Let Down: How BHVR Messed Up Their Most Anticipated Chapter 

For some reason, the alien chapter just feels...off. im not compelled to play the game as much as i was, and playing against the Alien just feels like brain rot

Personally, I don’t think Alien was a bad chapter. I love the killer and I think he is very well designed and fun to play. I think the issue people have with xeno is the no slowdown bug when he launched and the lack of a good tell before he goes for a tail attack. But I think it’s much better now and I love Aliens addition to the game, though I do think they could have done a little more for xeno’s power

Another chapter that was absolutely legendary was Silent Hill. Konami appeared completely disinterested in video games at the time, so to see that crossover happen was legendary. That chapter was the most I've ever played the game. I've been playing a lot during this chapter too, but I'm basically ignoring the alien. I don't think he's fun to play at all (M2 is too unpredictable.)

Stumbled on this video super late but I just wanna say that this is probably the best presentation of the problems with this chapter I've ever watched. Good job, man!

I just wanted a Piglike Xeno where you get facehuggers on survivors. If we didnt get Dredge Nemesis then it woulda done better.

As someone who finds xeno disappointing but still fun to play, they just didn't do enough with the power. It's just a nemesis whip with a bit of stealth and map traversal. I think tcm being out is why the player count didn't budge for xeno. And I think more people came out to play wesker because 6.1 meta update had come out just a few weeks before and he was the 1st new content since that patch.

Ever since I started playing DBD back in 2018, I've been wanting them to add an Aliens dlc. I stopped playing after Pinhead came out a couple years ago, and I kept telling myself that the only thing that could possibly get me back into the game is if they add Aliens. It finally arrived and I was so excited to try it out, but I still just couldn't enjoy the game the same way that I did before. Something about this game just isn't quite the same, and I can't put my finger on it.

This is a great video. It nails why I feel like 4 chapters a year is just to much. Their bug list is to long to justify adding that much new tech every year, on top of the events. As one of the people who prestiged alien, IMO most changes to a killer in the first year should be bug fixes. Bug fixes everywhere

Just a tip for those in solo queue playing against Alien; I have found it to be super effective to waste a health state by bodyblocking a turret from Xenomorph and taking a hit, forcing him out of runner mode and guarenteeing that I have a longer chase in most circumstances. Treat it abit like hit and run wraith, where you would usually want to be close to a pallet and also try and figure out a good death spot to path to, as all chases come to an end at some point, rather than pathing to a good pallet nearby an important gen your team could finish, take the decision to die in a spot that advantages the team and wastes Xeno's time, forcing him into tunnels and trying to pause the game for full team resets can be really effective. One last tip in the 1v1 is to do a "side-vault", when sprinting at a window, slightly drag your mouse to the left or right to make it look like you faked the window... here's the trick- you still have time to vault the window and vacuum yourself into it whilst also making the juke look like a fake. Go try it out for yourself, run at a window, drag to the side and press space as late as you can without stopping your fast vault.

I think another huge pain point for players overall is that the meta for both sides is incredibly frustrating. Killers are faced with the MFT+Haste+Pickup Endurance meta, and survivors are slowly slipping into facing another gen-regression meta; which can be frustrating when facing Xenomorph can often feel like a lose/lose scenario The Alien chapter brought in more unique non-horror-game-players than I’ve seen in a very long time, and I think the dip in players could be due to a lot of longtime players taking a DBD break. Most people I know complaining about the Alien chapter just have gripes with the chapter, but haven’t outright fully abandoned the game over it. Not to forget that August-September were jam-packed with huge releases for gaming, like Baldur’s Gate, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Starfield.

You're looking at the wrong numbers for Wesker. Those are June 2022 numbers. He wasn't revealed and released until September 2022.

Alien plays like an “Aliens” not “Alien” it’s not a stealthy attacker it’s just *RUSH RUSH RUSH*, but I think alien is fun, just needs better hitbox,

Personally I think they should release just 2 chapters a year, anniversary and the winter chapter. I think this game runs the risk of being very over saturated. At 4 new chapters a year just think of how many new characters that will need a rework in just the next year alone

I honestly have ranked it as my 3rd personal favorite chapter…

In the video you said that you didn't like the flamethrowers because they couldn't be used effectively in chase without people helping you. But I'd argue that it's better that way. I view the counter-play to the killer more as a preemptive strategy to prevent the killer from being in it's crawler mode in the first place. What I mean is that you shouldn't be placing it in chase at all, and instead be setting it up in a loop or place before hand so that you can force the killer out of that lose lose power state you mentioned before. You made a comparison to singularity and said that they were probably trying to prevent a similar problem, but I viewed it more as a unique counter-play instead of the recycled, "use while in chase to stop killer." I don't like when killers are too similar to each other, which is my main reason for disliking the xeno. The part that I dislike more than the lose-lose situation you can be in, or the attack itself, is the fact that he's not unique enough. In my eyes he's just another, "wait until the survivor is in an animation lock so you can press your special button." There's no depth to that kinda power, it's dull. Of course theres slight differences but the main usage of the power stays the same. Pyramid head can hit through walls and make trails, Nemesis can break pallets and has zombies, death-slinger has some range, huntress has more range, and xeno has tunnels. I wanted such a unique killer to have a more unique form of attacking. That's my only real problem with the chapter.

