Dead by Daylight finally confirms Jason Voorhees after an agonizing 13-hour livestream

It's finally official: Jason Voorhees is the new Dead by Daylight Killer. One of the most iconic figures in horror history is finally stepping into The Fog to mark the tenth anniversary of DBD. Behaviour Interactive certainly made us wait for it, however. The developer suggested players should "tune in" to its YouTube and Twitch channels for a special announcement, but the time it gave was rather too early. Those who turned up expecting a quick reveal found themselves facing what ended up as a nearly 13-hour stretch before they got their answers, leaving some feeling like the hype had been sucked out.

Over the course of more than half a day, the Dead by Daylight stream stared directly at a compact cabin in the woods as night gradually fell. Occasionally, the mundanity was punctuated by small interruptions - birds, a dog barking, flashlights in the distance; a light flickering on indoors, and then burning out. In some cases, things got weirder. A few cut logs fell over. The feed briefly glitched. In one instance, the screen flashed red for just a moment, warping the cabin out of proportion.

In theory, I love a good lowkey teaser like this. When a video feed suddenly goes live on a channel, or is advertised as a long-form 'atmospheric' piece, the tension is there. You know not to expect much, but there's always that hope that something, anything, could happen. If it does? What a treat. Here, however, the DBD community was simply told to "tune in" at the beginning, which wrongly gave the impression that it wouldn't be too long before something important happened. That, of course, wasn't the case.

Eventually, the answer came, confirming one of the leading rumors - Jason is joining Dead by Daylight. The actual reveal was pretty light as well. From a first-person perspective, we walk up to the cabin and open the door, stepping inside. There, we find a small bed and a toolbench. Our hand reaches out to pick up a machete and inspect it; then, turning to the side, we lift a hockey mask off the wall and place it over our face. Lightning flashes, revealing our reflection in the window. That's Jason, alright.

For now, that's just about all we get. Doubtless more details on exactly how he plays will be coming in short order. Notably, the Trapper, one of DBD's original Killer trio, is heavily inspired by Jason, so it'll be interesting to see whether Behaviour has made a special effort to keep the pair feeling distinct from one another.

It's an announcement that DBD players have been wanting to hear ever since the horror game first launched, so not even this livestream debacle can smother all the hype. Its nature certainly left some wanting more, however; especially those fans who chose to wake up in the early hours only to watch a stream that set largely unchanging for so long.

"These kinds of streams are great when they're dropped guerrilla style, no warning, no announcement," Reddit user 'iamded' writes. "When you tell people to tune in for the big ten-year anniversary reveal, this ain't it. For that kind of thing, you've got to have a stream with substance, not one of these ten-hour campfire streams."

Jason Voorhees will join Dead by Daylight as its new Killer on Tuesday June 16. We'll be sure to bring you full details on his abilities and perks as we learn more.