The Casting of Frank Stone Reviews
If you've played pretty much any Supermassive game in the past - from Until Dawn to The Quarry - you'll know what to expect from The Casting of Frank Stone. This Dead by Daylight tie-in doesn't quite match the lofty heights of those two games in particular, but it gets pretty close, delivering an engaging popcorn horror experience along the way. We'd have been well up for a few more hours in this universe, which certainly says something, but ultimately results in The Casting of Frank Stone sitting just below greatness.
The Casting of Frank Stone takes Supermassive's tried-and-true storytelling and mixes it with Dead by Daylight's lore to tell a chilling, gruesome tale that's highly replayable and accessible to non-DBD players.
The Casting of Frank Stone is one of those scary narrative-oriented games that almost every audience of this genre can find an attractive point in it. The overall narrative of the game depicts interesting ups and downs and conflicts, and thanks to the excellent performance of the actors, attractive characters are created through which the player can easily connect with the game world, get immersed in it and make meaningful decisions.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The Casting of Frank Stone is an excellent addition to the Dead by Daylight universe, offering an engaging and well-tied narrative full of references for fans of the original game. The focus on the story and decisions creates an immersive and cinematic experience, with well-crafted psychological horror elements. However, the excessive ease of puzzles and skill tests can be disappointing for players seeking a greater challenge. The connection to the original universe and the ability to replay different scenes adds value to the game, but it stands out more for its nostalgic appeal to fans than for its innovation in gameplay mechanics.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Casting of Frank Stone, unfortunately, represents the weakest link in the Supermassive Games catalog and a drab single-player debut for Dead by Daylight. An uninspired horror tale in its unfolding, with a gameplay component further stripped down to the bone to the point that it now seems little more than an interactive movie. Fans of the canadian intellectual production will be able to appreciate the lore references and the breath of the production, finding satisfaction and gratification. All others, however, may find this walk in the woods a bit too quiet.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Casting of Frank Stone delivers as promised, excelling in its engaging narrative while also being a noteworthy expansion to the Dead by Daylight universe.
Still, it’s a typically atmospheric game, with expressive animation, detailed (if restrictive) environments and foreboding chiaroscuro lighting. Fans of Dead By Daylight will feel at home with certain story beats and its use of skill checks to make progress, and it briefly nods to Alan Wake with its camera combat mechanic. While it’s an entertaining few hours, it does feel as if Supermassive have hemmed themselves in with another studio’s story, when they’re much better branching off on their own.
The Casting of Frank Stone stands out as an excellent and fitting new addition to the Dead by Daylight universe. Blending familiar narrative elements with new characters, the game gives players the power to make their own decisions in a way that perfectly suits the Fog. This Dead by Daylight adaptation is arguably Supermassive Games' best title yet, and will likely not only become a fan-favorite for DBD fans, but for fans of choose-your-own-adventure narrative titles altogether. It breathes new life into Dead by Daylight, but is also an interesting, well-made, and developed enough story to stand entirely on its own.
The Casting of Frank Stone is a game that skillfully showcases both its strengths and weaknesses. The story, which revolves around the mysterious serial killer Frank Stone, creates a lot of suspense through different time levels and a dense atmosphere. The cinematic staging, which alternates between dark, oppressive locations and surreal dream sequences, is particularly impressive. Supermassive Games manages to perfectly capture the creepy atmosphere of a classic slasher film. Unfortunately, the title character Frank Stone himself remains rather pale. Despite his central place in the story, we learn very little about his background and motives. As a result, he remains rather one-dimensional as an antagonist, which takes away some of the story's depth. Anyone hoping for psychological insights may therefore be disappointed. In terms of gameplay, The Casting of Frank Stone offers some interesting approaches, but they quickly become repetitive. The mechanics around stopping Frank with the camera or repairing generators are strongly reminiscent of Dead by Daylight and are a nice homage, but lose their appeal as the game progresses. In many moments, the gameplay feels more like a chore than a way to build up the suspense. Graphically, the game scores with impressive lighting and strong cinematic camera work that perfectly captures the creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately, however, this immersion is severely impaired by technical shortcomings. Performance problems such as frame rate drops and long loading times are common throughout the game and significantly disrupt the flow of the game. This is particularly annoying in a game that relies so heavily on its atmosphere. All in all, The Casting of Frank Stone remains an interesting, albeit flawed, horror experience. Those who can get involved with the story and the surreal atmosphere will experience exciting moments, but will also have to put up with technical problems. With a patch, however, the game could become a much more rounded experience.
