Dread X Collection 3

De um jeito irônico, 3 dessa coleção estão entro os meus favoritos da franquia, mas eu odeio todo o resto.

Submission deserves a medal and franchise of its own. The rest are OK. I'm sure Spookware can be a good game on its own but it's really annoying as a part of this collection, the mouse chapter doesn't allow touch screen so this game is pretty much impossible to complete on Steam Deck.

Dread X Collection 3 is a creative horror anthology that succeeds by treating experimentation as its main attraction rather than trying to deliver one uniform experience. Developed by DreadXP alongside Torple Dook, Adam Pype & Viktor Kraus, KIRA, corpsepile, Breogan Hackett, Redact Games, Modus Interactive, Basalt Tower, Blood Machine, Bryce Bucher, DIRIGO GAMES, Moya Horror, Wayward Preacher, and Amon26, and published by DreadXP, the collection brings together twelve compact games created around the “Spooky Cute” concept. The participating teams were given only ten days to create their contributions, explaining both the deliberately experimental character of the package and some of its rougher edges. Instead of presenting the individual games through an ordinary menu, the collection places them within a mysterious castle that functions as an interactive hub. Leo and the alien consciousness Prometheus have reached this strange location while searching for a way to restore Prometheus and ultimately return it home. Completing the twelve games becomes part of their journey, while exploration of the castle gradually expands the overarching narrative established by the previous Dread X releases. This approach gives the anthology a welcome sense of cohesion, making progression feel like more than simply selecting unrelated horror shorts. The individual games embrace remarkably different genres. Bete Grise casts the player as Pom, a cheerful hotel night manager dealing with routine jobs such as making beds, folding towels, repairing vending machines, and checking requests while increasingly unusual events surround the lonely establishment. Bubbo: Adventure on Geralds Island initially resembles a colorful retro 3D platformer in which an adorable character searches for coins, only for the cheerful island to reveal a disturbing secret. Chip’s Tips uses live-action footage and the atmosphere of an old children's television program, transforming preparations for a Halloween party into an increasingly bizarre adventure. Disparity of the Dead offers a more relaxed mystery, following a deceased detective investigating why fewer people are arriving in the afterlife than should be expected. Its combination of clue gathering and 3D platforming demonstrates how the collection can remain playful while introducing unsettling ideas. EDEN: Garden of the Faultless is equally unconventional, asking players to raise mysterious creatures from eggs, improve their abilities, and send them through racing challenges. Beneath the unusual creature-raising structure lies a mystery concerning the true nature of the Faultless and the purpose of the Grand Event. Matter OVER Mind delivers one of the anthology's most amusingly grotesque concepts. An experimental hair conditioner becomes intelligent because of unusual DNA incorporated into its formula. Players control the resulting organism as it escapes confinement and takes control of victims, effectively reversing the usual horror relationship between monster and prey. Nice Screams at Funfair turns an ice-cream-serving job into another strange horror scenario. Correct orders and payments matter, while an observant robotic cat ensures that the player follows the rules. The mundane nature of these activities makes their supernatural complications particularly effective. REACTOR moves closer to traditional science-fiction horror. Working at an isolated research station on another planet, the protagonist has only a computer-controlled robotic assistant for companionship. A discovery near a meteor impact complicates that relationship and introduces uncertainty into what initially appears to be a straightforward assignment. SATO WONDERLAND instead explores an amusement park filled with AI-driven characters. When an aging mascot begins behaving dangerously, the player must investigate through dialogue-based puzzle mechanics and determine whether the artificial personality can be repaired or should be retired. Soul Waste changes the pace substantially by emphasizing speed and movement. Its immortal protagonist crosses the ruins of a dead city on a strange divine mission, using large jumps and momentum-based traversal alongside light combat. SPOOKWARE @ The Video Store provides an even more energetic diversion by presenting numerous horror-themed microgames. Its skeletal heroes prepare for a Halloween movie marathon, creating a playful tribute to horror films while delivering rapid challenges that contrast nicely with the slower adventures elsewhere in the collection. Submission initially appears almost aggressively innocent, following Potato the Donkey as he gathers apples, meets friends, and attempts to return to the farm. The deliberately cheerful description itself hints that appearances should not be trusted. This idea summarizes much of Dread X Collection 3: friendly characters, colorful environments, nostalgic aesthetics, and ordinary activities are repeatedly used as camouflage for something stranger or more disturbing. The “Spooky Cute” theme therefore becomes more than a visual gimmick, influencing how many of the games establish and eventually undermine player expectations. The anthology format inevitably creates unevenness. Some entries are mechanically stronger than others, and the short development period means that controls, graphics, pacing, and overall polish vary considerably. Several experiences feel closer to inventive prototypes than complete standalone productions. Yet the restriction also encourages developers to take risks. Within one package, players encounter platforming, FMV adventure mechanics, creature raising, puzzles, first-person exploration, simulation, action, microgames, and unconventional narrative experiments. Few conventional horror games could change direction this frequently without becoming incoherent. Visually, the collection is similarly unpredictable, moving between deliberately dated 3D graphics, isometric environments, live-action footage, colorful cartoon imagery, and darker first-person settings. Rather than damaging the experience, these dramatic changes help every new game feel like opening another mysterious door. The interactive castle provides the necessary connective tissue, while the recurring collision between cuteness and horror gives the package a recognizable identity. Despite the playful appearance, the material can become considerably darker, including violence, gore, and mild themes involving suicide and self-harm. Dread X Collection 3 ultimately works best for players who enjoy discovering unusual ideas more than they demand consistent polish. Not every experiment reaches the same level of quality, but the collection compensates through variety, personality, and an impressive willingness to explore unconventional interpretations of horror. The castle hub and continuing storyline make the package more cohesive than a basic compilation, while the twelve games continually introduce new mechanics and moods before any single concept becomes exhausted. Dread X Collection 3 is rough in places, but its inventive mixture of horror, comedy, nostalgia, platforming, simulation, puzzles, and surreal storytelling gives it a distinctive identity. Its greatest accomplishment is demonstrating how something deliberately charming or ridiculous can become genuinely uncomfortable when the familiar rules surrounding it begin to break. Rating: 8/10