Dread X Collection Review – Pocket Full of Scares

The Dread X Collection is a package of “teaser” games inspired by the ill-fated P.T., that features ten of the most interesting indie developers in the scene right now. In similar fashion to a game jam, they were tasked to make a horror game in only a week and the result is a package of bite-size games that each offer something uniquely different.

Dread X Collection
Developer: Airdorf Games, Mahelyk, Oddbreeze, Strange Scaffold, Scythe Dev Team, Secret Cow Level, Snowrunner Games, David Szymanski, Lovely Hellplace, Torple Dook
Price: $6.99
Platform: PC
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review

The Pony Factory
Created by David Szymanski (DUSK), The Pony Factory is the lone shooter in the package. Taking place in an abandoned factory where some absolute genius thought it’d be a good idea to use hell energy to create ponies, you try to escape while fighting off some not so cute and cuddly looking ponies. The Pony Factory wears its Doom 3 influences on its sleeve as it reintroduces the infamous “gun or flashlight” mechanic, plunging the area in absolute darkness whenever you whip your gun out. And I want to stress, it’s black like my monitor just turned off black. The music itself adds a great sense of eeriness to the game, particularly in (I believe) the second or third level where (again, I believe) a theremin is being used; it’s just a great track. Clearly having a knack for unnerving audio, Szymanski gives the ponies the most anxiety-inducing neigh that just adds to the total darkness you find yourself in. After hitting the end I will say the only thing that I wished for was perhaps a boss fight; mainly because of a large area near the end where one would have normally been in any other game.

Don’t Go Out
Don’t Go Out, by Secret Cow Level, holds a lot of promise as it’s a turn-based card game with a horror objective: survive the night and avoid the demons trying to eat you. Adding to the difficulty is a slow, zerg-like creep that expands each turn, limiting the space you have to move. Each turn you have a set amount of actions to perform and can choose to move, play a card, or hold your turn. There’s only a handful of cards, most of them involving losing cards to gain more actions or vice versa, so there’s not much strategy to be found but the foundation is definitely there. I managed to beat the game twice by simply rushing for the house so I only have to deal with a single creature, and summoning all my friends who I used as bait to wait out the time. So like I said, not much strategy to be found here but there’s a lot of potential for a really cool game here.

Rotgut
Rotgut is, definitely a thing. Created by Snowrunner Productions who are known for the game Soda Drinker Pro, you definitely see the similarity here with Rotgut but I’ll be the first to admit this one might be too deep for me. You’re thrown in a town with an invitation to a party, you find said party in an abandoned train tunnel, and I walked up and down that tunnel twice with nothing happening. The entire thing was definitely bizarre so if that’s what they were going for, congrats.

Shatter
Shatter is probably my favorite thing in this collection because of the killer world it sets up. Created by Lovely Hellspace, Shatter introduces you to this world where neural implants have become the norm and rogue AI (in the form of monstrously huge pink flies) are worshipped as gods. There’s a small area to explore and a quick introduction to a dimension flipping mechanic that I can already see the use for in a full game. I’m all in on the idea of merging old gods with AI and Shatter seems to have a slick aesthetic for doing it.

Outsiders
Outsiders, created by Mahelyk, left me feeling very mixed. I don’t want to spoil the concept of the game, as it’s very novel and it’s one of the teasers here I hope gets the funding for a proper project, but the basic gist is you’re trapped in a house with… something and you’ve got to puzzle your way out. The issue here is that the game requires you to die multiple times as clues reveal themselves with each death, so you’re kind of walking around waiting to die for the next round of clues assuming you don’t stumble on the solution before then. It’s very neat, but can also be incredibly frustrating as you scour the house looking for the one missing piece.

Hand of Doom
Coming from Torple Dook, Hand of Doom is a dungeon crawler inspired game with an occult twist. You possess an ancient book of spells that you’ll use to cast incantations like creating fire or giving yourself a burst of speed. You’ve got four words you can speak and you’ll string them together to form the spells you’ll cast. The game never goes any further than the shallow end of the pool in regards to its mechanics (there’s no combat for example) but what’s here is very cool in concept. The teaser almost functions like a tutorial for a full game where it’ll go deeper into its mechanics, which I genuinely hope to see one day.

Carthanc
I love mummies. Their entire vibe is something that isn’t really explored in media and Carthanc takes that to a higher degree by making them space cyber mummies. That’s fucking tight man. What’s not tight are the horrifying screams those mummies let loose. Carthanc tasks you with rebuilding a mummy by finding its parts in various puzzle rooms; two are simple sprints to the end and the third involves some hieroglyphics. None of it is terribly complicated but it’s a super cool aesthetic that appeals directly to me. The only issue with the game is that some of its elements feel a bit half-realized, and the final section is just straight up not fun.

Mr. Bucket Told Me To
Created by Strange Scaffold, Mr. Bucket Told Me To is a survival game where each day you have to try to survive on an island with the help of your inanimate friends; when night comes the titular Mr. Bucket arrives who offers a grim ultimatum. You’ve got a few meters like thirst and hunger to handle and depending on how you do will determine which ending you can get at the end. In concept, I love this game, but being in its teaser nature I wish there were more of it to really flesh out the concept. It doesn’t take its pivot into the bizarre as hard as I would want and the writing could use some polishing, but Mr. Bucket Told Me To is a super interesting concept I’d love to see given the proper time to craft some truly great.

The Pay is Nice
From Oddbreeze Games, The Pay is Nice is an interesting game as you wander through a secretive laboratory listening to the inner ramblings of someone who may or may not be a worker there. Featuring some tank controls a la Resident Evil, the game almost has a Silent Hill vibe to its surrealism that I enjoyed, I just wish it went for a bit longer as some of the writing was fairly engaging.

SUMMER NIGHT
Created by Airdorf, known for FAITH, SUMMER NIGHT disguises itself as one of those retro LCD games that quickly reveals itself to be more sinister and anxiety-inducing than you would expect. While the gameplay itself is simple, it’s the audio design (such as simulating knocks on your door) that sells the entire thing. The moments of silence where all you hear is the AC going as you wait for the scare to come are probably the best, including a bit at the end that got a good jump out of me. It’s not often that a horror game gets me to verbally say “yeah no fuck that”, and this one got it for sure.

The Final Word
For the cost of a large coffee with all the bells and whistles, you could instead indulge in some horror with the Dread X Collection.

– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good