Review in German | Read full review
The creators of the largest horror franchise conglomerate team up with the experts in interactive cinematics to deliver a fun horror adventure that opens the door to the Dead by Daylight universe, expanding its potential and unlocking some of its secrets.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Casting of Frank Stone starts off well with an interesting premise and slow build so we can get to know its characters. Unfortunately it spends too much time on this that it forgets about the payoff.
The Casting of Frank Stone is based on a franchise with a very large community. Many gamers were looking forward to seeing the Dead by Daylight universe adapted by the Supermassive Games team. While the scenario holds up and pays homage to the license, the overall quality of the game does not. The gameplay is far too cumbersome, and there isn't enough interaction. The quality dubbing is marred by overly rigid animation and face modeling. Not to mention the technical bugs encountered during the course of this review. In its current state, it's hard to recommend the game to anyone. Let's hope, however, that this isn't the last time Behaviour Interactive will be commissioned to adapt its license.
Review in French | Read full review
The Casting of Frank Stone feels like a squandered opportunity in the end. Even though it combines the interactive horror formula of Supermassive with the lore of Dead by Daylight, the game fails to stand out. The atmospheric elements and tense moments are sometimes there, but the experience is ruined by a plot that lacks action, simplistic combat, and a complete lack of scares. Learning the lore might be entertaining for hardcore fans of Dead by Daylight. But for most, this is just a watered-down version of Supermassive’s earlier, more influential games. If you’ve already played either Until Dawn or The Quarry, then this experience will feel lack luster to you. The Casting of Frank Stone is a somewhat decent Halloween horror game, but it falls short in the ‘I need a change of underwear’ department.
The attempt to expand the "Dead by Daylight" universe with Supermassive's unique touch was a promising idea. However, the various issues within the game show that the synergy between these two talented developers didn’t fully reach its potential. Fans might find it worth a try, but for others, it may not leave much of an impression.
Review in Korean | Read full review
The shadow of Frank Stone looms over Cedar Hills, a town forever altered by his violent past. As a group of young friends are about to discover, Stone’s blood-soaked legacy cuts deep, leaving scars across families, generations, and the very fabric of reality itself.
Though weak in some places, The Casting of Frank Stone is still a good story set in the Dead By Daylight universe and left me excited for the possibility of more games and stories coming out in this setting.
In the end, The Casting of Frank Stone wasn't the best experience for a game with a cinematic narrative. Of course, its problems took me out of that universe a few times, but I still managed to enjoy the story, and the replayability factor was something that made me want to play it again. In other words, it's interesting, but it has its caveats. We don't know if Supermassive Games and Behaviour Interactive have plans to continue their partnership and create a new story set in the Dead By Daylight universe. However, if that happens, it's important that there's a focus on creating more interesting characters and an atmosphere of terror that brings true moments of tension to players.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Compared to other games, Supermassive Games made The Casting of Frank Stone is surprisingly light on gameplay and heavily disappointing on delivering a frightful story. I know these games aren’t usually gameplay heavy, but this nearly made it feel like a seven hour long movie. The game started strong, but once I had reached chapter seven, I was disappointed. It felt as though nothing interesting had really happened. I was also upset to find out that from chapter two all the way to chapter thirteen, nothing major story-wise had happened. What I mean by this, is there is no real character development from any of our protagonists. Nor any real times of danger from the main villain until near the last two chapters. The game had me thinking the whole time, where the hell is Frank? I found the dialogue from the characters to be cringy, random and sometimes added nothing to the plot. I enjoyed Officer Green and Robert as characters as brief as they were. The whole game feels like filler and at lacks actual suspense. If you’re looking for a good horror game, I’d either pick up the currently released, Until Dawn (or wait for its remaster) or play The Quarry.
The Casting of Frank Stone may introduce interesting new mechanics and tons of references that’ll delight DbD fans but is light on actual horror and other flaws that leave this horror game lacking.