Parents' Guide to Dread Hunger

After the huge success of Among Us, more than a few games have tried to mimic the formula, creating a new genre of "social disruption" games. These games force players to work together while also trying to find the saboteur hiding in their midst, but Dread Hunger ditches cartoonish comedy in favor of pure survival horror. The game's unique setting is perfect for a survival game, with players fighting against the elements for food, weapons, and other vital resources. But it also makes an already dark game even more disturbing. This is a game where a viable tactic to survive is to practice cannibalism and eat your fellow crewmembers' bodies when they pass. And that's regardless of whether or not you're one of the Thrall under the influence of whatever supernatural evil lies under the ice.

Dread Hunger's mechanics and controls are rough and clunky on the whole. There's a steep learning curve in figuring out how to function within the game, and an even steeper curve when it comes to doing so without raising suspicion, whether you're a Thrall or not. The game's also a vastly different experience depending on how you play, or more specifically, who you play with. Your best bet is to try and drum up a group of seven friends to play with, and to make sure you have the voice chat set up. Newcomers to the game tend to immediately be singled out as suspect if for no other reason than their odd behavior as they learn the game. Also, while voice chat is almost essential to communicate with others, there's often a lot of, let's call it "spirited," conversations. This can be goofy fun if everyone knows each other, but it can be extremely uncomfortable with strangers.