This 4th Dread X compilation focuses mainly on horror shooters. The number of games included is lower than usual, but each game is long and ambitious, so it feels more like they've focused on quality than quantity.

From best to worst:
The Fruit: 4/5
This is the best game of the collection. It's very ambitious and polished. It has a great atmosphere, good gameplay ideas, and manages to feel like a true survival horror. The mechanics of the manually reloadable rifle and the book of runes are well thought-out. Even the plot, while not revolutionary, has the merit of making the adventure captivating.

Rose of Meat: 4/5
Alright, this one is WEIRD. I thought I'd played a lot of weird games, but this one easily makes the top 3. Is it a good game? Impossible to say, really. But it's so unique and deranged that I can only respect the author. Probably the most divisive game of the lot.

Axis Mundi : 3.5/5
It's a paranormal game inspired by Project Zero/Fatal Frame. You can capture ghosts with a camera. You can also relive the past of the deceased, taking you back in time. The atmosphere is varied and well made. It alternates well between combat, puzzles and exploration. Pretty good overall.

Uktena 64 : 3.5/5
A N64 inspired hunting FPS. Not the most remarkable game, but there's an undeniable charm to the visuals, music and humor.

Black Relic : 3/5
It's the only game that's not a FPS but a TPS. You can tell it's inspired by Resident Evil 4. It's pretty good, but the pixelated visual style is very pronounced, making sometimes confrontations difficult to read. The gameplay is also rigid, with slow reload and pickup animations. I understand that slow movements makes a survival horror more stressful, but in this case it feels more clunky. The Fruit managed to execute that idea much better imo.

The House of Unrest : 2.5/5
Basically first person RE1 with an exorcist. The minimalist atmosphere isn't bad, but it's too easy (ammo is unlimited) and the puzzles aren't interesting.

Seraphixial: 1/5
This one is very bad, I'm sorry. It's really ugly to look at. The gunplay is boring and repetitive. Even the sound effects are laughably bad. Also the only "scares" come from lazy jumpscares.

Also the main hub of the compilation is an adventure game inspired by The Thing. Nice atmosphere and it's overall enjoyable. However, the main character is particularly annoying, with voice lines that remind me of Wolfenstein Youngblood.

The theme here is "shooters" and was produced along with David Szymanski, which gives it a different aura. It's hard for me to get bored with a shooter, shooting stuff is always fun, so I was expecting to really like this one.

The launcher's cool, setting never gets old. It's too story driven in comparison to the previous ones, not only because of the dialogue but also because of how many chores and setups it puts you through. It doesn't feel too dense tho, since this collection contains half as many games as the previous ones. I also like the build up to the monster, previous launchers were really detailed but felt more like an intermission between each game. Here you actually get a climax, get yourself in danger and receive an ending and I think that's pretty cool.

7. Seraphixial

It sucks I'm sorry, Vidas just can't seem to find a balance with the asset flip move because everything looks out of place wherever you look at. Enemies suck, shooting sucks and this guy seems to think being loud = being scary, gets annoying. It's not boring tho, I'll give him that.

6. The House of Unrest

Cool-looking, but the rest is just fine. It's piss-easy and the "puzzles" feel more like chores, it's enjoyable because of the visuals but the mechanics feel more forced-in to make you feel like you're doing something more than walking. Final boss rocks tho absolute badass

5. Axis Mundi

This one's nice, I like how it plays out, no pretensions about it, it's exactly what you see and the scope is really small. Almost relaxing in a way.

4. Uktena 64

Similar to Squirrel Stapler in concept and presentation but a lot more action packed. It's sort of generic when compared to the rest of the pack, but the protagonist and the overall tone of the game just makes it really charming and enjoyable. It's just fun!!!

3. The Fruit

This one's just really polished, like, could've been a demo for an actual game. Combat feels nice, the sigils mechanic and the way it develops and relates to the story is really cool, and the plot itself, while simple, stays relevant during the whole thing and never feels like an excuse.

