Dead by Daylight: Hour of the Witch, as Remembered by a 2026 Survivor

I have a confession: I am the kind of Dead by Daylight player who hides in a locker the second I hear a terror radius, then acts like I meant to do that. So when October rolls around, my spooky little heart gets excited. And in 2021, Behaviour Interactive gave us Hour of the Witch, the 24th DLC for a game that had already turned 4v1 horror into a lifestyle. Now, in 2026, I am looking back with nostalgia, a few more gray hairs, and a lot more respect for anyone who can loop The Trapper without screaming. 🎃

Dead by Daylight launched in 2016 and somehow became one of the biggest horror games on the planet. It is a 4v1 multiplayer survival horror where one killer hunts four survivors, and the survivors try to repair generators, open exits, and avoid being sacrificed to a spider god with a questionable aesthetic. By the time Hour of the Witch arrived, DBD had already released 23 DLC add-ons, crossed over with Silent Hill, and added Hellraiser's Pinhead as a killer. Pinhead! The guy who solves puzzles with hooks. Terrifying. 💀

The Hour of the Witch reveal trailer dropped on a Tuesday via the official Dead by Daylight YouTube channel. It was short, moody, and introduced a new Survivor named Mikaela Reid. She wore red sunglasses and dark clothing, which is exactly how I dress when I want people to think I am mysterious but actually I just forgot to do laundry. The trailer described Mikaela as a writer focused on horror stories with a particular interest in witchcraft. So, basically, a horror nerd who decided to bring actual spells to a murder vacation. Respect. 🧙‍♀️

The trailer did not give a hard release date, only saying it would come out in October 2021. That is classic horror-game marketing: vague, ominous, and just specific enough to make me check my calendar every five minutes. Meanwhile, Mikaela was released with the 5.3.0 Update to the game's Player Test Build, which meant eager players could already try her out. Her Survivor perks focused on protection, offering healing and stealth bonuses to her and her teammates. That made her a support-focused Survivor, competing with legends like Claudette Morel and David King.

Now, I love Claudette. She is the original bush gremlin, and I say that with affection. But Mikaela felt different. She was not just a healer or a distraction; she was a witchy writer who could help the team while looking like she was about to review a haunted house for a lifestyle blog. Her support playstyle was not about flashy chases. It was about keeping everyone alive, quiet, and slightly magical. In a game where one mistake can send you to a hook, that is huge. 🔦

Here is a quick, extremely scientific breakdown of Mikaela's vibe:

Category	Mikaela Reid
Fashion	Red sunglasses, dark clothes, zero fear of clashing with fog
Job	Horror writer
Side hustle	Witchcraft
Gameplay focus	Protection, healing, stealth
Competes with	Claudette Morel, David King
My personal skill with her	I missed every skill check and blamed lag

DBD's popularity kept growing after 2021, and it is not hard to see why. Earlier that year, the game hit over 100,000 concurrent players, and it launched on next-gen consoles. Behaviour Interactive kept pumping out content, which helped the game survive far beyond the usual multiplayer horror lifespan. Five years after its initial release, DBD was still thriving thanks to a passionate fanbase and dedicated developers. In 2026, that is still the energy: messy, loud, occasionally cursed, and weirdly wholesome. 😅

Of course, time is cruel. The original article listed platforms like PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, mobile devices, and Stadia. In 2026, Stadia is a ghost story we tell to remind ourselves that cloud gaming is hard. The Switch has moved on, mobile is still doing its thing, and DBD has continued to evolve with new chapters, events, and crossovers that would have made 2021 me pass out. But Hour of the Witch remains a lovely snapshot of when Mikaela Reid first stepped into the fog.

Would I recommend going back to 2021? No, because I do not have a time machine, and if I did, I would probably use it to prevent myself from buying another cosmetic. But Hour of the Witch was a solid Halloween treat. It gave players a support Survivor with personality, a witchy aesthetic, and perks that encouraged teamwork. It also gave us the eternal question: why does every horror game eventually become a fashion show? I do not know, but I will be there, wearing red sunglasses in the fog, pretending I know what I am doing.

And yes, the original article also said Dead by Daylight would not feel complete without Jason Voorhees. In 2026, I still think about that. Give the people what they want, Behaviour. I have a locker reserved just in case. 🎃