Recent reviews by The Horror Network

It's not often that a multiplayer indie horror game takes off while still in the very beginning stages of its Early Access release, but man oh man has Phasmophobia done just that. Overnight it managed to jettison into fame, leaving the single developer stunned; he didn't expect for his humble little title to take off at all, much less so quickly. By now you may have watched your favorite streamer play it, or maybe you're just sitting back wondering what all the fuss is about. Well, whether you have a swath of friends to play with or you're always flying solo, Phasmophobia has some ghost-hunting fun to offer everyone.

The gameplay concept is one of the most unique designs to come along in years; perhaps since the birth of the modern asymmetrical horror genre which was propelled by modern monsters such as Friday the 13th and Dead by Daylight. You're a ghost hunter, and your whole purpose is to figure out what ghost you're up against by seeking out clues, such as ghost orbs, freezing temperatures, high EMF readings, and the most fun of all, getting the entity to speak with you through the spirit box. Once you've discovered the three present clues, you can opt to complete additional objectives for bonus cash and experience points. The catch being that the longer you stay, the higher your chances of death become.

Phasmophobia's fun is intertwined in both horror and hysterics, and if you're playing with a group of friends you're going to end up laughing just as much as you're screaming. Much of the hilarity is ingrained in elements that aren't exactly meant to be funny, such as the way the character models bend almost entirely backwards if you crouch and look up, or the weird glitches that occur. Other times, it's a combination of all of that along with how you can completely screw your friends when a ghost starts to hunt you. It all depends on your group of course, and if you're playing by yourself you're going to be in for a deeply atmospheric hellscape of jumpscares. From ghostly whispers in your ear that send a tingle down your spine, to poltergeist activity, and random flashes of the entity becoming visible, the game will make you start questioning if you actually saw what you think you saw.

That's another thing, not only are you a ghost hunter, but the ghosts will start to hunt you. There are three difficulty levels (amateur, intermediate, professional) where the higher you go, the faster the ghost will become active and the more aggressive it will be. If you get a shy ghost or are playing on a lower difficulty, you can say its name to start ramping up its activity and to force it to be more aggressive. Half of the game, and subsequently half of the fun, is communicating with the ghosts using the spirit box, whether or not they respond through that medium. Additionally, a ouija board has a chance to spawn in the level, which pushes the terror and communication even higher as the spirit will answer a more broad range of questions. Beware, however, as the board drains your sanity quickly, and the lower your sanity, the more often you will be hunted.

Through all of the fun, scares, and laughter, of course Phasmophobia has a long way to go. It's important to remember that only one person is working on it, and it only release in mid September of 2020. It would be nice to see some more maps, hopefully on the small to medium scale, as the larger areas just aren't that fun to play; especially on higher difficulties like professional, as it's incredibly hard to find where the ghost is hanging out. A more rewarding level up system is an absolute must, as the only thing this title is lacking is a solid hook. It has the simple gameplay, it's both repetitive and diverse enough at the same time to create addiction, and all it is missing is the substance of reward. Some hotfixes really need to happen first and foremost, as the longer one plays, the more broken the game becomes, namely with local push-to-talk breaking on the regular.

Whether you want to support it during Early Access or not, Phasmophobia is a horror game to keep your eyes on for the coming months and years. Hopefully, the developer will be able to get a small team together to work on this release so that consistent updates can be published and that this unique title can really flourish. Expect to see more competition in this new ghost hunting category, as this genre is ridiculously fun, fresh, and captivating.

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Developed over an eight month period by a group of students at Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, Wick is a 30-minute horror thriller where you control the actions of a little candle named Jean Wick. Traveling through a plague-ravaged cathedral, Jean must carry on a dead monk's last mission to fill the dwelling with light, but a corrupted nun named Mara stands as his main obstacle, along with the Legiones; groups of giant insects that feast on the dead, and are attracted to his light. Equipped with only a douter, the little candle has a big and daunting task ahead of him.

