When I first heard of the game, Spooky’s House of Jumpscares, I thought it was going to be a rather dull horror game filled with, what else, jumpscares. But after playing it, this game was so much more than what I thought it would be. It managed to be a very scary and disturbing game that made you wonder what was going to come next, what horrifying creature was around the corner, and why those damn cardboard cutouts are everywhere. But what I liked best about Spooky’s House of Jumpscares had to be the creatures you ran into in this game. The creatures are some of the most disturbing and nerve wracking creations I’ve seen in a horror game in a long time. It was hard for me to make a list of my ten favorite, so I decided to just do a ranking instead. A ranking of all the monsters in order from least scariest and the least creative to the most scariest and most creative. With that out of the way, let’s start with the ranking. Also, I haven’t played the DLC, so nothing from there will be on this list.

Rank 13: Specimen 1



Now, I know that these ones are made to be a joke and aren’t meant to be scary, and I appreciate that. But remember, this is ranking them from the least scariest to scariest. Managing to make a joke out of them not being scary is a good idea for the game, but that still means they aren’t scary. They're always cute and adorable and look like none of the nightmare inducing shit later on, but the game will sometimes trick you, making them look a bit scary, yet they are always never a threat to the player, so it really doesn’t matter if you get scared from the jumpscare or not. The scare won’t last long, since they oppose no threat to you, and you can just be on your way. The worst they do is slow you down when getting chased by the REAL monsters, which you’ll be seeing right now.

Rank 12: Specimen 10



This is the first threatening monster that really disappointed me. When you get to a space station part of the mansion, you start to hear these noises coming from the vents. Eventually, you go into the vents. Here would have been a good way to show off the monster, or at least have some creepy foreshadowing. But nothing there. And when you finally get to the monster, instead of getting something creative and creepy, what we get is… a worm thing…. How scary. And it doesn’t even do anything else besides chase you around like everything else. And yes, I know it has a second form, but that doesn’t really matter when the main form is just this bland and uninteresting creature that is no different from another specimen on this list. Speaking of that other specimen…

Rank 11: Specimen 3



I don’t know why people would try to make giant bugs scary. I can understand why some people would be disturbed of bugs, or even terrified of them, but to me, I never really found bugs to be scary. They always fascinated me instead. So, when Specimen 3, a spider-centipede thing showed up, I wasn’t really all that scared. All it seems to do is move at a faster pace than the last monster you met. It can also climb through holes to catch up with you faster, which I guess can be a little scary, since you don’t know if he’s catching up on you or not, which adds to the paranoia, but when you think about it, it’s just a giant bug chasing you. Sorry, giant bugs really don’t scare me much. That’s just me.

Rank 10: Specimen 2



This is where things get a little harder. Specimen 2 is definitely the first thing that becomes a threat and where the game starts to show the horror side of itself. This slime creature will begin chasing you after you read a letter describing something slimy. You’ll be able to start running after thing, but Specimen 2 made sure to leave it’s gooey slime all over the next few rooms. These slime puddles will slow you down so that Specimen 2 can catch up to you, and you don’t want him to catch you and kill you, because if you do, you get a special death scene where he will devour you from the inside, saying “We are one, but I am many”. I really do love the special death scenes in this game. Their so creepy. So, bonus points for Specimen 2 for being the first to do it.

Rank 9: Specimen 9



So, at first, Specimen 9 seemed to be a little interesting. It was this red floating head sort of thing that would first appear if you kept going down the endless hall that would trap you and kill you, and Specimen 9 would continue to appear in the rest of the game if you stayed still for too long. But, then you get to another part with him. By that, I mean you get to a boss fight with him, where you have to use the axe you found in the forest area to fight him, while avoiding pillars and knocking a ball attack back at him as if this were the Ganondorf boss fight from Ocarina of Time. And honestly, I find it stupid that you have to fight him. I thought the game was about running and avoiding monsters, and now you have to fight one? That is just the thing that really lowered him for me. At least the rest was interesting.

Rank 8: Specimen 13



This is just the Kaernk from Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Okay, so, Specimen 13 takes the form of a naked woman who hides her face as she swims through the ocean and tries to drown you, which gives a special death scene. The only way to see her is to look at the splashes in the water. You can only avoid her harming you by jumping onto boxes at a time, and doing your best to run to the next box to avoid her. Seriously, this entire Specimen is just the Kaernk from Amnesia. It does the exact same things, just with a different design. Sure, it’s still a little scary, but would it kill them to try something a little different here?

Rank 7: Specimen 7



The Specimen may just be a wall, but it’s a wall that I can find a little bit screwed up. When you first hear about it from a talking cat, it warns you about the dangers of Specimen 7 in some very trippy ways. Even making an entire room set in space. Once you head into the room where Specimen 7 is waiting, you’d better start running and not look back. Specimen 7 is a red wall covered in faces that will try to consume you, and you have to traverse through an entire maze filled with red mist and large faces on the walls to get away from it. It great pretty creepy, but I do wish that Specimen 7 did a little more. Oh well, it’s still a little creepy. Not quite the scariest thing I’ve seen in this game, but is a little disturbing in some ways.