I think the reason that so many people left DBD when Xeno came out is because at pretty much the same time they killswitched flashlights.

He feels like he’s just a wonkier, less fleshed out demo, while also being better than demo for the most part. But what saddens me is that this killer - and singularity - will never be balanced. Why? They both have a single item that is meant to counter their entire kit. I feel like this is such a big flaw within recent design.

If next chapter really predator, hopefully they do him better. I know DBD can't fully flesh alien because for balance and limited moveset but, if next chapter really predator, i doesn't know how they will execute him especially with how many tech predator have

As a massive Alien fan. I love the chapter. The only thing that holds it back for me though is Sigourney Weaver not being the likeness or voice for Ripley

I dunno alien has been my favorite killer (granted I’m a huge alien fan so I’m very biased) but I love the bug

You make great points about this chapter, and I think it's also the issue of adding someone that fits the meta at the moment and is considered an anti-loop killer. This adds on to your point of the lack of telegraphing their "m2" power. Xeno is unique in this concept and it is implemented in a poor time in the game. The game would need to rework its fundamental features for it to be fully accepted, along with future and maybe existing killers too. But we know that's not gonna happen.

I honestly love the alien chapter. I have fun on both sides even before the xeno nerf

I remember when the chapter got announced those few months ago and man were me and my friends hyped. That was until we tried out the PTB and immediately it just felt off and a lot of those elements that felt off are still in the game to this day. I really enjoy this chapter but even I can see that it has a few issues that hold it back for me and I’m glad I found your video cause everything you said about the tail attack not having a proper tell, a terrible hitbox, and overall just not feeling satisfying is completely true to this day. I hope they can fix it and maybe make a comeback with this chapter but as of now, the killer just adds more annoyance and lack of fairness to an already stressful and tough game.

7:24 your survivor gameplay is immaculate and your taunts are beautiful. specially how u made wesker miss his m2 after u got bang saved LOL. precious you.

Bro, you are spot on with all of this! Project W was such a W for BHVR because his mechanics are cool and skill ceiling so low the average casual DBD player can master him, this is the reason why there are so many Wesker's in the game rn. Also, IMO the reason numbers have slacked is because there are so many damn Wesker's in the game, lmao. I know I have played less because I face Swesker's 5 out of 10 matches and it gets old. Alien was cool when it came out but takes some skill, so everyone went back to their mains with a quickness. Great video!

I noticed when alien released that the player rate of her diminished very quickly compared to previous chapter releases, so something was off, great video, also unrelated, but jonah at 10:19 looks so simillar to frankling from gta 5

I think another reason this chapter didn’t do as well is Texas Chainsaw Massacre. When Xenomorph was a bit of a let down, there was a shiny new toy for us to play with.

personally i just have a problem with the lore accuracy to the power Xenomorph should be more of a scary killer than anything else, a frightening creature. He does not use his tail that much in the movies.. I am really upset to the lore accuracy of some killer because it seems like they just take what's the most iconic things and make that out of a power, (ex: the TV of ornyo, why tf there are some tvs laying on the ground) For Xeno we got no eggs, no acid, no facehugger and now i am sad

All of this is very true. When xeno came out, I said he would be my new main, but I’m finding myself going back to nemesis. Xeno feels boring after a while.

I was super hyped for the new chapter and couldn’t wait to get my hands on the xenomorph. But, after some balance changes, behavior either unknowingly or purposely messed up the tails hitbox; sometimes it would go through walls and the floor then register the hit on that surface or the tail would look like it won’t hit but it did. At first I thought I just needed to practice xeno more, but I saw more and more people saying they had the same issue as I encountered. So I definitely agree that behavior may need to take a small break from releasing chapters and fix killers that needed fixing for a while. I played xeno a ton when it came out, but now I play other killers hoping that eventually behavior will fix the mess they made

As a Xenomorph player, I agree with your statement. I will still play Xeno along with my other mains, but I do see your points being valid points.

was it just me that was super hyped for the chapter ,then played it for the first time thought it was cool for a week then didn't care for it at all after that first week

I love the alien for the most part, I like how they did the flamethrowers so that you can plan ahead to stop the tail. I however would have liked if the tail was a little more mechinical like I can whip it around so that it takes a little more skill

