5 games. All of them delivering something different, while all following a theme of imprisonment, an authority being uncaring or actively cruel to you, and terrifying industrial complexes.
The Other Side has a nice flow, setting up a solid premise and allowing you to slowly learn the gameplay, only to put pressure on you with a timer. The ending, however, is nothing surprising.
Control Room Alpha is the shortest of the bunch. As such, it has the most simple tasks, and beyond the very end nothing too interesting happens. The theme of an uncaring authority shines here, though.
Carbon Steel was my overall favourite. Telling you to do different tasks to extract a sample from an unknown entity three times, with increased challenge including a time pressure for the final time. It offers the most engaging gameplay, the until then strongest atmosphere and presentation, and two endings, although it is not really puzzling to figure that part out.
Concrete Termor delivers the aesthetically most impressive experience. It is the one that abbreviates from machinery completely, instead opting for simple concrete blocks seemingly stretching into infinity. You jump to three different people. Starting out as a citizen who is treated like expendable trash, to someone in a helicopter wanting to shoot citizens, to the third and final guy playing Battleship with the apartments filled with people against someone else.
Tartarus Engine, which was specifically made for this collection, goes back to emphasizing the machine complex. It is, after Control Room Alpha, the most barebones and uninteresting in terms of bare gameplay, but delivers a very strong atmosphere and has some interesting and fucked sci-fi and philosophical elements going on.

Overall, this is really great, especially for free. I absolutely do not regret playing these, and might even return to some of them.

much rather have this than usual itchio horror, really knows how to use striking sound and unique imagery to keep its tone, gamplay is either slow and simple or practically nothing, with a couple of these wanting to be short films than games, but man is future russia fucked,

carbon steel was the best, especially how story was portrayed in this against some others, with design and small writing squirting dread and confusion into my mind

control room alpha was the worst one.

Despite the name the 5 games here are all quite unified in style and theme. There is a nasty, rusty soviet aesthetic which permeates all the games, and they all share themes of corrupt regimes treating humans like machines to reach too far into the abyss to find something on the other side. You can see a evolution of these games as Mike Klubnika refines his surrealism into more conceptually interesting scenarios and relies less on anti climatic jumpscares to end the stories.

Sadly I don't think any of the games in this collection are particularly good as they either fizzle out into nothing or have no idea where to go and end on a cheap jump scare. Despite this I think the sum here is better then the parts and together each game amplifies the others into a surreal experience that is far more interesting then the 80s slasher wannabe low poly games.

Unsorted Horror is an anthology of short, low poly horror games developed by Mike Klubnika and originally released on Itch.io before released on Steam for free. I don’t know this guy much except from what I’ve seen before on AlphaBetaGamer to know that he makes some uncomfortable feeling/looking stuff with short concepts that are great with tension. I’m going to go into the games more than the overall stuff and give my feelings based on that. I probably picked it up because of a Twitter recommendation or something but I don’t regret it as it certainly left an impact.

The Other Side is probably the most tense as well as the most memorable one to me. The plot is that you’re trapped in a sort of fallout shelter due to an apocalyptic event and that you get tired of it and decide to break out and reach freedom from an oppressive regime. To do that, you have a giant drill along with nearby components and a computer that helps diagnose the drill’s health. The game is split into two parts: the first run where you learn what each of these parts are, what tools to use and how to do it and the part where the real tension begins: the five minute time limit. This is the one that probably made me almost s h i t myself the most trying to actively scramble to pick up the drill, place it down in the vice and go to town on all manners of parts. The drill will break down constantly, and you have to be on your A-Game to replace batteries, drill bits, put the fuel and cooler in, close it all together. If you’re looking for the one that’ll make you the most tense, than this is the game for you.

Control Room Alpha is a decent experiment though a little underdeveloped in my opinion. I love Mike’s use of simple concepts and reworking them in an interesting way, and in this game’s case it presents itself as a sort of Claw Machine type of experience. The plot is that you’re an underground crane operator in a science facility trying to collect samples from down inside a hole filled with giant spiders. It’s okay as a vertical slice, but for the most part you only ever really break out the claw machine once or twice before it hits you with a twist ending. For short horror, I feel like it needs to be paced properly and if there’s a scale between too short and too long then this is in the too short range and could’ve used a bit more polish. However, if you’re deathly scared of skittery fast spiders then I’d give this one a pass. Other than that, it’s the shortest one in the collection and it’s okay.

