Cacophobia
Cacophobia is a boss added in The Monthiversary Update that can be encountered in Scarred Womb. It consists of multiple entities — Venus, a doll-like figure wrapped in rags, and many of Cacophobia's Eyes.
Behavior
Upon entering the room, Venus will spawn in the middle, completely immobile and will not perform any attacks. While Venus can take damage, she is unable to be killed for the first few seconds of the fight.
After a couple seconds, the screen will abruptly cut to black while the HUD disappears. When the game returns, the following effects occur:
- Venus' health is completely restored.
- The room background changes to a dark red version of the Scarred Womb's backdrop.
- The music is replaced with a quiet, droning ambient track.
After the first time the screen cuts to black, and for each time afterwards, Isaac will be transported through multiple different "scenes". These scenes are predetermined layouts consisting of Venus, Isaac, and many of Cacophobia's Eyes placed in different locations in the room. Some scenes will appear randomly with no follow-up, and others are part of a sequence of quick changes. The fight thus consists of:
- Reacting to each new room layout.
- Navigating through the placement of eyes — which deal contact damage and can shoot tears in specific patterns.
- Dealing damage to Venus — who remains stationary, and is sometimes placed in a location that is hard to reach.
Cacophobia's fight increases in intensity as her health drops, giving her 4 general "phases"; each phase making up 25% of her health. Each phase dictates what scenes can be encountered, with later scenes being more difficult by having quicker transitions, more layouts with projectiles, and more difficult or chaotic projectile patterns. Additionally, as her health drops, the forms she can take become increasingly disfigured as the music that plays in each scene intensifies.
When Venus' health reaches 0, the screen immediately cuts to black, before then showing Isaac standing in a dark red field of flowers with the HUD missing, and being unable to attack. After a few moments, the screen will cut to black one final time. When the game returns, the arena's appearance will return to normal, and the boss will have disappeared without a trace.
Cacophobia's Eyes
Cacophobia's Eyes dot the rooms that appear during different scenes. They are immobile, deal contact damage and block Isaac's movement, but do not block his tears. Some eyes fire tears either in set patterns or directly towards Isaac, at varying rates and speed.
Most other Eyes in the room will never shoot tears at Isaac, and may instead idle with different gestures. This includes looking at or away from Isaac or Venus; staring directly at the screen, sometimes with pupils shaking; and staying completely shut.
Video Showcase
Trivia
- "Cacophobia" is the intense fear of ugliness, whether because of a fear of becoming ugly or seeing/thinking about ugly things.
- Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love & beauty.
- Venus also happens to share her name with
The Sun's Venus, which is named after the planet named Venus named after the Roman goddess, as opposed to the goddess herself.
- When Venus is below 20% health, she may rarely turn into a bust sculpture of Venus de Milo. This is also used as Venus' appearance in the bestiary.
- Venus also happens to share her name with
- Cacophobia's design as a boss draws from many inspirations and references:
- Cacophobia was originally conceptualized as a
Delirium rework.
- The different scenes that make up the entirety of Cacophobia's fight are partially inspired by the battle with Sans from Undertale, notably the sudden transitions between his attacks in quick successions.
- Venus' base visual design is inspired by Carsoro from Hylics 2.
- The thematic design of Cacophobia and Venus is heavily inspired by Francis Bacon’s artwork — notable references are the field with flowers seen after Cacophobia is defeated being inspired by Bacon's paintings of landscapes such as Man Kneeling in Grass, and the appearance of Venus chopped up and hooked to the ceiling is from Figure with Meat.
- Cacophobia was originally conceptualized as a
- One of the possible appearances of Venus during a scene is a reference to occultist Austin Osman Spare's "The Death Posture"[1], with Venus being positioned in a similar manner.
- During a scene transition when the screen goes black, and when Cacophobia is on low health, there is a low chance (1/400) for the sound of a knocking door to be heard.
- If the player dies and gets a Game Over while fighting Cacophobia, the writing on Isaac's Last Will will be missing, being replaced with an ink blot of a Rorschach test which covers the entire note.
- Rorschach tests can also be found in Venus's icon in the bestiary, and in the icon of Cacophobia's health bar if the Enhanced Boss Bars mod is installed.
- Cacophobia's Eyes are not actual entities nor projectiles. They are part of Cacophobia's code, they cannot be spawned independently, and all projectiles phase through them.
- In the MOD's files, there are four sound files of ambiance used when Cacophobia reaches low health, that are titled "A THREAD", "HOLDS ONTO ME", "JUST A SINGLE PULL", "YOU CAN UNRAVEL ALL OF ME".
Gallery
Cacophobia's health bar icon if Enhanced Boss Bars is installed.
Sound Files
Ambience that plays when fighting Cacophobia.
"A THREAD"
"HOLDS ONTO ME"
"JUST A SINGLE PULL"
"YOU CAN UNRAVEL ALL OF ME"
Knocking sound that is rarely heard when Cacophobia is on low health.
References
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Chapter 1 | Buck - Honeydrop - The Whispers - Griddle Horn - Buster - Meltdown |
Chapter 1.5 | Ghostbuster - Cacamancer |
Chapter 2 | Battie - Kingpin - Slinger - Monsoon - Aquagob |
Chapter 3 | The Organization - Gutso the Great - Luncheon - Pollution - Tsar - Junkstrap |
Chapter 3.5 | Warp Zone - Dusk - Madomme |
Chapter 4 | Basco - The Sun - Peeping - Cacophobia |
Chapter 4.5 | Mr. Dead |
Minibosses | Psion - Gravedigger - Hermit |
Vanilla Boss Champions | Golden Plum - Ghost Larry Jr. - Mucus Monstro - Technopin - Albino Widow - Beehive Fistula - Possessed Hollow - Wine Husk - Kidney of Infamy - Alien Loki - Fiend Mom - Alien Lokii - Grinch Krampus |