Here is some food for thoughts and how I viewed the whole Xenomorph situation: yes, Xeno was absolutely busted during PTB and release, because the darn tail didn't have a cooldown. This of course made playing AS the alien feel super empowering and overcharged, but on the survivor side it felt like there was no counterplay and that sucked BIG time. What then happened is now famous and well known, but basically, BHVR didn't only fix the bug asap, they also NERFED the alien. So we went from "broken, overpowered tail attack" to "nerfed and weaker" version, without us ever showing the way it was originally meant to be played. Also, with that update they did something with the tails hit box and it was all over the place, like you described it. Now comes the design philosophy behind the Xenomorph: it got a strong chase power, a very strong one, but its power could be taken completely away by survivors working together or looping around a well placed turret. And this two aspects had to interact with and balance out each other: strong tail - can be taken away or put in another way: strong power way above the chase - chance of getting the power constantly canceled and blocked. Its like the way hex totems were theoretically designed, ie high risk, high reward. But when they double nerfed the tail, gave it a punishing misscooldown, a wonky, inconsistant hit box and increased survivors ability to steal its power, then the tail suddenly wasn't above the curve anymore, it was just like any other power in the game with the added caveat that it could be stolen. Imagine if Huntress suddenly swayed and tumbled while aiming her axesinstead of pinpoint accuracy, but survivors could also put padlocks on the lockers, preventing her form reloading. I might be overaxaggerating a bit, but basically Xeno in power HAS to be oppressive and overtuned to justify the chance of its power being taken away and canceled. The whole situation felt for many players like a bait n switch: lure them all in with the PTB that showcased how awesome this killer was, then quickly nerf it and let it to linger, especially when the exact same situation happened right before that with The Singularity. I know that the situation us much more complicated and complex then that, but most people don't think that way, they only see what is at facevalue right in front of them and then lash out. I think the way how the Xenomorphs pickrate has tanked is embarrasing for such an important IP and BHVR should work ha do make a big IP as the alien as appealing and smooth as possible to play. Same goes to Myers and Freddy, btw ... its so sad and enervating, that two of the biggest icons of horror are suffering in mediocricy for so long and with no rework on the horizon, is disconcerting.

Now this is a great video, but i have 1 issue with it. You mention Singularity, and say that people had an issue with the EMPS being something the survivor can use in chase. Im not a "singularity" main, but he is my favorite killer. Ive never had an issue with EMP's, because singularity's pods are very flexible with their use. And 1 important thing you missed, is that the devs quickly listened about the strength of EMPs, and nerfed them. You run slower, they dont print as fast, and there are fewer cases. they made Singularity well designed, and balanced him to stronger. The devs knew what they were doing With Singularity and his power. they didnt know what they were doing with Xenomorph. Non-telegraphed rehash of a power. The flame throwers, shouldnt have been turrets. They shouldve been flame throwers you can carry with you to shoot at the killer. Then, you couldve let the xenomorph be strong as she is. But instead, they probably didnt want there to be a mechanic that could be used to "bully the killer". im not entirely sure if this is the case, but i just dont think its fair to say that people didnt like Singularity's emps, which are perfectly fine, and use that as a reason for Xenomorphs turrets being poorly designed. outside of that, great video. sorry the comments long.

These are all VERY valid points and reasons to be disappointed, however I personally disagree with the individual chapter criticisms (some of them at least.) I do very much agree with a lot of the points made later about needing a chapter break to fix up some of the really poor quality maps/killers/perks we’ve been getting recently. I was very much anticipating the alien chapter and to me it delivered, I’ve prestiged Xeno to 6 (which is when I usually kinda stop) and I’ve been somewhat maining them, but I hop around anyway. I love the ability from both sides, and think the turrets are cool aesthetically and fun counterplay to set up safe zones. I also love the map and think it’s the first somewhat balanced one we’ve had in ages. I am however underwhelmed with the perks, and I wish you’d have brought that up in the video more. There’s been a lot of lacking perks recently imo, and I thought that was getting changed with Nicholas Cage coming with genuinely fun ones, but the alien chapter released with some really boring nothing perks to me, and none of them really altered the game in meaningful or fun ways. Anyway that’s my take, still a great and valid video!

I just think xeno feels the most like a mash-up of killers yet. I normally disagree when people say X killer is just a hybrid of so-and-so killers, but everything about him besides the flamethrowers that aren't a part of him feel already done.

Honestly I think that one of the main factors that played a role in how well the chapter did has nothing to do with the chapter itself and instead is because it shipped with one of the most game breaking exploits in DBD's entire lifespan. A ton of killers probably stopped playing because of the locker exploit and survivor mains stopped once flashlights were killswitched. I think it's difficult to judge how well the chapter did by numbers alone because of that.

I love playing as Xeno, but I totally agree with all of these points. The biggest issue for me is the power. I feel that the licensed killers should have powers that reflect their powers from their sources. When I think of the Alien, I honestly don’t think about its tail as a weapon. There are only two moments in the original film where it uses its tail, and neither are used to kill or injury someone (at least that we can tell, case in point Lambert’s death). The hitbox is one of the worst I’ve seen and I wish that BHVR did something else to represent one of my favorite movie monsters, or at least fix the hitbox which feels like a dice roll on whether it will hit someone or not.

Hey, just letting you know. We were watching this together with my stream, your Wesker vs. Neme chapter numbers are wrong. You pulled the numbers for Roots of Dread chapter, not Project W. Project W didn't come out until August and you pulled the June 2022 numbers. Just letting you know!

I do like xeno, but I can see your points and have noticed not getting any of the killer in my lobbies. I really hope they fix some of the things you mentioned and look forward to it

I think we have had a pretty good job so far

My issue with the Alien chapter is that it doesn’t feel like a new power. Playing against it is NOT fun either. Counter play should always work, not be limited to turrets. in addition, the way they made the chapter cost double the price for a skin made me not even buy it. I only got alien with cells because I didn’t want to waste my money on an outfit.

