WORLD OF HORROR: All References

World of Horror, as we know, is strongly inspired by a lot of horror medias, like for example Junji Ito’s mangas (the title itself being a reference to The Horror World of Junji Ito). In this guide, I’ll try to list a maximum of them, with your help too, I shall be able to keep it updated !

I will classify them depending or what the reference is (an event, an ending, an enemy, a character) and on a criteria of “probability”.

This criteria of probability is meant to say it’s possible that it’s a reference to this, but it isn’t known if yes or not it’s intentional.
For example, let’s say there’s an event that says “This is not the droid you’re looking for”. The probability that this is a Star Wars reference is extremely high, so there’s no need to think twice before considering it as a reference.
But if the event was saying “I am your father” it may be a reference, but it could also not be. So in that case I shall add a [POTENTIAL] sign before it, to make it clear it may not be an intentional thing.

Also won’t be considered as references things that are used in too many different medias, like for example Spine-Chilling Story of the School Scissors, because it would be almost impossible to have the “right” reference if there was one, because it’s a very common thing ( stories about japanese schoolgirls ghosts with scissors are very common )

Pictures from the game will be added in time by myself.

Of course, this guide will potentially spoil some events, encounters, and things hidden in the game, so please if you dont want to be spoiled, don’t read this guide.

I hope that now we can start this list on good terms and that everything is clear now ! And if you find something I didn’t put in the list, please say it ! I shall add it ! And references that end up being wrong will be changed/deleted.

Gruesome Altar is an event featuring two decapitated heads on a table, with candles. This is a reference to Junji Ito’s Dissolving Classroom where the dead corpses of a father and a mother are displayed in an identical fashion.

Stone Statues is an event featuring multiple Moaï statues that appeared from nowhere. It is a reference to Junji Ito’s The Supernatural Transfert Student, in which a part of a city suddenly disappears and leaving instead a line of Moaï statues.

Cadaver Theater is an event featuring corpses attached like puppets. It is a reference to Junji Ito’s (yes him again, you’ll see him a lot) House of Puppets where a family decides to give up on the control of their own body and end up stringed in a similar manner.

Cursed Grimoire is an event featuring a book which cover is made of human skin. It is a reference to H.P Lovecraft’s fictional book, the Necronomicon, at least in its most famous appearance, the one from Evil Dead.

410 Billion is an event featuring the dead body of a cop. The name of the event is a reference to the meme Born to die, containing a sentence that says over 410 billion of cops were killed.

Struggling Artist is an event featuring one of your neighbours, Mr. OOO, who is a mangaka that lost the inspiration for his next creation. Mr. OOO is obviously drawn after “auto-portraits” of Junji Ito.

Choosing the option “Let him come up with his own stuff” also gives the idea to the mangaka that maybe his next story should end by the “it was all a dream” trope; this can be seen as a fun tease on how a few of Junji Ito’s stories end this way.

Note : The picture will be examined deeper in the SOMETHING TRULY EVIL section.

[POTENTIAL]
Tower Window is an event featuring an Eldritch force possessing a lighthouse and trying to get you lost in its light. It is potentially a reference to Junji Ito’s Uzumaki, chapter 9, in which people who get caught in the light of the lighthouse start acting confused.

Note : It will be adressed again in the Lighthouse section.

World of Darkness is an event about chasing a mysterious man, that reveals himself being a role player. The name of the event is actually the name of the said role playing gamebook, The World of Darkness, for Vampires the Masquerade.

The event itself isn’t relevant, however the title is a direct reference to a famous quote from Silent Hill 2, the painting “There was a hole here, it’s gone now.”.

Sculptures is an event featuring a bloody mannequin, that loses its head and triggers a fight if you choose to check out the sculpture. It is a reference to Junji Ito’s Headless Sculptures, in which living headless statues start murdering people.

Eldritch Statuette is an event featuring a statuette of Cthulu, one of H.P Lovecraft’s most famous ancient gods. (do i really have to explain ?)

White Sands is an event featuring “weird trees”. Cutting it with the steak knife results in it spilling blood. It is an obvious reference to Junji Ito’s Blood Sickness of the White Sands, even taking a part of its title; in this story, the main character finds out that there is a complex network of roots under the town that absorbs the blood of the villagers, those roots also look like arteries.

Yatsuhaka-Mura is an event that happens in a graveyard. The name and the option to dig out the graves are a direct reference to the 1951 movie (or its 1977/1996 remakes) Yatsuhaka-Mura, a movie about a mysterious curse around the 8 gravestones of murdered samurais.

The name “Tomie” can be seen on one of the tombs. It is a reference to Junji Ito’s Tomie manga series (better not dig up that one).

Note : The poster is one of the 1996 movie.

Driftin Classroom is an event where our character gets lost from a school to another dimension. This is a reference to the 1972 horror manga The Drifting Classroom, where the plot is mainly the same, with a school getting lost on another planet.

[POTENTIAL]

This event may be a reference to Junji Ito’s Fashion Model, one of his most known stories. In it, the main protagonist have “a bad feeling”, which happens to be the start of a chain of terrible events.

