Doom

Impending Doom, or simply Doom, is a game mechanic in World of Horror, depicted by a gauge featuring a wide image of the Shiokawa lighthouse which slowly becomes overtaken in black from left to right as Doom increases.

Like Stamina and Reason, the player must manage their Doom level to avoid a game over. While Stamina and Reason both serve as a character's life gauges, Doom serves as a time limit. Doom, measured in percentage, can be raised or lowered in several ways, but should Doom reach 100% or more, the normally-displayed percentage will instead read 'END' and will result in a Game Over.

What is DOOM?

The specifics of Doom aren't explicitly mentioned, but put simply, Doom can be considered to be a representation of how much time the player has before the Old God of their playthrough wreaks havoc on Shiokawa. According to many events, the increase of Doom can be attributed to one of two things: events that accelerate the arrival of an Old God, or generally wasting time.

Old God Accelerating Events

In some events, performing some certain actions or having others perform certain actions can increase Doom percentage. Some examples are when a mysterious stranger draws a sigil on your door, or destroying a menacing shrine. The most notable example is casting spells during a playthrough in which Ath-Yolazsth is the Old God of the playthrough, in which case casting spells brings Ath-Yolazsth closer and closer to Earth.

Wasting Time

In many events and instances, increased Doom percentage is utilized as a way to tell the player that they've wasted precious time. For example, your Doom percentage can increase from resting at home, shopping, and events in which you are said to spend or waste too much time on a task. Some tasks automatically raise Doom even though they're required to progress, furthering the need to budget one's "time" wisely.

How to Raise Doom

There are several ways to raise Doom percentage. Including but not limited to:

• Events
• Curses
• Old Gods and Town Status
• Taking damage from enemies whose damage type is +DOOM
• Fleeing combat (+5%)
• Investigating any location (+1%)
• Resting
  • at home (+2% or more)
  • at the lighthouse (+2%)
• Rerolling Perks while leveling up (+4%)
• Visiting a shop (+4%)
  • Dog Shop
  • Hardware Store
  • Illegal Den
  • Occult Shop
• Visiting the Vending Machine (+2%)
• Going to the Hospital
  • Visiting the Doctor (+2%)
  • Entering the Pharmacy (+3%)
• Going to the Schoolyard (+2%)
  • Waiting there (+2%)
  • Accessing the Rooftop and returning (+2%)
• Using the Library
  • Making notes (+2%)
  • Studying old tomes (+3%)
• Entering the History Club (+1%)
  • Making purchases (1-10%, varies depending on purchase)
• Items:
  • Juri’s Check Book (+3%)
  • Miku’s Guitar adds a (+1%) Doom penalty to resting at home
  • Cursed Scissors has a chance of raising Doom after each attack

Additionally, if any of the player character's skill values (Strength, Dexterity, Perception, Knowledge, and Charisma) fall to 0 or less, the Doom counter will be set to 100% immediately, at which point it cannot be reduced by any means unless the skill in question is raised back to 1 before the game over triggers.

Enemies that raise Doom

• Cult Member
• Horrible Old Man
• Magician (Glitched)
• Nameless Horror
• Oetaru
• Perverted Innkeeper
• Takashi-san
• Tatoru

How to lower Doom

Although there are several ways to raise Doom percentage, there are very few ways to lower it. Some examples of how to do so are:

• Events
• Spells
• Allies:
  • Paying Ryuichi lowers doom (-0 to 3%)
  • Recruiting and releasing the Hermit lowers doom (-10%)
• Equipable and Consumable Items:
  • Gruesome Totem (-10%) while equipped in Slot C
  • Occult Diary (-3%) and Dusty Grimoire (-4%)

• Visiting the Monument and making an offering (-3%)
• Investigating the Village or Forest with the Map equipped (has a chance to negate +1% Doom)
• Completing a mystery
  • [THERE'S STILL HOPE]: -3% DOOM, if at Sceptic, Initiate, or Cultist difficulty
  • [THERE IS NO HOPE]: -2% DOOM, if at True Believer difficulty
    • This reward is removed ('YOU ARE ALREADY DOOMED') at Harbinger of Doom difficulty
  • Ayaka's Character-Exclusive Perk Doom Effigy lowers extra doom upon completing a mystery

Trivia

• When bathing while at or above 80% Doom, the text "You scrub yourself, but you'll never be clean again" is displayed.