It's deeply impressive that a modest group of students created a game with such a unique premise, and followed it up with remarkable execution. Wick is a well optimized game that has been robustly polished, save for a couple of instances where object placement is a problem (falling behind things and being unable to jump out of the gap). The ideas and mechanics are unrivaled, and nothing quite like this has been seen before. Jean gradually loses his wax as he travels, so you must stop at waxy areas to refill him (he physically shrinks over time). He can create mini-me versions of himself to distract the Legiones. The checkpoints are candelabras, where Jean jumps out of one of the holders if you die. There's just so much thought put into every aspect of what was created, the attention to detail and ability of the individuals who created this game to come up with unique scenarios for every nook and cranny is commendable.

In all sincerity, it would be nice to see Wick transformed into a full-length game, as this little tech demo teaser simply isn't enough. Gameplay wise, it's a deep breath of fresh air, and the backstory given on the store page is a tasty morsel that leaves players begging for a bigger bite. There have been comparisons made to Little Nightmares, and sure, there are some similarities in graphical style and the surreal nature of the art direction. However, Wick stands on its own as a totally unique horror experience without parallel, albeit short and linear. It's very much worth taking the time to check it out. These students will undoubtedly be invaluable to the gaming industry once they graduate.

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The Peresmeshnik is a short, choose-your-own-adventure visual novel that takes place aboard a ship of the same name. Stationed in the Arctic Ocean, you and your crew, the Soviet Frigate, discover the scene of a gruesome murder; blood and carnage lay strewn across the floor and into one of the nearby closets. The odd thing? Everyone is accounted for... so who could this mysterious body, mangled beyond all recognition, really belong to? It's up to you to find out, and to try and escape the doomed voyage in one of four different endings.

If you're a fan of campy weird fiction, akin to the many old EC Comics series' and magazines such as Weird Tales, then The Peresmeshnik is going to be your cup o' tea. Many will make a reference back to The Thing, which is another great example to bring up. To say much more would spoil the whole experience. The writing is richly detailed, but not so much so that there's a whole novella here; there's just the right amount of content to make your imagination run wild, a creeping feeling travel up your spine, and a sinking feeling take over your stomach. It's free, and it's entertaining, give it a go.

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Through the Darkest of Times is a lightweight strategy game that takes place in Germany, from 1933 through 1945. It's a historical title that focuses on growing your own resistance movement against Hitler from the time that he gets elected as chancellor, right through to the end of World War II and the fall of the Nazi Reich. At the start, you pick your character by rolling their traits and gender, then outfitting them as you see fit. You can have up to three other people in your party, whom you also choose via an in-game mission, and together you must gain both supporters and marks (currency) in order to keep meddling in SS affairs.

The plot starts off strong, be prepared to invest a good portion of your time in this game to reading. Each of the four chapters house several text-driven cutscenes where you make dialogue choices, but about halfway through you'll end up figuring out that no matter what option you pick, nothing really happens; whether you choose to praise or diminish the Reich right in front of obvious Nazi supporters, whether you do or don't trust the American journalists looking for the real story, none of it ends up changing the course of the campaign. Once you realize this, you realize that as long as you keep enough supporters from one chapter to the next, you'll finish the game no matter what.

To put it mildly, the gameplay is... confusing. Each chapter has its own predetermined amount of turns, and it's obvious that there are certain end goals to get to; that's not what's confusing, but the manner in which the objectives unfold is what's really unclear. You get an overhead shot of a map with various tasks; talk to members of certain parties and affiliations, buy various supplies to make leaflets or paint signs, go into hiding when you've raised too much attention, and many other things. However, the end goal of a chapter requires certain items to be obtained, and often the tasks to get those items are locked behind other tasks. Sometimes, the beginning line to the end goal doesn't come up until the very last few turns of the chapter, and sometimes you can't even get enough of a certain required item because not enough of the instances appear on the map. I'm honestly not sure if this is all RNG based, but it's incredibly confusing and frustrating, especially given that there is a bare-bones tutorial that explains very little.

