We sit down and review The Casting Of Frank Stone. A narrative take on a new Killer out in the Dead By Daylight universe. Here is our review of how Frank Stone plays
We have taken some time to marinate with The Casting Of Frank Stone and now that we are here for the Halloween season, it is time to give you our thoughts and review of the game and experience. Especially as this is a spin-off from one of the other horror classics that Behaviour still has running with Dead By Daylight. This is a massive tone change in gameplay as it is more on the Supermassive Games side of design, which might have been a turn-off for many of the diehard fans out there. Now, though, it is time to see if you should be giving Frank Stone the light of day to let him die quietly in the night on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or PC. Along with all the touches that came from the core stream we did for the game. Grab the popcorn and let us settle in.
Story
Set in the universe of Dead By Daylight, the events take place across a few different locations to also tell a generational story as well. One that shows just how the Entity comes about creating new killers for the core game. Only this time it is all about a low-budget film “Murder Mill” that we get to see play out in real-time and help the various characters make choices that will lead to Frank Stone becoming the true threat out there or getting lost to the annals of history. Even though it is hard to forget something that has been placed on film and then left for the recorded world to look at down the line…
The Casting Of Frank Stone — Review
Hated
While I mentioned that The Casting Of Frank Stone is set in the same universe as Dead By Daylight, it does also carry over a few things that should have been left out of it. The biggest one is the Skill Checks. In DbD this is usually how one would restart generators and the like. In The Casting Of Frank Stone, it is about the same, but is a QTE that feels like it was slapped on to have an extra Easter Egg and variation to the QTE structure. For this, it is a circle with a spinning pointer that we need to stop at a specific point. Something that should be as simple and basic as the rest, but does not have any of the timing synced up perfectly to actually give the player a solid chance. I missed so many of them due to a massive delay with game registering I pressed anything and the pointer stopping. I never encountered anything that truly ended the game or broke it, but I hated anytime I saw these come up as it felt like it was specifically set up for us to fail even though it needed to be completed in some cases.
The next and only real issue I had with The Casting Of Frank Stone had to come down to some of the UI in the game and the fact that there are still some glaring bugs that should not be in the game. Nothing major, but things that can take one out of the immersion of the world and story that has been so well-crafted out there. Things like character assets not getting spawned in or removed as needed. That and other things helped to lose the pacing by registering that they had been completed yet or marked off. In one instance, on the PS5, I fell out of the playable area and had to fully restart the game. All of which can be seen in the captured gameplay we have below. It feels like something that should have been caught before The Casting Of Frank Stone ever hit the market and while not anything truly game-breaking, it was just as frustrating to come across as the above issue I had with the game. Once they are patched out, then we will be one step closer to a perfect game out there.
The Casting Of Frank Stone — Review
Loved
As mentioned, The Casting Of Frank Stone is in the Dead By Daylight universe, which can be a turnoff for any who have never played that game before. It was a slight one for me at first as it has been a while since I have played and I knew this game was going to have all manner of references and Easter Eggs. That is why I was surprised to see that this is one of the games that does it correctly. For a casual fan of DbD, you will see some things. For a hardcore fan, you will have a field day. For someone who has no clue about the core IP, you will not miss out on a thing. In fact, what is sprinkled in so well will have you looking to play and experience the other game once you are done with the tale of Frank Stone. It is a love letter to the fans as well as a great stepping stone into the bigger world that the game is set in. A tough rope to balance on and Supermassive Games did it with expert precision.
Moving along from that, just as the development team has been known for, the story in The Casting Of Frank Stone is stellar and will have you wanting to see how all of the different branches flow out. It is filled with a bunch of horror movie tropes, sure, but all of them are presented in the story in such a fun way that it adds to the spectacle of it all. Not to mention that each of the characters, including Frank Stone, are given all the details and information in such a great way that the story keeps pacing perfectly and never makes you want to put it down. I only wish that each of the original Killers from the other game would be given such time and dedication. The real way to give us a horror movie is to build it into our horror video game, so to speak. In the end, they hit another home run as they have with so many of their other narrative games out there and it makes you want to see all the different ways it could have played out. Even if you want Stan to die the entire time he is on screen.
From the story, I need to dive into the other gameplay elements of The Casting Of Frank Stone that truly shined out there. I will not go into the basics of moving around, or the standard QTEs that all of these games have as they follow the same formula just with the different set dressing. What was a fun thing to have in The Casting Of Frank Stone were some of the other elements that DbD offers up besides the Skill Check system. Like the fact that we have gameplay segments where we need to fight back and it is done in a clever way that fits the gameplay and the setting of the world. I will not spoil that here, but it is akin to point and shooting so you can make your own leaps of logic from there. Not something that we normally get in these games and it was a fun and new aspect that I enjoyed each time. Even if you do have to actively fail some of those segments to see the rest of the story play out in the game.
Which leads me to the last little bit that I hope makes it into their other games after The Casting Of Frank Stone. There were two new elements to it all with the smaller one being the indication that a choice will push the story forward. it is a small thing but helps us to make sure we have explored everything in the segment and not accidentally moving things forward by clicking a random thing. Then there is the “Cutting Room Floor” element that allows us to go back to specific parts of the story that are the pivotal choices in the game. We can restart from these points to see how things would have played out instead of needing to replay the whole chapter to get these points. A few other games have something close to it, but The Casting Of Frank Stone has hit the nail on the head with this feature and I am hopeful to see it in many of their other titles but under different names going forward.
The Casting Of Frank Stone — Review
Overview
I will just be blunt, I absolutely loved The Casting Of Frank Stone and all it had to offer. The gripes I do have about the game are totally nitpicky and things that can be fixed with patches now that it is in the hands of the fans. On top of that, it is another great horror title that a casual horror fan can get into while also getting a few drips of another they might have completely skipped along the way. I was afraid, as mentioned, that The Casting Of Frank Stone was going to be nothing but DbD references, but it was crafted so that you do not even need to know that title or basic story to get pulled in for this one. You will get pulled in too, as the story is amazing and even some of the “bad” choices lead to some great endings or catharsis for the various characters. You should certainly add this to the mix of video games you are playing. At the very least, add it into the Halloween rotation as a solid bit of fun.
I give The Casting Of Frank Stone 1 Emergency Sock Quarter on the Emergency Sock Quarter scale.
The Casting Of Frank Stone was developed by Supermassive Games and published by Behaviour for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 3rd, 2024. A PlayStation copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.