2. Rose of Meat

Didn't actually enjoy this one as much as Uktena or The Fruit gameplay-wise, but I respect when you do weird shit like this. Everyone had a different vision in this collection, but this is the only game that decided to go waaaay out there in both aesthetics and gameplay and I enjoyed it a lot in that regard, figuring out the mechanics and how to take advantage of them. Great stuff, would love to see more meaty games.

1. Black Relic

Torple Dook always understands the assignment. Clearly inspired by RE4 but it's really polished, movement feels great and shooting more. The visuals and plot are cool, but it's the ending what ends up selling it for me.

Overall, cool stuff. In terms of quality, I'd say it's the most consistent out of every collection, but it's also the one that surprised me the least. Not even Black Relic, which I liked a lot, comes close to the highlights from previous games, so that sort of brings it a bit down for me. Still enjoyed it.

Dread X Collection is an anthology series of indie horror games put together in a neat package. The 7 games here can be played in any order with the backdrop of an overarching narrative set in an isolated research station in the arctics. Here are all the games and my thoughts on them:

uktena 64:
This was made by the same dev who created Lost in Vivo. This isn't the most interesting game in the collection, but it is at the top in terms of quality. The basic premise is that you're a hunter tasked with hunting a bunch of infected animals and the plot gets crazier from there. The N64 aesthetic is great, and the gameplay is simple but fun. 4/5

axis mundi:
A Fatal Frame-esque horror game. You are a ghost hunter tasked with cleansing an under-construction shopping mall. The visuals here are too clean in my opinion and the ghosts look very goofy. The voice acting is strong, and the story isn't too bad. 3/5

black relic:
You play a monk who needs to retrieve a holy relic stolen by a cult of pagans with the help of a trusty crossbow. I reaaallly dig the gameplay in this one. The slow reloads of the crossbow add a lot of tension but unfortunately the enemies are too slow to put you in any type of danger. The pixel/low-res 3D visuals look awesome. 3/5

rose of meat:
Now THIS. This... I don't know what the fuck this is. You could probably write an entire thesis analyzing the meaning behind this super surrealistic piece of art but I'm too dumb to do that. Either way, this was amazing. 5/5

seraphixial:
You receive a letter from your estranged daughter who is in grave danger after joining a cult of sorts. This one starts off strong but quickly turns into the worst game in this collection. Everything from the visuals to the gameplay to the story are extremely unpolished. Every element of this game seems out of place. It just didn't work for me. Awful. 1/5

the fruit:
This is easily the best game out of this collection. After receiving a distressing letter from your lover, you travel to an isolated town to uncover the mystery as to what happened to him. It's an open world survival game with metroidvania elements. The whole atmosphere reminds me a lot of RE4. This game has sooo many cool ideas like the manual gun reload, spell book, the open-ended world, lovecraftian elements, etc. I just wish this was a full-blown game. It is that good. You could buy this collection just for this game and it would be worth it (at a discount of course). 5/5

the house of unrest:
I didn't finish this one. The premise is badass. You play a priest who has been summoned to exorcise demons in a mansion. You dual wield a glock and a cross. This should have been a homerun but it kinda sucks. Not the worst but definitely a very weak entry. 2/5

Finally, the story of the Arc station. This is fantastic as well. It reminds me a lot of "The Thing" which is definitely a strong inspiration here. Great atmosphere. Overall, a great collection. Definitely recommend it, especially on sale.
3.5/5

The Fruit: 5 stars
Hub: 4 stars
Black Relic: 3.5 stars
House of Unrest: 3 stars
Axis Mundi: 3 stars
Uktena 64: 2.5 stars
Seraphixial: 2 stars
Rose of Meat: 1 star

I'll update this as I go through these (maybe) as it's gonna be a while.

I got a bug nearing the end of the hub world so not a lot to say but it seems bog standard.

Black relic is fucking awesome. You get this slow ass combat system , reloading after one shot. The music is chanty and christian. One of the most lo poly games I've seen.

