The Casting of Frank Stone Review — A World of Horror

Dead By Daylight is an asymmetrical horror game that pits four survivors against a gruesome killer in an endless bloodsport hosted by the entity, an unknowable and insatiable being of pure terror. Due to clever crossovers, limitless progression and replayability, and, most importantly, constant and consistent updates, Dead By Daylight has long held a constant place at the top of its genre, outlasting several other promising competing titles that no longer exist. This success is no fluke, and in my experience online and with several social groups, one could easily argue that Dead By Daylight has brought horror back into the cultural mainstream, at least for a modern gaming/online audience.

While crossovers with famous licensed horror content certainly give Dead By Daylight much attention, it would be a mistake to underestimate the game’s original characters and lore. Beyond the existence of the entity and the concept of the game itself, Dead By Daylight has produced numerous fan-beloved characters and stories that captured the imagination of their audience. The game’s “battle pass” system peddles short stories for these characters that fans love to read and, along with the stories that come with killer and survivor releases, make Dead By Daylight a constant source of original and engaging horror fiction.

It only makes sense, then, that the developers of Dead By Daylight expand beyond the borders of their flagship title and bring their original writing into a dedicated, story-based game.

The Casting of Frank Stone is just that: a story-focused horror game set within the Dead By Daylight universe. With Supermassive Games, creators of The Quarry and Until Dawn, as the developing force behind the game, The Casting of Frank Stone felt like it had every tool for success. While I certainly didn’t hate the game, I do feel like it unfortunately falls short of its own hype.

When it comes to the game’s story, which is arguably the most important part, I would say that The Casting of Frank Stone is alright.

If you are familiar with the lore and world of Dead By Daylight, The Casting of Frank Stone serves as an excellent look deeper into the mechanics of some of the world’s biggest mysteries, as well as functions on a very in-depth introduction for what I can only assume are the new killer and survivors coming to the game. If you aren’t a fan of Dead By Daylight, you may find the ending a little confusing, but otherwise, the game has some good scares, tense moments and great visuals.

I want to put special emphasis on great visuals. Supermassive and Behavior have always been great with the visual element in their games, and coming together for this project feels like the perfect storm. Specifically, it feels like the many horror aesthetics that rock so hard in Dead By Daylight are expanded upon and executed with fervor in The Casting of Frank Stone. Visually, the game is absolutely stunning, and the visual storytelling is often one of the strongest parts of the story.

I would say that what the story suffers from the most are unlikeable characters and some pretty rough use of horror tropes. I won’t really get into the latter because I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but the former is an issue that comes up mostly when dealing with the game’s protagonist, Maddy and some other “survivors.” The dialogue can often feel awkward, but that level of awkwardness usually shifts from being kind of funny or tense to straight-up unbearable. There were times when the game felt rough to continue, not because I was frustrated or scared, but exhausted from listening to some of the characters talk.

The gameplay of The Casting of Frank Stone is similar to other Supermassive titles, with you exploring areas to solve mysteries and making decisions that affect how the story plays out, as well as your relationship with other characters. Occasionally, you will be tasked with quick time events, with your success or failure determining how the story plays out. My favorite of these were Dead By Daylight’s skill check system, which is a mechanic I really enjoy in that game and have often thought, “I’d like to see this as a QTE in other titles.”

What really surprised me about The Casting of Frank Stone, and in hindsight, I should have given Supermassive more credit here, was just how impactful those player decisions were. You can get drastically different dialogue options, and your choices can even affect the life or death of other characters.

This obviously means that The Casting of Frank Stone is a game that is intended to be played multiple times. Thankfully, a feature called “the cutting room floor” exists that allows you to immediately jump to the decisions you made during your playthrough, so you can see what would have changed if you did something differently without having to start a completely new game.

All in all, I wouldn’t call The Casting of Frank Stone the most amazing horror game I’ve ever played. It has excellent visuals, a decent story, and a ton of references to another game that I enjoy (though I do not and will never accept “references to something I like” as something that makes any kind of media better.) The game suffers from some awkward dialogue and awkward trope choices, and in some areas, it feels like it lacks a lot of the decision-making or quick-time events that give the game some gameplay.

However, as the first foray into expanding the world of Dead By Daylight, I’d say The Casting of Frank Stone is pretty alright. Even with the game’s flaws, I found myself in the end looking forward to the possibility of more story-based games set in the Dead By Daylight universe coming out. Specifically, I want one based around The Spirit, but I’ll just have to cross my fingers and hope on that one.

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! The Casting of Frank Stone is available on Steam, Epic Games, Xbox, and PlayStation.