Dead by Daylight: Sinister Grace features a gruesome new Killer: The Krause.

Some may be familiar with the Krasue, a grotesque creature originating from Thai culture. For the unaware, a Krasue is a woman cursed with a terrible fate, doomed to spend her nights as a horrifying disembodied head. She floats through the air, entrails dragging beneath her, as she hunts to feed on its next victim.

There’s a haunting sense of duality surrounding The Krasue. For all you know, she could be walking among you, waiting to transform when the sun goes down. Such is the tragic nature of the curse, and it’s one of many aspects that initially drew the Dead by Daylight team down this folkloric rabbit hole.

Enter the Sinister Grace Chapter, which brings the fearsome yet fascinating creature into The Fog as a Killer. By day, Burong Sukapat was a beautiful and talented opera performer. By night, The Krasue’s curse awakened, plunging her into a nightmare of torn flesh, sopping blood, and insatiable hunger.

When the Killer Design team first learned they would be bringing The Krasue to life, Game Designer Louis Langlet got to work.

“I really like mythology and folklore in general, so I enjoyed researching the Krasue,” he explains.  “What a horrifying creature.”

Maintaining the horror of her appearance was a pivotal part of the design process. In other words, the gore bar was about to be raised.

“We dedicated a lot of efforts to meeting the gore standard we wanted with this Chapter,” says Langlet. “The flesh shredding, the guts unrolling, the husk of your body taking a few last steps as it melts into blood. Elements were polished to really make the character feel disgusting. Not to mention that while in Head Form, you’ll have a great view of your fluttering organs.”

When you load into a Trial as The Krasue, you’ll be able to swap between two Forms to pursue your prey. Human Form – which can fire projectiles that infect and curse Survivors, slowing them down – and Floating Head form. While using the latter, you’ll move faster and gain the ability to strike with your appropriately named Intestinal Whip.

Having access to both forms, with the ability to freely swap between them, grants players freedom to approach the hunt in different ways, raising the skill ceiling and flexibility.

“When we begin the design process, we try to make it fun and engaging for Killer players without making it feel completely oppressive for Survivors,” he explains. “We realized early on that we wanted The Krasue to infect Survivors with a projectile, to create the feeling of a curse. We also wanted to ensure that using the Power felt dynamic, so we could avoid repetition for both sides. Of course, giving a Killer multiple abilities can present balance challenges, so we had to be careful.”

The team worked hard to ensure that both forms synergized effectively as a well-oiled machine, eventually finding the sweet spot. “One of her most effective tools is the Head Form’s mobility, which was balanced by adding a cooldown,” explains Langlet. “For instance, we didn’t want you to traverse in Head Form and instantly switch back to Body Form to attack a Survivor. It would have been too strong, and you’d never need to use the Intestine Whip. Everything has been tested and iterated at length.”

“While you ultimately have to hit a Survivor multiple times to down them, you have access to several tools that make that process feel intuitive and engaging.”

Beyond her forms, The Krasue can create pressure by forcing Survivors to engage with a unique side-objective: curing their infections with Glowing Fungus.

“The Fungus is an important piece of the balance puzzle,” says Langlet. “Survivors tend to beeline straight for Generators, so Killers can sometimes need an additional source of pressure. Ideally, an infected Survivor will feel the need to seek out Fungus rather than doing a Generator.”

As for newcomers looking to step into the nightmare as The Krasue, Langlet has a few tips to get you started.

“Think of the Body Form as a setup and use it to curse as many Survivors as you can. Remember, your projectile will splatter on the walls, which is the most efficient way to infect. Once Survivors are infected, you can really go wild in Head Form, using your mobility to catch up and damage them with your Intestinal Whip.”

Dead by Daylight: Sinister Grace is available today on Xbox, featuring the gruesome Krasue and energetic Vee Boonyasak.