Dead by Daylight is a survival horror game where one player takes on the role of a killer and another other four try and work together to survive. It's unusual because of this asynchronous play and its cross-over with different franchise-inspired themes.

When you play as a Survivor you try and escape the map by repairing five Generators to power the two Exit Gates while avoiding the Killer. You can't use violence so must use tactics and stealth to avoid being caught. Crouching behind obstacles, hiding in tall grass, dark corners, or in lockers. The Killers proximity is signalled by an increasing heartbeat sound, you can also see which way the killer is looking with a red light indicator. Survivors work together to free each other from traps, and hinder the killer by blinding them. They can also heal each other from the injured or dying state.

The Killer's main objective is to kill other players which they do by catching and sacrificing them. They have advantages to offset the fact there is only one of them: track players via Scratch Marks they leave, track bloodstains left behind by injured players and get notifications of survivor location when they make loud noises. The killer character is also faster and can attack the survivor players.

Players are scored on performance which leads to their ranking for competitive matches, matchmaking, and ranking on leaderboards. There are 20 Ranks for each role, with Rank 1 being the best. Players go up and down the ladder based on their performance in various aspects of a Trial. A Season lasts for one month. As a new Season begins, the Ranks reset.