Rule of rose is tough. It's combat is avoidable and it's visual style appears awesome at first but is a little flat and samey a few minutes on, not as evocative as it could be I think. Objects pop up and disappear depending on distance only creating confusion for me.

The games in this collection ranged from okay at most to mediocre, unfortunately. The Hub was not bad, but I felt as if it was...empty? I know that it's an abandoned base, but in other collections, the hubs had more meat if you know what I meant. IMO the weakest collection in the series, though it still offers a few hours for those who want more of the same formula, but definitely not recommended as an entry to the series.

1-Fruit: This was my favorite game out of the seven, I liked how important it was to get an accurate shot while using the rifle, and the enemies that required runes to kill, but most of the time you don't need to use the rifle and acquiring runes are just running in a large empty area.

2-Axis Mundi: Cool idea to unlock the lore with taking photos within the ghosts' memories, but the action part is not something special. An alright game nevertheless.

3- Black Relic: Great atmosphere, and I like how it's related to Torpledook's Hand Of Doom, but gameplay-wise it was too slow for me. It's an unnecessary slowness, because the enemies don't really pose a threat so it doesn't create a tense feeling either.

4-Uktena 64: Made me laugh a few times, and the concept reminds me Squirrel Stapler. Not as good as that game, however. Don't really know what to say, it's okay, I guess.

5-Seraphixial: I love the artstyle BUT as someone who doesn't really like cheap jumpscares, it irritated me more than a few times. Also, the weapons feel like water guns. Probably the scariest game in this collection though (due to the jumpscares).

6-Rose of Meat: I had high hopes, for this one, but the "summon meat first then shoot its eyes" loop got tiring really quick. It was also very frustrating trying to create a bridge from summoned things, so unfortunately this was a disappointment for me.

7-The House of Unrest: I like the pixel style but everything else about it was downright bad. From its hilariously bad AI pathfinding skills to how directionless you are in the game (except maybe two notes, but most of them are just there to tell a cliché exorcist story), this was not really an enjoyable experience. The end boss was fun, but it's just so easy (like other enemies in the game). All in all, another letdown.

You know the drill. What do I think about this one? Brilliant. Aside from two bad games in here, The Hunt was truly a brilliant game worth playing. A major step up from 3 alongside taking all the improvements from the later games and putting them in here as well.

ARK 2: Another fantastic wrap around for the series. Obviously inspired by The Thing, but all the better for it. A one slow burn of a story that's all worth playing alongside some great voice acting to seal the deal.

Axis Mundi: Fun game. The Dread X version of Fatal Frame and you travel back in time to kill ghosts. Fun for the whole family.

Seraphixial: The most creepy game in the anthology for sure. Love the sound design, the enemies, the guns, everything about this one was like a lucid dream that was all fun to play.

Uktena 64: This one was alright. It's basically a better version of Squirrel Stapler and a lot shorter than it. You hunt infected animals, pick up weapons, and do stuff. Decent game.

Rose of Meat: Like tradition with this series, this is the one game I didn't finish. Very very confusing one indeed. It was disorienting, weird, nonsensical, and random. Not very good.

The Fruit: Easily the most disappointing game of the entire series. It could've been a fun corridor shooter with the unique reloading mechanic, but nope. This game decides to be in a sprawling open hub area that is boring as hell to travel through. The spells feel like they're there to inflate the runtime, melee combat is awful, the story felt pointless, and everything about this game screams bad. It had potential to be great, but it was wasted on such poor ideas.

Black Relic: The standout game of the anthology. Of course, Torple Dook makes another good game to play and this is the Dread X version of Resident Evil 4. I think that's more than enough to get you playing.

The House of Unrest: I liked this one quite a lot too. The ending was absolutely fantastic and awesome to play, and the main game here is like Resident Evil where you search around a mansion to find stuff to get from point A to B. Fun game.

And that concludes it. The Hunt is a great game to play and my favorite game in the series so far. Absolutely loved this one.

