The Casting of Frank Stone Reviews
Supermassive Games' collaboration with Dead By Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive results in occasionally awkward fan service.
The Casting of Frank Stone is a dull Dead by Daylight spin-off story that’s barely worth staying up past your bedtime for.
The Casting of Frank Stone is as disappointing as it is derivative.
The Casting of Frank Stone is among Supermassive’s best work yet, with one of its strongest casts, a story that emboldens Dead by Daylight’s world while standing on its own two feet, and so much thought and care behind every single interaction. Not only is Frank Stone its best since Until Dawn, it even surpasses that seminal modern classic.
Supermassive and Behaviour team up for a fun horror story, but not without several faults.
Those who have always wanted to know more about how Dead by Daylight’s cast of characters came to be trapped in a never-ending nightmare by The Entity will be wholly pleased to finally have some answers, especially if the DBD-stylised achievements and endless Easter eggs didn’t already have you foaming at the mouth. If you’re a fan of Dead by Daylight or The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Casting of Frank Stone is an absolutely must-play for you. Even then, those unfamiliar with the series’ will still find something to appreciate during this entertaining, albeit fleeting, experience
While the story is great and the camera mechanic is neat, the overall experience is dragged down by the likes of repetitive, bland areas and a few aggravating characters.
The Casting of Frank Stone does a superb job of telling a greater story within the world of DbD, with cool twists and references throughout.
A bland horror narrative adventure, too focused on paying homage to the Dead by Daylight universe rather than on creating a compelling and convincing story.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Casting of Frank Stone works when Supermassive Games is focused on crafting an original horror story built from the same bones as Until Dawn. Its multigenerational slasher premise gets complicated by its duties as a spinoff, throwing its titular killer and grander themes to the wayside to retroactively build lore for a separate multiplayer game. It makes for a disjointed tale that only claws at a larger point about the intersection of horror and the media about it.
The Casting of Frank Stone makes for an exciting expansion of the Dead by Daylight universe, even if it doesn't do much to stand out from other Supermassive Games titles.
The Casting of Frank Stone shows Supermassive's adaptability, producing another great example of the narrative horror for fans to sink their teeth into. It's not quite as strong as Until Dawn or The Quarry, but the way it links back to Dead by Daylight is a big bonus for fans of that game and its universe with the exciting potential for more spin-offs in future.
The Casting of Frank Stone takes some big swings with its story’s final act that pay off and elevate what otherwise could’ve been just another narrative-focused horror game. Supermassive does a good job of adding some action to its exploration sections and layering in plenty of Easter eggs from the series. Dead by Daylight fans are sure to have a blast, and I hope this isn’t Supermassive’s last foray into making a horror game in an established world.
The Casting of Frank Stone is slightly better received than the disappointing final chapters of The Dark Pictures Anthology. But it's nowhere near as good as the well-crafted The Quarry or Until Dawn.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Like I said at the outset I was excited for the possibilities for The Casting of Frank Stone, but sadly that excitement didn’t last. The brightest things about this game were when it was pitting the cast against the supernatural but these things are few and far between and take a LONG time to get to. This is an extremely slow burn, and since the characters feel paper thin; there just isn’t a lot to grab onto here. The Casting of Frank Stone has tons of references for Dead by Daylight fans but the lack of scares and likeable characters makes this one best left on the hook.
That said, anyone looking for a solid narrative will likely be disappointed with The Casting of Frank Stone. It lacks the type of meaning that could make the story compelling, and also the type of over-the-top action that could make it pulpy fun. Instead, players are treated to a middling experience exploring largely homogenous areas of two stale environments with little to care about.
Though The Casting of Frank Stone doesn't make any sweeping changes to the formula etched out by the likes of Until Dawn, The Quarry and The Dark Pictures Anthology, it does manage to effectively marry up that formula with the universe of Dead by Daylight with impressive results. Notably, the usual flaws also apply here, with The Casting of Frank Stone beset by the same plodding horror adventuring, wooden dialogue and mostly annoying cast of characters that are usually the hallmarks of similar efforts. If however, you're fine with all of that and just want another handsomely made Supermassive Games romp then The Casting of Frank Stone will surely appeal. Should you be a devoted Dead by Daylight aficionado though, feel free to add a point or more to the score and dive in.
The Casting of Frank Stone takes a more measured approach to storytelling than The Dark Pictures Anthology, Until Dawn or The Quarry. It spends a long time getting to know its relatively small cast. When the scares and horror really kick in, they pack a punch because we’ve come to care about the characters. Excellent cinematic visual direction, an engaging mystery and top-notch voice acting are the stars of a game-slash-movie easily worth the price of a ticket.
The Casting of Frank Stone is yet another hit from Supermassive Games, delivering an engaging horror story deeply rooted into the lore of Dead of Daylight equally enjoyable by fans of the original game and those with no knowledge of the multiplayer game created by Behaviour Interactive. While its short length and limited gameplay may slightly hinder the experience, the game remains a worthwhile purchase for those who appreciate well-crafted supernatural horror stories.
We generally love the marriage between story and gameplay that Supermassive Games creates, but without the many advancements of The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Casting of Frank Stone feels far too simple. With an uninteresting narrative to boot, the first effort to expand the Dead by Daylight universe is a misfire.