World of Horror is a skin-crawling dread machine that does its inspirations proud - Best News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/world-of-horror-is-a-skin-crawling-dread-machine-that-does-its-inspirations-proud-183000816\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World of Horror is a skin-crawling dread machine that does its inspirations proud - Best News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am fully encased in a bundle of spider\u2019s silk, only my eyeballs still visible as I wait for my turn to be devoured. I\u2019ve failed to save the city from the insatiable arachnidian Old God, and now myself and all the inhabitants of Shiokawa, Japan are caught in its web. 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{"id":3061,"date":"2024-04-05T08:16:13","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T08:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/world-of-horror-is-a-skin-crawling-dread-machine-that-does-its-inspirations-proud-183000816\/"},"modified":"2024-04-05T08:16:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T08:16:13","slug":"world-of-horror-is-a-skin-crawling-dread-machine-that-does-its-inspirations-proud-183000816","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aitesonics.com\/world-of-horror-is-a-skin-crawling-dread-machine-that-does-its-inspirations-proud-183000816\/","title":{"rendered":"World of Horror is a skin-crawling dread machine that does its inspirations proud"},"content":{"rendered":"

If World of Horror<\/em><\/a> could be reduced to a single word, it\u2019d be \u201cdread.\u201d It's a point-and-click cosmic horror game created by Polish developer and dentist, Pawel Kozminski<\/a> (also known as Panstasz). And after spending years in early access, Ysbryd Games finally released it to the public this month on Steam, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Nintendo Switch. It was well worth the wait.<\/p>\n

World of Horror<\/em> is heavily text-based, and plays like a choose your own adventure story \u2014 one in which most of your options are bad ones that will inevitably lead you to a gruesome death or irrevocable insanity. Players must solve five mysteries that are tormenting the townspeople, gathering information and fighting off the monstrous entities that attempt to get in your way. A slippery, boil-covered former teacher here, a woman with shards of broken ribs jammed into her gaping hole of a face, there.<\/p>\n

All the while, you\u2019ll be working to stave off whichever Old God has set its sights on Shiokawa for that run, and must keep an eye on the ever-ticking Doom meter to know how close you are to being overcome. Only after you\u2019ve obtained five keys by solving each of the five mysteries can you unlock the town\u2019s lighthouse, where you can banish the Old God. That is, if you\u2019re able to make it through the trials on the way to the top. It\u2019s a roguelite, too, so prepare to start from the beginning every time you make a fatal misstep.<\/p>\n

The horror-manga-style RPG doesn't hide its Junji Ito and HP Lovecraft influences. It's so disquieting that you\u2019ll find yourself jumpy and on edge even when nothing\u2019s happening, which in some investigations is most of the time. The evil may not be coming for you right that moment, but there\u2019s the sense that it could at any turn.<\/p>\n

When those little jump scares do come \u2014 a particularly revolting attacker or a booming sound that cuts through the chiptune score \u2014 they\u2019re made all the more jarring by the high-contrast 1- or 2-bit visuals (you can choose at the beginning) that were created, incredibly, in MS Paint. It nails the often hard to stomach Ito-esque gore, and there are a few scenes I had to force myself not to turn away from (a certain DIY eyeball operation comes to mind).<\/p>\n

You\u2019re given a few options for approaching the game, in terms of difficulty and complexity. Its short tutorial, \u201cSpine-Chilling Story of School Scissors,\u201d is a straightforward introduction. And in the beginner-level main story mode, \u201cExtracurricular Activities,\u201d you'll start with one mystery already solved.<\/p>\n

Players also have the choice of a \u201cQuick Play\u201d mode, in which elements like your character, Old God and backstory are randomly selected, or a fully customized playthrough where you choose your own character and story elements. That last one is the most challenging route. You can also choose from a slew of color palettes at the start of each game, if you want to mix it up.<\/p>\n

While the turn-based combat is nothing revolutionary, I found it to be engaging enough. There\u2019s no guarantee all of your hits will land, and relying on spiritual attacks when going up against a ghost-type foe is a stressful game of \u201cguess the right combo.\u201d It keeps things interesting, albeit a bit frustrating. Since the runs are relatively short \u2014 about an hour, give or take 30 minutes \u2014 it doesn\u2019t feel soul crushing every time you die and have to start fresh. If anything, it becomes an addicting cycle.<\/p>\n

Where World of Horror <\/em>truly excels is in its attention to horrifying detail. A TV playing in your home runs grisly newscasts nonstop, including one about a dentist who replaced his human patients\u2019 teeth with dogs\u2019 teeth. (Remember, the developer is also a dentist). Look through the peephole of your apartment door and you might see a shadow man down the hall, or the quickly retreating face of someone lurking around the corner, or just an empty corridor. Twisted ghouls wait behind dead-end classroom doors.<\/p>\n

Things are rarely the same when you come back to them. Each mystery has multiple endings and multiple ways to get you there, so you can\u2019t quite predict what\u2019s going to happen next even if you just played 10 runs in a row. Some stories are more involved than others, better thought through. But each has at least one ghastly element that justifies its place among the rest. If World of Horror <\/em>is anything, it\u2019s effective, and I haven\u2019t been able to stop thinking about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"