izigame.me

Dread Hunger is, quite simply, one hell of a game. It's a social deduction game at it's core, in the vein of Town of Salem or Among Us, but is far beyond them in depth. Dread is very reminiscent to me of Trouble in Terrorist Town, a gamemode I sunk hundreds of hours into. In the sense that being an innocent doesn't mean you're helpless, stuck to doing meaningless tasks while waiting for the imposters to get caught. You're involved, and if an imposter does creep up on you in the dark, they'd best be prepared, because in this game you are not helpless.
I got into Dread Hunger in March of this year, and six hundred hours later, Dread is well on its way to being my most played game, and for damn good reason. I want to talk about the things I love most about Dread Hunger, but I also want to discuss some of the legitimate criticisms I have with Dread, because as damn well done as the game is, its not perfect, no game is. I also want to address some of the, well down right overexaggerated and unfair if you ask me, flak this game takes. For the life of me I can't understand why some these issues are blown out of proportion by so many. As ridiculous as these issues are, they should be addressed, if for no other reason than the dim hope that perhaps an incoming player will have this review to balance against the flood of negative reviews using such baseless complaints to not recommend such a fantastic game.
Dread's gameplay is phenomenal, no complaint there. The massive variety in approaches one can take to each game creates an infinite number of possibilities that keep each of game of Dread unique and ever changing. Dread is also a beautiful game, obviously, no one would dare talk smack about that. And shoot, I'm a history nerd and this game is based in historical event, but, there is an even greater aspect of Dread Hunger I feel trumps all others. The people. Dread is a social game, and unlike any other game I have played, the folks I have come across during my time in Dread Hunger are incredible. The community is of a size where I've met, played with, and recognize, nearly everyone, hundreds of people. Through that I've met probably fifty people I play this regularly with, several of which I now play other things outside of Dread Hunger with and would call friends. In no other game I've ever played have I met such fine folks as in Dread Hunger.
I wouldn't give up the experience I've gotten from Dread Hunger for anything. So it pains me so see so many people not recommend this game, potentially turning away new folks from the incredible experience that I have received.
So what are the biggest gripes I've seen people have with Dread? The biggest factors driving negative reviews here?
"There are too many Chinese players joining my lobby"/"Every lobby open is Chinese"/"Chinese players kill/kick me instantly"
Well, obviously, Dread is a social game, and as I've said many times, you can't social deduct with someone you can't social with. Yes, there are more Chinese players than English speaking ones, when you open the server browser for the first time, you will be greeted with a wall of Chinese speaking games and likely won't be able to pick out the English ones. The server browser has a filter tool, you can choose to only see English language lobbies, it's simple and painless to use. Yes, Chinese players will wander into your lobby, sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose. Dread is a social game, simply ask someone a few questions, perhaps be polite and ask how their day is going, or maybe ask an abstract question such as their favorite breakfast cereal, or their shoe size. You can tell very quick whether or not you can communicate with the person who has joined your lobby. And guess what? If you can't, or they're being rude, or if you down right just don't like their vibe, you can easily kick them. You don't have to start a game with anyone you don't want to play with. As for the last critique I've seen in these reviews, obviously a lobby that does not speak English does not want an English speaking player in their games, we've just gone over why. These players are people just like you are, them speaking English does not make them any different than you, they don't want to play with folks they can't understand either.
"The cosmetic dlc is too expensive"
It's cosmetics. They don't affect the game, and you aren't forced to spend your hard earned monies to pick them up. Yes, they ain't cheap, but what other business model would you prefer to keep Dread's servers and development up and running? Paid characters? Paid updates? I certainly wouldn't, I'll take hat dlc over that any day. You can also get a few just for playing and some of those cosmetics are the best the team have put out so far.
"There aren't enough English speaking players"/"It takes too long to find a lobby"
Yes. Dread Hunger has a small English speaking playerbase. This is an issue I give criticism on further down in this review. How does this affect que times? I don't think its that big of an issue, during peak hours I've never had to wait more than five minutes to find a lobby, and during non peak hours rarely more than fifteen to twenty. Yes, that's a bit of a wait and I know some people can be impatient, I certainly can be, but with that wait time you could always do something on the side. If you aren't a social butterfly, and can't just chat with folks in the lobby while you wait for it to fill, you can always tab out and work on something else in the mean time. I've always got a project or something I can sink some extra minutes in while I wait. Another alternative is to try and change what time you play, if you find you have trouble with lobbies, maybe play at a different time of the day tomorrow. This obviously isn't practical for everyone, and this issue is Dread Hungers largest actual issue. Which is something ain't it? The only real issue Dread actually has is slightly more annoying than average wait times.
"The game is filled with trolls/cheaters"
It's not. Yes there are hackers and trolls, but what game doesn't have them? Dread doesn't have anymore than any other game and I myself haven't run into more than half a dozen cheaters in 600 hours. Trolls are handled very easy in Dread Hunger. Dread has a feature that allows you to mute a player, and they stay muted until you unmute them. With as small a community as Dread has, most trolls don't last long before there isn't a lobby left for them to join.
The only issue I want to bring up myself is Dread's learning curve. Yes, it ain't easy to learn, but to be fair, most good games aren't. Most of the folks in the game are chill and down to spend a game just helping out someone new if you let them know its your first time, but I also recommend looking at videos on youtube. You could always watch mine >:D, but for the best learning opportunity, obviously Plumoe blows it out of the park. If you wanted to watch a video to learn how to play Dread, watch his.
What's my critique with Dread? What would I do if little ol me was on the dev team? Try and get the game out more. I know that ain't as easy as it sounds, but trying to get more people into the game, maybe reaching out to content creators to get them to give it a try could be a way to go. I got into Dread from watching a youtube video from early access, made over a year prior to when I saw it and bought the game that day. They haven't picked up the game since and its become so much more in the nearly two years since then.
So should you pick up Dread Hunger? Well yes, duh, why else would I be writing this review? Dread Hunger has given me an experience beyond any other game I have ever played, one I wouldn't give up for anything. Dread Hunger could end up being the best game you've ever played, as it is for me. Maybe not, but, I think at least, you should give it a shot. If nothing else you owe it to yourself to have a good time out in the artic.