Despite the effort of throwing in random curve balls, such as a resistance member's wife getting arrested, or needing to hide certain allies from the Reich, the tasks that Through the Darkest of Times sets for the player just feel incredibly shallow and repetitive. If you're not panhandling for money, you're rallying for supporters or buying supplies to gain more awareness. Every now and then you'll do a big task, like raiding a convoy, or spy on the SS for intel, but it's not often or fulfilling. That said, one thing that is done well is the feeling that you're always struggling to just scrape enough resources together to get by. Everything here is bleak, as it should be. From the morose, downtrodden storyline, the tension-filled resistance banter, to the muted sepia-toned graphics. Paintbucket games did a great job capturing the omnipresent feelings of tension, dread, and uncertainty that loomed over the majority of the decade that spanned the rise and fall of Germany.

In the end, Through the Darkest of Times has some good ideas, but they're just executed with both too much simplicity and not enough explanation of the game's core mechanics. If it was easier to realize how to trigger certain events to unfold, such as getting testimonies, bombs, or other special resources for end-chapter missions, then players could work whole-heartedly towards a certain goal instead of just mindlessly gather supporters and money. Furthermore, it doesn't seem to matter how high you level your characters, you'll still end up getting caught a ton in the end; not to mention levels are few and far between, and more often than not a resistance member will just up and leave right afterward anyway. The characters would also fair better if they had at least a snippet of background story to them, but everyone, including who you play, is hollow. Even if you're interested in history, with a focus on World War II, you're more than likely to get bored with this title at about the halfway point.

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You know what I was just thinking about a couple of days before I received this game in Curator Connect? "I haven't heard from BMC Studios in a while... maybe the developer finally got the hint that I actually really hate his 'games'. Maybe he finally realized that I don't like him as a person through what he's portrayed with his 'games'. Thank god I haven't had to suffer through that trash in a long time". Aaaaaaaaaand here we are. True story. It's like he read my mind and decided he hadn't sent me any spam keys in a while. I think what he does to me is part of the meme culture he embraces so much. I think he actually likes hearing from me.

In case you haven't noticed, I loathe BMC Studios and we have a history that dates pretty far back... to their first release actually, when there actually was a "their" and not just a "he". So yeah, after his friends left the "company" this guy dropped out of college to pursue making this kind of garbage. The kind of elementary school trash that makes fun of people, but he tries to cover it up by acting like it's an "accurate portrayal" or some crap. If you need an idea, look at Coughing Simulator 2020. Gotta live that dank meme culture amirite.

So, Not Well, it's supposed to be an interactive short film depicting someone who is severely depressed. Like everything else BMC Studios does, it's badly done in both context and execution. It's 20 minutes long, and you get to watch a guy sit at his computer and pathetically attempt to tear up his desk, chair, and phone without actually succeeding, then you get to watch him shower, then you get to watch him shave. Somewhere in there he pees and finds a hidden present. That's it. That is literally all this is, with a total of 3 interactions that let you "keep your depression inside" or "express it". Oh, and these options aren't even coded correctly... at least one of the "express it" scenes takes you to the "keep it in" scene. You had to code 3 things BMC Studios, three things.

Let's move on to the film portion. In high school, I was taught about how long scenes were supposed to last, the rule of thirds, good transitional sequences, use of angles, etc. Either BMC Studios never took a film course in his life, or he just doesn't care. Seeing as you could teach yourself most of the aforementioned with some YouTube tutorials these days, I'm going to go with he just doesn't care to make anything that has any semblance of quality or value. With the exception of looking at him laying down in the tub all of the angles are straight on, and there are no transitions. There's nothing but stagnant 5+ minute long shots constantly. So unless you like to watch a guy shower, shave, pee, and sit at his computer then you're not going to have anything that even remotely resembles a good time here. It should also be mentioned that there's incontinuity regarding the tablet that's received as a gift later on. It's on the desk at the start of the "game".

