#Anthology of Fear

[teaandgames]

Top And Bottom of 2023

2023, we hardly knew ye. Everyone says the years go by fast but this one barely shook my hand before running off. Maybe it’s because I’m thirty now. Maybe as the decades pass, the years get faster. In which case, by the time I’m eighty I should be able to do a decade of games in one post. Now that’s efficiency.

Anyway, this list only contains games I’ve actually played, so you can blame time and money for the lack of games like Baldur’s Gate 3 on this list. Instead, it’s going to be a little bit of a strange list, so bear with me. I’ll be doing top and bottom five, just to get straight to the point really, and alternating them, to try and drum up some suspense.

That leads me to…

Fifth Bottom - Dead Island 2

From a purely functional standpoint, Dead Island 2 doesn’t really do anything wrong. Hitting the zombies is fun, strapping batteries to machetes is fun, walking along beaches is fun. But at the end of the day, functional is all it is. The fun I had with it is not unique to Dead Island 2 and is done better in pretty much every other big zombie release. Dead Island 2 is just a zombie game, with no other thought or creativity poured into it. Doomed to slide out of your brain the moment it’s done.

I’d say to play Dying Light 2 instead but, to be honest, I didn’t have time to play that one either.

Fifth Top - I’m On Observation Duty 6

This one is a bit of a cheat, as I’ve not actually played that much of number 6 itself. But I haven’t given the previous ones the props they deserve, so sod it, I’m doing it here. I’m on Observation Duty has a unique mechanic - a sort of horror spot-the-difference. You man security cameras, pointing out differences and looking out for intruders. It’s thoroughly unsettling, wonderfully engaging and yet so brutally simple.

It shows the value of a good idea that’s given a lot of room to breathe. You could probably make the case that 6 is little more than a rehash of the previous ones but I don’t care. Just give me more.

Fourth Bottom - Rogue Cards

I feel a little bad about this one, not least because the developer sent me a classy email after the review went up. Still, this was a year that was saturated in roguelikes. I’ve lost count of the amount of cards I’ve thrown at bad guys. It’s like if Vegas was taken over by goblins. Rogue Cards drew the short straw, unfortunately, by being a below average roguelike in a saturated year.

Its runs all feel a bit repetitive, it doesn’t look that great and the good ideas it has are dragged down by the rest of it. My fondest hope is that it becomes a learning experience and those lessons can be fed into another bloody genre.

Fourth Top - DREDGE

I only learned about DREDGE days before I reviewed it. I just liked the title. It turned out to be an absolutely wonderful game and one of the few titles this year that I played after I had finished reviewing it. It’s a lesson in how horror can build up at the pace of the player, as that first mutated fish you catch changes everything. There’s no going back after fishing a bloated, pus-filled mass out of your nets.

It also potentially shows that nearly anything can go together with a life simulator. Eldritch horror? Why not? I’ll be over here playing fish tetris when you need me.

Third Bottom - Nimbus INFINITY

Part of why I started reviewing games was to dip my toes into genres I’d never experienced before. You never know when you might find something new and exciting. Probably won’t be the Mecha genre though, going by Nimbus INFINITY, which was a lesson in crashes, awkward writing and awful voice acting. My only real memory from the game is the mispronunciation of ‘biplanes’, which really isn’t a good thing.

The combat did have its moments but really just boiled down to locking on and mashing the fire button. Final boss fight was a pain in the arse too.

Third Top - The Talos Principle 2

At one point in my life, I considered doing a philosophy degree. I’d quite enjoyed it in school. Decided against it though, which was a shame. It might have helped me appreciate what The Talos Principle 2 was banging on about. I joke - I did genuinely appreciate the philosophy in The Talos Principle 2. Its characters were deep and the central issue of growth vs. destruction gets more relevant by the day.

It also had some excellent laser puzzles, even if it can’t find many philosophical things to say about them.