My main problem with the Xeno is just that he doesn’t feel very unique or interesting when compared to the rest of the killers. When looking at any other killer they’re powers fill unique traits. For an instance: Nemesis tentacle can absolutely obliterate pallets and can be a quite powerful chase tool (altho it is limited due to infection being a thing). Dredges power gives him great mobility and during nightfall becomes probably THE best teleport in the game and his remnant gives him a decent tool for chases. Plagues power needs to be spread first, but becomes very powerful once fully spread (aka once all survivors are Injured) and while it has counterplay, trying to counter her comes at a risk of making her exponentially more powerful! Xeno doesn’t feel like he brings anything new. His teleport is pretty great (altho it feels very similar in play to demo, Dredge etc) and his m2 is pretty strong (altho it feels way to much like a stronger nemesis tentacle with half the personality). Whenever I feel like playing Xeno I usually have other killers that I’d rather play. If I feel like playing a teleporting killer it much rather play demo and dredge. I’f I feel like playing a killer with a strong, but not always active chase power I’d much rather play Plague, Oni, Myers, Singularity etc. It just feels like Xeno is pointless to have.

It's true the tail can feel a bit clunky, but its still massively fun to play alien. Why? Because he's so darn strong, he's at least A+ Tier, but I wonder if he could be S tier if we discovered and mastered all his techs. Because with his techs, you could hit anyone behind a low or medium wall by moving the tail downward, it cuts through, or you could do the nemmy techs like strafe left or right. Should play him as much as possible before he gets nerfed.

excellent video, great commentary and well thought out points. earned a sub, keep up the grind

“And they come right back” As a League of Legends Vet, I can assure you they have a problem. And that problem bleeds out into their attitude while playing. And they still buy skins

I didnt come back to the game because 1. The map. 2. The killer’s power The map is good. Its just that i was expecting it to be indoors on an actual spaceship in outer space. This would lead to a different escape exit since u cant just escape out into space. And would have the best aesthetics because it would be one of the most unique maps And now the alien’s power. It’s just lazy. The teleporting is fun, but for the survivor side its all about the chase, and the chase is like the most basic mid range attack killer, we already have so many. They could of used face huggers or pouncing. and when i think of alien i think of quick sudden movements. Not some crawling dog slowly making it’s way to you.

I was looking forward to the chapter for sure. From the teaser/trailer I was very dissapointed that it didn't looked like Ripley, like at all - not a big deal to some, but was to me. The map looked cool and so did the Alien. I bought the chapter and played as both Ripley and Alien. I was a bit dissapointed about Ripleys perks, after having such fun useful perks on Nick Cage, Ripleys perks just didn't seem fun or useful at all. When playing as the Alien, it honestly felt too strong. The tunnels + tail attack is just nasty AF and many survivors just gave up and I don't blame them.

You said all this correctly, and whilst there are most things i can agree with here there are some i have to say in conclusion to my own personal experience with xenomorph, The killer is interesting...to play against to say the least, it gets you in the moment where your really listening for when the tail strike happens, yes there is a sound cue, its just that the tail strike itself happens really quickly after you hear the sound, its 1 frame the sound happens, the next 4 frames the tail started to come down on you like thor's hammer but with a blade on top, let alone the attack is pretty quick as well, now not too quickly but enough to where you can dash to the right or something, now about the window thing, ive seen AND DONE a trick with xeno where after someone dodges a tail attack to get to a window, the xeno just body block's the window entirely, and to that i say, when you dodge a xeno's tail attack, just...go around the wall, the last update they made to the xenomorph made his movement speed whilst recovering from the attack ALLOT SLOWER so you'll have enough time to get around the wall to start looping whatever tile it is that you've just waddled into, and for the turrets i can see them being useful in solo ques when you have REALLY good teammates which is rare, all i could say is they should make the turret deploy speed a smidge faster, you don't know how many times i've walked in on a survivor trying to place a turret down and i get to hit that goofy goober STILL and even i was thinking, that turret should've been placed, i saw it on the damn ground and pulled up, This is a really long comment HOT DAMN! the only thing i think is a real problem are the hitboxes', there are times where you throw your tail through a window or around a corner only to hit the TINIEST pixel of pixel's and be struck with a potion of slowness from minecraft, and then there's times where you think that shouldn't even hit, i once hit a survivor over a large rock in the new alien map and the funny thing it...I COULDN'T EVEN SEE EM!? i must've hit a tiny pixel or smth i just flat out guessed where they were and somehow my tail hits em without even having a line of sight with em.

Alien was the best chapter ever added to the game imo because I'm a HUGE fan of the franchise!

I agree with most of what you said. Landing xenos tail is not satisfying and its inconsistent sometimes i land hits i have no business landing or i miss hits that shoulda landed. But most of all i despise the flame throwers. Its stupid that the devs keep releasing killers with a kit to allow survivors to some how disable their power it feels like garbage when your power is gone especially against bully squads and frankly everyone just argues if its busted or not. People still argue if EMPS are worthless or op. You say xeno doesnt telegraph when its about to strike you compared to pyramid head or huntress and thats true but those 2 killers dont have to deal with a mechanic to remove their power from the survivors themselves and their attacks have more range or hit through walls. Its just another gimmick to make the killers feel powerless i will 100% not be shocked if the new killer that comes out whether its predator, IT, FNAF ends up with a mechanic for the survivors to disable the killers power yet again. They seem to be sticking with sci fi characters so far and each one can some how get their power disabled. But ya in short i personally didnt like this chapter cause i find it harder to enjoy a killer who can have their power turned off its just another feature to worry about when you vs experienced players. When im a survivor i have no issue against xeno i just throw a turret at a powerful loop even if it didnt get knocked out of its power i just made good distance. edit: When i play killer i mostly play pig or dredge. I planned on playing alot of alien but after getting to prest 9 i just got to bored of playing it and the flame throwers are just to annoying to deal with when you vs a swf/bully squad. Even though pig is a low tier killer who isnt great at loops i at least enjoy her alot.

