The premise of the game is expanding the city of 'HorrorTown' and its residents which range from inquisitive kids, shady neighbors and actual monsters. Players can gain experience and progress further by having the monsters terrorize the humans and filling in the 'scare-o-meter'.
In 2021, it was announced that updates would be stalled due to Scholastic stepping in after the game wasn't making enough money. It eventually came back for a Halloween event, but apparently it didn't do as well as they hoped, putting the game in limbo. That is until May 2022 when it returned, now focusing more on smaller events. They would later bring back the more elaborate events, now with a Battle Pass system.
Gameplay videos of the game can be found here
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This game provides examples of:
- Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: As the game progresses it becomes more and more difficult to expand to new areas. Various gems and other expansion materials are required and can only be obtained from getting the maximum 'scare-o-meter' ranking within a twenty-four hour period or via premium objects.
- Age Lift:
- Lucy and Randy Dark from The Girl Who Cried Monster, who were kids originally, are said to be in college.
- Evan and Andy in the Monster Blood series were kids of the same age. Here Evan is depicted as a younger kid while Andy is considerably older and taller.
- Mark and Rachael from It Came from the Internet were about the same age as "you" are supposed to be (12) but are teens in the game.
- Zeke from Phantom of the Auditorium goes from being 12 to being college age.
- Crystal from Chicken Chicken is a teen instead of 12.
- Adaptational Diversity: The books famously primarily feature white characters, with the scant few minorities given small roles and some vaguely described with minority details. The game features more diverse characters, and Lucy Del Rio, the primary human protagonist, is Afro-Latina.
- Adaptational Explanation: The Haunted School doesn't explain where Thalia gets all the makeup she uses to cover her grayness or where she is living. The game explains that she is hiding out it in a abandoned makeup store, which is where she gets the makeup.
- Ascended Extra:
- Mrs. Dark from The Girl Who Cried Monster is one of the main characters in the game.
- Mr. Chameleon from The Haunted School has a notable role in the event based on it, while in the book he only appeared at the very end.
- Adaptation Amalgamation: Due to everything taking place in the same town, some quests will involve characters that were originally from different books, or combine things together. One example is that this version of Amaz-O from Bad Hare Day was cursed by the Muglani from Deep in the Jungle of Doom.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Will Blake from The Werewolf of Fever Swamp just eats dog food as opposed to preying on humans and animals.
- Spidey/Fritz Fredericks from Say Cheese and Die! is portrayed as a more straight forward good scientist.
- Vanessa from Chicken Chicken is a genuinely kind farm girl. Her turning Crystal into a chicken is depicted as a harmless prank that wears off as opposed to the horrific transformation in the book.
- Count Nightwing is an interesting example. In Vampire Breath he was wishy washy towards the end but was otherwise an evil vampire. In the game, he used to be that way but when he visits town he has mellowed out and has become a rock star.
- Ricky Beamer of Calling All Creeps! is given a more positive portrayal, not doing anything at all to warrant mass dislike. While in the book him becoming a creep happens alongside a Face–Heel Turn, in the game it happens due to a prank from Marty.
- The Egg Monsters from Egg Monsters from Mars are clearly cute, nice creatures. In the book, they are mostly fine but the ending implies that they violated Dana.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Evan and Andy from the Monster Blood books are depicted as troublemakers and pranksters who cause havoc as opposed to the regular kids in the books.
- Crystal from Chicken Chicken is portrayed as a vain Rich Bitch.
- Mr. Piccolo from The 12 Screams of Christmas was a fairly jolly man in the book, but in the game is a pretentious artist type.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Nat and Pat from The Beast from the East are fairly nice children in the game, compared to the brats they were in the book.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Mrs. Dark in The Girl Who Cried Monster was married to a man, and since this is meant to represent what is considered a standard American family, it's safe to assume she's straight. But in this game, she ends up in a romantic relationship with Ellie.
- Adaptation Species Change: Cronby the troll from Deep in the Jungle of Doom is now a Leprechaun, complete with traditional green Irish outfits associated with these creatures. In the game, he says he is a troll but likes to think himself as a leprechaun.
- Adaptational Sympathy: Vanessa from Chicken Chicken originally curses Crystal just for having bad manners, and acts strange even prior to doing it. In this game, she is just a nice farm girl who curses Crystal because she was incredibly mean to her.
