Dead by Daylight: Many Clues Suggest Doomed Curse Map Was Originally Planned for ‘The Thing’ Collaboration

For players who have followed the game closely since its release in 2016, this idea aligns with the style and production clues that usually signal a licensed collaboration. Here are the primary pieces of evidence fueling this rumor:

1. Unique Hook Design: The map’s hooks feature a distinctive design that stands out from the game’s other original maps. Traditionally, Dead by Daylight reserves these unique hook styles for licensed content, as seen in the Stranger Things map.

2. Exit Gates and Borders: The exit gates and map borders have a uniquely detailed look, something that is typically only seen in maps for licensed chapters. Usually, what happens with map variations is that existing assets from other maps are reused, as was the case with the Dungeons & Dragons collaboration. However, in this instance, the map features completely unique details, distinct borders and skyboxes, hinting that something significant may have originally been planned for it. 

3. Enhanced Environment Details: The environment includes small but significant touches like snow on generators, hooks, and lockers, which is rare in original Dead by Daylight maps. It’s these finer details that usually indicate the extra design efforts put into licensed maps.

4. Abundance of Dead Miners: Throughout the map, the presence of dead miners has raised eyebrows among fans. In the lore of Dead by Daylight, this region belongs to The Legion – a group of teenagers who wouldn’t logically have the capability to massacre so many people. However, such a gruesome scene would fit perfectly with The Thing, where miners and scientists alike meet gruesome fates due to the alien creature.

5. Excessive similarities to the setting of The Thing: The Doomed Curse map in Dead by Daylight bears a striking resemblance to the atmosphere and setting of The Thing, particularly the remote and snow-laden environment of Antarctica portrayed in the film. With its icy landscapes, abandoned industrial structures, and hauntingly isolated feel, this map evokes the unsettling, frozen isolation that defines The Thing. The scattered bodies of miners across the map also mirror the eerie, lifeless remnants left behind by encounters with the creature in the movie, creating a sense of dread reminiscent of the classic horror film’s setting.

6. Lack of Foliage: The Doomed Curse map is (theoretically) to be set in the same realm as Ormond, which features snow but also vegetation and foliage. Logically, then, vegetation should also appear in this map variant (as map variants typically share many details to indicate they’re in the same location), however, here, vegetation is absent, as are the trees that exist in Ormond, further suggesting that we might actually be in Antarctica rather than Ormond, as they want us to believe. Why not add trees if we’re supposed to be in Ormond realm?

7. The Map is NOT for Doomed Curse Chapter: The map that is present in the PTB with the Doomed Curse chapter is not linked to the chapter. In fact, the developers have stated that it will not be released with the chapter on November 28, but will be released by the end of the year. This is a unique case, as it has never happened before that a map was shown in a PTB alongside a chapter, only to later say that the map is not connected to the new killer and will be released separately from the DLC. This has never occurred, and it further suggests that the map actually belongs to something that was canceled, and since the work was already completed, they decided to release it anyway.