I love horror anthologies. They're great for when you don't feel like dedicating a lot of time to one particular movie, book, or game, and would rather experience multiple stories in the same amount of time that it would've taken to get through one longer release. There've been a ton of horror movie compendiums, most notably Tales of Halloween, the V/H/S series, and Creepshow. However, there haven't been any full blown collections of horror games until now. Dread X Collection is an anthology of ten horror games, each created by a different indie developer specifically for this compilation, and each in only one week. There are both unknown and conspicuous names amidst the contributors, and each title is done in different visual and gameplay styles. Truly, there's something here for everyone, and if you're looking for an impressive amount of variety for a conservative cost, you've come to the right place. I will go through the games in the order that I played them, and break them down with a very short synopsis and individual rating.

- Shatter: Leaning more towards cybernetic science fiction, this title boasts a faux PS1 aesthetic that sees you encountering giant pink insects while attempting to stop the spread of a virus. It's enjoyable once you know what you're doing, which may take a bit of time, and its challenge ramps up when you enter the darker version of its world. It's Silent Hill meets System Shock, essentially. 3.5/5 (20 min)

- Rotgut: A better name for it is Tunnel Walking Simulator 2020. The environment is haphazardly put together, with disappearing textures, doors that aren't attached to buildings, and lighting that changes constantly. After figuring out what to do, you spend 20 minutes walking down a tunnel and making your way back. That's it. This made me have a mid-life crisis after I was done playing it, and it made me question if the dead end of the tunnel that I was guided towards was really a metaphor. A massive waste of time that did not have any heart or soul put into its construction. 1/5 (20 min)

- Summer Night: It simulates one of those old Tiger Electronics toys from the 80's/90's. You end up playing the game in the toy, and things start to go weird both in it and your surroundings, but very slowly. The build up takes a bit too long to get to a very disturbing level, but when it does it provides some subtle spine tingling moments. 3/5 (15 min)

- Mr. Bucket Told Me To: You're stranded on a deserted island, and your only friends are Mr. Towel, which you use to wipe with after you poop, Mr. Spear, and Mr. Bowl; all inanimate objects, ala Castaway. There are working survival game elements, such as hunger, thirst, poop, health, and energy bars that you must keep at a certain level, or face death. The plot becomes bizzarre, but it's one of the most unique concepts for a small indie horror game that has been seen. 3.5/5 (20 min)

- Hand of Doom: It's inspired by the classic first-person id Tech 1 Engine (Doom, Heretic, Strife) games from the 90's, with a little bit of old Might and Magic thrown in for good measure. The atmosphere is very dark and gloomy, and there's a strong Diablo vibe happening. There are additional secrets to uncover beyond the base objectives, which is to collect a couple of artifacts and banish an evil sorcerer's spirit. The spell casting is wonderfully inventive and fun, although the character's turning speed could stand to be increased. Out of all the titles presented here, this one absolutely would benefit from a full-length release the most. 4.5/5 (20 min)

- The Pony Factory: A truly terrifying black and white descent through a bloody slaughterhouse of carnage. It showcases how tense ambient atmosphere, suffocatingly tight corridors, and an unpredictable nature can easily trump cheesy enemy models and a silly storyline. That said, the health and ammo pickups are distributed unevenly and create unnecessary frustration. There are multiple game modes, lending to replayability. 4/5 (50 min)

- Don't Go Out: A turn-based strategy card game where you have to avoid a creeping darkness and two eldritch creatures. It utilizes sprite graphics on one scene, which is darkened so that you're unable to see the horrors trying to massacre you and your friends; you'll have to play specific cards to get glimpses of the area around you. It's the most confusing game of the anthology, as nothing is explained; no tutorial, no tooltips, no stat breakdown, no goal. Turns out, you just have to survive nine rounds without being consumed, all to reach an anti-climactic ending. 2/5 (30 min)

- The Pay is Nice: The shortest game of the lot, but a true hommage to the fixed camera angles era of survival horror. You just guide a man along his daily work routine, but it turns out that the company he works for isn't exactly blue collar. There's an unexpected twist at the end, and the anxiety-provoking atmosphere keeps the player tense for all ten minutes of its gameplay. 4/5 (10 min)