Rank 6: Specimen 5



I swear, whenever this monster comes up, all I can think to myself is how much it looks like a Silent Hill monster. Seriously, it just gives me those sort of vibes. Anyway, Specimen 5 is a rather slow creature, not moving very much, but always manages to look scary. Maybe it’s the fact that it lacks a face, or maybe it’s the large broadsword it carries, or maybe, just maybe, it’s because it can distort the room around you, turning the walls and doors into a red sort of hellscape that you need to find your way out of before Specimen 5 reaches you. It’s pretty unnerving, knowing that this thing is slowly making its way towards you as you try to find your way out. And with a face, or rather, lack of one on this creature, I think I’d be panicking too.

Rank 5: Specimen 11



I gotta be honest, when I first saw that this was just a generic devil looking monster, I thought it was gonna be a pretty boring monster, and it kinda was… at first. You find Specimen 11 by entering a restaurant and trying to find a key. Once you find it in the meat freezer, Specimen 11 will begin chasing you. He’s stronger and a lot faster than most of the other Specimens you’ve already come across, so you need to be quick and remember your surroundings if you want to make it out. However, if he does catch you, he won’t kill you yet. Instead, he’ll teleport you to this strange room that seems to be all red. As you walk, you’ll soon find Specimen 11 waiting for you at the end. There’s nowhere else to go except forward, where he will begin eating you. Just knowing that you have to let yourself get killed is just so unnerving. I would have put him higher if he was just as creative as this, but sadly, he wasn’t all perfect.

Rank 4: Specimen 4



I gotta be honest with you all, I am not a fan of ghost stories or ghosts in general. They’ve been done to death in horror that I just find them cliched and boring now. But Specimen 4 managed to be extra scary. You run into this Specimen after arriving to a Japanese school location in the mansion. As you are walking around, you’ll suddenly see her, and she’ll start coming for you. She’s able to move through walls and can catch up with you a lot faster than the other monsters because of this ability. Now, this isn’t what made me like her, no. What made me like her was that when she does kill you, she not only does kill you, but she eats you and keeps you in her stomach. The thought of that is just terrifying and I love it. Also, I’ve heard that she has several forms, but I don’t know how to activate the other two. Wish I knew so I could enjoy the scene in all its messed up glory.

Rank 3: Specimen 12



At first, it may look as though that Specimen 12 is the old man with the giant scythe that is hunting you and can insta kill you if he spots you. But, actually, Specimen 12 is actually the entire victorian house that you are in. The old man looking for you was a victim of Specimen 12 that was trapped in the house and became a puppet to Specimen 12, and now kills anyone that comes inside. You need to find a set of keys in order to get out of Specimen 12, while at the same time being hunted by the old man. I like the change of pace for this Specimen. Instead of running away, your hiding. It reminds me of the game Clock Tower, which I already did a review on. Though, instead of being hunted by a little boy with scissors, it’s an old man with a scythe… It’s almost close to the original game.

Rank 2: Specimen 8



You know that a Specimen is bound to be screwed up when the foreshadowing of it is deer in the woods trying to kill you. You run into Specimen 8 after finding an axe and using it to get the wooden planks off a door, and of course, this weapon is already useless on the first major monster you come across. Specimen 8 will float towards you, and every time he hurts you, the screen will flash with disturbing images. And if Specimen 8 kills you, you’ll get this very poetic quote from Specimen 8. I’m not sure what any of it means, but boy is it scary. What I like most about Specimen 8 is its design. It has a deer head, as well as a cloak that reveals hundreds of human faces inside. These could be past victims, and it could represent how it’s taking it’s revenge on people who hunt deer for fun…. Or maybe I’m thinking this over too much. Still, Specimen 8 is probably one of the scariest monsters in this game. But, we all know who is the true scariest monster in this game.

Rank 1: Specimen 6



How is this grinning puppet the scariest monster in the game? Well, first off, it’s based on the Happy Mask Salesman from Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, which already is disturbing on its own. But trust me, it gets worse. Once you manage to get the keys you need in the temple area that Specimen 6 is located, you will soon meet Specimen 6 himself, who will just stand there… and look at you… doing nothing. That is until you take your eyes off it. Once you do, Specimen 6 will walk up behind you and attack you. Specimen 6 can only attack you if you are looking away from it. It’s kinda like SCP-173 from SCP Containment Breach. Why am I fine with this ripping off SCP when I had some problems with Specimen 13 ripping off Amnesia? Well, for starters, Specimen 6 does some things differently than SCP to make it a little different. And because Specimen 6 has a special death scene that makes me so scared by mesmerized by how scary it is that I love it so much. So, there you have it. Specimen 6 is my favorite monster in Spooky’s House of Jumpscares. Maybe I should do a full review of the game sometime... Maybe. Until then, take care.