We are suckers for the whole Lovecraft / Cthulu mythos here at GameStart and World of Horror has us excited and it’s coming to Steam Early Access on February 20th! The full release will be sometime in late 2020 and will also include the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch platforms.

So what are we looking at with World of Horror?

The game follows the rural residents of a seaside Japanese town facing inhuman terrors in a world spiralling toward madness, so just like any other Lovecraft game then. Players will investigate the return of Eldritch monsters (yay!) and solve puzzles to collect arcane spell components to help in the struggle against malevolent legends of folklore like the Aka Manto and Kuchisake-onna, which have been summoned by mysterious dark rites.

You will need to fight to survive in this nightmare reality and the game combat is handled with an interesting turn-based combat mechanic. This adds a lot to the atmosphere of the game. No running around like a crazy person but a slow, tactical approach to the combat that is unfolding in front of you.

Each of the five playable characters available in Early Access has their own stats and perspective on the horrors unfolding in their hometown and each will fight and survive differently. All of this is wonderfully illustrated and animated with disturbing images made in Microsoft Paint (yes, you read that correctly!) with a classic super lo-fi 1-bit graphic style. Lovely!

Early Access will allow you to choose from among 10 mysteries with procedurally generated events which bring a rogue-lite element to the game. As you investigate the unleashed horrors you may trigger chance encounters that will wreak havoc on your stamina and sanity. You will need to explore the darkest corners for clues and hidden helpful items in order to reach the best of many ghastly endings. During the game, you will unlock new events which means the next starting run you attempt is with a deeper pool of terrifying possibilities for World of Horror to draw from, so no game is truly the same.

The art style takes inspiration from the works by Junji Ito and it is just fantastic to look at. The simple style coupled with the theme of the game creeps us out just from looking at the screenshots! With that, we can’t wait to get our hands on it. February 20th can’t come quick enough!