Dead by Daylight's next killer is 'an evil so heinous that investigating it almost immediately invites death'

The identity of the next Dead by Daylight killer is now known, but also not known: It's The Unknown, «an evil so heinous that investigating it almost immediately invites death.»

The unfathomable new killer is coming to Dead by Daylight on March 12 in All Things Wicked, the next chapter of the popular asymmetrical multiplayer horror game, but can be previewed from now through Monday in a test build on Steam. 

The Unknown uses a «deadly toxin» that can create hallucinations which it can swap places with, according to a mostly-redacted description released by Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive and the test build release notes linked above.

I particularly like this sentence from The Unknown's power breakdown: «Survivors lose Weakened by successfully Staring Down The Unknown.» I'd have believed that «Staring Down The Unknown» was an unreleased Pink Floyd track if you'd told me as much.

Also coming in All Things Wicked are a new survivor, Sable Ward, and a new map, Greenville Square. The map includes a movie theater and its arcade, which instantly made me feel nostalgic for the experience of playing lightgun games like Area 51 or The House of the Dead in the presence of movie theater popcorn butter. Except I would've been killing time before seeing Blade 2, not being hunted by an axe-wielding monster.

The new test build also includes a bunch of balance changes to existing killers and bug fixes. You can read the full notes here, and Dead by Daylight enthusiasts can try it out this week by selecting the test build from the «Betas» tab in the Steam properties menu for the game. Progress from test builds does not carry over to the main build.

The test is only available on Steam, but All Things Wicked will be out on all platforms on March 12.