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This unsettling horror game compilation is completely free to play - Unsorted Horror Quick Review

7K View2023-08-07

Unsorted Horror

6.8

RetroDarkPsychological HorrorSci-fiSurvivalPsychologicalActionLinear

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SHOULD I PLAY UNSORTED HORROR?

Play it if you like horror games at all. I mean, it’s totally free, what do you have to lose? Unsorted Horror is a compilation of five brief but memorable horror experiences created by developer Mike Klubnika. While the actual gameplay is somewhat minimal here, the sense of atmosphere that Klubnika builds is second to none. This free collection operates as a first glimpse of someone who is likely to become a major name in the world of horror games, so you might as well get on board now.

TIME PLAYED

Each of the five games in Unsorted Horror takes between ten and thirty minutes to complete—and really, spending thirty minutes in any of them would require really taking your time. I completed all five in less than two hours, and I’d imagine most players will finish even faster. It’s the kind of quickly-paced game that’s worth setting aside an evening to play through in one sitting.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT UNSORTED HORROR?

• Gorgeous retro aesthetics. While pixel art is everywhere these days, some indie game developers are finally starting to explore the beauty of low-poly, PlayStation 1-era early 3D graphics. Unsorted Horror embraces this style and shows off how flexible it is across a range of different settings and scenarios. One of the games adds even more filters on top of the visuals, shifting the view into black-and-white to emulate a drab Soviet apartment being used as part of sick military exercise.

• Incredible atmosphere. If I took nothing else from Unsorted Horror, it would be that Mike Klubnika is an absolute master of crafting a deep sense that something is horribly wrong. Each of the five games here takes place in wildly different settings—though the theme of strange science experiments is returned to numerous times—but regardless of setting, every one left me unsettled and anxious for the full run time.

• Dread-inducing soundtrack. Most of the music in Unsorted Horror is created by Jabbu, a composer who seems to have the same firm grasp of how to make listeners nervous that Mike Klubnika has for gamers. The tracks add a ton to the overall atmosphere, and I’ve even gone so far as to check out Jabbu’s Spotify page for more creepy ambient tunes to vibe to while I’m working.

• Light puzzle gameplay. While the short spooky stories in Unsorted Horror are light on gameplay, they share a common fascination with making players do small science-y tasks, and then repeating those in slowly increasing levels of intensity. Whether I was measuring our the right dosage of anesthetic to knock out a massive undersea creature or figuring out the fastest way to replace a broken drill bit so I could escape from an underground bunker, these small puzzles engaged my brain and functioned as misdirection to make the scary moments hit even harder.

WHAT SUCKS IN UNSORTED HORROR?

• Very little interaction. I wouldn’t call the games in Unsorted Horror walking simulators—I didn’t actually walk much in most of them!—but as mentioned above, the actual gameplay is quite limited. If you’re looking for a more mechanically intricate game, you may be disappointed. Then again, these are free and super-short experiences, so I don’t think that’s a huge weakness personally.

• The horror is mostly unseen or existential. Again, this is a case where your mileage may vary. I’m a huge fan of Lovecraftian and psychological horror, so I didn’t mind that most of the scares in Unsorted Horror aren’t the kind you actually see but are more about awful situations, or very brief moments of intense terror. There are a few creepy monsters that show up, but if you’re looking for a Resident Evil-style freakshow, this isn’t the game.

💬 Are you ready to check out the strange tales of terror in Unsorted Horror, or will you be leaving these creepy jewel cases unopened? Share your thoughts in the comments!