- Carthanc: A hardcore experience where you have to explore an ancient Egyptian tomb to collect three pieces of a mummy and reconstruct it. However, you have to delve through some nasty platforming, relentless enemies, and tough trap areas to get to the end of the game. It's very frustrating, especially due to the dark and overly distorted visuals; there is way too much chromatic aberration happening that can't be turned off. This is the Dark Souls of the collection, but it feels far less rewarding to defeat. 2/5 (50 min)

- Outsiders: Created by one of the developers from SCP: Blackout, this title is the closest to your modern day horror experience that is offered within the collection. You wander through your house, searching for keys, progression items, and hidden switches. All the while, you slowly come to realize that your home is becoming overrun by violent strangers that you can only catch brief glimpses of. There's a lot of trial and error to be experienced, and you'll die more than a couple of times. However, each death brings new hints within the house. The ending is totally unexpected, and well worth the work that it takes to get there. 5/5 (40 min)

Overall, Dread X Collection is an amazing, diverse anthology of indie horror games and ideas that otherwise may have never seen the light of day. There are a couple of duds in the mix, but the overwhelming majority of titles are fun, captivating, and well polished. Even those that don't particularly stand out have something different to offer, and it is important to keep in mind that each developer was only given a week to complete their game. There are only two major gripes here, and one is that about half of the titles give no clear instructions on what to do, or what their goal is. The second problem is how the games are launched; the base .exe simply launches more .exes for each title, which ended up making my CPU load go up to 90% and stay there, even after everything was closed out, until I rebooted my whole system. In the end, if you enjoy the campyness of good low budget horror games, you're going to love Dread X Collection and the huge amount of content that it has to offer for such a modest price. Expect to get an easy 6-8 hours out of this release.