Second Bottom - Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Might be a controversial one this, but Ubisoft has ten times the resources of others on this list and they still churned out something that’s fundamentally shallow. Frustrating, given the interesting setting. Basim is a suitable face for it, being as deep as a Disney prince, who spends his every second of screen time talking about how he wants a better future. Too busy for a personality, bless him. Then all the side-content followed suit by being as shallow as a teaspoon.

It was a brave return to the original formula and I applaud that. Assassin’s Creed desperately needs to get rid of its bloat. Still, this feels more like a chicken bone thrown to fans of the original rather than any real attempt to rekindle the fire.

Second Top - Blasphemous 2

A very valid criticism of Blasphemous 2 is that it’s little more than an extension of the original. My rebuttal is simple: I don’t care. If I had found a suitable replacement for Blasphemous in the meantime, it might have held water but I didn’t. Blasphemous’ world is idiosyncratic and I’ll take whatever I can get. It helps that Blasphemous 2 did a lot to make its gameplay a lot smoother and a lot less frustrating.

Granted, it did that by shaving down the ‘Vania’ part of Metroidvania. Maybe I’m just more of a Metroid Man?

The Bottom! - Anthology of Fear

Horror is one of my favourite genres - certainly my favourite film genre. So I’m always inclined to be a bit more critical towards it. That certainly didn’t do Anthology of Fear any favours but you don’t need to be a critic to see its flaws. Brutally short with barely any interaction on our part, it fails to either engage or scare. You’d get much the same experience by browsing the new releases on itch.io and at least they would be free.

Looked nice though.

The Top! - World of Horror

It’s rare to stumble across a game that could have been personally made for you. I’m a huge fan of Junji Ito-style body-horror and World of Horror serves that up in a unique style. It somehow preserves the unsettling, skin-crawling feeling that comes from reading body horror manga, which is no mean feat. I think it’s down to the stories contained within and the constant knowledge that death is never too far away.

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea and the graphics and general feel might turn some people off but I’ll be damned if it didn’t charm the hell out of me. Just as well, seeing as I’d been following it for about half a decade.

So that’s the year - even I wasn’t expecting to put a horror game as the first place on both lists but, hey, it’s been a scary year. Here’s to 2024. I hope you have fun with your 2024 games. I’ll be busy saving my pennies for all the 2023 releases I missed. If you come back next year, I might even be able to tell you how Like a Dragon: Gaiden is.

For fun, here's a quick list of others that didn't quite make it to my top list:

Like a Dragon: Ishin - was a lot of fun, but the updated faces ruined the plot a bit.

Dave the Diver - the best game that I keep forgetting about.

Riftbound - mistakenly got a code for it this year but released last year, so wasn't viable. Wonderful tower defence game. What Plants vs. Zombies 2 should have been.

Astrea: Six Sided Oracles - The best roguelite I played this (last?) year. Maybe because it didn't use cards.

TEVI - an adorable metroidvania with great movement, if flat combat

Hope 2024 brings good things!

#World of Horror #Anthology of Fear #Assassin's Creed Mirage #Dead Island 2 #The Talos Principle 2 #Rogue Cards #DREDGE #Blasphemous 2 #Nimbus INFINITY #I'm on Observation Duty 6 #Gaming #Video Games #2023 #Tea And Video Games

[gebo4482]

Anthology of Fear

#anthology of fear #ohdeer studio #100 games #ultimate games s.a. #indie games #horror games #survival games #screenshots #steam

[gbhbl]

Game Review: Anthology of Fear (Xbox Series X)

It’s an enjoyable horror experience, one that gets more and more immersive as it goes on, but one that has some pretty unforgivable flaws.

