Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion is a game I always generally appreciated. While I never played the game until now, I really loved its concept, its simplicity, and its execution. For a game with a simple concept, it does what it does really well. And I feel as if the game gets better with the additions of the Karamari Hospital and the Dollhouse DLC expansions. I chose to play the HD Renovation solely because it came with the DLC added, and I wanted the most recent version of the game. I really like the game, now that I’ve played it proper, and I do have some thoughts on it.
As I explained moments ago, I find Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion to be of a simple concept. As the game tells you as you start it, you have to go through 1000 rooms, and the game isn’t lying there. You will find yourself running through 1000 rooms of a mansion, dealing with threats along the way. While that sounds like a daunting task, to get through those 1000 rooms, it only takes about 2 hours of time. Even then, I messed around for a little bit, so if you focus solely on beating the game, it’ll take even less time. I also imagine that the length of time is determined by what rooms you’re given. Every floor is randomly generated from a selection of rooms. Most of them are simple, though there are some unique rooms alongside some really long rooms in the rotation. As you progress further and further throughout the game, more threats appear that you’ll have to deal with, and the specimens themselves are probably my favorite aspects of the game.
The specimens as it’s already obvious are the threats you’ll have to evade through the entirety of the game. And the further you get through the game, the more complex they become, all in interesting ways. What makes most of the specimens interesting is how they’re introduced. Aside from the first 2 specimens you encounter, each specimen has a unique location that you can find them in. This provides a noticeable change in aesthetic, alongside interesting worldbuilding, either about the specimen, or things affected by it. Yet again, the further I progressed through the game, the better these unique locations became. I particularly remember really enjoying the one for Specimen 12, where part of the specimen would get close to your location, and you had to hide until it was safe. And to further elaborate on why I enjoy the specimens as much as I do, aside from 2 of the 13 main specimens, all of them are inspired by famous horror creatures or IPs. And what’s great is that while you can see the clear inspiration of them, the specimens all feel extremely unique in and of themselves. One of my favorite Specimens is Specimen 10, as its major mechanic is how you cannot run too far away from it, making avoiding it a delicate balance. For my playthrough of the game, I definitely had some specimens appear more often than others. Specimen 2 appeared super often, alongside Specimen 3, 5, and 8. Specimen 6, 10, and 11 really only appeared once throughout the entire game. And running away from Specimens can really be determined by what rooms you get during those chases. Sometimes, I continuously got these long winding chamber rooms, and the specimens that were chasing me were ones that could float across empty gaps. I mean, I never died to them so it’s not that bad, but it was a little frustrating. One great positive about Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion and how the Specimen chases work is the music. Not only is a lot of the music just really good, but it’s also an amazing indicator for when you’re in danger. A lot of the time in the game, you don’t need to look behind you to see what specimen is chasing you. However, the music indicates not only if a specimen is chasing you, but who it is as well. It allows you to instinctively know how to react to what the threat will be.
While this would be all I need to say for the base game of Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion, as the game really is as simple as that, there’s also the DLC that the game has, Karamari Hospital, and The Dollhouse. And genuinely, I think they’re great expansions to the game as a whole, and for the dollhouse especially, probably my favorite parts of the game.
While I love the random room generation of the game’s main story, I think I ultimately prefer the controlled environment of the DLCs. What I mean by that is that each room in the DLCs are purposefully crafted, and are much more puzzle oriented. Having to solve puzzles or find keys throughout a location, while surviving a number of specimens located within the general area. I really love the specimens found within the DLC, though some are kind of simple (mostly the ones in Karamari Hospital). I think that The Dollhouse is probably my favorite segment of the entire game as a whole, and has some absolutely great specimens. Woormy Charles is really fun, and I really love the reverse weeping angels mechanics of the Hooked Doll. The Dollhouse is also an amazing way to end of Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion, especially with how the DLC actually expands on Spooky as a character.
One last thing I’ll add is that I think the endless mode is really nice. I didn’t play it at all, but I appreciate it for what all it does. It provides a fun arcade-y type of game, and it would be an interesting challenge to see how far you can actually get. I also like the addition of the new specimens, especially knowing that White Face from IMSCARED makes a cameo.
Spooky’s Jumpscare Mansion is a game of simple premise, but great execution. Now having properly played it, I really appreciate what it’s able to do, and it’s super charming. It feels like a love letter to horror in some way, especially with how many inspirations can be found through the specimens you find in the game. With how short it is, I can definitely recommend giving it a shot, you can probably beat the game, DLC included, in about 3 hours of time. It’s a really nice game overall.