Honestly I haven't seen anyone saying that Xeno is unfun to play as lol. Imo he's quite a blast to use, I have 0 problem with collision. Playing against him, however, is awful. It's miserable, and you feel you can't do anything. The Sigourney Weaver likeness thing wouldn't be that bothering me if at least they made her look normal, not like a Sims 4 randomly generated neighbour, so called "pudding".

Great video. I'm kinda new to DBD (two months in) and was surprised when they released this chapter. I really dig the Alien franchise. I'm just trying to have fun and not get caught up in the "rah rah siscumba" complaining that many players seem to do.

I think for me it was already messed up because when I imagined his theoretical power I always went for one about the xenomorphs biology placing eggs etc. I actually like what they did regarding his power i find it fun to play. But xeno also the first killer who is a 0/3 in the perk department in my op

I absolutely love playing xeno and they're the only killer where I feel satisfied even if I had the worst possible game. I love the tunnels, I love the tail attack and I love the flamethrowers. I think it would be nice to tweak the movement speed after hitting a turret with your tail so it isn't as punishing (maybe to 1.4), but other than that, for me xeno is perfect. I also do love playing against them as they aren't a killer you should loop against, which I find intriguing. I've never been too big of a fan of running the killer around the same loop for ages and I prefer moving around the map to different loops to make the gameplay more interesting, so the fact that you have to do that against xeno is really cool and fun. We only need the spitter outfit from aliens colonial marines and I'm happy

I'm a Xeno main and a huge fan of the Alien series. I loved the release of Xeno, it was and still is the most fun I've had playing killer. But yeah everything you've said her is totally valid, Xeno could use some changes. I think they could make the tail whip have a visual or audio cue and rework the turrets a bit, and it would make Xeno so much better, for both sides.

i totally agree, they should make a wellness chapter and just make the nesessary changes, and make killers that have less complex powers because i think the game is straying from the horror genre, i mean take skull merchant for example it's not scary and the power just doesn't fit in dbd i mean it's a drone, and the other recent chapters like forged in fog , tools of torment and end transmission don't feel like dbd, don't get me wrong the chapters are cool but it's just.... not fitting? i think many other people would just love to see a generic killer like a werewolf, vampire, scarecrow or grave digger that's balanced has a cool design and satisfying power. (my apologies if there are any spelling mistakes, English isn't my first language)

People are just mad cuz of the tail attack for the Xenomorph. The tail attack can reach survivors from heights, through windows, over pallets, far distances and even over some obstacles used in loops, even pro survivors have a hard time getting around this. It's completely reasonable for the Xenomproh (AKA: Perfect Weapon) to be able to get at survivors this easily, it just wouldn't do Xenomporh justice if it didn't have attacks like these. You all should stop complaining cuz it's not DBD's fault it's the way it is.

i loved the chapter mainly cause i love xenomorphs just as a creature in the movies and comics that being said me and my friend were tralking about the state of xeno in the game and came up with an interesting designe change keep his tail attack with out a wind up but make it take two hits to count as a health stage but have it apply a special debuff kinda like pyramid head so on first tail hit you get applied with it (didnt think of a name for it) and it last 30 seconds so say your chasing and first hit with a tail and get the debuff then you m1 and then hit with the tail again its a down and if you down someone with the tail you pick them up automatically with the tail and cant use your tail attack till you hook them. also he could really use some add-on rework cause like 80% of his add-ons all deal with the turrets

I will say: Even if xeno’s counterplay (flamethrowers) actually worked, it’d still be bad game design. Having them a killer that invalidates all looping unless you abuse a counterplay that forced them to be an m1 killer is just bad. I mean, look at singularity: while yes EMPs are a little strong, you can still loop him without using an EMP at all (it’s more fun tbh) and he can re-tag the survivor in like 5 seconds.

Another reason was also, when Xenomorph was live killer was felt balanced, yes it was as long as survivors put turrets and round them it was balanced, but after nerf it was kind of butchered, for example slowdown when missing tail attack or just plain missing with it, while it physically shows it goes threw body of survivor but it's not, so you have to aim at specific angles of body for actually hit with tail. That was another reason alot of ppl left it and I barely seen Xenomorph player since then. (While with this information I am solo que player and I literally seen ppl spam flame turrets everywhere before nerf)

I don't really agree with the final argument (since I think other problems affected the release, and I think those problems were the biggest culprit), but you do bring up good points and it is rare to see a coolheaded opinion in this community. Personally, I think any killer that involves some setup in order to defeat will always be hard to balance: on the one hand, Pinhead's box is thought as endlessly frustrating for solo queue, and on the other hand, Singularity is seen as an immensely difficult killer to play and enjoy. In that sense, I think BHVR tried to experiment with this chapter to avoid that. I actually enjoy the killer (and think his hitbox issues should still be fixed), but in solo queue it can be more difficult to play due to a lack of coordination. However, I'm starting to think that solo queue just needs a fundamental rebalancing, since honestly there is a lot in this game that SQ messes with. Plus, I think the team are just finding it more difficult to make different killers. Most of the past killers have either had typical anti-loop or been new ideas, and of those new ideas, many were unbalanced or just plain poorly received. Still, great video, and definitely a solid take on the whole thing. Subscribed.