Carbon Steel is the most intricate of them all and probably the longest and with the most endings. You play as a scientist arriving at a mysterious lab via tram ala Half Life in order to conduct unethical experiments on vague monsters for your mysterious employers. The gameplay is more like The Other Side, where you balance doing a bunch of stuff at once like cross referencing lab info, floppy discs, data tables and chemicals. It’s good, though a bit on the complex side and confusing trying to start and figure out. I had to look up some Youtube stuff in order to figure out what I was doing but once I did I kinda smoothed my way into it all for the most part. With each passing experiment they’ll add more onto you, like a device where you cross lines in order to classify what monster types they are and eventually introducing a pod repair gun which increases the tension as it slowly breaks due to smashing from within. I’m not sure where the multiple endings come in, it seems as if there are only two and I did everything correctly as far as I’m aware so I guess I got the good ending where you escape. The problem is for me, I got confused as to what I did to get it because there’s a floppy disc which tells you in order to escape you need to find something with an X label on it and I didn’t do it so I don’t know. I feel like there’s more to this than I personally can understand, but overall it’s pretty solid.

Concrete Tremor is probably the bleakest in the entire collection; the game takes place in a Soviet-bloc world of gray as you learn that everyone is stuck inside a series of apartments inside of some facility. You don’t know what it’s about or what’s going on EXCEPT one thing: remember what I said about the simple concept in Control Room Alpha? This one is like that except done better with a game of Battleship. You and your opponent take turns guessing where the other apartment blocks are as your actions cause a direct impact on the lives of other people. That’s right, you’re blowing up actual people inside these apartments in a sort of messed up, war is hell mind game against your opponent. It’s essentially a guessing game, and if you miss all your shots then your opponent gets to call your apartment blocks for a free turn but also vice versa. You can win the game from what I’ve seen, but it essentially leads to the same ending and honestly gives me the message of how no one really wins the war because regardless our actions caused people to die. A must play recommendation if you’re willing to stomach the concepts.

The Tartarus Engine is probably the second weakest in my opinion? You play as an engineer tasked with going down multiple layers into some sort of prison to repair some stuff because of malfunctions. The problem is that time works differently down there, seconds on Earth take years down in this prison. As a concept this sounds like it should be longer but I don’t feel like it translated well? Other than walking there’s a little bit of micromanaging with no explanation on what to do, but it mostly consists of taking a panel apart and using a small trolley with a latch system. There’s also a twist ending that I didn’t really understand because of the confusing nature of the story but equates to “this is torture”. I don’t know, didn’t vibe as well with this as I did the others.

Overall, it’s a solid anthology recommendation of free games that one should definitely take if you’re interested in small Itch.io games, chunky low poly graphics and character models, and a nasty tense industrial score coming straight out of the Silent Hill otherworld. Most of the games except Tartarus started as free Itch.io titles, with the former being exclusive to this game only. The guy knows how to build oppressive worlds that make me feel overwhelmed and want to take twelve showers afterwards so shout out to Mike and Jabbu for the experimental gameplay as well as the soundtracks because damn you two did an excellent job. I streamed this for a friend yesterday along with The Complex: Found Footage and it’s a sort of irony of “Comfy/Uncomfy horror” with this game definitely being the latter. If you’re looking to play something for Halloween, then I’d suggest giving this a try and I’m interested in future projects.

Links:

https://mikeklubnika.itch.io/

https://www.youtube.com/@mikeklubnika/videos

https://twitter.com/mikeklubnika?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/

Comunque un lusso per il suo prezzo trascurabile (0 centesimi). I 5 giochi hanno un discreto livello di eterogeneità.
Vi è una tema conduttore tra le varie esperienze, interessante ma esplorato superficialmente.

The Other Side: Nel gameplay tra i più carini, e l'atmosfera è resa tutta. Bel finale, ma l'entità l'ho trovata nel suo design poco impattante.

Control Room Alpha: Rispetto agli altri, perde un po' dell'approccio horroristico generale, andando a proporre una formula più classica tra aracnofobia, suspensina, e jumpscareino. Credo il più debole tra tutti. Inaspettate le pennellate comiche.

