Dread X Collection: The Hunt review

A dreadfully good hunt

Well, here we are with another mini anthology of seven independently developed horror games, which must mean it's time for another installment in the Dread X Collection series. Yes, the brilliant compilation series of terrifying games developed under a time limit of seven-to-ten days (that I have already raved about before) is back once again, this time with yet another twist: all of the games this time around are shooters.

This time, the hub for these games is an abandoned arctic lab: the ARK 2 research base

Co-produced by David Szymanski - the mind behind DUSK and previous Dread X inclusions The Pony Factory and Squirrel Stapler - Dread X Collection: The Hunt gave its devs twice as long as previous entries in the series to craft their horror shooters, with a twenty day development cycle given to these seven games in order to "give them more time to develop and hone their ideas" as the Steam store page puts it. So, did this timeframe increase help these games to become as good as they could possibly be? Well, yes, but how does each one excel?

Axis Mundi

Smile for the camera

First up we have Axis Mundi, which takes you to a haunted shopping mall with the task of dispelling the ghostly intruders by "shooting" them with your camera. This unique take on creating a shooter is helped along by how the camera works, as the ghosts are only dispelled once the reticle turns red meaning you have to get reasonably close before you can shoot your shot; there's no standing at the opposite side of an area and picking off these ghosts from afar, you need to get in their proverbial faces if you want to take them out.

The feedback for taking a picture also adds to the experience, as the zoom-in, flash, and harsh camera sound combine for visceral, punchy exorcisms of the lingering dead. Top this off with a cooldown between pictures in place of a reload, and you have a tense yet satisfying combat system that shines throughout Axis Mundi.

A lorebook that requires photos to unlock encourages you to stay aware of your surroundings

Of course, I would be remiss to not also give praise to the game's environments that go from a quietly eerie mall to desolate snowy areas as you visit different timezones looking for the source of the spirits. This creates a haunting atmosphere that makes these areas a joy to explore, something which is encouraged by the lorebook that tasks you with recreating pictures inside to uncover more about the ghosts and backstory of the mall. As intriguing as it is creepy, Axis Mundi is a terrific start to a fantastic collection.

Uktena 64

A hunt within The Hunt

Continuing with the theme of taking pictures, Uktena 64 is an equal parts horrifying and goofy hunting trip through a diseased mountain range, as you are tasked with killing animals infected with a deadly virus and taking pictures of them once you have. Now that may sound like it couldn't be light-hearted in the slightest, however contrasting the dilapidated ghost towns and silent forests is the dopey Jebadiah whose off-piste quips about the picture he just took or the prompt of "Sippies!" for drinking a healing item is set against the sheer terror of the situation; one moment you're under seige from an angry infected bear, the next Jebadiah is cheerfully saying "Poggers!" as he photographs its corpse.

Jebadiah's upbeat compliments on your picture-taking skills are the perfect dichotomy to the game's horror

The clash between this humour and the dour atmosphere only improves the terror as the game progresses, as even Jebadiah begins to get creeped out by the things he's witnessing. As the goofy tone falls away, Uktena 64's scariness is only exacerbated as you trudge through to complete your mission against the mutated creatures that inhabit these rotting locales.

The core gameplay of killing animals and taking pictures of them works well as you not only notice the various deformities of the animals, but most levels also give you the opportunity to photograph other things and you're often given more subjects to snap than you need to clear the mission, providing the decision to just take what you need and get the hell out if you want to. All-in-all, Uktena 64 is another deeply memorable entry in the Dread X series and one that is definitely worthy of praise.

Rose of Meat

Something's off here

Sometimes horror doesn't have to be overtly terrifying or subtly creepy, sometimes it just has to be unsettlingly bizarre or worryingly nonsensical. This is certainly the ethos Rose of Meat has, as you are thrust onto an island covered in gigantic eyes, given a revolver and a leg to defend yourself, and sent off on a journey to fix your boat. The aesthetic is offputting, with a visual focus on meat, blood, and eyes in just about everything you see.

And I absolutely love it.

Your other weapon: a meaty, rotting leg

The incongruity of the game's style is just one facet of the way it creates terror in being confusing as the constantly distorted music, bizarre inhabitants, and hellish landscapes combine to keep you disorented and never quite sure what's happening. What further compounds on this is the combat system, which doesn't let you attack enemies directly and instead has you using the leg to put down explosive people which you need to shoot to damage and kill enemies.

Rose of Meat is a game that is so steeped in its own insanity that you never feel safe as you try to escape the island you've found yourself on, yet never gets dense or annoyingly confusing in achieving this incoherent mess, a feat that I cannot help but applaud.

Seraphixial

Strange worlds with stranger creatures galore

Speaking of strange aesthetics, Seraphixial isn't quite as grotesque as Rose of Meat's locales, but is in no way any less surreal. In pursuit of his daughter, the player character finds himself lead to the co-ordinates of a submarine in the middle of the ocean which transports him to another world, complete with aggressive monsters and spooky occurrences.

The look of the places within this world is the most striking aspect of Seraphixial, as you go from a predominantly greyscale forest with small splashes of colour to a deep purple cavern with unexplained huts visible yet out of reach, the visuals on offer are strong and high contrast to provide memorably strange and haunting areas.

