Dread X Collection 3

About Dread X Collection 3

Dread X Collection 3 was published by DreadXP in October 2020, the third in its series of horror anthologies. Eleven indie teams and the studio Torple Dook were each given ten days to make a game with a twist on the theme spooky-cute: a dancing skeleton, a dog in a spider costume, vampire bats.

The games are joined by an interactive launcher made by KIRA, the creator of Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion. You guide Leo and Prometheus, the alien consciousness living in his head, through a castle above the clouds, looking for ritual candles that unlock the games. The hub has few puzzles, and its story sheds light on the first two collections. If you only want the games, a freeplay option skips the hub.

The twelve are very different. Bubbo: Adventure on Geralds Island is a Super Mario 64-style platformer on an island with a dark secret, with several endings. Bete Grise is a 90s-style isometric night shift in a strange hotel. Chip's Tips is a full-motion-video adventure in the style of Harvester about getting ready for a Halloween party. Nice Screams at Funfair has you serving ice cream at a spectral funfair under the eye of a robotic cat. REACTOR is first-person horror on a remote research station with a robot assistant. SPOOKWARE @ The Video Store is a run of horror microgames during the skelebros' movie marathon.

The rest: Disparity of the Dead is a detective story with relaxed 3D platforming in the Land of the Dead; EDEN: Garden of the Faultless is a monster-raising sim with a racing minigame; Matter OVER Mind is reverse horror where you play a sentient hair-conditioner blob escaping its lab; SATO WONDERLAND is a dialogue-matching puzzle about a theme park mascot gone wrong; Soul Waste is a fast 3D action platformer in a ruined city; and Submission is a meta adventure about Potato the Donkey collecting apples, which is not as harmless as it claims.

GOG lists the time to beat at about 8 hours for the main path. The collection runs on Windows, in English, and suits players who like short, inventive indie horror and want a Halloween sampler more than one long scare.

How to play Dread X Collection 3

1. Start the collection and choose between the castle hub story or freeplay, which lets you pick any game straight away.
2. In the hub, explore the castle with Leo and Prometheus and find the ritual candles that unlock each game.
3. Play each game to its end; every one has its own goal, from collecting 50 coins in Bubbo to surviving a shift serving ice cream.
4. Beat all twelve to finish the hub story and reunite Prometheus with his shattered consciousness.

Tips

• Try every game even if its genre is not your favourite; each is short and they are very different.
• Pick freeplay if you only want the games and not the castle search for candles.
• Bubbo has more than one ending, so it rewards a second run.
• One player on the Steam forums reported that rubble blocking the last candle in the castle did not clear; freeplay still opens every game if that happens.

Questions