Dread X Collection 2

Dread X Collection 2 is a horror anthology of games made by a bunch of indie developers. It's a mixed bag, but that's part of the joy. It's kind of like reaching into a bag of halloween candy without knowing what's in it. Sometimes you'll get a Snickers bar and other times the gaming equivalent of candy corn. The wraparound game and concept might be the best of this series. You wake up locked in a room and have to solve Resident Evil style puzzles in a mansion to find keys to unlock VHS tapes that represent games. You also get a comic book page, but the comic has nothing to do with the rest of the game. The overworld game is pretty easy, but also gross, involving a lot of blood and body parts, and is probably my favorite part of the whole thing. The actual games can be great or awful. The FPS ones like Squirrel Stapler and Touched by an Outer God are my favorites, but there are other FPS games on here like To the End of Days and Toy Shop that just feel amateurish. I'll describe all the games so you can get an idea if you want to know... (!SPOILERS!) [spoiler]Squirrel Stapler: a really fun and ridiculous hunting sim that involves 5 days of hunting squirrels and then stapling them to a corpse. I wish the ending was a little more intense, but this is still really fun to play. Touched by an Outer God: has roguelike elements, as you are killing enemies to collect body parts to attach upgrades to your body (including an arm that previously got blown off). It's a lot of fun and I like that there's a permadeath difficulty and a twist ending. Toy Shop: A really bad amateurish FPS that has terrible combat but kind of an interesting, weird premise. I can't fault it too much since it's a game made by one guy but it feels more like a Unity Asset Flip with a pointless story than a game. To the End of Days: This is a little better than Toy Shop, but still a very generic FPS with mediocre combat. I also don't think this one has enough horror elements to really belong on this collection. Sucker for Love: Surprisingly one of the better games on here, it's actually a C'thulu dating sim. I don't play dating sim games but the presentation, voicework and overall design are hilarious and also kind of creepy. These collections are best because they create "why does this exist?" games like this one. Charlotte Exile: This one surprised me and I actually loved it. It's a tiny microscopic puzzle game in one room that involves basically solving a box. I love cipher puzzles and this one is really cool because it's buried in a book describing cthulu lore. There's also a box, a button device and a clock. I won't spoil it but it was really fun to figure out, albeit brief. Undiscovered: A game by TorpleDook, who also made games on Dread X Collection 3. I really like the presentation and it definitely evokes a sense of dread. I've never seen a game use kind of a bobbing steadicam in this manner. It's deliberately janky and it's fun for that, but also super linear and kind of pointless. Arcadeltra: This one is pretty bleh. It's a walking sim that's not very scary and I'm not sure what the point is. You're kind of in an arcade putting electrical wires in a hole, I'm not clear what the story is but since it's not very interactive or scary I didn't care for it at all. The Diving Bell: Yet another Lovecraftian C'thulu game... the concept is really spooky and I love "deep sea horror" games like this one, but it's also really kinda not a game since you just go wherever the game tells you to go, interact with a terminal and go back. There is a "sanity" mechanic where you can take pills but it doesn't seem like anything happens if you lose all your sanity. The game ends right at the part where it could have gotten truly creepy and weird, which annoyed me. Another Late Night: By far the worst game on here. It's trying to be like an alternate reality game although there's no puzzle element and you just click windows. There's basically no story, it's not scary, not funny, not challenging and seems to serve no purpose at all. This really should have been left off of this collection. The Thing in the Lake: This one sure was strange. I hated playing it but thinking back it was actually kind of weirdly wonderful. It's more like a Gameboy game where you are trying to avoid walking through grass because you will detect a serial killer and/or an ape that will rip your limbs off. The reason I hated playing it was that it was deliberately bad in a lot of ways, occasionally the ape will pop out for no reason and end your game, and it's hard to tell where you can walk and what you're supposed to do. In retrospect, that kind of made it memorable, and there are even achievements. The music really sticks with me. It evokes a bizarre sense of foreboding horror and really puts the "Dread" in "Dread X." There are even achievements that exist outside of the core game. It's not my favorite game on here, but it probably has my favorite vibe. Solipsis: Another walking sim, but this one has a truly creepy vibe. You're basically an astronaut stranded on the moon, but it's a weirdly metal moon that clanks when you walk, and then a staircase emerges and... I won't spoil it, but it works on themes and mood even though there's no real game play except walking and clicking.[/spoiler]

cold & dark, wet & lonely

i met god 10/10

probably the best of the 5 collections.

The best in the series imo

A lot better than the first collection but some games are piss poor

good

Aterrorizante! Minha nota para cada jogo: Sucker for Love ~ 9/10 Another Late Night ~ 7/10 The Thing in the Lake ~ 8/10 Solipsis ~ 9/10 The Toy Shop ~ 10/10 Touched by an Outer God ~ 7/10 To the End of Days ~ 9/10 Arcadletra ~ 10/10 The Diving Bell ~ 10/10 Charlotte's Exile ~ 9/10 Undiscovered ~ 10/10 Squirrel Stapler ~ 10/10

While I liked a good few from the first collection I do think for the most part this is a better package, simply has more interesting smaller games on top of a hub world main menu to sink your teeth into. Some could be better designed sure but it was still largely positive with games like Sucker For Love, To The End Of Days, Squirrel Stapler and Solipsis.

Loved this collection and really enjoyed going through the house and solving extra little puzzle. I play these games with my friends so we can discover new creators to follow and try their games. I will always support these kind of horror game collections. (Also, I loved the little guy that you can see outside through the windows, fun little scare).