Lovecraft, Ito and Umeso: World Of Horror Review (Topic)

I love horror manga, and I love horror games. My eyes told a lot of horrors that both of these types of entertainment offer, but I have never seen a product in my memory that would combine both of these hobbies. This was before I came across World of Horror.

This game is positioning itself not only as an unusual one-bit project that recreates the style of horror manga, but also made in the rare Horror RPG genre. And I can say with confidence that this is a great gift for those who love Junji Ito's manga and Lavrkaft's prose, who are the ideological inspirers of the project. Although I personally saw here the motives of Kazuo Umeso. That Ito, that G.F.L. confront their characters with something mystical and inexplicable, leaving the reader alone with guesses and anxiety, only the American writer works with the pantheon of dark gods, and the mangaka with purebred Japanese horror and legends. And so you stumbled upon a review of World Of Horror, a project that honors both.

Small Japanese town where everything is bad

World Of Horror appeared in Steam's Early Access in mid-February, and is a project by one person, a Polish developer and part-time dentist - Pavel Kozminski. The events take place in the 80s in a small Japanese town, where playing as one of several characters, we will face paranormal horrors that cover the entire city.

This is a strategy RPG where you face different creatures inspired by Ito's creativity. The game tries to shock you with horror pictures [like the beast that wants to cut your face with scissors] and its visual style, and then turns into a puzzle that you have to solve. In a way, I would call World of Horror a card game, which in fact is not. The maps represent objects and enemies, but they fit into the artistic environment in a way that feels natural and unobtrusive.

Each of the characters has their own individual horrors and monsters that we face. Often, the passage for one of the heroes can take from 30 minutes to several hours. And all because World of Horror is a good RPG that allows you to ignore 90% of all its mechanics at first and go through yourself. But when you learn to play it, you realize that you have in front of you a whole tangled tangle of stories and possibilities, the untangling of which requires turning on the brain. You start to understand everything yourself and with great interest.

Choosing one of the heroes, we investigate a number of mysterious incidents and after the end of one passage, we can start another. Be prepared to do the same at times, but your actions before doing so will show up in a subsequent playthrough.

The game itself seems to be very open, despite the fact that due to early access only a few scenarios are available to us. However, after a while, I got the feeling that the space is limited to a certain size. I dealt with small areas: a school, several locations throughout the city and a small village in the forest.

The goal of each passage is to stop the ancient god from coming into our world. You prevent this by defeating your personal monsters. All are inspired by Japanese mythology and urban legends. Monsters can be defeated with both physical weapons and magic, but you will have to look for clues to perform the ritual that you need to weaken them or make them corporal.

Combat is often frustrating in the game. You find weapons and spells, but at first you are armed with nothing more than fists in turn-based combat. Honestly, sometimes it's a little boring, and the sooner you can get something more substantial, the better.

The gameplay consists of reading text, point and click elements and, as already mentioned, turn-based combat. A mixture of good visual novel and Atari-era RPG that warms the soul.

Separately, I would like to talk about the visual component. The game reaches new heights in design, as it perfectly recreates the atmosphere of "Duznji Ito's Horror Collection" and "The Drifting Classroom" by Kazuo Umeso. 1-bit graphics made in a paint that is reminiscent of the manga is something.

The chiptune soundtrack also keeps the atmosphere on track and hits the nostalgia, bringing you back to the good old days of Gameboy Advance. Although I am sure many, both music and style, will seem to the amateur.

To summarize the World of Horror review, I'll just say that this game really deserves your attention this year, as its visual style is simple but addictive, and the gameplay and suspense are kept in good shape. The game has problems in the form of bugs, incompleteness and frequent crashes, but what to expect from a game made with an early access paint? Now it costs 360 rubles and the price may rise in the future. The author promises that by the end of development, there will be twice as much content as it is now.

The Topic of Article: Lovecraft, Ito and Umeso: World Of Horror Review.
Author: Jake Pinkman