World Of Horror

A chilling compendium of creepy chronicles

PC

Developer Panstasz Publisher Ysbryd Games Format PC Origin Poland Release 2020

The first spell we roll is Cauterize. As portents go, that’s a pretty worrying start, though it’s not long until we realise it’s actually a pretty useful one. “Something strange is happening” in the city of Shiokawa, the introductory text tells us – and that turns out to be a staggering understatement. Before long, we find ourselves facing a woman with three faces, tipped sideways, arranged vertically and connected by a single wide, rictus smile. Oh, but there’s much worse to come, we’re afraid.

And we are afraid, because this collection of horror stories – part tabletop RPG, part visual novel, part Roguelike – leaves a lingering chill. In each run, your job is to investigate five mysteries with pulpy, alliterative titles (Eerie Episode Of Evolving Eels; Macabre Memoir Of Morbid Mermaids) that only hint at the disturbing discoveries within. The striking 1bit art (produced entirely in MS Paint, remarkably) teases terribly before each horrifying prestige, while leaving plenty to the imagination. The simple, chiming melodies of the score work wonders in much the same way a nursery rhyme can be intensely creepy in the right context, while the occasional silence will have you leaning away from the screen before you next click the mouse.

In most cases, you move between a variety of locations within the town in your search for clues. You’ll trigger several fixed events and a few random ones, with the outcomes contingent on the equipment you’ve found, the skills you’ve accrued and even the allies you’ve brought with you. Some are resolved without your input, while others give you a choice of options. Several tantalisingly suggest alternatives – if only you’d asked your schoolfriend Ikumi along, or brought a camera, or a steak knife. Even when you’ve witnessed every possible ending to a story, you feel you haven’t seen the full picture.

There’s always something seemingly just beyond your grasp, even once you’re familiar with these tales and their outcomes. Some mysteries are structured differently: one, involving a complex ritual, sees you bound to a strict schedule (which, we discover only after scribbling the details down, changes on subsequent runs). The interface is deliberately arcane and unwieldy, creating a sense that there are things here beyond your full understanding; beyond earthly logic, even. Sometimes the text seems to be in a muddle, with two words overlaid on one another, which only adds to the disorientation and unease. Other quirks are clearly intentional, such as one which masks a man’s eyes and nose with a glitchy flicker.

He’s just one of a large bestiary of hostile entities you’ll encounter (see ‘Fight or fright’) during your searches. Even outside combat you’ll need to pay close attention to your Stamina and Reason stats – if either is reduced to zero, it’s game over. Nor should you overlook Shiokawa’s overall wellbeing. A Doom stat creeps up over time, as one of the old gods descends on the town. Their arrival can be postponed, but their influence impinges upon the world throughout – return home after solving a mystery and the water might have been contaminated, preventing you from taking a restorative bath. Riots on the streets mean you can’t ask the police for help, while cordons limit your movements.

By design, the odds are heavily stacked against you, and yet through repetition you’ll learn the best ways to give yourself a chance of climbing the town’s lighthouse and facing off against the old god you’ve rolled into existence. Even when the RNG seems to be particularly keen to curtail your snooping – in one run, our poor avatar ends up paranoid and suicidal as well as suffering a concussion – there are fascinating and fearful new discoveries to tempt you back for more. With a (currently incomplete) event editor giving its players the ability to create their own stories, this could eventually become a platform of sorts for budding horror writers. Even now, this unsettling anthology already has plenty of ways to get under your skin.

There are things here beyond your full understanding; beyond earthly logic, even