- Adaptational Villainy: Only a few kids of The Class of 1947 in The Haunted School were evil in the book, while in the game they all are.
- Adaptation Name Change: During Attack of the Christmas Presents, the movie "A Holly Jolly Holiday" from the story of the same name is changed to "Sugar Cookie Speedway Zone." This originated as a gag nickname from a fan review posted in 2017.
- Alien Invasion: The Invasion of the Body Squeezers and Squeezers Revolution events features this.
- Amateur Sleuth: Lucy is very much one, to the point where she started the Many Mysteries Club with Dustin and find themselves investigating the various horrors of the town.
- Anachronism Stew: The game seems to be set in The '90s, with the references to VHS and a 32 bit system being treated like a new thing, but there's also use of certain modern slang and tech. Then during the 12 Screams of Christmas event, Slappy mentions that he wants 2020 to end.
- The Bad Guy Wins: In the 2021 Halloween event, Mrs. Eakins manages to turn all the kids into monsters. Curly sees this is a happy ending. This was revsered when the game finally returned in the next event..
- The Bride of the Living Dummy event ends with Slappy mind controlling Jillian to be his wife, shutting out Mary Ellen who now wants revenge.
- Bad Santa: Kris from the 'Attack of the Christmas Presents' event ends up as this. He starts off as a mall Santa who gets sick of being mistreated and turns to the dark side.
- Body Horror: Crystal from "Chicken, Chicken" turns into a giant chicken and her animations depict her in mid-transformation.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: While it's possible to complete the game's events without paying anything, the premium characters usually make it easier to progress.
- Brick Joke: At one point during the It Came from the Internet event, Dustin says Spyder is better than The Masked Mutant, which he (in his "Libby" disguise) is offended by. Near the end, He reappears to get revenge.
- Composite Character:
- The games version of Deep Trouble has Billy being saved by the sea monster from the book and not the shark.
- Spidey takes the place of Dr. D. At one point, he even says that due to how much he works around Deep Beach, people like to call him Dr. Deep. Additionally, Selma takes the place of Sheena.
- Sometimes the original characters that share a name with one from the books will take the place of them once they do an event based around that book, such as Brooke Bruchenberg taking the place of Brooke in the Phantom of the Auditorium event.
- Canon Foreigner: The game has an even mix of established human characters such as Ricky Beamer and original characters like Lucy and Dustin, but a notable example is Ellie, the game's first completely original monster/antagonist.
- Celebrity Paradox: At one point, Mr. Mortman mentions some horror authors, including R. L. Stine. Then at the end of the Be Afraid — Be Very Afraid! event, Mayor Johnson gets a call from someone named R.L.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Pumpkin Heads' alien forms are based off their appearances from the television show as are the other haunted masks.
- During the Valentine's at Poisson Lake event, Mrs. Dark says she hopes that the town isn't putting in a mall after what happened with that "Mayfield kid", referring to the events of the previous event, Shop Till You Drop... Dead!.
- The Phantom of the Auditorium event starts with the Mayor listing many of her failed plans for the town, as seen during previous events.
- In the Shop Til You Drop...Dead! event, Mr. Piccolo's Christmas play is cancelled in favor of a mall. Aside from this being itself to a reference The 12 Screams of Christmas, the Phantom of the Auditorium event has another of Piccolo's plays being canned in favor of something else. He is apparently not happy about it. He finally gets to put on his play in the 12 Screams of Christmas event.
- Dead All Along: Shaeron is revealed to be this in the game's version of The Ghost Next Door.
- Delinquent Hair: Andy, who is an anarchist and a prankster, has rainbow-colored hair.
- Dirty Cop: The Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid! event reveals that Officer Ramone had been sabotaging Mayor Johnson on purpose so she could replace her as mayor.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Mr. Piccolo from The 12 Screams of Christmas is wheelchair bound in the game, while he was not in the original book.
- Early-Bird Cameo:
- Ricky Beamer is mentioned a little while before you're able to access him and the Calling All Creeps! quest.
- Some of the earlier promotional images showcase some of the prominent monsters that were there from the start, but there were a few in the backgrounds that were not added until much later, such as Captain Long Ben One Leg and the Alien Grandma from Secret Agent Grandma.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Slappy calls out Crystal in the Chicken Chicken event for how much of a vain bitch she is.
