If it wasn’t for some other games this year, Resident Evil 3 would have landed on as one of my most disappointed due to failure when it came to survival horror. Instead for #6, we have not one, but three games in the same series released all in 2020.
#6 Dread X Collection 1-3
The Dread X Collection is an unusual entry for this list and for the market as well. Each game is billed as a collection of microgames essentially designed in a “game jam” type format. The credits for each microgame are from notable indie developers and each one follows a different theme that is tied in a quasi anthology linking the games together.
The games themselves couldn’t be further apart from one another in terms of tone, aesthetics, and quality which is both a blessing and a curse for this series. In the last year, the collection has had three different games totaling about 30 or so microgames across all 3 bundles. The game lengths vary between only a few minutes, to some pushing 30 minutes to an hour.
The range of games is the collection’s greatest strength, with some of these could very well be prototypes for a more complete/robust title in the future. When it comes to horror from the indie space, there is certainly no lack of quantity among developers, but trying to find unique horror games that stand out is a lot harder.
The genre is very niche outside of the ones that blew up like Five Night’s at Freddy’s, Amnesia, or Outlast. By focusing on microgames, it allows the developers a very risk-free environment to try something different. Do all the games work in the collections? No, and that’s the main reason why it’s not ranking higher. What I like about these collections is that it gives us the chance to see something truly different, while appreciating the amount of work these developers can do in a short period of time.
If you’re looking for something different, and don’t mind a lack of quality with your horror, then definitely check out the collection and support this model. I hope we see other genres that have become niche possibly take a chance along the lines of the Dread X collection.
We’re breaking into the top half of games with #5, which is a game that has been in development for so long most of you have forgotten it even came out this year.
