Adventure Horror Bundle (Xbox Series) Review

If you’re looking to invest some time in the good old world of adventure games, the kind in which you scour locations for items to solve puzzles, but also pack a decent narrative – you may want to check out the budget-priced Adventure Horror Bundle from developers Stranga Games and GrabTheGames. This bundle packages together three of their games into one bite-sized, slice-of-horror compilation that’s perfect for an evening of relatively cozy gaming. Well, relative for those who love the horror genre.

Plopped together in this bundle are: Red Bow, My Big Sister, and Just Ignore Them.

Red Bow plops you into the shoes of Roh, whose dreams are haunted by eerie creatures and strange situations. But there’s something very lifelike and grounded about the situations she’s in, which may just have a bearing on her real fate.

My Big Sister throws you into the shoes of 12-year-old Luzia, who has to navigate the destruction of her life after a kidnapping gone wrong. What is real, what is imaginary, and what is the product of her distorted psyche mix together to tell a tale of a special kind of haunting.

Finally, there’s Just Ignore Them, which plops you into the shoes of Mark. Set after the loss of his father, Mark endures one horrible night that has far reaching consequences and influences the trajectory of his life.

Narratively and thematically, all three games broach some dark subject matter like kidnapping, suicide, and abuse, which makes them feel like companion pieces to each other. There’s a VHS anthology feel to this collection, which strengthens the 1980’s horror vibes they’re going for. While there’s some blood and gore to go around, psychological horror is the goal and it’s borne out by some good writing that further enhances the cinematic feel of the games.

All three games also share the same visual style and mechanics you’d expect from classic adventure games. Think 2D 8-bit pixel visuals viewed from an isometric perspective that wouldn’t feel out of place on a real NES or SNES. While there’s enough fine detail in the environments, the visual style means they’re not particularly impressive looking nor animated well. They do get the job done though, and bring the story and horror across effectively, with My Big Sister most effectively creating a sense of dread and creepiness.

Equally retro is the point-and-click style gameplay that tasks you with exploring environments, finding objects, and solving simple puzzles using whatever you’ve picked up. That said, Just Ignore Them is the only game that plays like a true point-and-click adventure title with an onscreen cursor you use to move around, explore the environment, and interact with things. Red Bow and My Big Sister are more modern, letting you control your character directly using a gamepad.

The puzzles themselves are rather simple – or so it would seem. There’s none of the brain-teasing weirdness often associated with adventure games, with bizarre solutions to logical puzzles, but they introduce some complexity by tying the puzzles into the endings.

Each game in the collection has multiple endings – including instant death scenarios. Some are triggered by the items you find, the souls you save, or the way in which you choose to solve a puzzle. This gives each of the games some replay value, which isn’t a terrible idea as they are bite-size adventures to begin with.

Each game can be completed in one sitting if you’re of the mind, though a guide may be handy if you’re looking to see each of the endings. Just Ignore Them sports an auto-save system which helps if you make a mistake and get Mark killed early, while in Red Bow and My Big Sister you better remember to make manual saves before setting about solving a puzzle or making a choice.

With a heavy focus on cinematic storytelling, dark themes, an oppressive atmosphere, and multiple endings, the Adventure Horror Bundle packages together a VHS-style anthology of terror that’s worth exploring at such low budget pricing.

The Adventure Horror Bundle was reviewed on Xbox Series S|X using a code provided to gameblur by the publisher. It is also available on PS4/5, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.