Hauntingly Average Yet Entertaining

Children of the nineties will no doubt recognise the shiver of terror at the memory of Goosebumps. R. L. Stine’s books are the pinnacle of horror for children and remain a household name to this day. Through TV and movie adaptions, Stine’s stories live on through new generations. Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek is yet another tale in this saga. Now available on PS5, let’s see if today’s game lives up to Stine’s legend.

In Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek, we play as our main character Sloane. Sloane is a slightly obnoxious (in my opinion) theatre nerd, headstrong and smart. She is joined by her group of friends, each representing a different teenage stereotype. Mysterious activities are happening in little creek and a sudden curfew has our team of teens eager to investigate. With the advice of Mrs Schneel, we must uncover secret societies and strange ruins to finish this story.

Character design in this game is okay… for the most part. I don’t know what Harvey did to the developers, but whoever designed this character’s hair clearly hated him. All character hairstyles are blocky, but Harvey’s presumably afro texture looks like Lego hair with worms sticking out. Designers have often struggled with diverse hair types, but this attempt is just poor. Justice for Harvey, I say. Otherwise, I have no complaints for their designs. The outfits and colour scheme of each character suits the archetype they represent and matches the overall style of the game.

Dialogue between characters auto-plays, but can be skipped by clicking. I love when games do this, as it allows you to immerse yourself in the storyline and follow the pace set by the developers. The voices chosen for each character are well done and suit their design, however the lip syncing only matches the tone of voice for standard speaking. This leads to some entertaining moments of passionate yelling with a still-faced expression.

Nothing in particular stands out with the sound design, other than a few unfortunate choices. Monsters sound overly cartoony compared to the human characters, appropriate for the age demographic. When running, there is a strange sound that sounds like sawing wood – I don’t know if this is in the environment or if Sloane really needs to get her lungs checked. Some dialogue is also triggered by location, which can get extremely annoying due to the backtracking required for the story. Sloane also needs a more diverse range of catch phrases. After the hundredth time hearing “analyse, apply, act”, I dreaded interacting with any puzzle that could trigger the soundbite.

The narrative of the game is definitely its strongest element. Each objective and task further progresses the story, giving a great sense of accomplishment. The story is also interesting, giving drips of information at the appropriate time to peak our curiosity and guess what’s to come. As the game is aimed at children, there is some blatantly obvious exposition to explain situations, but that’s to be expected. The story is rich in puzzles, making it a great tool for logical thinking skills in its young audience.

There are two endings to the game, I of course got the ‘Monster Ending’ and not the heroic. It is a poorly done attempt at encouraging kids to make moral choices. The endings in both cases seem sudden and rushed. The heroic ending uses an object that is never alluded to prior to its appearance, or explained. The monster ending is a serious case of ‘life is black and white’ and therefore you can only be good or evil. I found this really disappointing end to the tale.

Controls for the game are surprisingly sensitive. I had to adjust camera sensitivity in the first minute of playing before I could navigate with ease. This is most noticeable when casting runes from the haunted book or steering the boat along the river. It was incredibly difficult to get the correct direction without oversteering or having to re-start a rune casting. The torch control was also incredibly frustrating. Torch use had no limitations or battery, and many environments (especially outside) were dark, requiring its use. However, the torch turns off any time there was a cut scene, an interaction was performed, or the slingshot used. There was also a strange mechanic where anytime I entered a new room/environment where characters are waiting, they are usually facing the walls. Creepy? Yes. But not what the game intended.

Otherwise, the game made excellent choices in its gameplay design to stick to the style and theme. Hints can be used by interacting with crystal balls and where there was no hint available, the ball encourages you to trust your instinct and move forward. There was also unlimited sprint, making it very easy to avoid most monsters. The slingshot gives the very obvious choice of defense, however the standard ammo was pretty useless unless stunning enemies to escape. You can also distract or hide from enemies, making the game suitable for multiple gameplay styles.

The health mechanic was also unconventional, represented by a heart rate monitor and a single adjective (i.e., stable, unstable, critical). Easy for anyone to understand. Healing items were abundant, mostly consisting of chocolate bars for energy, perfect for a hormonal teen. Players save at set locations using the typewriter, however there is at least one typewriter at each key location, making saving easy and convenient. There is also auto-save during big or important scenes, which is great for young players who may forget to save.

A lot of backtracking is required, going from locations at opposite ends of the map as guided by the story. Quick travel options are available, but these aren’t the most conveniently positioned. This small map and backtracking helps the younger audience with navigation through familiarity, however for the adults who may play it is simply frustrating.

Despite the complaints, I still enjoyed my playthrough of the game. Goosebumps is entertainingly frustrating, yet has an interesting story inspired by multiple of Stine’s Goosebumps works. Obviously, Stine himself did not create this game. Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek was developed by PHL Collective and published by GameMill Entertainment. Looking at the portfolio of games these studios have produced, the quality of the Goosebumps game is a shocking disappointment compared to their other works. If I hadn’t researched the studios, I would be skeptical of trying their other games based on Goosebumps.

I would encourage young players to try out this game, purely for the narrative and puzzle elements. The finicky controls are much more forgivable for young gamers, so Goosebumps would be a much more enjoyable experience for the intended audience. Any adult Goosebumps fans, however, will find themselves disappointed in the outcome.