The Horror Network Curator | Group Click for Gore

I love horror anthologies. They're great for when you don't feel like dedicating a lot of time to one particular movie, book, or game, and would rather experience multiple stories in the same amount of time that it would've taken to get through one longer release. There've been a ton of horror movie compendiums, most notably Tales of Halloween, the V/H/S series, and Creepshow. However, there haven't been any full blown collections of horror games until now. Dread X Collection is an anthology of ten horror games, each created by a different indie developer specifically for this compilation, and each in only one week. There are both unknown and conspicuous names amidst the contributors, and each title is done in different visual and gameplay styles. Truly, there's something here for everyone, and if you're looking for an impressive amount of variety for a conservative cost, you've come to the right place. I will go through the games in the order that I played them, and break them down with a very short synopsis and individual rating. - Shatter: Leaning more towards cybernetic science fiction, this title boasts a faux PS1 aesthetic that sees you encountering giant pink insects while attempting to stop the spread of a virus. It's enjoyable once you know what you're doing, which may take a bit of time, and its challenge ramps up when you enter the darker version of its world. It's Silent Hill meets System Shock, essentially. 3.5/5 (20 min) - Rotgut: A better name for it is Tunnel Walking Simulator 2020. The environment is haphazardly put together, with disappearing textures, doors that aren't attached to buildings, and lighting that changes constantly. After figuring out what to do, you spend 20 minutes walking down a tunnel and making your way back. That's it. This made me have a mid-life crisis after I was done playing it, and it made me question if the dead end of the tunnel that I was guided towards was really a metaphor. A massive waste of time that did not have any heart or soul put into its construction. 1/5 (20 min) - Summer Night: It simulates one of those old Tiger Electronics toys from the 80's/90's. You end up playing the game in the toy, and things start to go weird both in it and your surroundings, but very slowly. The build up takes a bit too long to get to a very disturbing level, but when it does it provides some subtle spine tingling moments. 3/5 (15 min) - Mr. Bucket Told Me To: You're stranded on a deserted island, and your only friends are Mr. Towel, which you use to wipe with after you poop, Mr. Spear, and Mr. Bowl; all inanimate objects, ala Castaway. There are working survival game elements, such as hunger, thirst, poop, health, and energy bars that you must keep at a certain level, or face death. The plot becomes bizzarre, but it's one of the most unique concepts for a small indie horror game that has been seen. 3.5/5 (20 min) - Hand of Doom: It's inspired by the classic first-person id Tech 1 Engine (Doom, Heretic, Strife) games from the 90's, with a little bit of old Might and Magic thrown in for good measure. The atmosphere is very dark and gloomy, and there's a strong Diablo vibe happening. There are additional secrets to uncover beyond the base objectives, which is to collect a couple of artifacts and banish an evil sorcerer's spirit. The spell casting is wonderfully inventive and fun, although the character's turning speed could stand to be increased. Out of all the titles presented here, this one absolutely would benefit from a full-length release the most. 4.5/5 (20 min) - The Pony Factory: A truly terrifying black and white descent through a bloody slaughterhouse of carnage. It showcases how tense ambient atmosphere, suffocatingly tight corridors, and an unpredictable nature can easily trump cheesy enemy models and a silly storyline. That said, the health and ammo pickups are distributed unevenly and create unnecessary frustration. There are multiple game modes, lending to replayability. 4/5 (50 min) - Don't Go Out: A turn-based strategy card game where you have to avoid a creeping darkness and two eldritch creatures. It utilizes sprite graphics on one scene, which is darkened so that you're unable to see the horrors trying to massacre you and your friends; you'll have to play specific cards to get glimpses of the area around you. It's the most confusing game of the anthology, as nothing is explained; no tutorial, no tooltips, no stat breakdown, no goal. Turns out, you just have to survive nine rounds without being consumed, all to reach an anti-climactic ending. 2/5 (30 min) - The Pay is Nice: The shortest game of the lot, but a true hommage to the fixed camera angles era of survival horror. You just guide a man along his daily work routine, but it turns out that the company he works for isn't exactly blue collar. There's an unexpected twist at the end, and the anxiety-provoking atmosphere keeps the player tense for all ten minutes of its gameplay. 4/5 (10 min) - Carthanc: A hardcore experience where you have to explore an ancient Egyptian tomb to collect three pieces of a mummy and reconstruct it. However, you have to delve through some nasty platforming, relentless enemies, and tough trap areas to get to the end of the game. It's very frustrating, especially due to the dark and overly distorted visuals; there is way too much chromatic aberration happening that can't be turned off. This is the Dark Souls of the collection, but it feels far less rewarding to defeat. 2/5 (50 min) - Outsiders: Created by one of the developers from SCP: Blackout, this title is the closest to your modern day horror experience that is offered within the collection. You wander through your house, searching for keys, progression items, and hidden switches. All the while, you slowly come to realize that your home is becoming overrun by violent strangers that you can only catch brief glimpses of. There's a lot of trial and error to be experienced, and you'll die more than a couple of times. However, each death brings new hints within the house. The ending is totally unexpected, and well worth the work that it takes to get there. 5/5 (40 min) Overall, Dread X Collection is an amazing, diverse anthology of indie horror games and ideas that otherwise may have never seen the light of day. There are a couple of duds in the mix, but the overwhelming majority of titles are fun, captivating, and well polished. Even those that don't particularly stand out have something different to offer, and it is important to keep in mind that each developer was only given a week to complete their game. There are only two major gripes here, and one is that about half of the titles give no clear instructions on what to do, or what their goal is. The second problem is how the games are launched; the base .exe simply launches more .exes for each title, which ended up making my CPU load go up to 90% and stay there, even after everything was closed out, until I rebooted my whole system. In the end, if you enjoy the campyness of good low budget horror games, you're going to love Dread X Collection and the huge amount of content that it has to offer for such a modest price. Expect to get an easy 6-8 hours out of this release. [h1]Rating: [b]4.0/5.0[/b] - Excellent, highly worth playing.[/h1] The Horror Network [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28221963/]Curator[/url] | [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thehorrornetwork]Group[/url] Click for Gore