And the worst part of it all? This inaccurate depiction of depression that's only going to further the stigma that mental illness is only for crazy people and that depression always leads to self-harm. Not sure what he was going for here, the Curator Connect offer came with a note that mentioned something about how he felt when he was 15 and his dad died and he went through a short depression afterwards. However, as someone who has experienced extreme depression for most of their life, I can't say I've ever stared in the mirror and twitched around like a lunatic. Nor have I ravenously tore at my skin, and I especially didn't creepily kiss it after the fact. I've destroyed things in fits of depression-fueled rage, but we already went over how that wasn't executed properly. I mean, you could've at least gotten up and straight up destroyed something, but that would've required effort and energy. Everyone expresses their grief and depression differently, but overall Not Well doesn't depict any part of depression accurately; not its physical properties, its mental state, or even mental manifestations. It simply endorses the stigmas around depression, and that's why I think this is yet another meme culture poop smear on the Steam catalogue.

Look man. I didn't like Kimulator, and I hate Not Well. I am a horror curator, and your "games" do not fit my demographic. You might find more people who actually like your work if you spend time sending your keys to appropriate curators. I've gone through this gradual progression of absolute scorn when it comes to BMC Studios, and it's at the point now where the next review will be the absolute bare minimum and a downvote. Go get an education for coding and film if this is what you want to do with your life, you will find it to be a benefit. At the very least, watch some tips or guides on how to make your content at least somewhat engaging. If you meant this release to be sincere, you need to work on your sincerity.

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The developer provided a free copy of this game for review, through The Horror Network's Curation page.

Get Out... is an apt title for this little diddy of a one-man indie horror game. If it's on your wishlist, get it out. If it's in your cart, get it out, if it's in your library, get it out. This game launched at the ridiculous price of $10 USD and has since been halved, and you can generally find it on sale for around 70% off; like I unfortunately did. I like to give small titles with barely any reviews a chance to shine, but boy did this one miss every mark imaginable.

Simply put, this game took one aspect of Silent Hills P.T. and nothing else. It's a hallway that loops a total of 50 times, and that's it. On one loop the lights might be going crazy, on another some "creepy" character model might try and dominate you with its T-Pose as it runs at lightning speed towards you. Sometimes you need to pick up a key to progress, other times that same exact key is in a drawer and you can't pick it up; the inconsistencies are frustrating. Sometimes you simply just need to exist in a room long enough to trigger loop progression, but you won't know until you waste that amount of time looking around the hallway for anything you might have missed.

The doors open slower than the original door animation in Resident Evil, and what's worse is that you can't see anything at all. Yes, it's another "the darker the scarier" mindset type of release, and worse yet, there's a flashlight with actual battery mechanics. Even worse still... if you decide to quit the game for a bit and go back, and you reload your save data, the game doesn't save the batteries you've collected. You'll be back down to 0, even if you had an abundance of them. Not like it matters much anyway since the flashlight does very little to actually light any area at all, you have to be pressed up against something like a wall or a door for it to illuminate it.

Personally, I got stuck on loop 23. After seeing the video of the one brave soul who went before me, turns out I had to wait like 10 minutes for the door to magically pop open. So this game is indeed rigged to just take your money. There's 50 loops of trash stock assets, stock door animations, and one endlessly looping track that starts at the main menu and persists through the entire experience, just to create some sort of longevity to attempt to push buyers past the two hour mark so that a refund can't be given. The developer couldn't even be bothered to fix a spelling mistake in the main menu, or to even make sure the 2 slider options work. There's nothing here, absolutely nothing at all. Get Out... yes, please.

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It's always commendable when a developer decides to create a game that revolves around folklore from their own culture. Home Sweet Home did an outstanding job bringing a chilling tale centered around Thai mythology to life. Paper Dolls was an incredible homage to terror from Chinese legends. Now Pulang: Insanity promises to do the same, it's a psychological horror game that is steeped in Indonesian culture and superstition. It isn't necessarily a first for the genre (DreadOut, Pamali), but it definitely is an under-explored mythos in the world of horror.