Ribcage Woman is an enemy whose face has been ripped leaving a ribcage appearant. It is an obvious reference to Junji Ito’s Rib Woman, even if the design is different (probably to fit the fight box).

Bloodsucker is an enemy that is mainly a patient drinking secretly blood from a blood pouch. It is (again) a reference to Junji Ito’s Uzumaki, in chapter 11, where a pregnant woman is found drinking from a blood pouch to feed her baby, in a similar position.

As said in the previous section, Headless Mannequin is a reference to Junji Ito’s Headless Sculptures, a story featuring killer headless sculptures looking just the same.

Hole-Ridden Thing is a human enemy whose body is filled with holes. It is a reference to one of Junji Ito’s most known stories, The Chill, where the characters are also inflicted with a similar curse.

[POTENTIAL]

Bloated Swimmer is a drowned body. It may be a reference to Junji Ito’s works, since the drowned enemies (Bloated Swimmer, Bloated Teacher) look a lot like Junji Ito’s way of drawing drowned bodies.

Animated Head is a decapitated head, with long black hair. It is a reference once again to Junji Ito’s Long Hair in the Attic, where a decapitated head starts moving thanks to the will of its hair.

[POTENTIAL]

Aspiring Model is a woman with a face stitched over her muscles, her skin has been cut. It may be a direct reference to Junji Ito’s Face Burglar, in a more direct way; or it could (i’m not sure at all on this one) a reference to the 1960 horror movie Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes without a face), where a woman gets her face peeled and replaced with an uncanny looking face. (or could be a reference to Face-Off with Nicolas Cage… who knows)

Aka Manto is a man in a red cloak, whose “face” is hidden behind a mask. It is a direct reference to the urban legend of the same name. More informations about the legend here : http://yokai.com/akamanto/

Perverted Innkeeper is a creepy looking man, with a long tongue. It is most likely inspired of Junji Ito’s The Licking Woman, where a “pervert” woman appears with a same looking tongue to lick on people (yes it’s disgusting).

[POTENTIAL]
Something Truly Evil is A6S6kQStPIHyhQY8CW/FMBUzdQoQixyX. It is extremely likely a direct inspiration from Junji Ito’s Fashion Model and Rumors, in which the evil entity appears both times after seeing photos of her, then gradually becoming more and more threatening, and obsessed with the ones who saw her first. Even if the designs don’t match, the similarities between the two are very noticeable.

Ath-Yolazsth is a direct reference to Junji Ito’s Hellstar Remina, where a new planet, Remina, is discovered on its way to destroy Earth. The design is extremely similar too, as they both share eyes and tentacles. The only difference between them being how fast they will eat Earth.

[POTENTIAL]

Goizo may be a reference to the Lovecraftian eldritch god Yog-Sothoth, as the description of an omnipotent being banished through another dimension, and trying to access ours to destroy it matches Goizo’s description. However reflections are not mentioned to be part of Yog-Sothoth worlds. (Maybe a reference to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures, The Hanged Man having similar capacities, who knows [most likely not intentional])

Observing the students will sometimes trigger a line of text saying they are reading an horror manga with a lot of spirals. It is again a reference to Junji Ito’s Uzumaki, a manga revolving around the visual concept of spirals.

On the seed suitcase can be seen a little “Arkham MA” sticker. It is a reference to the city of the same name in Lovecraft’s works.

Haru’s “Mafia” outfit is a reference to Kiryu Kazuma, the hero of the Yakuza game series. Customizing your seed for “Kiryu” also gives a little easter egg text.

This Achievement can be unlocked by killing an enemy with the baseball bat, it’s a reference to the series of the same name, the protagonist having, indeed, a baseball bat as his weapon.

This Achievement can be unlocked by taking an hostage with the “Tokyo” outfit on Miku. It is a direct reference to one of the characters of the series La Casa de Papel, just like the outfit.

It’s The Rock with a turtleneck sweater.

Note : He’s the best.

Jackie-Chan’s meme is the picture for this spell.

This status effect is once again a reference to Junji Ito’s The Chill, like previously mentioned.

This is a direct reference to Lovecraft’s The Shadow over Innsmouth, a story about people who are both children of humans and the “deep ones”, sea eldritches. Those children later get physical features from the fishes, like gills and large eyes, named the Innsmouth Looks. In japanese, Innsmouth is translated as インズマス [i-n-zu-ma-su].

[Potential]
This mystery ends on the discovery of the body of a pervert inside the vents of the flat. This may be a reference to Junji Ito’s The Groaning drain, a story where it’s supposed someone is hiding inside the draining system of a house.

Mira is the name of the achievement you get for completing the DOG ending. It is a reference to the Silent Hill games, where you can find many stupid endings put in the games as jokes, like the UFO ending and the DOG ending. Mira being the name of the dog you can find in Silent Hill 2. It is also a UFO ending as you get kidnapped by alien dogs.

A more subtle reference is also hidden there, as the spaceship of the xenoshibas is named “Dogstromo”, a little treat for Alien fans.