Not entirely sure what you guys mean by one year being "darker" (is that overall theme or tone of the theme/houses?), but 30 certainly has a chance of having better houses. While 20 had a few stand-out houses (Catacombs overall, and the casts of Havoc.), a lot of the others fell into overhype and didn't turn out like people were hoping they would've. 20's Psychoscarepy is regarded as the weakest, Legendary Truth had an amazing idea-yet-wasn't the grand slam it could've been, Hades suffered from budget cuts which included Hades himself!
Meanwhile for me, both Bride of Frankenstein and Tooth Fairy were really solid (and that's just in pandemic mode.), so if the other houses are at that level or higher, it's boding well for 30 being a really fun year.