Seraphixial's odd locales are all memorably imaginative

The gunplay itself is quite arcade-y as the weapons have a unique look to them and their feedback is great. Along the way you find an axe, a pistol, a rifle, and shotgun which all feel fantastic to use with their ability to stagger enemies playing a huge role in combat as they give you a bit of breathing room, something which is welcomed as you're out-manoeuvring multiple enemies in pretty restricted spaces. With a distinctive aesthetic and solid gameplay, Seraphixial solidifies itself as another impeccable entry in this horror anthology.

Black Relic

Sometimes prayer and meditation just doesn't compare to a good ol' crossbow

Dread X regular Torple Dook continues their track record of appearing in every collection with Black Relic, a dark third person shooter with an oppressive atmosphere and gritty lo-fi visuals. The game leans more into a survival horror style of gameplay: your movement is slow and you can only fire one arrow at a time between reloads, which also takes a while. Black Relic prioritises your positioning above all as being too close to enemies makes reloading dangerous but being too far makes taking them out nigh impossible, which leaves you trying to find the fickle safety between those two , leading to deeply engrossing combat encounters.

I touched lightly on the visual style before but I must stress how well the pixelly, primitive 3D style adds to the game's atmosphere, with the mostly dark environments clashing with the bright fires and your own light. Oftentimes the only indication that there is an enemy coming for you is a few congealed red or purple pixels off in the distance, which in itself rewards attentiveness as you can prepare to make a shot on an approaching enemy. And the way the skybox looks with the all-black terrain complimenting the deep red sky is nothing short of stellar, and really sells the game's gritty tone.

In Black Relic there are two light levels: dark and darker

The Fruit

These locals aren't too friendly

A small rural village, an ancient language that is made up of only five words, and a strange fruit that grew at the burial site of a deer with a human face, these are the elements that make up The Fruit's premise as you explore this diseased town in search of your beloved, fighting through scores of insane villagers who decided to try some of this fruit. The combat is the most intriguing part of The Fruit, and it all has to do with how reloading works as it is entirely manual.

So I lift the latch and... wait, what comes next?

Ever loaded a flintlock rifle? Well, now you can simulate the heart racing experience of frantically placing a bullet into a chamber while an angry, axe-weilding maniac charges towards you with all the murderous intent that implies. Reloading in the fruit isn't a simple button press or even a sequence, you have to manually eject the spent case, draw back the hammer, place a new bullet in the chamber, and close the latch at the top so you can shoot again, and you have to do this between every bullet. Hope you don't have butterfingers.

On top of this is that aforementioned ancient language, with each word being associated with a shape and being scattered about the map. These words are used in two ways, foremost to open doors, either by just reciting one word or - depending on the pattern - reciting all the words you need. These words also eventually make their way into combat, as enemies appear that can only be dispelled by chanting certain words at them (helpfully displayed on their forehead), which turns frantic reloading into frantic page turning to find the correct word.

The House of Unrest

Note: when the power of the lord isn't enough, resort to the power of gun

If you ever wanted to perform an exorcism, turns out all you need is three gems, a holy cross, and a glock, who'd have thought? Yes, The House of Unrest puts you as a demon-hunting priest, out to banish a demon, Asakku, out of our realm, and has you exploring a mansion for items to unlock doors or obtain other items to progress further in a very classic Resident Evil-esque fashion.

In this game you're armed with a crucifix and a pistol, the crucifix helping to clear out piles of flesh that litter the mansion and provide some light, while the pistol is the one-stop defense against the shambling creatures that have been left dotted about the place. The combat is good fun as the pistol can be fired as quick as you can click, has infinite ammo and a short reload time, meaning there's no need to be shy with letting loose on Asakku's minions.

Unfortunately the crucifix doesn't do much against the zombies

Another game with retro-inspired graphics, The House of Unrest rocks the classic look with its simplified models and pixellated textures, achieving a dark and mysterious tone as you explore the mansion and uncover more about why it has been overcome by demons. For the final game in Dread X Collection: The Hunt, it absolutely does not disappoint.

Of course, I'm only somewhat telling the truth by calling it the final game in the collection.

The launcher

Not to worry, that's just... uh... ketchup?

Yes, praise must absolutely be given to the game that ties the rest together, the launcher itself.

Set on an abandoned arctic base, the launcher has you going into each of the 7 other games in order to get sample codes and unlock an experimental weapon, all the while figuring out just what happened to the researchers on the base. As you unlock more samples and explore the base looking for misplaced ones, you get closer to uncovering the truth of the research, and why it all went to pot.

The atmosphere is eerie and lonely, something that only gets worse as you slowly come to realise that you aren't entirely alone at this base, with strange sights and noises occurring the more you get the samples and go to retrieve them. For the knot that ties all these threads of horror together, the launcher is sufficiently unsettling and even as a gentle piano plays in the main hub room, there's always this creeping feeling that you're being watched.

This board is your connection between the launcher and the seven horror shooters

No doubt, the quality of this hub game is just another indicator of the quality of all the games contained within, as all these games have their own unique strengths that show the skill of the devs that made them and the strength of horror shooters as a genre. Should they stand out for their intriguing smaller mechanics, visual styles, core gameplay loop, or just by how utterly insane they are, every game in this collection once again shows the sheer talent out there and I, for one, would love to see many, many more Dread X Collections in future.