I agree that there needs to be a more distinct audio cue on the tail stab, but them needing an 'm2 mode' is just silly, for example, doctor had his removed and killers like clown and my own main (demogorgon) have incredibly short switches to their 'm2 mode' that means they have the choice of m2 or m1 in any situation which hasn't made them unfair to play against.

Well, I wouldn't say they messed that up, I'd say they messed everything else up. I haven't touched DBD in a while, taking a long break, especially while MFT is meta. I preferred Dead Hard over MFT any day of the week, cause there is at least a counter play to it. And when I'm playing survivor, it isn't as fun as there isn't many interactions I actually enjoy so much anymore. Calm Spirit, my favorite perk to run, got gutted and now has a debuff and will likely never be buffed again, which destroyed my favorite build, Counterforce, Boon: Dark Theory, Sprint Burst, and Urban Evasion. This in the end was fine, I was having fun with it... but they then nerfed Dead Hard again, the previous nerf I was ok with, the Endurance effect was frustrating, but it wasn't painful. I could still down them well enough, but the new dead hard had become my favorite perk, as to me it felt like a skill perk. It was interaction that was actually fun. Fine, I'll deal with it, and I'll try to keep having fun. I ran MFT once, and I felt sick. The Killers I was playing against were having such harder times with not a single bit of set up required, and I am originally a Killer main, so I do actually feel bad. They promised that they would start changing the meta perks, yet all I have seen is Killer Perk nerfs, Overcharge and Call of Brine for example, they by themselves wasn't an issue, it was the fact that they STACKED. Yet instead of putting in a max regression cap, they decided to just flat out kill the perks. Eruption got what it deserved though. They continued onward. STBFL has been a problem perk since the base swing recovery of a Killer was changed, it has not been touched. There is more issues if you want me to continue, but basically the TL:DR is that things are getting stale, and BHVR is not helping by removing interactions and nerfing perks constantly while ignoring any broken perks or addons despite them being seen every single game. I may try again when the PTB goes live, but currently, I just don't wanna touch DBD.

Only reason I'm not playing Xenomorph is I'm still leveling my other killer. Xeno is last in que. You make good arguments but I do not think it was a rushed job. I think it was all done on purpose. Well, except the hit box thing. But let's face it, DBD has always had a hit box issue.

I do agree with bringing killer brings new players, i only played because im a hardcore silent hill fan thats the only reason i played, but if i started playing and pyramid head was horrible i wouldve dropped it snd never played again.

Although i agree with a lot of points in your video, as the wonky hitbox of the M2 or the non existent wind up. I think you completely miss the point of why this chapter failed. There 3 reasons actually. 1 perks like MFT or Buckle up, these perks were and still are omni present in every game and still make every trial as stale as humanly possible. They are what old dash dead-hard and day 1 DS were back in the day, braindead and meta. 2 Chess-Merchant was still thing, on release day of the Alien, 3gen-Merchant was still at her most powerful, and were still plaguing the game, many people still refuse to this day to reinstall the game so long as she works the way she does, although i still play the game, if i had to play game were 50% of my game would be playing against the alien and the other 50% were SM. I would probably not want to play either. 3 The scumy price increases, Alien chapter is far more expensive than a chapter of its type (1 Killer 1 survivor 1 map), It prices at the same price tag as Project W, The first Resident evil chapter or the Tools of Torment (1 Killer 2 survivors 1 map). The peoce increase was justified by the fact that you had with the bundle a rare cosmetics for Ellen Ripley. And usually Prices increases with poor justification are not well received by players/consumers in general. I think that despite the many good points of your video, these are the true reasons the chapter bombed that hard.

The premise of the argument is wrong, the alien does give warning that he's about to attack, a sound cue once you hear it he cant cancel so you can just avoid the attack if you have the reflexes to do so. In comparison with similar killers like artist, pyramid or old deathslinger, xeno is the most fair out of all of them, his range is shorter and once he commits the attack he can't fake it, you just need to gauge the distance you need to keep from him, once a pallet is down he can try to mind game, but those mindgames in the majority of times are survivors sided (a stample counter for ranged killers). also, because he doesnt have that much distance in the tail, most of the times you get into a situation where you cant fisically avoid the M2 (in the open very close to him or going to a pallet) you most likely would be m1'd anyway, so i doesnt matter, you aready messed up at some point. Yes, there is situations where there is not much you can do, but thats the nature of ranged attack killers, all the situations you would not get away from him you would not get away from a huntress from example. And the flamethrower was never meant to be a realiable way to take him out of his power, its only supose to give you safety to reach some loop in which it does its job ok. I always was an advocate against non-interactive killer powers, but this is not one of them, people really either do not understand how his counterplay work or do not wanna learn. (By the way, I find so rare that people prefer pyramid and think he is easier to avoid than alien, when pyramid can literally back rev you until you run out of all possibilities while zooning, thinking you can make 30 predictions per second than making 1 prediction of 1 tail attack, it makes 0 sense)

Dom forgivith me for thy sins of not joining the streams

For me I love Xeno but I kinda do wish it has a mixture of different power idk lol. I like the chapter but kinda feel like some things should be added or changed. I do hope one day for one of its moris we get Facehuggers and chestbursters.