At first, Anthology of Fear looks to be doing nothing different than any other first-person, story-based, mild-puzzling solving horror game. Yet, the more time spent in its dark and creepy locales, the more it stands out. If only because it chooses atmosphere over jump scares… for the most part. It’s an enjoyable horror experience, one that gets more and more immersive as it goes on, but one that…

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#Anthology of Fear #Game Review #horror #Horror Game #Walking Simulator #Xbox Series X

[xboxissues]

New Xbox Games for October 2nd to October 6th 2023

#youtube #Builder Simulator #Trepang2 #The Lamplighters League #Synergia #Warhammer 40000 #Darktide #Series X|S #MeteoHeroes #Saving Planet Earth #Anthology of Fear #Dinobreak #Ultra Remix #Blossom Tales II #The Minotaur Prince #Diorama Dungeoncrawl #Master of the Living Castle #Assassin's Creed #Mirage #Bang-On Balls #Forza Motorsport #Knight vs Giant #The Broken Excalibur #No Son Of Mine #Aquarium Land #Mummy Pinball #NHL 24 #Project Blue #Sunshine Manor #SWORD ART ONLINE

[portalwibu]

#game #Anthology of Fear

[thesplintering]

Psychological Horror Game “Anthology of Fear” Coming to Steam in March

Psychological Horror Game “Anthology of Fear” Coming to Steam in March | #gaming #horror #PCgaming #Steam #PCgames

Why did it have to be mannequins? 100 GAMES has announced that their upcoming horror game, Anthology of Fear is coming to Steam PC on 17 March 2023. Co-developed by 100 GAMES and OhDeer Studio, Anthology of Fear is a psychological horror mystery “that will focus on human subconsciousness.” Plus, there appears to be more than an adequate amount of creepy mannequins. Here’s the official…

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#100 GAMES #Anthology of Fear #Featured #OhDeer Studio #Steam

[milogreer]

4/3 EA spoilers 💖

the way reversal gavin says “my goodness” … the way he talks under his breath sometimes in a daze almost like he’s thinking aloud without realizing (“studying the very enticing person sitting across from me” + “i liked it better the way you were looking at me a second ago” + “oh my. you certainly are something special, aren’t you?” 😵‍💫). and the shuddering breaths after freelancer touches him and “the flavors- LAYERS” and the whispered “i need you in private i think - now” etc etc just put me in the fuckin GROUNDDD

#listening again…. i fear i will listen to this Often #SIGH. this anthology is going to leave me wantingggg #in a good way #sweetheart.txt #redacted audio #ea spoilers #redacted spoilers #gavin #fooliverse

[stuckinapril]

i love anthologies. anthologies are so sexy

#in an alternate world where im an english lit major the norton anthology of english lit is my bible #it's by no means an exhaustive overview but i really love how everything is in its neat timeline #and you get a general vibe for how literature was back then as opposed to just going in blind. u see how everything influences everything #a major (maybe a bit irrational?) fear i have is i come out of a book w superficial understanding #and while that has contributed to unfortunate reading slumps i do also like this trait of me #where i am actually focused on giving a book/period of time the respect it deserves vs just reading it flippantly #i like doing my silly little pre-read of a period of time/author before jumping into it #i don't do pre-reads for everything but there are books where i find it necessary to prime my brain for absorbing them #and anthologies are good for that #and they're also a good resource for investigating authors whose vibe sits right w u. #or for knowing the general quaintessential authors of a certain genre of lit #i also love poetry anthologies #the commentary comparing/contrasting certain authors is also rly interesting to me . ok i'll shut up now #p

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

I feel like I’m cheating on Evermore with TTPD: The Anthology.

#Taylor’s cheating tendencies are rubbing off on me I fear #taylor swift #taylorswift #the tortured poets department #ttpd #ts ttpd #the anthology #ttpd the anthology #evermore

[kahpao]

A TRIBUTE TO THE FEARS 👁️

I made some fanart for The Magnus Archives!! I love this podcast, and am hella enjoying Protocol too! The characters and world building in these stories are really interesting to me - I used to think I wasn’t a fan of horror, but Rusty Quill changed that!

