Plot - 3.5/5
World of Horror doesn't necessarily follow a full narrative, but the worldbuilding and individual pieces of character lore we get are pretty satisfying for anybody who likes psychological and eldritch horror. I was stuck between a 3 and a 4 for this, but I think the lack of substantial depth within the overall cast brings it down a bit for me, despite my love for the genre and how it's used. The individual mysteries presented in the game are all pretty great little stories with most of them having multiple endings, ranging from bad to worse. Some standout mysteries for me are Eerie Episode of Evolving Eels, Restless Rumors of a Residential Recluse, and Bloody Brief of a Beckoning Bulletin, which all creeped me out in different ways that I was really pleased with. I hope that in future updates to the game (if we get more, who's to say) we get more unique character events, as each character currently only has one or two and they're a bit all over the place. Yumiko and Haru's character events are interesting and relate to their pasts, but Aiko and Yashiro's events generally fall flat for me, feeling rather bland and don't pull me to them.
Gameplay - 3.5/5
Though the gameplay of World of Horror can be a bit repetitive and simple, the gameplay loop is incredibly satisfying when you get into it. Once you get the hang of the system, a run will take you about 20-30 minutes on average, which is what I generally find to be the perfect length for any sort of roguelike. I again was stuck between 3 or 4 for this, as there are some issues despite the overall fun gameplay. The balancing between characters is pretty poor, and certain characters feel like they are free wins even on the highest difficulties. Ayaka and Toshiaki in particular feel incredibly overtuned (but don't nerf Toshiaki I'm his biggest fan) in a way that makes me feel less motivated to play other characters. Characters such as Aiko and Kirie aren't even bad, with Aiko even being considered one of the better characters in the game, but their kits are rather basic and boring. The achievement system and challenge runs in the game help alleviate this a bit, rewarding you for trying out each character and background, but once you've completed them I find it hard not to gravitate towards the stronger characters in subsequent runs.
Presentation - 4/5
This is where I can confidently say the game excels the most. The retro graphics work incredibly well, and the option to change the game's color palette is a really nice touch, mixing things up visually when you get sick of the same colors every run. Not every art in the game looks perfect, but I feel it adds to the offputting feeling the game wants to exude. The character designs are mostly simple, but they're all nice and there are some cute details with them, such as the teenage idol character, Mizuki, being the only character to not visually wear mask equipment, instead holding them aside her smiling face. The music is similarly nostalgic feeling, and sets the atmosphere of the game really well. My only real issue with the presentation is that some of the things in the game can be kind of unintuitive, such as text boxes being stuck on screen while you can still click things underneath them, or the removal of injuries needing you to sometimes use an item from that item screen or other times needing you to go to the injury screen to remove it. There are a lot of things to press and it can get messy even though the game is overall fairly simple.
Extra Bonus - 0/1
Though I love this game a lot, $20 is a large asking price for something that I'd argue doesn't feel entirely finished. If it was a game that actively was being updated and patched, it would be a different story, but this game is notorious for having huge gaps of time where no changes are made. Overall, that makes it tough to recommend as I have no clue if or when any of the issues I have will be remedied.
Overall - 3.5/5
Despite what may seem like a lot of complaining in this review, I do really love World of Horror. In this case, I complain because I care! It pays great homages to a genre I adore, and I hope that it gets some updates that can help me more readily recommend it in the future.
World of Horror doesn't necessarily follow a full narrative, but the worldbuilding and individual pieces of character lore we get are pretty satisfying for anybody who likes psychological and eldritch horror. I was stuck between a 3 and a 4 for this, but I think the lack of substantial depth within the overall cast brings it down a bit for me, despite my love for the genre and how it's used. The individual mysteries presented in the game are all pretty great little stories with most of them having multiple endings, ranging from bad to worse. Some standout mysteries for me are Eerie Episode of Evolving Eels, Restless Rumors of a Residential Recluse, and Bloody Brief of a Beckoning Bulletin, which all creeped me out in different ways that I was really pleased with. I hope that in future updates to the game (if we get more, who's to say) we get more unique character events, as each character currently only has one or two and they're a bit all over the place. Yumiko and Haru's character events are interesting and relate to their pasts, but Aiko and Yashiro's events generally fall flat for me, feeling rather bland and don't pull me to them.
Gameplay - 3.5/5
Though the gameplay of World of Horror can be a bit repetitive and simple, the gameplay loop is incredibly satisfying when you get into it. Once you get the hang of the system, a run will take you about 20-30 minutes on average, which is what I generally find to be the perfect length for any sort of roguelike. I again was stuck between 3 or 4 for this, as there are some issues despite the overall fun gameplay. The balancing between characters is pretty poor, and certain characters feel like they are free wins even on the highest difficulties. Ayaka and Toshiaki in particular feel incredibly overtuned (but don't nerf Toshiaki I'm his biggest fan) in a way that makes me feel less motivated to play other characters. Characters such as Aiko and Kirie aren't even bad, with Aiko even being considered one of the better characters in the game, but their kits are rather basic and boring. The achievement system and challenge runs in the game help alleviate this a bit, rewarding you for trying out each character and background, but once you've completed them I find it hard not to gravitate towards the stronger characters in subsequent runs.
Presentation - 4/5
This is where I can confidently say the game excels the most. The retro graphics work incredibly well, and the option to change the game's color palette is a really nice touch, mixing things up visually when you get sick of the same colors every run. Not every art in the game looks perfect, but I feel it adds to the offputting feeling the game wants to exude. The character designs are mostly simple, but they're all nice and there are some cute details with them, such as the teenage idol character, Mizuki, being the only character to not visually wear mask equipment, instead holding them aside her smiling face. The music is similarly nostalgic feeling, and sets the atmosphere of the game really well. My only real issue with the presentation is that some of the things in the game can be kind of unintuitive, such as text boxes being stuck on screen while you can still click things underneath them, or the removal of injuries needing you to sometimes use an item from that item screen or other times needing you to go to the injury screen to remove it. There are a lot of things to press and it can get messy even though the game is overall fairly simple.
Extra Bonus - 0/1
Though I love this game a lot, $20 is a large asking price for something that I'd argue doesn't feel entirely finished. If it was a game that actively was being updated and patched, it would be a different story, but this game is notorious for having huge gaps of time where no changes are made. Overall, that makes it tough to recommend as I have no clue if or when any of the issues I have will be remedied.
Overall - 3.5/5
Despite what may seem like a lot of complaining in this review, I do really love World of Horror. In this case, I complain because I care! It pays great homages to a genre I adore, and I hope that it gets some updates that can help me more readily recommend it in the future.