Dead by Daylight Haunted by Daylight 2026 Start Time, Void Changes and Free Rewards

Dead by Daylight’s Haunted by Daylight event begins Tuesday, October 13, 2026, with the start scheduled for 9am PDT, 12pm EDT, and 5pm BST. The annual Halloween event is returning with event quests, free cosmetic rewards, shop additions, and a notable revision to one of its defining mechanics: the Void is no longer a separate dimension players enter during a trial.

That change matters more than a simple visual refresh. Haunted by Daylight has previously used portals to send players away from the main match into the Void, creating an extra space apart from the usual generator-and-hook contest. In 2026, Void rifts remain part of the event, but their job changes. Rather than carrying players into a separate area, they let players move rapidly across the map.

The result should be a Halloween event that stays closer to the central Dead by Daylight trial. It also means players heading into the event should rethink how they read rifts: they are no longer a doorway to an alternate location, but a potential shortcut whose value can change from moment to moment.

Haunted by Daylight 2026 start time

Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Pacific Daylight Time: 9am PDT
Eastern Daylight Time: 12pm EDT
British Summer Time: 5pm BST

No end date is included in the currently available event details, so players primarily interested in completing every quest reward should avoid assuming how long the event will run. The confirmed information establishes the opening time, the gameplay redesign, and the broad reward types, but not a full calendar of challenges or a detailed completion schedule.

The Void dimension is gone, but Void rifts remain

The headline adjustment is the removal of the Void dimension. In earlier forms of the event, players could go through portals and spend time in an additional location. That structure has been dropped after feedback indicated that moving into a separate dimension could make matches feel disjointed.

Disjointed, in this context, means the match’s action was divided between its normal map and a second area. Dead by Daylight’s usual tension comes from both sides sharing a single play space: survivors try to repair generators and evade the Killer, while the Killer tries to locate, chase, hook, and pressure the survivor team. Sending players elsewhere changes where that pressure is happening and can interrupt the immediate flow of a chase or objective defense.

For Haunted by Daylight 2026, Void rifts are instead fast-travel tools across the existing map. The supplied details do not specify their exact entry and exit behavior, restrictions, or placement. What is clear is that they can help either side reposition, and that chased survivors may find them especially valuable.

Why rapid travel could reshape a chase

A chase is the direct pursuit between a Killer and a survivor. Survivors generally want to extend it long enough to create time for teammates to work on objectives; Killers want to end it efficiently before that lost time becomes too costly. A cross-map rift can therefore alter the geography of a pursuit in an instant.

For a survivor under pressure, a rift may offer a way to break away from a dangerous part of the map and emerge somewhere with more room, a stronger route, or simply greater distance from the Killer. That does not make a rift a guaranteed escape. The system is described as usable by everyone, so a Killer may also use rapid travel to cut down on rotation time, reach a different objective, or turn an apparent getaway into a new intercept.

The practical lesson is that rifts should not be viewed as survivor-only safety devices or Killer-only mobility tools. They are shared map infrastructure. Their usefulness will depend on timing, map position, who notices them first, and whether the destination creates a better situation than the one a player leaves behind.

That shared-access design could keep the event mechanic influential without taking players out of the match’s main arena. It is a narrower role than a full alternate dimension, but potentially a more immediate one: instead of pausing the central map conflict to enter the Void, players can use a rift to change the terms of that conflict right away.

Free Haunted by Daylight quest rewards

Event quests will provide the route to the confirmed free cosmetics. The currently named reward categories are:

Shane outfit
Hillbilly outfit
Survivor shirts
Killer masks

The information available does not identify every individual shirt or mask, nor does it explain which specific quests unlock each item. Still, the list makes an important distinction for players planning their event time: these items are tied to completing quests and are identified as free rewards.

A cosmetic is an appearance item rather than an explicitly stated gameplay upgrade. Outfits, shirts, and masks let players customize how their chosen characters look. For an event built around a horror-season theme, that provides a progression reason to participate even for players who are more interested in collecting character looks than in the altered rift mechanics.

Additional outfits will also be available in the in-game shop during Haunted by Daylight. Those shop offerings are separate from the free quest cosmetics. Players should therefore check the item’s acquisition method before assuming every event-themed look is earned through play.

How to approach the event without overcommitting

With the quest objectives not yet detailed, the most sensible preparation is simple: be ready to play after the October 13 start, watch for the event quest requirements, and prioritize the rewards that matter most to you. There is no need to infer exact completion tasks from the reward list alone.

Once in matches, pay close attention to how rifts affect routes on the maps you know. A fast-travel point has different value depending on whether a player is actively being chased, moving toward an objective, responding to pressure elsewhere, or attempting to predict an opponent’s rotation. The event’s core novelty is not merely that rifts exist, but that they now keep their users within the same map while moving them through it quickly.

For survivors, the stated emphasis on chased players suggests rifts may be worth treating as possible bailout routes when conventional movement is no longer enough. For Killers, the same mechanic is a reminder not to regard a distant sound, objective, or survivor sighting as automatically out of reach. Neither conclusion is a substitute for learning the live behavior of the reworked system, but both follow from its intended role as rapid map traversal.

Haunted by Daylight arrives during a broader October period that also includes a new Rift and cosmetic collections in the shop. Here, “Rift” refers to a Dead by Daylight progression feature, while “Void rifts” are the event’s map-travel mechanic; despite the similar terminology, they describe different things. Keeping that distinction straight will make the event overview easier to follow when quests and cosmetics begin appearing in-game.

Seasonal multiplayer events often ask players to balance limited-time progression with the normal demands of competitive matches. The 2026 version appears to reduce one possible source of confusion by removing the extra Void location entirely. Whether the new rifts create fresh escape routes or sharper opportunities for pursuit, the action remains rooted in the trial map itself.

Players looking beyond Dead by Daylight’s October changes can also follow other evolving seasonal-game mechanics, including Diablo 4’s decision to leave an unintended Season 15 power interaction in place for now.