I played this game well over 4 months ago, and I know you must be thinking “Well it must have been terribly thought provoking or sent you into a coma from the jump scares since it took you this long to review it”. Sadly, this is the case in neither scenario because I’m simply just terrible at blogging on time. So after looking at my blog drafts that are stacked to the imaginary ceiling I thought I should finally start releasing reviews on the many games I’ve completed on Twitch. What better way to begin than with Spooky’s? A game that I truly found enjoyable despite its jump scare foundation and I just found out has DLC released titled “Karamari Hospital”.
Spooky’s is a free to play game available on Steam. The premise for Spooky’s is clean and simple. You play as an unnamed protagonist trying desperately to survive all 1000 rooms of Spooky’s house. The monsters are seemingly cute (much like their jump scare brethren Freddy & co) but are actually monstrously horrific underneath. While you have several cute cardboard cutouts that jump scare you, the game revolves mostly around you being stalked by various “Specimens” in the different levels. Their abilities and backstories vary, but they add a nice variety to each and every level segment. They will attack you and you cannot fight them so you have to run. Sounds simple enough, but in true horror style you can’t run infinitely and must manage your stamina throughout your journey.
Which brings me to the next aspect that the game is segmented. Rather than each room being a level, the levels are grouped together by the “Specimen” that follows you every 50 rooms. Unlike most of today’s fare, saves are sporadic. Every 50 rooms you reach a safe zone that contains an elevator to the next set of rooms. This actually adds to the game rather than detracts from it though because it forces you to want to work harder to get farther. I would get set back several levels but I was determined to best the game rather than getting frustrated and quitting. That’s hard for a game of this type to achieve and I think the atmosphere really aids you accomplishing this goal.
Never fear, I’ve added the DLC to my wishlistand we will be revisiting the land of spoops soon on my stream with it, but now to the things I disliked.
Really it’s just one thing I disliked, namely the ending. After 1000 rooms, numerous setbacks, lots of puzzling details about backstories, the ending is just meh. It has an Inception style “The end or is it?” style feel that doesn’t do it justice in the grander scheme of things. It felt like a big buildup to a rather lackluster ending, but you can’t complain too much because it’s an extremely solid game for a free to play one. Due to the nature of its cost and the enormous amounts of jumps from both fun and scares that I had I have to give it a 7/10. Great work and looking forward to Karamari.
Rating: 7/10
Jess Playin' 