Uktena 64
- Love Kira's work. This is just okay though.
Axis Mundi
- Decent game, cool concept.
Black Relic
- This game is neat, but kind of a slog.
Rose of Meat
- Love how bonkers this one is, a highlight.
Seraphixial
- Worst one. Thinks loud = scary.
The Fruit
- This one feels really complete and immersive. I enjoyed it.
The House of Unrest
- Goofy but I thought it was fun.

It starts on a great hub, which is miles better than the third one.

The connection between the games is also more interesting, so, on this one, I knew I’d be better served. For this one, only 1 is bad. But Axis Mundi and The Fruit are AWESOME! The Fruit is one of my favorites from the entire franchise.

Better than the third one, worth it if you get on a promo. Actually think that is cool to play all of them, but not back to back.

Axis Mundi: 4
UKTENA 64: 4
Rose of Meat: 2
Seraphixial: 0.5
Black Relic: 4.5
The Fruit: 5
The house of Unrest: 3

Despite having half as many games as the prior 2 collections, each game is twice as long and they're mostly quite well-made.

The Fruit is awesome for a demo and I look forward to a potential full game. 8/10. Besides that we have a lot of clones (of excellent games, mind you, all 6 or 7/10s).
Axis Mundi is a mini Fatal Frame, House of Unrest is a mini RE1 if Dante was the protag, Black Relic is a mini RE4 Clone and Uktena is a more fleshed out Squirrel Stapler
The two biggest misses were Seraphixial and Rose of Meat, which also happen to be the most visually interesting of the bunch, which is unfortunate, but at least gives them a level of play value.
Lastly, the hub is like The Thing meets Obra Dinn
Overall, would recommend it on sale.

tl;dr: every game contained here(except seraphixial) is quite solid, and some are more than that, great collection with a great hub world!

i'll start off by saying the hub world here can be considered a horror game on its own, it has a wonderful setting with a scary atmosphere and progresses the dreadx story quite nicely. i'd even go as far as to say that this hub world is a better standalone horror experience than seraphixial and uktena64. anyway, onto the ranking(from least fav to fav((my subjective opinions)))

number 7 - seraphixial by vidasgames
jesus christ this is arcadletra from dreadx2 but with near nothing to praise at all(the intro is cool, oh and ig there was one single good scare). bullet-sponge bosses appear at least three times in this game, it's just boring as hell and has bad scares, coupled with a disconnected, near meaningless storyline too! such an awful game, did make me laugh once, though not sure if it was intended as a joke.

number 6 - uktena64 by akuma kira
sorry man but this is just squirrel stapler if it was bad. less tense, less interesting(since it was done before). the combat was not really combat it's just sniping animals from afar. this game also throws a zzzzzz mimimimimimi bullet-sponge final boss. i do like the intro and the protagonist though that's pretty much all i like about this game, really expected more from the dev behind spooky's jumpscare mansion.

number 5 - the house of unrest by dan mcgrath
the finale was just amazing. the atmosphere throughout was too and i liked the puzzles a bunch(though they were quite basic), just didn't like the combat - every enemy was a bullet-sponge and barely poses a threat at all.

number 4 - black relic by torple dook
probably my least fav game from this developer, it was still pretty neat(especially the atmosphere, graphics and that torple dook voice acting), but the combat was janky at times(enemies could stunlock you endlessly) the game just wasn't the most interesting. the graphics actually made it really hard to see stuff at times but that may be just me. despite everything said here i really liked this one!

number 3 - axis mundi by philip hesselbäck
cool sweden and ghost facts, coupled with just an enjoyable and well polished game. it's really good! i just got a little annoyed with how precise you had to be with taking the photos, it was quite annoying.

number 2 - the fruit by christopher yabsley
well made, with a good atmosphere and story. i just really liked a bunch of sections in this game(norfolk and the finale of it to be exact), the whole game was just really solid and enjoyable!

number 1 - rose of meat by mr. pink
this is what it feels like to be high i bet, this game has the most unique combat out of all the games here. it's just so interesting!!! i love it.

