Book Review - The Art & Lore of Dead by Daylight
- 14 minutes ago
- 6 min read
August 25th 2026
Behaviour Interactive is celebrating 10 years of their online horror game Dead by Daylight, a title which has been a huge success as it continues to grow. In partnership with publisher Titan Books, the developer is inviting players into The Fog to learn about how it all came together and continues to expand in a new book, The Art & Lore of Dead by Daylight.
The book was released on August 25th, 2026 and shares the development details of the online survival game, as well as the early artwork that created new horror icons. As you will see throughout this review, fans that have escaped The Entity but are still wanting more have a lot to be excited for.
Build Quality
The hardcover comes in at 23.5cm x 30.6cm (9.3” x 12”) and has 192 pages inside, making it a large volume like other Titan Books releases. It’s solid and well-made, with nice gloss paper and binding that flexes enough to let the paper lay flat with ease. Along with an excellent print finish, this is everything you could hope for when you unbox an artbook and starting looking through it. The only thing I could point out is that the cover, that features artwork of select Killers which I like, is black and does love to show fingerprints. But overall, it was off to a very good start before diving in.
Content
The positivity doesn’t stop there as it didn’t take long for me to realise that this would be one of my favourite books of the year. The Art & Lore of Dead by Daylight is wonderful showcase of how to pack a huge amount of artwork and insights into a book, while keeping a fine balance. Whether you’re in it for the art, the developer interviews, or both, this is a very generous book for readers.
The art itself comes in the full range of stages; sketches, loose concepts, details coloured designs, and illustrations. There is plenty of it across the book, with the vast majority focusing on the Killers and Survivors, all of which looks incredible regardless of the style. The Killers are certainly the highlight, because there are so many early designs that players will enjoy seeing, some being wildly different to their standard look. This is also true for the Survivors too, who equally get nice design and costume variations curated here to enjoy, as well as alternate outfits.
The book’s chapters take you from the early years of Dead by Daylight's development, through to some of the more recent updates and additions, including Killers like The Houndmaster and The Singularity. There are a lot of designs included, and because of how the content is presented, you get to see the change from more grounded Killers like The Trapper, through to the body horror nasties like The Dredge. Some environment art is shared as well that is equally as impressive and peppered throughout, but it’s much less of a focus. It’s a wonderfully woven visual history and I really enjoy how many unused and alternate designs are included as part of that.
The print finish helps the colours pop and the details shine for the reader, perfect to see the gruesome details and finer parts of the designs. Image sizes are all over the place, and that's not a bad thing when the printed result means they can all be appreciated with compromise.
When it comes to the written material for the development insights, it’s like getting a second book entirely. Author Paul Davies has done a superb job with both the details he provides and the interviews he conducted, resulting in a deep dive into the history of the game from its inception to post-release updates. Interviews with the creative leads for different departments, including the Game Director Mathieu Coté, make this is very informative look at the passion project, effectively conveying the care they have for Dead by Daylight and the fans.
You will learn about how this small multiplayer game became a bigger hit than anticipated, including its evolution at the early stages of its life, through to the ever-growing lore and roster. Players get the perspective of Behaviour Interactive when it comes to how it has grown, such as creating The Entity and approaching new styles of Killers to explore the supernatural. It touches on gameplay, mechanics, visual design, cinematics, and more, encompassing everything that’s involved in creating an iconic video game. It’s engaging from start to finish and will give fans a new appreciation for the work of the studio.
What I really liked about The Art & Lore of Dead by Daylight is that the text is not directly tied to the artwork seen on the page, creating a dual-book that can be enjoyed as separate ‘Making of’ and ‘Art of’ release. Both guide you through the history of the game, one with the artwork and the other with the written development history, seamlessly running alongside each other and making it a volume you can casually revisit endlessly. The execution and balance between the two is very well done, giving the book a mass appeal to all types of fans.
Credits
The only downside to the book is the fact that the artists are not credited to the images. Not all books do it this and it is preferred, but it’s something that is not included here.
Use of Space
The designers for The Art & Lore of Dead by Daylight have knocked it out of the park, taking a huge amount of artwork and text and making it all fit without overcrowding the book, all while making it clear and very readable. Often a book will keep it simple of the design side with this much content, but they have used textured backgrounds, a lot of layout variations, artwork designed to look like it was taped in, and more. It’s easy to overdesign this and become distracting, but it works very well at being busy, but not distracting. The print quality also helps the artwork shine as it deserves too.
The binding also plays a factor as well, because in the spreads where art crosses the centre fold, there is minimal image loss, which is something I always consider a huge win. Most of these images are detailed illustrations and not early concepts, so it’s great that they get a strong showcase.
Value
The book comes with an RRP of $39.99 in the US and £34.99 in the UK, which is at the lower end of what you see for artbooks and that makes it very good value for money. Artbooks in 2026 are typically $50 now, so Dead by Daylight fans interested in this are getting a full-sized artbook with a huge amount of concepts and details for a great starting price.
Deals come and go and using Amazon as always for consistency on the day of release, the book is already discounted in the UK and selling for under £28, a price that’s hard to pass on. Nothing on Amazon US yet, though they are often later to deals, but even at full price, you’ll find a lot of value here.
Verdict
The Art & Lore of Dead by Daylight delivers a wealth of incredible artwork that shares a lot of early and unused material that players can spend hours poring over, doubled up with a wonderfully engaging development history shared through detailed interviews. After hunting down your prey in the game, or avoiding being sacrificed to The Entity, this is the perfect book to sit with and get lost in, enjoying the horror all over again in a new way.
The impressive amount of artwork and early designs, the rich insights, and design approach make this a worthy 10th anniversary celebration of Dead by Daylight, coming highly recommended as one of the strongest artbook releases of the year.
If you enjoyed the review and previews of the book, you can order a copy of The Art & Lore of Dead by Daylight here;
To find out more about the role of author Paul Davies, you can read my interview with him about his work and the book here - Interview: Author Paul Davies on Artbooks and 'The Art & Lore of Dead by Daylight'.
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