable. Dead by Daylight is a multiplayer horror game built around players facing off in a shared match. Darkest Dungeon is a turn-based RPG series. In the MobileSyrup interview, Bourassa summarized the difference between their audiences simply: “They’re just different players.” The crossover’s visual references offered a point of connection without implying that both games serve the same audience or play alike.
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Numbers cited around the anniversaries describe different measures and should not be conflated. Behaviour’s September 2024 acquisition announcement said the two mainline Darkest Dungeon games had sold more than seven million copies combined at that time. Its June 2026 release described the Dead by Daylight team as nearly 500 people. Both are company-reported figures, and neither is a current, independently verified comparison of the franchises.
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