The Casting of Frank Stone sets a gruesome tone | Hands-on preview
Dead By Daylight has become a huge property and Behaviour is one of the most dedicated developers out there, constantly bringing new updates and characters to it, while remaining on the pulse as far as balances and gameplay tweaks go. There’s a reason it’s so popular, but something players have been crying out for is story-based content set within the world of the game. What better developer to approach the subject matter than Supermassive Games? Until Dawn and The Quarry are fantastic games, but they also match the tone of what Dead By Daylight is; while violence and gore are a priority, so are the drops of humour. Enter, Frank Stone.
The Casting of Frank Stone feels more like a Supermassive game, but there’s plenty for Dead By Daylight fans to be excited about. In the short preview I got to play, there were some cool Easter Eggs that I won’t spoil, but to reassure you, this is going to be enjoyed by all kinds of horror fans, whether you’re into jump scares or violence, tension or great writing. My nerves were on high alert throughout my playthrough, but I was also engaged in what little of the story I got to see.
In the early chapter I played, I took on the role of Sam Green, a police officer investigating Cedar Hills, a large steel mill, in the dead of night. A boy has gone missing, and it’s your job to find him. After arriving, I spoke to the guy on the night shift who seemed a little shifty, but it might have been because he was under the influence, a little spooked himself, or something more sinister. You get to ask questions and choose the way you speak to him. Do you try and be understanding, or press him a bit with intimidation tactics? After checking through some documentation and finding out little else, I headed into the steel mill.
In true Supermassive fashion, the sound design is excellent, and those moments where the lighting may or may not be hiding something are ever present. It builds the tension and leads you further into the mill, where your flashlight is your only tool. There’re collectables to find, and some of them referred to characters in DbD which I loved. Another nice feature in The Casting of Frank Stone were the QTEs that pop up like skill checks in DbD. There were no generators in sight, but hitting the prompt just inside the circular gauge brought back the stress of doing so while trying to evade a killer.
As you make your way into the deeper regions of the mill, you find a pile of flesh being poked at and eaten by the employee’s dog. Upon further inspection, you find a human ear in the gore and that’s when the tone changes to something more sinister. Is it the ear of the child you’re looking for, or something else? Things get more nerve-wracking as you go underground into a room with a huge furnace and find a screaming baby in a crib, but that’s not the only thing you find. I’m so tempted to say who’s down there, but I shall leave it for you to experience for yourself.
The Casting of Frank Stone does all the things Supermassive are known for. You have dialogue options that can effect the story and how you communicate with other characters. The skill checks and QTEs are entwined with the way DbD do it, and the references and feel of the game is identical to Behaviour’s way of thinking, but ultimately it’s an engaging horror with just the right gore, tension, and humour. I’m excited to see where the story takes you and what the world of Dead By Daylight looks like through the eyes of a developer as experienced and as talented as the team behind Until Dawn.