The biggest element that seems to be make-or-break for most people regarding this title and its 'mixed' rating on Steam is the story. As aforementioned, it's a psychological tale, and as usual with all stories of the type the narrative can be pretty confusing if you're not fully invested in the experience. You play a man named Rudy, who lives in a lavish mansion with his wife and daughter. The mansion seems to have problems of its own, as you come to find out all of the maids have quit, and his young daughter is acting weird. Before acquiring all of his luxuries, Rudy lived an unemployed life, drowning in debt and poverty, until one day he performed the Pesugihan ritual; a black magic spell where the caster becomes instantly rich beyond their wildest dreams, but they must keep performing offerings to satisfy the Toyol (an undead infant that is conjured within the ritual). Of these offerings, a minimum of three human sacrifices are needed.

The story evolves from there, and although it takes the long way around, it gradually unravels the closer you get to the end of the game. Eventually, everything is spelled out during the final sequence to clear up any confusion that may come along with its convoluted telling. That said, the plot is told in such a way that it keeps your mind focused on the game, and it keeps you pondering exactly what happened between Rudy and his family. The voice acting is actually pretty good, the translation is very well done, and there is enough turn-taking between cutscenes and note pick ups to keep even the most nit-picky horror fanatic satiated at how the tale is conveyed.

As for gameplay, Pulang: Insanity is your typical horror walking simulator, complete with key and object finding; at least that's how it presents itself during the first hour of its campaign. It has a deeply immersive atmosphere that hearkens back to the Silent Hill franchise, an inspiration that can even be seen during its main menu sequence. The environments are teeming with fog and rain effects, and the graphics look really superb for a low budget indie title. The sound effects really suck the player into the midst of it all, and the droning ambient soundtrack is the cherry on the cake that tops off what would be an overall complete package of mesmerizing terror. That is, if the game didn't suddenly change direction half-way through. It's at the midway point that you'll discover that there are multiple one-hit kill enemies, and that their AI is a frustrating implementation that completely tears apart all of the deeply engaging content that the developer strived to create up to this point.

There are only a few different "enemies", and from what I could tell by the patch notes the problem that I'm going to talk about has only been an issue since May 2020, when there was a patch to make the "enemy AI more aggressive". Essentially, you'll come upon a few areas where there are some floating monsters who follow you around. That's about all they do, if you run into them you die, but with the developer's update they follow you so fast that you can barely escape them. It also doesn't matter if you turn off your light source, crouch, or try to hide; they don't need to see you to follow you. In fact, when you load into an area that has one of these foes, they'll completely make a B-line straight for you from their spawn location, and since they're ghosts they'll just clip through all other objects and houses. There's an invisible string tethering you to them, and the most irritating thing is that you'll end up running straight into them every single time. The worst is a bird-like creature much later in the game that is so fast you cannot outrun it once you ever see it, and you can't miss it. This is where I quit and just watched a walkthrough instead, where someone who played this title back at release didn't have these issues.

Another problem that does need addressing, albeit to a lesser extent, is the optimization. Running this game on an i7-6700k/GTX 1080 at a resolution of 1080p, I was unable to find any setting where I pulled a stable 60 FPS. For context, though a bit dated, my rig can still run every modern AAA title at 60+ FPS effortlessly. At worst, the frames fell to 40 FPS, and this mostly seems to happen both outside during the rain, and with the flashlight on. The problem becomes less prominent further into the game when you have to use the lantern, and when the areas are more closed in.

Pulang: Insanity really his the nail on the head in almost every single way. The manner in which it tells its story, which utilizes a great variety of both cutscenes and notes, is very close to an AAA grade title. Though some may argue that the plot is overly complex, it's all explained in the end and if you really follow the lore and the notes, it's easy enough to at least keep a thumb on what's happening and what may have potentially gone down. Additionally, the game houses some of the most immersive atmosphere and ambience that you'll have the pleasure of coming across in a small indie release, and the developer was able to successfully recreate that Silent Hill feeling in a lot of different ways. It's too bad that a game that has so much going for it has to get a refund and a non-recommendation due to something as simple as incredibly frustrating AI that borderline breaks the entire game. If this can be fixed, I'll turn my negative review into a positive one, and implement a higher rating.

