‘World Of Horror’ is Lovecraftian detective game drawn entirely in MS Paint

World Of Horror is a cosmic horror where the player must solve ghastly occurrences in order to stop the world from ending, and it’s out now.

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In the game, the residents of the town of Shiokawa, Japan, have been suffering from strange appearances of things that they can’t explain. Check out the launch trailer below:

It transpires that the Old Gods are awakening to take over the world, and the player must solve the investigative cases of five random mysteries before facing the apocalypse.

Inspirations are of course H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, however the style of the game is reminiscent of manga artist Junji Ito.

The entirety of World Of Horror has been drawn in MS Paint and the soundtrack is chiptune to evoke the retro origins of its main mechanics.

Combat is turn based, but injuries will affect the protagonist’s investigative skills, and there are random encounters as the player progresses through their mission to potentially avert the world from ending.

World Of Horror has been in early access since 2020 and was a passion project of Polish developer Paweł Koźmiński, who worked on the game in his downtime from practicing dentistry.

“Creating art in Paint is actually really inspiring and somehow relaxing,” said Koźmiński in an interview with Engadget. “The limits of the program really force you to get creative with it, which is a huge thing. I guess 1-bit black-and-white art is the closest I can get to simulate that comic book feel, too.”

The constraints of MS Paint also allow the player’s imagination to colour the horrors that they are witnessing in the monochromatic palette, intensifying the unsettling experience.

Additional writing was the work of author Cassandra Khaw and Ysbryd Games is the publisher of the game, with ArcOfDream and Qwesta credited on the soundtrack.

World Of Horror is out now for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PS5.

In other gaming news, veteran game designer Raph Koster has revealed that developers “hate” using artificial intelligence to make their games, but it’s now a necessary evil in the industry.

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