Just dropping wee thoughts about these as I go.


Axis Mundi
A really nice Fatal Frame-like set in a small shopping mall that's under construction and you've been called in by the crew to hunt ghosts. There are evil ghosts to banish, but it's mainly finding trapped spirits, and diving into the past to find out what happened to them. Short and sweet. Just a nice wee thing to play.

Uktena 64
Very similar to the squirrel hunting game from a previous Dread X Collection. As I've said many times, I'm extremely done with the "Things seem nice but there's actually horror here and it's very obvious from the start" stuff. I know one of these games will always be someone's first expose to that concept, but fuck me is it ever tiring when you're on your twentieth.

Rose of Meat
A wonderfully bizarre horror(?) shooter set in a constantly shifting grotesque world. It's hard to convey this thing just with words. Look at it.

Seraphixial
Cool looking shotgun. Bad everything else.
Got that thing where every texture is shiny. Relies on sudden loud noises for scares in lieu of atmosphere. I'm not trying to be mean, but it's like babby's first asset flip shooter.

Black Relic
Man, I love Torple Dook's stuff. Always a real treat. He just makes cool wee interesting things. This time we're a mute monk fighting demons with a crossbow to try and save our monastery from the chaos of the escaped black relic. It's basic and slow, but something about it just works for me. Uses a really harsh pixel filter over block colours for a lovely style too.

The Fruit
I think this is my favourite of the bunch. Exploring a creepy village and fighting corrupted townsfolk, all in the name of love. Using a book to collect special words that open paths. Swapping to your axe because you missed and don't have time to manually reload the single-shot rifle before three farmers are upon you. Both brutally difficult at times, but also very fair in save points restoring your health. Definitely keeping my eye on this dev.

The House of Unrest
A small Resi-like in first-person about a priest called in to exorcise another priest. The house evokes a bit of the Spencer mansion. You know the way. You've got a crucifix to banish evil goo, and a pistol to shoot fleshy dudes. It's too straightforward and easy to be any real fun. Bullets are infinite, and enemies move at a snail's pace. Most can be spotted from miles away and unloaded into before they get close enough for you to hear. Nothing resembling a puzzle. It's just going places and picking up items that let you into another area. Tries a bit of comedy that just falls flat too. I don't hate this, it's just kinda meh.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Overall, I enjoyed the majority of these. Another mixed bag, which is standard for Dread X at this point. The hub world this time around started cool (haha arctic base), but quickly just felt empty, and not in the atmospheric way it was intending. It had some weepy story with MCU dialogue that was hard to follow. I don't know if that was because it failed to capture my interest, or was just poorly presented. But when you're sitting there blank-faced at the end while someone is saying stuff that feels like it's meant to be important, it's hard to do anything but chuckle.

For my money, Dread X 2 still has the best hub. Undefeated.

Another fantastic collection of horror games by Dread XP with some truly incredible ones, while the collection is not totally consistent with its quality each game still has its charm an uniqueness, heres my thoughts on each one:

Hub - the hub for this game was alright, while i think nothing has reached the fun of the Dread X Collection 2 hub yet this one still tells an interesting story and is fun to walk around in, altough i found it strange how theres basically no information on the games when you pick them, there shouldve been atleast a little description

The Fruit - absolutely the best game in this collection, the atmosphere and story in this one is great and the mechanics of the runes and manually loading your gun were super cool, might replay this one at some point cause its that good.

Axis Mundi - great game! the story was great and enthralling and i thought the camera was a fun spin in the shooter theme of the collection.

Rose of Meat - while i liked the weird themes and presentation of this game, i didnt think it had much going for it in terms of gameplay and i thought the explosion based combat was a bit clunky, but still an enjoyable experience.