Carbon Steel: Il gameplay più coinvolgente, sempre integrato con la storia del capitolo. L'inclusione di 2 finali è un po' superflua, data la loro prevedibilità, ma almeno rendono il tutto un poco più immersivo.

Concrete Tremor: Interessante la "battaglia navale", nonostante ritengo impossibile che l'avversario non avesse gli x-ray abilitati, in quanto in 4/5 turni ti fa già il culo. Il più ""politico"" della collezione.

Tartarus Engine: carino, non avevo idea di che cazzo fare ma ce l'ho fatta comunque.

Le musiche le trovo molto ganze, e ho sbavato ogni volta che sentivo il suono del disco messo dentro la console.

بالنسبة للعبة مجانية قصيرة فـ اللعبة اذهلتني جدا.. اللعب نفسة طبيعي وممل نوعا ما لكن قصة وغرابة وتصميم اللعبة هو يلي اعطاها طعم خاص.. اللعبة تتكون من 5 العاب قصيرة كل لعبة لها قصة وهدف مختلف ومع إني اكرة العاب الرعب بسبب مللها واعتمادها على الجمب سكير "لما يظهر شي فـ وجهك فجأة" الا إني حبيت هاذي اللعبة خصوصا انها ما تعتمد ولا تستعمل الجمب سكير بل تحاول تزرع شعور الخوف بـ غرابة التصميم والاحداث.. اللعبة كانت تجربة قصيرة ومميزة وأتمنى التوفيق لمطورين اللعبة على أمل توظيفهم بشركة توفر لهم البيئة لصناعة لعبة اكبر

As a set of free five short horror game, it is a good product unified by their unique visual style, working under pressure and unknown mechanisms to create tense experiences. I like the drill game the most for being more mechanical and the battleship game for its (attempted) message. Each taking around ten to twenty minutes, this whole set can be done in one sitting and an hour or two.

That being said, I feel the main game launching another game does not really add that much value and may be better of as a free bundle of individual games. I believe the appeal is replicating the old console or PC game covers with descriptions in the back along the feel or texture of CDs which is fine. Since each game is standalone, this game launcher does not provide a unifying context aside from the feel or nostalgia. I am not looking for meta secrets within the launcher but rather a perspective to see each game as a whole even if some may occur within the same universe.

For a casual playthrough, I think each one provides their own unique experience. My criticism of each is perhaps how its twist or subversions are very surface level which is also fine for its scale but I feel it misses its deeper meaning. For example in the drill game, what lies beyond the wall justifies the prison-like treatment all for that subversion on protagonist agency. Another is the battleship game, war is more complicated than winning or losing much more so their politics or reasons if it is a war metaphor. Perhaps this is unfair criticism if it is mainly for their unsettling tone and horror rather than considered meanings, still their ambiguity and obscurity do encourage that closer look which disappoints me.

Overall though I still do recommend this set for a casual experience from a budding developer. My only caveat are some flashing lights and a lack of field-of-view slider where I experienced motion sickness while playing through it.

Kinda love the concept of horror anthologies without a set theme, so naturally I was down to try this. I guess there isn't a set theme, but the games Mike Klubnika included in the pack do tend to have similar ideas of crumbling industrial hells and having to work around complicated machinery.

Quality of the games obviously varies, Tartarus Engine was probably the strongest of the ones I've played. I'd be curious to see more from this developer, and his newest game, Buckshot Roulette, definitely shows a lot of promise.

Glimmers of greatness, marking Mike Klubnika as one to watch out for.

Anthology collections are always going to be a bit of a mixed bag. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that stayed at a single level of quality throughout; Magnetic Rose from 1995’s Memories — one of the most beautiful pieces of animation I’ve ever seen — is only the first part of the collection, and is immediately followed up by Stink Bomb, which is roughly thirty minutes of a guy who can’t stop farting nerve gas. Stink Bomb isn’t bad, but holy fuck, is it no Magnetic Rose. Unsorted Horror is similarly not immune to anthology syndrome, and excellent pieces like the perspective-swapping Concrete Tremor sit a bit awkwardly next to Control Room Alpha’s core theme of “big spiders are scary”. Despite some inconsistencies, however, Unsorted Horror is still a collection that shows a lot of latent potential peeking through the cracks.