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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.

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Creepy Tale is a 2D puzzle game that tells its story, not through narrative or dialogue, but through its enigmas and over the course of eight episodes. It's about two brothers who find themselves in an evil forest, full of fantastical creatures, eerie monsters, and nasty witches. Your brother gets kidnapped, and it's up to you to rescue him from the clutches of these diabolical fiends, but finding him won't be that easy. The ideas behind the game, including the art direction and soundtrack, are all inspired by the wonderful works of Grimm's Fairy Tales; a classic anthology of frightening tales for children.

The atmosphere of this title is absolutely solid. Everything from the wispy, hand-drawn backgrounds to the muted colors, drab tones, and abundance of fog. It all just makes a very strong, rainy autumn day vibe come alive. The art style really nails the Grimm's Fairy Tales inspiration, as you'll find similar artistry in the illustrated versions of most books. The monsters are also as creepy as they are cute, and they seem to draw heavily from another great classic children's book, Where the Wild Things Are. Additionally, the soundtrack is subtle and blends everything together, with a haunting main melody that may just end up lingering in your head even after you've completed your Creepy Tale adventure.

Although the visuals are the major appeal to this release, the puzzles are what the gameplay centers around, and boy oh boy are they good. They're not too hard, they're not too easy, and they do require some critical thinking to overcome. Not only is your brain going to be tickled, but the enigmas are ingenious and they don't rely on the boring tried-and-true formulas that so many puzzle games, especially those with a horror theme, default to these days; such as pipes, valves, sliders, circle images, etc. There are eight episodes to devour, split into three chapters, and without any guides you're looking at about 2-3 hours for completion. If you suck at even the simplest of puzzles like me, a guide will get you through in about an hour and a half.

No matter how you choose to play Creepy Tale, guided or not, you're going to have a good time. It's a simple little title with well thought-out puzzles, and an outstandingly well done atmosphere that certainly does stay true to the main inspirations that it was born from. It's best played on a dreary day in the fall, sipping coffee or your favorite warm beverage, while watching the leaves fall, and just remembering when life was a little bit easier and carefree. Fans of puzzle games in particular will be truly satisfied here, since the puzzles are fun and unique, while straddling the fine line between challenging and overly complex.

The Horror Network Curator | Group Click for Gore

If you're a fan of urban legends, chances are you're already familiar with Momo. It's a newer story that only came to life in 2018, when a Facebook post containing a creepy image of a wide-eyed, sinister-grin clad woman went viral. The dishevelled woman is actually a sculpture by a Japanese artist, Midori Hayashi, and it has resided in the Vanilla Gallery since 2016. The post also had a phone number in it, and it's said that anyone who texts the number will have disturbing images sent back to them, along with threatening messages and implications that Momo has your personal information.

Of course, once the urban legend went viral, it had to come with its own set of challenges; those being Facetime with Momo, or text it on WhatsApp. That's where MOMO.EXE comes in, it's a game designed to replicate the text challenge that was conjured up by social media. Judging by the height of the character, you're a kid who decides to text Momo after waking up in a strange location, and you have to do what she says or die. She'll have you jump around, collect your toys, and figure out a password to escape her realm. If successful, you live. If not, well, you're met with a horribly loud screamer-type jumpscare. The graphics are pretty good and the game runs solidly enough, but the text messaging is painfully slow.

Overall, MOMO.EXE is a generic but fun little meme horror game based on a recent urban legend. It does a good job of mimicking the challenge that came with it, minus the gory disturbing photos that Momo allegedly sends her victims. The music is really unfit for the game, however, and kills any sort of spooky mood that might be looming. The whole process only lasts about half an hour, but you can catch this title on sale for as little as $0.60 CAD, and that's not too bad if you're into this type of thing. Just remember that it's a novelty, and not much more than that.

The Horror Network Curator | Group Click for Gore