Black Relic - fun game with a very unique aesthetic and cool story, altough i did have some gripes with the gameplay, mainly that the players actions are too slow, the enemies aim can suck and there were too many ammo crates around the map for me to even worry about running out at all, but still these problems didnt hinder my enjoyement too much and i had a good time.

Uktena 64 - Definatly my favorite aesthetic of the collection, it really nails the nintendo 64 look and feel, and i thought the story really had some eerie and weird moments, the gameplay is pretty simple but still very enjoyable.

Seraphixial - Definatly the worst game in the collection and a real dissapointment from the Timore developer, the story is confusing to follow since nothing is explained and things just happen, theres only 2 enemies the game keeps copy and pasting over and over again, the scares boil down to cheap and not scary jumpscares and the bosses are dumb, a really bad stain on this overall flawless collection

The House of Unrest - one of my favorites i think! the graphics are nice and have a cool ps1 aesthetic, the gameplay while not very challenging was fun and the puzzles were fun as well, not a bad game at all.

overall except for a few bad apples, the Dread X collection the Hunt is a pretty flawless and great one, i definatly recommend it.

started playing this a little over a year ago, back when it first came out. played 5/7 of the games and then got sidetracked with life and finally ended up finishing it today. my memory of most of this will be a little foggy so bear with me, but:

- Hub: didnt like this one's hub as much as the others, but it was okay. a bit of a slog to get around, everything feels so far apart and you move so slowly. also i feel like the mouse controls were very strange and didnt work correctly
- Axis Mundi: fun little fatal frame action game
- Uktena 64: this ones from kira, so its kinda just inherently good. second favorite in the collection and i love the boss at the end
- Rose of Meat: not surprised this ended up being my favorite one. a fucked up and weird little game from the golden light dev. very much my shit
- Seraphixial: the timore dev has come a long way. really cool visually and i think i remember it being pretty fun. again, its been awhile since ive played a lot of these so i dont remember them very well
- Black Relic: very cool visually, very slow to play however. not bad
- The Fruit: obviously, the reloading mechanic rocks. the book of sigils being used for combat is really cool as well. i liked this one a lot, but the final fight can be kinda frustrating
- The House of Unrest: this is just evil house flipper. i had to collect the chaos emeralds. the end boss was very funny and unexpected (was actually thinking while halfway through: "where did those ak47s go?"). this game is way too easy though, shouldve had to find ammo at least.

nothing has beat dread x 2 for me yet, but im about to dive into 5 so we'll see!

Every game in this collection does something good.

-The hub world is alright, is a neat way to set up playing these different games, the story and setting is just classic slow build up to monster.
-Uktena 64 is probably my favorite visually. Its like the perfect nostalgia view of N64 graphics without actually having to touch that damned console. The knife is super fucking meaty and the guns feel good. The only badish part is you are kind of slow but that makes sense for hunting.
-Axis Mundi is probably my least favorite but its still has cool mall aesthetics and its action is very fast pasted and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
-Black Relic is kind of slow, abrasive in its art style with how pixely and dark it is, but it fuckin works. The slow ass combat works a lot in its favor, a lot of close calls.
-Rose of Meat is the best on a conceptual level, Meat is just fucking awesome. More people should make weird visceral meat dreams. The combat system is cool, even though you can pretty much ignore, but the idea is really fuckin solid.
-Seraphixal's guns felt good, the artstyle was good, and it had the the best scare in this collection. When you first see purple girl? yeah that shit is so fuckin clever, blew my mind.
-The Fruit is simply a very good game. The Runes are a fun puzzle mechanic. The real stand out thing about it is the reload mechanic, because its super realistic, feel bad i didnt use it that much because the axe feels so fucking good i just wanted to use it all the time. And that scene in the swamp area with the skulls is a REALLY GOOD MOMENT.
-The House of Unrest is a neat little game that feels like a classic survival horror in which you collect items to do puzzles, and it even looks like Alone in the Dark, but its in first person and you are very combat capable. The priest comes with a fucking cross and a glock for god's sake. The final boss moment is such a Fuck Yeah moment its so awesome.