The Dread X Collections are packages of bite-sized horror that are at least partially responsible for the recent resurgence of retro horror games, particularly of a PS1 vintage. The games featured across the five collections range from comedic through to genuinely creepy, and touch on genres ranging from first-person shooters through to point and click adventures.
You could say, given their episodic nature, that they resemble George Romero’s old horror anthology Creepshow, which was a feature length film consisting of five short, grizzly stories. If you’ve ever said that, you can now feel vindicated, because the team behind the Dread X Collections is making a Creepshow game to tie into the more recent episodic revival produced by AMC.
Revived in 2019, the new iteration of Creepshow (opens in new tab) is exclusively available on the horror-themed streaming service Shudder. A fourth season is wrapping up production at present, but the game adaptation won’t be ready until 2024. It’ll probably be worth the wait though: the studio responsible for the supremely effed up The Mortuary Assistant is involved, and a developer on that game, Brian Clarke, will serve as creative director for the Creepshow project as a whole.
AMC and DreadXP have teased more announcements in the coming months, and it’s unclear whether the adaptation will be based on actual episodes from Creepshow, or if it’ll be kinda like the older Dread X Collections with a new name. The announcement confirms that the game will “retain the iconic franchise’s anthology horror format, consisting of multiple self-contained horror stories that cross gameplay genres and tone.” So yeah, basically a Dread X Collection.
Dread X isn’t the only videogame horror anthology out there: the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc is one high profile example of modern retro horror, which capitalises on the creepy, unheimlich qualities of early 3D graphics. My personal favourite developer in this mould is Puppet Combo, whose Murder House is brilliant. Nun Massacre looks good too.
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