Every time I think I've mastered a handful of new perks and patch changes, another Dead by Daylight update gets me right in the gut with more Survivor-Killer combos. The horror hall of fame showdown typically introduces two Killers and four Survivors every year, along with its usual events and chapter progression.
Even with a regular formula to follow, Behaviour Interactive keeps us all on our toes in ways big and small by introducing everything from refreshed Dead by Daylight codes to new licensed terrors. The only problem is that information lives all over, scattered between livestreams, blogs, and Reddit. Keeping track of the kill list gets messy, so I'm rounding everything up for our collective sanity.
Dead by Daylight update schedule for 2025
A year for Dead by Daylight, as defined by Behaviour's roadmaps, begins in June and ends in May. The game launched in June 2016, and it's kept a regular release schedule for most chapters and characters since.
Dead by Daylight characters planned for 2025
Dead by Daylight Year 10 began in June 2025 and ends in May 2026.
Typically, a new chapter introduces both a Killer and a Survivor, but sometimes it's just a Killer. Character packs or half chapters make up the difference by adding another new Survivor or two. The format gets confusing, so I prefer looking at the 2025 big picture by covering two roadmaps.
Next Dead by Daylight update adds The Walking Dead
The folks who guessed it during Behaviour's PAX East 2025 panel were right: Dead by Daylight's next update is a licensed crossover with The Walking Dead and will release on July 29, 2025.
As part of one of the smaller character packs, we won't see a new killer like in the Five Nights at Freddy's chapter, but two more survivors with serious zombie trauma will join the fog. Both Michonne and Rick Grimes launch with the July update, though you can get a head start testing Rick now in the PTB.
What we know about the next Dead by Daylight Survivors
Michonne and Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead are the next DBD Survivors in a partnership with AMC that I'm surprised has taken this long. The Walking Dead's Survivor couple come as a pair, and thanks to their design synergy, it's best you do not separate them.
Both Rick and Michonne have different 'Teamwork' perks incentivizing the duo to play closer to the Killer for the benefit of injured teammates. Rick's Teamwork: Toughen Up perk keeps him from grunting and groaning too loudly around a stunned or blinded Killer. Michonne's Teamwork: Throw Down gives her a reason to go for those stuns and blinds as nearby injured players receive an Endurance buff and extra vision on the Killer's location when she succeeds.
There's also another Survivor planned for September as part of the folklore-inspired chapter, with two more licensed characters closing out 2025's roster additions in November.
What we know about the next Dead by Daylight Killer
The Animatronic launched in June as part of the Five Nights at Freddy's chapter, and there's no Killer planned for the Walking Dead update (Sorry, Negan), so clues around the September Killer's identity rely on some sleuthing.
At the PAX East panel from earlier this year, Justin Brown, product director on Dead by Daylight, revealed the end-of-summer update has its roots in "Asian horror folklore," and promised it'll be "one of the most gruesome chapters ever released." That's pretty vague on its own, but I'm a fan of this theory on the DBD subreddit that the next Killer is the shapeshifting Jorōgumo.