Slight TW for horror/depictions of blood and guts/elements of fear and phobias 👍 see the full un-blurred piece under the cut!

#original art #artists on tumblr #digital art #the magnus archives is a podcast #the magnus archives #the magnus pod #Tma #tma fanart #fear entities #tmp #the magnus protocol #horror podcast #horror anthology #tma podcast #tma/tmp #15 fears

[psychidelias]

Realizing the Magnus archives is just a podcast format british X-files has exploded my brain

#only half joking #the magnus archives #the x files #a horror anthology revolving around the supernatural that is genuinely scary at times #and has so many episodes #it is 100% possible for someone to divide x file episodes into each fear #mind has been blown #jonathan sims #tma

[gebo4482]

Anthology of Fear - Official Teaser

Steam

#anthology of fear #ohdeer studio #100 games #gamersky games #indie games #horror games #adventure games #trailer

[itstokkii]

that's sucks to hear that they blocked you, the most mature thing would be to apologize, just a simple "hey, I am so sorry❤️" would be better than to pretend nothing happened. I do believe people can change and grow with time, hopefully they will realize that it's not weak to apologize, it shows that you understand you said/did something wrong. And I am 100% on your side, don't get me wrong, but I do hope people don't send them any hate or threats because of this....tumblr can be a very toxic place sometimes😔😥

based on the kind of person they are i don't see them ever apologizing tbh. i, and others, have found that this person's very adamant and insists they're right and that they haven't done anything wrong and refuse to see it from the other person's point of view.

as such, an apology isn't necessarily a goal, but i'd like people who worked at @hws-anthology either as an artist, contributor, or mod to see this, and especially to the mods as a message to be more supportive of POC and help amplify their voices, not choke them and take them away only for non POCs to speak over them the way the server owner did.

#tokki answers #ive refused to tag them before in fear of seeming “petty” and “seeking attention” #but i feel that as someone who was wronged in the server #by the server OWNER even #i feel that it's my right to directly address the mods and organizers of this server and tell them what happened to me #i'll be tagging the anthology in my main post about this problem as well #they need to see it

[feral-ballad]

Han Yong-Un, tr. by Sammy E. Solberg, from The Silence of Love: Twentieth-century Korean Poetry; “The son master’s sermon”

[Text ID: “My love, I was afraid the rope of your love might be weak so I / doubled the strands of my love for you.”]

#han yong un #excerpts #writings #literature #poetry #fragments #selections #words #quotes #lit #poetry collection #typography #korean literature #korean poetry #anthologies #love #fear

[fandomsideworks]

halloween 2022 – favorite horror games ii

#horror #video games #fatal frame ii: crimson butterfly #fatal frame #the dark pictures anthology #house of ashes #resident evil 2 #american mcgee's alice #the quarry #maid of sker #deadly premonition #silent hill 2 #bioshock #layers of fear #halloween

[108garys]

Get rekt Sherman

Manny would 100% bully children and Megan would 100% 'calmly' show him the error of his ways

I've had this idea in mind for a while but was indecisive on the details, but basically mid 70s teen Sherman is about to "fuck around and find out", messing with Hector and his art projects is a dangerous idea on Megan's watch 😈

I figured it'd be nice to spice up Sherman's look with some stripes since the other two have a lot more going on design wise

@kassiekolchek22 @delurkr @tatjana-fantasy @ctrvpani @myscprin @mybrainrotforreal @qusok @blubary @kindheartedgummybears @kagoa @unhingedlesbear @lonnitamongus @redran6er(don't question why Sherman is in little hope, it may be the happy timeline but nothing wrong with a little bit of drama)

#Little hope #the devil in me #the dark pictures anthology #the dark pictures little hope #the dark pictures the devil in me #megan clarke #Manny Sherman #hector munday #Hector Clarke #The hector clarke au #Megan-hector siblings au #I stand up my statement about manny fearing Megan #scribblings #supermassive games