Vermis III - Old Curses & Buried Horrors

by Plastiboo (Artist), Michele Nitri (Editor), Marco Cirillo Pedri (Graphic Design)

Vermis III is the third of an artbook series by the artist Plastiboo.

A pure act of world-building inspired by old dungeon crawler games.

It could be considered an official guide of a game that doesn't exist, since it's not a game at all!

What will be left of you at the end of your journeys?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Art, Dark Fantasy, Horror

192 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2025

Reviews

[Kitsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que le den a Plastiboo un juego para guionizar ya.

[JEB · Rating 5 out of 5]

WE ARE SO FRIGGIN BACK.


I wrote a pretty scathing review of vermis II as I felt it broke too much of the solid design and structure of vermis I (character classes at end of book vs beginning). All of my complaints have been addressed at the same time as the entire experience has been expanded upon. A truly wonderful book.

[Bbrown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third time’s the charm for artist Plastiboo’s Vermis series. Not that the first two volumes were bad, but Vermis III: Old Curses and Buried Horrors is certainly the best rendition yet of the “guide to a video game that never existed” concept. Two things elevate this one above its predecessors, the first being that it contains the best art yet. It’s striking when you compare the artwork in this book to the first Vermis volume, as Plastiboo’s skills have markedly improved. This third work also has more varied art than its two predecessors. Did I love every single piece? No, but Vermis III contains literally hundreds of pieces of artwork, so this is to be expected. On average the art is quite impressive.

Secondly, Vermis III is a much more substantial work than the prior two books. It’s the longest by page count, but more importantly the standard page of Vermis III is more information dense (than Vermis II in particular, which was rather thin). While it is still nowhere near as packed with content as real game guides were, this third volume is a closer simulacrum, and embraces the idea of being a game guide more so than the first two books. I was initially concerned that there would be no map artwork in this third installment, but there are a few such pieces in the book’s back half. I would have preferred even more, but I expect they are a particularly difficult thing for Plastiboo to make, so I understand the dearth of them.

While Vermis III is the best yet in the series, its story is still quite flawed. That’s actually not too bad of a weakness for a work like this to have, since so much of Vermis is about atmosphere and letting you imagine its world, with the plot therefore being comparatively unimportant. Regardless, there is still a narrative in Vermis III, and it’s underwhelming. While the interstitial scenes with the omens were intriguing, in the end they did not seem to matter, meaning that Vermis III’s overarching story ends up largely consisting of the work’s opening few pages and its final few pages. Since Plastiboo could have put the grave anywhere the book’s ending point feels entirely arbitrary. Maybe there’s more to decipher that I just didn’t catch, but I doubt it.

Again, though, a weak narrative does not hamstring a work like Vermis III like it would many other books. The flaw is more than counterbalanced by the art, and the atmospheric world that art creates. Vermis is a fun location to return to, especially because this visit was the most substantive one yet. While there are connections to Vermis I and II, all the ones I noticed were minor, so if a guide to a nonexistent video game sounds intriguing to you, then this third entry is probably the best volume to try. As the strongest work in the series so far I rate this one 3.5/5 and round up.

[Vittorio Filippo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plastiboo si riconferma un eccezionale creatore di mondi e atmosfere, che grazie alla sua arte assumono una qualità tattile. Dalle pagine di Vermis 3 senti le esalazioni di paludi e catacombe oscure, il peso di ossa porose e la viscosità di liquami innominabili. Rispetto ai due precedenti inoltre crea l'immagine di un mondo più ampio, l'impressione di varie terre d'incubo che risultano fisica durante la lettura, ma non perdono mai la loro ineffabilità da sogno che stiamo dimenticando dopo esserci svegliati.

[Luke Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe this just feels old hat by now, as I've already read Godhusk, Vermis I, and Vermis II, but I didn't like this one nearly as much. I think Godhusk has been Plastiboo's standout work. Finally, I think with Vermis III, I will call myself content with his work, and purchase/read no more, enjoying his artwork from Instagram posts only. I did not read the majority of the words in this one, as the art is the most interesting part of these works, the text is more or less akin to From Software Souls flavour text, but more bland.

[Davide Pappalardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third installment in the series of "guide books for dark fantasy videogames that never existed." While the novelty of the concept has a little bit worn off, the quality is not only high, the artwork and structure of the book have been improved from the previous entries. The charm and effect of the first Vermis will probably remain unmatched (despite the aforementioned developments), but this third book proves that Plastiboo still has it.

[Kuba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vermis I > Vermis III > Vermis II (which is still awesome piece of a graphic novel)

Reading third Vermis gave me the feeling being closest to actually playing a video game out of whole trilogy. It’s not the best one, but it stands out because of this game-simulation quality, with many different „levels” and presenting outcomes of choices we can „make”. Art is superb and it also gave me the strongest urge to run Vermis-like ttrpg game. Coolest stuff

[Roque Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

I completely love it to pieces, but I'm afraid I'm giving it three stars but I was barely able to read it because of the main font used and the small size... 5 stars for the art and ideas, 3 for the edition...

[maize · Rating 5 out of 5]

so much fun. plastiboo make 20 more of these pleez

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

weakest of the three, but the art is stellar as always.

[Ned Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good it put me off eating meat for 48 hours.