Cosmic and Lovecraftian horror Horror Mystery and detective horror

WORLD OF HORROR

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A 1-bit roguelite of cursed mysteries as the Old Gods wake over a Japanese town.

Platforms: PC, Mac, PlayStation, Switch
Stores: Steam, itch.io
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (8,846 of 9,883 reviews positive); Metacritic 77 on PC; 4.44 of 5 on PlayStation Store (788 ratings)
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse (point and click); controller on consoles.
Made by: panstasz (Paweł Koźmiński)
Released: 2023

On PlayStation: one of the PlayStation horror games.

No. 21 of the apocalypse horror games · No. 26 of the hospital horror games · No. 21 of the Japanese horror games · No. 29 of the curse horror games · No. 9 of the lighthouse horror games

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store Nintendo eShop (Switch)itch.io

What frightens In the seaside town of Shiokawa, Japan, as the Old Gods wake, you investigate mysteries in hospitals, schools, apartments and forests and run into figures straight out of Junji Ito: a too-tall masked man asking about red or blue paper, faces in windows, bodies twisted out of shape; every encounter can wound your body or your reason, and doom rises with each day.
Content: gore, body horror, mutilation, eye injury, partial nudity, smoking.

WORLD OF HORROR is a 1-bit roguelite horror RPG inspired by Junji Ito and H. P. Lovecraft. In 1980s Shiokawa, Japan, you solve randomly chosen mysteries through events, choices and turn-based fights, keeping your stamina and reason up as doom creeps toward the end of the world.

About WORLD OF HORROR

WORLD OF HORROR is the work of Polish developer Paweł Koźmiński, known as panstasz, published by Ysbryd Games (and Playism in Japan), with additional writing by Cassandra Khaw and music by Sebastian Zybowski and Joseph Bailey. It entered Early Access on PC in 2020 and came out in full on Windows and Mac in October 2023, with PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch versions a week later. Its art is drawn entirely in MS Paint in stark black and white.

The Old Gods are returning to Shiokawa, a seaside town in Japan, and strange things are happening across it. Each run you pick one of 14 characters and work through a set of mysteries drawn from a pool of 20, investigating locations, meeting townspeople and facing whatever has taken root there. Events are drawn like cards, choices can help or hurt you, and fights are turn-based. Most mysteries have several endings, if you survive long enough to see them.

The fear comes from its encounters, most of them homage to Junji Ito's manga: wrong faces, strange obsessions, bodies changed in horrible ways. Every one costs something. Your stamina and your reason drain, doom rises as time passes, and when any of them runs out the run is over. With unlocked characters and rituals you try again.

It suits players who like roguelites, horror manga and cosmic horror, and who do not mind a hard, random game where death is common.

How to play WORLD OF HORROR

Buy it on Steam or itch.io (Windows or Mac), the PlayStation Store or the Nintendo eShop.
Choose a character and an Old God, then start investigating the town's mysteries.
Visit locations to draw events, make choices and gather items, spells and allies.
Fight in turn-based combat by filling a sequence of moves and launching it.
Keep stamina and reason above zero and solve five mysteries, one for each key to the lighthouse, before doom reaches 100 percent.

Screenshots

WORLD OF HORROR screenshot: a young heiress with a strange symbol on her necklace, drawn in 1-bit black and white pixel art

WORLD OF HORROR screenshot: a masked man in a red cape asks whether you want red paper or blue paper

WORLD OF HORROR screenshot: turn-based combat against a hole-ridden thing, a man with holes in his face, in a room with a portrait on the wall

WORLD OF HORROR screenshot: a woman bleeding from the mouth after being transformed by her greed, in a combat screen

WORLD OF HORROR screenshot: the start of a mystery about evolving eels, with a figure in a doorway

WORLD OF HORROR screenshot: the map of an apartment block during a mystery, with a neighbor to talk to

WORLD OF HORROR screenshot: turn-based combat against a rioter, a masked schoolgirl throwing a Molotov cocktail

Tips

Guard your stamina and reason; once either runs out, the run is over.
Read each event closely: the obvious choice is often the one that hurts.
Learn the mysteries you have seen; each has its own route and endings.
Expect to lose runs, they unlock more of the game.

Questions

Is WORLD OF HORROR based on Junji Ito?

It is an original game, made as a love letter to Junji Ito and H. P. Lovecraft, and many of its monsters and stories are inspired by Ito's manga.

Is WORLD OF HORROR hard?

Yes. It is a roguelite with random events and unforgiving choices; runs often end in death before you win.

What platforms is WORLD OF HORROR on?

PC and Mac on Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.

How many endings are there?

Most of its 20 mysteries have multiple endings, and the run itself can end in many ways.

How long is a run of WORLD OF HORROR?

A full run of five mysteries to the lighthouse takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Seeing the 20 mysteries, their endings and the 14 characters takes many runs.

Is WORLD OF HORROR gory?

Yes. Steam warns of implied violence, gore and mutilation of human bodies in its pixel art. The ESRB rates it M for Mature for blood and gore, describing severed heads, grave injuries and a mini-game in which a needle pierces a character's eye. PEGI rates it 16.