"A 1-bit love letter to Junji Itō and H.P. Lovecraft." This is how developer panstasz describes the creation of him, the horror adventure with RPG and roguelite elements World of Horror, fresh out of approximately three years of early access. If today there are many references to Lovecraft in the world of video games - from Bloodborne to Dredge, covering very different genres -, less attention is paid to the imagination of the Japanese cartoonist (and dental technician) Junji Itō, author of a horror manga famous in the Country of the Sun Levante and beyond, including the brilliant Tomie.
The departure of World of Horror from early access, however, is accompanied by several controversies: numerous works of art by opponents, inspired by Japanese folklore and the works of Itō, have been removed and replaced by others, probably due to the controversies generated in recent years about the excessive "closeness" of some designs to those of the Japanese mangaka. Additionally, panstasz failed to deliver on promises made regarding the implementation of accessibility options: World of Horror is still very difficult to navigate today. due to the unclear (if not completely confusing) design of its menus, and playing it is practically impossible for people with vision problems. It is also paradoxical that the adventure has been enriched more with some updates released in recent months than with the launch of its definitive version.
We tell you the cosmic horrors of this 1-bit video game in ours horror world review.
Scissors, Pentacles and other assorted horrors.
Starting World of Horror, you understand how panstasz we wanted to build. an unusual experience in every way: The game interface consists of a PC screen, within which we find various stories that we can live with our characters. It is recommended to start with the chilling story of School Scissors, a kind of tutorial in which we will familiarize ourselves with the complex game universe of World of Horror.
Complexity more apparent than realLet's be clear: in fact, combats are usually simple and repetitive, since it is necessary to set actions, fill the corresponding turn bar (with a different weight of each action, to be evaluated from a strategic perspective) and then carry them out. go out and suffer the opponent's reaction. There's also a difficulty selector to make your game simpler or harder, depending on how eager you are to participate.
Fortunately, the various missions are generally short in duration: the tutorial lasts about twenty minutes, while in other cases it lasts about an hour, because Death, in World of Horror, is always around the corner. Many times due to random events: walking down the hallway to the gym could lead us to be attacked by a strange woman who wants help with handling medical supplies. Except that the fear that will result from the discovery of the horrors you define as "medical material" will lead us to lose energy, and this could lead to the premature conclusion of our adventure.
Cosmic horror?
Most of the time The horrors that are experienced are mostly linked to the works of Junji Itō, even if the game's broadly understood plot relies heavily on Lovecraftian cosmic horror. World of Horror is, therefore, mainly a Japanese product, well anchored in the urban horror imaginary of Japanese cinema, born from the hybridization of elements of contemporary society with yōkai, the monsters of traditional Japanese folklore.
More than scares, World of Horror offers a series of normally humanoid aberrations, characterized by a The body horror is also very extreme., mitigated somewhat by the absolutely non-photorealistic nature of the production. It practically never happens that you feel that feeling of panic that can be present in productions where it is necessary to react in real time, since World of Horror is configured on a system of options (exploration, inventory management, combat) that does not bring haste or urgency , perhaps weakening the horrific nature of certain encounters.
It must also be said that the results of the different parties are largely determined by the the case: For example, when choosing to explore a particular location we will usually have a variety of possible events, all with different outcomes. The short duration of the different adventures available mitigates the feeling of frustration, but many times we have the sensation of obtaining results independent of our skill and attitude towards the game.
Many, too many menus.
One of the most characteristic aspects of World of Horror is undoubtedly the presence of menus, windows of various types and interfaces on most of the screen. A limited general space is reserved for the actual setting, characters, and enemies: indicators, numbers, options, and item lists take center stage, to sometimes confusing effect. It is a triumph of the superstructures that do not always contribute something significant to the gaming experience, on the contrary: many times we have found them to be a real obstacle to having the sensation so sought after by many users who immerse themselves in horror experiences, that is, a sincere feeling of anxiety and fear linked to the situations represented.
Horror world look at mathematical control of experience, constantly showing the character's indicators (health, stamina, statistics) and possible options for continuing the adventure (attack, explore, draw a ritual symbol). Too overwhelming and intrusive, and not for the sake of clarity: it still takes a lot of time, among other things, to be able to get to the bottom of the thousand offensive and defensive possibilities present in combat (then little exploited: the efficient approach is usually the same). And it is paradoxical that an experience linked to uncontrollable cosmic horrors is so parametric, mathematical, in open contradiction with the vague and elusive character of Lovecraftian entities and men's encounters with the latter.
Then there is the thorny issue of accessibility. "Thorny" because the promises made by panstasz for the publication of the definitive version of World of Horror were not respected. The game remains unplayable for people with vision difficulties, and There are no accessibility options. and modifiability of the interface that should have been developed during the (long) early access period. That something went wrong can also be deduced from the limited overall size of the new content, which had been much more substantial on the occasion of the Blood Moon expansion published some time ago.
The graphic presentation surely takes the lion's share, with the possibility of choosing between 1- and 2-bit graphics and selecting a good number of color palettes. The exquisite pixel art is accompanied by an equally valuable chiptune music section. We note the absence of the translation of the texts into Spanish: our World of Horror test took place in English language.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 19.50 € Holygamerz.com 7.0 Readers (17) 8.3 your voteWorld of Horror is a game full of contradictions that cannot always be resolved: on the one hand, we have a plot based on the presence of unspeakable horrors in the world; on the other, you spend the game managing items and statistics, trying to control what should be, par excellence, uncontrollable. At its best, World of Horror is a bit like Dark Souls for a newbie: a difficult and dangerous experience, in which you must always be alert, on guard. At its worst, pnastasz's work is annoying due to its omnipresent menus, its invasively displayed options, its detailed interfaces, capable of almost completely obscuring the settings, the characters, the terrible enemies present, sometimes modified in a different way. Absolutely unfortunate way in this definitive. version of the game, due to controversies related to the derivative nature - or, for the most critical, with outright plagiarism - of some works by mangaka Junji Itō. World of Horror travels between opposites and does not find balance, but it is still an interesting work for those who want to live a horror adventure strongly anchored in certain stylistic features of tabletop role-playing games and have a passion for the exquisite horrors that come from she. the country of the Rising Sun.
PRO
- Graphically beautiful to look at.
- A fragmented plot to be reconstructed with attention and participation
- Some situations are truly memorable.
AGAINST
- Accessibility options promised by the developer but completely non-existent
- Menus omnipresent and annoyingly intrusive in the experience.
- Often unfair due to strong randomness of events.