Xeno’s M2 was always hitting when I least expected and missing when I was DEAD ON TARGET. What if they added a deep wound if they used M1 while in crawler (Runner mode) !? Playing against them, I would be able to loop some well that they’ll just stick to M1ing even in crawler. I’ll just stick to main killer Py Head and now Blight

I'm pretty sure demo can use their M1 while charging their M2. I'm also pretty sure that it's the only time a killer attacks with their left hand. I might be wrong, I've been away from the game for a while

Xeno just, don't sit right with me as a chapter. I loved the designs for skins - my name clearly says that, but it just seemed like they didn't understand what they were going for with the character's power in relative to the design, and they keep changing fundamentals that make him stuck between different movie references. You'll look at me like "we're talking about the power's gameplay" but the design as a whole makes me feel like I'm playing as a xenomorph from an insane amount of films and it's so incoherent. They obviously based the xeno's design off of the first movie, the counterplay feels like aliens? The animations for the intro, is completely based off alien isolation, the addons are taken from the first movie also, same as the PTB's music, then they changed it to something based off of aliens. They clearly wanted to base the killer entirely off of the first movie, but yet it feels more like the other films. Not only this making the vibe feel wrong, after they completely screwed up the hitbox for the tail further, I've found myself (as you said) abandoning the poor girl at p21 and trailing back to wesker.

Strangely enough it's singularity that got me back to the game... but I don't play him a lot, because he is ultra stressful to play, since emps are so easy to get all the time, and setting pods down mid-chase can be pretty difficult... Didn't bother getting xeno, since I don't like the perks, don't like how Ripley looks nothing like her, and xenos gameplay seems kinda meh to me. It seems like a more stressful Demogorgon mixed with nemesis to me, where instead of earning the power I can lose it at any time and get looped even harder because the turrets obscure my already bad vision...

The Singularity was a failure?

I'm not saying the xeno didn't deserve the nerf but how weird the hitbox is it's now really frustrating. Before if you missed because of hitboxes it didn't matter because you could quickly attack again but now with the nerf it's just really makes the tail feel bad.

I agree that it feels too easy to play the killer, and too hard for the survivor due to the M2 issue... he could at least make a hiss 1 sec before tail attack or some specific pose. Killer is super fun to play as, but not against. There is that video, don't remember from who, where people voted most fun to play as and most fun to play against. Xeno had a 80%+ for playing as but I remember only 40-something% for playing against. Also its animations are kinda choppy, as if not completed, and it especially showed during PTB and people complained in the forums about it as well. So everyone thought, oh PTB, it'll be better when finished. And no, not really... still unfinished. And the carrying animation looks so goofy- Footnote, DBD has a hitbox problem with literally everything, especially killers like Huntress, Xeno, Trickster, Demo

I'd kill for a mandela catalog chapter. A killer that can look and act like a survivor is terrifying. Doubt it will ever happen though.

I really never really understood the flame turrets because because I don't thing crawler mode is strong enough to require a way to knock the alien out of it

It doesn't help that is the 3rd licensed killer with a range ability that hits over / through pallets. And at least PH can hit through walls and nemmy can break pallets super fast. Also, personal note, but the tunnels make me motion sick. Something about the way movement is simulated is visually hard for me to watch.

I love alien but for some reason I just can’t play the killer it’s mostly a skill issue on my part but I’m not a big fan of the lowered camera view and having survivors get insane distance because my tail went right through them

You can’t ‘charge’ xenomorph’s m2. You click it, it goes off. No charge, no stopping the attack. Get the rest of what you’re saying

I think it`s more simple than what the video is talking about. (At least for the "killer pick rate" side) 1- Xenomorph's power is bland - A teleport that was more spectacle than utility. All parts of the power are copied from other killers with minor tweaks(teleport- Freddy,Hag, Singularity, Sadako,Demogorgon, Cenobite,Dredge. Partial stealth(crawler mode)- Wraith, Myers, Doctor(with calm add-on),Freddy(dream state), Pig,Ghost-face,Sadako,Dredge, Skull Merchant.Mid range damage ability -Plague, Demodoggy dash, Deathslinger, Pyramid Head,Nemesis) 2-For Alien fans, they ignored some fundamental characteristics of the Xenomorph and the franchise(Where are the face huggers? Why didnt they use the acid? ) 3- Mixing 1 and 2: Xenomorphs are considered to be the 'Ultimate being', so why doesn't that translate to the killer? Make it all actions it takes 2% faster.Make it the tallest killer, so it has a bigger line of site.Xenomorph can`t get hit by pallets, instead taking a step back for the animation. Have the Xenomorph crawl on ceilings. Give it SOMETHING unique 4- The hitbox thing I disagree that it's the issue for pick rate. Huntress has had issues with her hatches for YEARS, but she has amazing pick rates.Plague's puke has issues with her puke hit detection, yet it's rarely talked about being an issue affecting her pick rates That's my TED Talk, thank you for reading

The M2 not being telagraphed is fine cause they cant m2 all the time. the flame turents is how you stop the m2

a lot will defend against a health chapter because no new content = no money from players. but you're telling me there's absolutely no money earned from let's say - a twins rework? Nobody plays them, ergo nobody has bought any of their skins. Make a twins 2: electric boogaloo chapter that actually makes them fun to play and besides the effort reworking them you've essentially made money from already existing content. And twins, along with the majority of the lower half of killers don't need complete power overhauls, just number tweaks and shuffling around the systems already made for a particular killer. Something like sadako's rework basically.

