World of Horror Preview – MS Paint Never Looked So Good

I’m always interested to see developers take on some of my favorite genres. However, I don’t think I was expecting to see something as unique and eye-catching as the panstasz developed adventure horror World of Horror.  Even with a cheezy name like World of Horror, this had my complete attention as a must-play title during PAX West 2019. Thankfully, I was not disappointed.

Let’s get the formalities out of the way. World of Horror was developed using MS Paint and borrowed a lot of elements from the Korean horror genre. The game is a series of adventures that pay homage to authors such as Junji Ito and H.P. Lovecraft. Similar to the madness that you may face while reading through a story of Cthulhu, World of Horror’s stories are continually changing as you find your way through each quest. The game is based on stats and sometimes dice rolls to determine if things you try to do are successful or not.

These features play into World of Horror’s battle system, which uses turn-based RPG systems that allow the player to take action. Depending on what the player has equipped and the success rate of their attacks, battles can be rather challenging. Still, this adds to the high stakes of survival that the game continually seems to instill in the player. You never feel safe, and you’re always hoping for some good luck to come your way and bless you with an item that could get you out of this nightmare.

While the gameplay is solid and the stories are unique, I think what forced me to gravitate towards this game was the visuals. The MS Paint created set pieces, and menus are fully customizable with various colors that seem to add to just how disturbing some of these illustrations are. I was blown away by the detail and animations, as well as the character designs. The creatures of the game also offer so much visually that you forget you’re supposed to be fighting them.

What I’m hoping is that each adventure is just as gripping as the last, and the level’s replayability varies enough that you’ll want to play again. The game isn’t meant to be a stroll through the park, so I expect to die many times, but I’m hoping that this doesn’t end up feeling like a chore. From what I’ve played, I’m more eager to play more and experience everything this beautify disturbing game has to offer.

World of Horror is coming to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2019. There’s currently a “named your price” PC demo available now.