- Foreshadowing: During the Madame Doom's Scream questline, Mayor Johnson is told that someone named "R.L" is important. Fast forward way later to the end of the Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid! event where she finally gets a call form R.L.
- Gender Bender: The Masked Mutant when he pretends to be a girl named Libby.
- Gender Flip: Nat from The Beast from the East was a boy in the book, but is a girl in the game.
- Hated by All: All the monsters hate Slappy in part for all the mischief he frequently causes. Especially once he becomes king of Horrortown at the end of the Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid event.
- Holiday Mode: The game has had special events for holidays such as Halloween and Christmas. For Halloween 2018 the game had a special tie-in event for Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween and introduced the three main protagonists into the town.
- Honest John's Dealership: Sader runs his pawn shop like this and usually only cares about making a profit.
- Hot as Hell: Ellie and her demon minions in the Valentine's at Poison Lake event. Although being a kids game, they are a more toned down example, with no direct sexual references.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Mrs. Maaargh constantly tries to eat the kids but Marty often stops her.
- In Name Only: The Beast Beneath the Sink event doesn't actually feature any direct references to It Came from Beneath the Sink! outside of the title.
- Outside of having a character named Lillian and one item being a death mask, the Trick or Trap event has little to do with the book.
- The Horrors of the Black Ring quest has nothing to do with that book beyond having jewelry in it.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- During the Shop Til You Drop...Dead! event, Mr. Mortman points out that whenever something bad happens, it's always hosted on the promenade.
- During the It's Only a Nightmare! quest, there is a gargoyle that is clearly just a re-used design of a decoration from the Haunted Halloween event. When Sader asks why he is being haunted by a Halloween decoration, the gargoyles says it's because he "lacks imagination".
- A Running Gag involves people pointing out that others should stop being surprised that scary things keep happening in a place called "Horrortown".
- Lighter and Softer: Most of the game is more lighthearted than the books but Chicken, Chicken stands out. The original book is filled with disturbing Body Horror whereas the story in the game is Played for Laughs.
- Love Potion:
- During the Calling All Creeps! quest, Marty accidentally drinks one and falls for Brooke.
- In the Valentine's at Poison Lake event, Ellie spikes the lake with a love potion which makes various people fall for each other, ranging from Jordan and Megan to
Ricky and Greg.
- Missing Child: The main story of the Beast Beneath the Sink has Dustin going missing. Turns out he was just playing a beast child. Lucy is not pleased.
- Michael Jackson's Thriller Parody: During the Valentine Night Fever event, there is a quest featuring dancing zombies that is titled "A Thrilling Date". Some the lyrics are also referenced during the story.
- Mythology Gag:
- Curly suggests that Sarah make him the mascot of the book she's writing, saying it "worked well in the past", a nod to Curly's former status as the Goosebumps mascot.
- One of Ricky Beamer's animations is to eat a cookie, which turns him into a creep, referencing how he became a creep in the original book. (In the game, it's by accident and due to a potion)
- In the Be Afraid-Be Very Afraid event, Mr. Zarwid sucks some people into a book. When they are freed, Connor peeks at it and sees it says "YOU FINISH THE STORY", then moves on. This is a reference to the original story, where the reader is met with that message, and it reveals everything was a book being read by someone else.
- The "Horrific Anniversary" event has a depiction of R.L. Stine whose design is based on his depiction in the opening of the TV series. Additionally, his undercover name is Eric Affabee, a reference to one of Stine's pen names he had early in his career.
- Narrator: Curly, the Goosebumps mascot, serves as the narrator for most of the game's events. Occasionally other characters will interact with him. The Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid event sees two new people trying to take over his job but in the end they get run out. The Trick or Trap event has him giving Drool the role for a while.
- No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: In-universe the town's monster presence causes more people wanting to move in.
- Number of the Beast: Ellie from the Valentine's at Poison Lake event costs 666 Goosebucks.
- Pet the Dog: Marty is generally depicted as being an obnoxious bully although he looks after his grandma and will occasionally act nice.
- Predator-Prey Friendship: Jack the Pumpkin Head befriends a human girl and subsequently refuses to participate in the invasion with the others.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Mrs. Maaargh and Mr. Mortman have a 'thing' going on. In the books they are part of separate stories. Same goes for Courtney King and Will Blake.
- In the original Bride of the Living Dummy, Slappy wanted Jillian to be his bride but it was implied to just be his usual slave shtick under a different name. Here, he actually falls for her and arranges a more legit wedding.