I thought people hated the DLC because they've included skins in it to sell it at the same price as Project W. Didn't know Xeno was that bad lmao

I love alien, but the tail strike was heavy nerfed and does not work Properly. It always feels off. And not even using. Plus it feels like u get more speed when ur on 2 legs then 4.. I just went back to maining nemesis

As for me, I'm extremely happy that the Alien Chapter's finally been released This is my long awaited dream chapter. But it feels off. It doesn't feel like Alien. It feels cheap. It feels ALIENS. The chapter has so many nods to Aliens, its entire design is built around Aliens and not Alien The only thing that looks like Alien, is the Xenomorph themselves. Their visual design is SOOO dope, and yet everything else is Aliens. Not to mention Ripley, as they didn't even reach out to Sigourney Weaver to acquire her likeness... And then there're those little nit picks about the Xeno that combines into a flop... Turrets don't turn around while in scouting mode inspite of their beams turning, Xenomorph's crawling animation looking extremely dumb, it literally looks like a randy cat, and many many more :( Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the chapter, but all those things make me actually a little dissapointed in the company...

I have a problem in loading screen somthing named"license caches "is taiking forever to load if someone know how can i fix it pls tell me

Make turrets too strong and xeno has no power Make turrets too weak and xeno has no counterplay Solution Flame throwers now puts xeno on a timer Xeno gets to keep it's power for 10 to 20 seconds after getting hit by a flamethrower gains more time with addons Flame throwers are now on a 4 minute cooldown per tunnel The turrets are too hard to use to effectively counter Xeno I play xeno and getting hit out of your power is a once per game moment in the current state of the game This rework would solve 2 things 1 xeno can get his power back and start a chase asap halfway across the map just by tunneling by making xeno still have his power you de incentavise tunneling immediately after getting burned and staying in chase. Yes if xeno gets burned he cannot regain his power in the tunnels until the cooldown is now active again 2 turrets never work now turrets will always get value potential rework Xeno now only enters crawler mode when exiting tunnels Flamethrowers still only affect xeno when in crawler mode

I like Xenomorph a lot as someone who’s loved Alien since a kid. I’ve gone back to maining Wesker though. Why? It is so fucking infuriating to have your tail directly on top of a survivor, clearly hitting, and it just fucking passes through them and you get robbed of your chase. Add an audio cue, add a bit more windup, do whatever you want but for the love of CHRIST clean up the hitbox BHVR. It feels like it’s gotten worse since release too, within a few days of playing nothing but Alien after release I understood it, nowadays it feels like 50% of the time it works and 50% of the time it does what it wants. I think the chapter probably sold well, but honestly TCM is out and MFT is in the game and making killer a nightmare, plus it’s not going to ever outdo Wesker so like yknow haha.

The amount of tbaging in this video while...

honestly this video is so well made, props to you, im amazed you only have 3k subscribers

About that no fun to play and no fun to play against part. We can pretty much add Trickster to that list. He's still no fun to play against and he no longer is fun to play as, sadly. Also I'm not sure how it is overall, but personally I don't find Singularity or reworked Onryo to be fun to play either as or against as well. I'm worried what is happening in their design team. Btw. in like those 2 months I think I saw only 2 Xenos and no Singularities. I even saw Twins and like 5 Hags, which at that point is weird, considering how those 2 are the least popular killers. Granted, part of why Xeno is less popular could be due to DLC pricing, but still. And there were so much Xenos on launch day and afterwards (unlike how it was with Singularity where people stopped playing him within hours, so it was obvious he will join Twins corner).

yeah it was definitely rushed, like you cannot tell me that locker grab animation is finished, the survivor has like 3 keyframes and the killer camera placement is way off

I think it's the state of the game in general rather than just the specific chapter. We've gotten one and a half (if I'm generous) meta shakeups since they first promised them to be a regular thing. Hopefully, it's not too spicy of a take to say Made For This is problematic. Xeno is visually well done but gameplay is pretty boring whether you win or lose. Map reworks have been a mixed bag, showing a lack of clear understanding, likely from just looking at satisfaction surveys. The anti-camping mechanic is seemingly disliked by both sides with how it's currently implemented. Still no unranked queue or even separate queues for solo vs. SWF like literally every other game with an MMR system has. I could go on forever.

Alien was literally one of the best chapters ever idk wtf yall are on

I personally really love xeno and it’s more than likely due to the fact that this is my dream chapter. I will say, however, what’s been bugging me (no pun intended) is that this killer has been plagued by bugs ever since their inception from the PTB (understandable) to the launch to even NOW. Even in the current PTB they fixed the tail being laggy/weird but now xeno can’t hear in tunnels. It’s just bug after bug. Also the exploit bug more than likely also caused players to leave between killers not wanting to play against exploits and survivors not wanting to play due to flashlights being killswitched. Just a really bad release that introduced WAAAAAAYYYYYY too many bugs

I dunno why they didnt just give him the crawl from the avp game