The Other Side was the first game offered to me, and it’s the first PAYDAY 2-themed horror game I’ve seen; you’re tasked with maintaining the biggest piece of shit drill ever engineered to put a hole through through a vault door, constantly topping it up with coolant, oil, fresh batteries, and new bits. It’s a lot of blind fumbling around to figure out what goes where and how it all works together, much in the same vein of a personal favorite like Nauticrawl, but it’s not especially polished; I managed to get softlocked the first time I needed to take the drill down for repairs, and that’s not very impressive for a game that’s only about fifteen minutes long. The ending is also pretty silly, culminating in the classic indie horror final shrug of “spawn a scary PNG that moves toward the player and then cut to credits”. It feels distinctly amateurish, and it’s not a great first step forward into the collection.

Control Room Alpha is next, and similarly fails to impress. The core conceit hinges almost exclusively on whether the player is scared of spiders; if you aren’t, then this is mostly just going to be you fucking around with a dipstick for a few minutes before a big spider jumps at you. There’s certainly something admirable about the way that Klubnika tries to build tension here, especially given how short of an experience it is — wandering outside to the spider pit when the equipment fails, having to very carefully move the samples while insects skitter around your station — but, again, if you aren’t afraid of spiders, then this isn’t going to do much for you. There’s another equally cheap jumpscare at the end of this one, too, and I was afraid we were going to fall into a pattern with the remaining three games.

Not the case, luckily! Carbon Steel is the third entry of the collection, and it’s far more feature-complete and engaging. I used to daydream about being a lab technician when I was younger, just getting to work as some sort of scientist; it was a pretty simple imagining of how such a job would function, given that I was a child who thought scientists were just people like Doc Brown or Dexter who fucked around with machines and chemicals all day, but it was something I fantasized about all the same. While real lab techs do boring shit like crystal chromatography, Carbon Steel lets you run experiments on live sea monsters that are constantly threatening to break out of their rusty tubes and savage you for your hubris. Sick. There’s a neat little plot running through this that gives a bit more context and worldbuilding than I was expecting from such a breezy title, and it provides a lot of motivation to do things properly. Or really, really wrong. Your choice. Things were starting to look up.

Concrete Tremor is next, and it’s the easy stand-out of the lot. Multiple perspectives, a slowly-unfolding story, and some truly chilling moments make for a wonderful piece of dream-like horror. The Battleship game that goes down at the end gives you the opportunity to get a phone call from someone in a group of people you were playing as earlier, and there’s an exchange between your old character and your new one that actually managed to get an audible reaction out of me. It’s my understanding that this one is actually offered as a standalone title, along with every other game I’ve mentioned previously, and I’d seriously suggest just getting this one if you aren’t in the mood to play through the entire collection.

We round things off with The Tartarus Engine, which was created exclusively for this anthology, and it shows; it feels the most obviously like the sum total of Klubnika’s talents, mixing a lot of systems and knowledge together into something that feels remarkably cohesive. He’s gotten a bit better at writing, a bit better at coming up with diagetic ways to convey information to the player, a bit better at constructing level layouts, a bit better at creating a consistent art style. You can see a lot of elements of the other works present in Unsorted Horror cropping up here, and it makes you feel like something of a proud parent to see the developer applying all of his learned talents at once. That said, Tartarus Engine isn’t my favorite of the lot — that still goes to Concrete Tremor — but it’s easily the piece that shows the most promise for Klubnika’s future work. Frantically checking your watch as the time you have to hack into the machine slowly ticks away is a wonderful little mechanic, and it fits the short runtime perfectly.

Unsorted Horror is a bit of a mixed bag, but the title should have given that much away. While it’s certainly not going to be winning any awards, this is still a nice portfolio to show off a lot of little, unique ideas. The indie horror scene is currently going through some weird growing pains, with a deluge of scary children’s mascots designed purely for the sake of having Game Theory videos made about them and liminal space walking simulators where a scary monster eventually jumps out at you and screams until your speakers pop; anything being made today that can break free of these amateur trappings is deserving of your attention. Going off of what’s here, you’d be smart to keep an eye on Klubnika from here on out. He’s gonna make something truly spectacular sooner rather than later, and you won’t want to miss it when he does.