- Promoted to Playable: Both Sader and Curly started out as NPCs before becoming available to purchase as premium characters.
- Raincoat of Horror: Thalia who is actually a disguised monster wears a bright yellow raincoat and rainboots. She wears them to keep her makeup intact.
- Recursive Canon:
- One of the items you can add is a kiosk full of Goosebumps books.
- During the Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid event, Marty mentions a Goosebumps movie. To make it better, Dustin says its video-game is cool too.
- Related in the Adaptation:
- Spidey is Billy Deep's uncle, instead of Dr. Deep.
- Vanessa from Chicken Chicken is Clarissa's niece.
- Sometimes an established character will be connected to one of the game's original characters, such as Zeke from Phantom of the Auditorium being the son of Mayor Johnson or Crystal from Chicken Chicken being a sister to Greg Mikkelsen.
- Rotten Robotic Replacement: Synthia is a robot replacement for the missing Cynthia (who has been kidnapped by Professor Shock).
- Spared by the Adaptation:
- In The Girl Who Cried Monster Mrs. Dark eats Mr. Mortman. In the game she just threatens him.
- In Attack of the Mutant the Masked Mutant is melted at the end. The game's version has a similar fate only to reveal that he survived and is still out there.
- Shout-Out:
- During the Haunted Halloween event, we find out the school has a janitor named Mr. Kruger. During the same event, Greg mentions hiring a nanny named Laurie Strode.
- Murder the Clown tells a clown named Pennywise that he is "demonic"
- During the Welcome to Dead House event, Compton Dawes runs a business called Better Call Dawes.
- Two of the items in the It Came from the Internet event are a Red and Blue pill. Also, one of Mark's animations has him riding a brightly colored hover-board, and it is called "Ride back to the future!".
- In the Beast Beneath the Sink event, Nat says "with a bit of paper and strings, you can have your own set of wings". To drive it home further, Pat responds with "Let's go fly a kite!"
- Mr. Zardwid's questline is called "Yer a Wizard, Mr. Zardwid".
- "Sugar Cookie Speedway Zone," the new name given to the cursed movie from A Holly Jolly Holiday, originated as one of several gag subtitles given to the stories in a fan review of More & More & More Tales To Give You Goosebumps. The reviewer stated the nicknames were meant to be references to the level titles in the Sonic the Hedgehog games (Chemical Plant Zone, Labyrinth Zone, etc).
- One of the items in the Haunted School event is "The Wall". To drive it home, a mini-quest you can do to get the item is called "Leave the kids alone".
- The Chicken Chicken event having Vanessa being related to Clarissa from Be Careful What You Wish For could be one to Blogger Beware. He is the reason the book became infamous, and the latter story was his favorite while Chicken Chicken is of course his least favorite.
- The proper "How I Met My Monster" questlines begins with him telling kids the story of how he met his monster.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: The people affected by the love potion in the Valentine's at Poison Lake event naturally act like this, but so do Mrs. Dark and Ellie. They’re later revealed to actually be in love and did not drink said potion.
- Talking Animal: Drool, Curly’s bulldog, can talk. The other animals in the game converse with him during his storyline.
- Truer to the Text:
- Attack of the Mutant includes The Magnificent Molecule Man, who was left out of the episode.
- Bad Hare Day is a notable example, where the game version stays closer to the book where someone, in this case Lucy, eats a carrot and becomes a rabbit, and the Amaz-O on stage is actually a puppet with the real one having been cursed to be a rabbit.
- You Can't Scare Me! includes the scene with Courtney saving a cat from a tree, and is truer to the ending where the people attempting to scare Courtney give up after the encounter with the mud monsters.
- 'The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena'' has the Abominable Snowman's magic snowballs that freeze people.
- The A Shocker on Shock Street event portrays the Giant Praying Mantis as a robot, while the movie did not reflect this. Additionally, various bits from the book that were not in the episode are referenced, such as Wolf Boy and Wolf Girl.
- How I Got My Shrunken Head has the book's ending where the head speaks and asks to let it tell the story.
- Be Careful What You Wish For has the second wish involve everyone on Earth vanishing, which is what happened in the book while the episode had everyone turn into flies.
- Bride of the Living Dummy includes Amanda who was cut out of the episode. Additionally, it has Slappy wanting Jillian while he wanted Katie in the episode.
