World of Horror review – portents of apocalypse

How can a game set in a fictional Japanese town circa 1984 speak so eloquently of our current predicament? How does an anthology of loosely connected mini-scenarios about evil cults, deranged killers, and malevolent deities capture so vividly that distinctly 21st-century mix of alienation and ceaseless anxiety? World of Horror from Panstasz, feels so relevant, perhaps, because all of its core elements – not just the narrative finery but the mechanical scaffolding underneath, too – work in tandem to evoke the trademark mood of our post-Covid existence: anticipating yet another catastrophe lurking somewhere within tomorrow’s headlines.

Working mostly on his own for the past six years, Polish dentist Pawel Kozminski has crafted a singular hybrid as bizarre and fascinating as the misshapen abominations that populate it. World of Horror is an endlessly replayable roguelike adventure that borrows its character progression from RPGs, its branching paths from Choose Your Own Adventure books, and the occasional bout of pixel-hunting from hidden-object games. In other words, it plays like an experimental Fighting Fantasy campaign, one where you’ll fight a man with an itch so bad he’s scratched his face off instead of an orc with a big axe, one where the rules change on a whim, and with little warning.

Mysteries abound

Over the span of a relatively short playthrough (roughly an hour – if you manage to survive this long, that is), you’re tasked with solving a series of paranormal mysteries in order to finally gain access to the lighthouse overlooking the seaside town of Shiokawa where evil energies have converged. If you can find the keys and climb to the top of the cursed structure before the Doom meter – indicating the impending arrival of an elder god – reaches 100% and the community lives to see another dawn. There are 24 different scenarios, each with multiple endings, though a typical run sees you embroiled in no more than four or five.