Spongebob Squarepants Treasure Hunt

I don't usually engage with this type of content--

But I'm happy that this horror game concept actually has level design, gimmicks, mechanics, consequence, etc etc to make this an actual video game that would be released as opposed to some flat and boring walking simulator that relies on cheap jumpscares, blood, and loud noises to get a reaction out of the player.

This game aims to go the atmospheric route with its horror and creepy factor which makes the experience more engaging to sit through. There's actually something to do in these stages with a clear end to get to. Not to mention their being actual boss fights, that's even more unexpected (especially for fan content SpongeBob related).

This alone gives the feeling that more effort was done with this game, which is a good thing It gives the game that slight bit more of depth and value to it

TL;DR: thank god it's not another copy-paste exe walking simulator game

From one SpongeBob fangame dev to another

this game goes absolutely insane, great job

As the sun fully retreated into it's caverns and the moon fully stood on it's ground, I came across with this creation by mere coincidence as I stumbled into one of those old fancy mechanical theaters that showcased a play of this show.

I was quickly absorbed by the many beauties it had to offer, so I couldn't fight back my primal instincts and willingly surrendered to this work of fiction to indoctrinate me into it's world.

Thus; A review of the game:

The game's presentation is spot on, it replicates perfectly a Gameboy Advanced game at it's finest, graphically the game is amazing and that alone is worth playing through the whole thing with or without collecting all golden spatulas.

The gameplay is good too, if I had to pick on anything this game does would be the zooming camera and that sometimes when touching a breakable block while falling can break it, but otherwise it controls pretty well. There's also the small nickpick that you take a while to get back into the level due to the Game Over screen but it isn't a big issue overall.

Here's the part I have to put on spoilers or else I'll ruin people's fun, which they deserve:

The game gives off a Godzilla NES vibe that enchanted me through the whole experience, maybe because the main style of the game was most likely resembling the Spongebob Movie GBA game. It gradually but slowly introduced horror themes perfectly, trully wonderful.

The messages by Mr. Krabs feel like if he was quoting eldritch sights of a world long gone by, which ironically fits with Mr. Krabs from the earlier seasons due to the speeches he had trying to describe events like the Anchovies raid or the Pipe bomb fatalities sounding scarely similar to me for some weird reason.

The gimmicks of each stage could've been explored a bit further, but for a game that lasts around 30-45 minutes if you try to 100% while messing around they're alright, for casual plays they are neat too, who knows what combinations could've been done if explored further.

I wish some spatulas got even more creative with how you got them, but as what they are in the levels they are well placed, tho the Ashen Field one is the weakest of them all, you just hold left while sinking in the sandpit.

The bosses, excluding the final boss, kinda left me desiring more of them, I understand the Sea Bear not being that strong, but The Effigy was very short, the description it had was cool and it foreshadowed the True final boss in a way i legitimately didn't expected, but dies so quickly even with it's gimmick that it's depressing how you just lawnmaw it like nothing.

The final level is quite challenging, tho for me the spatula path wasn't that hard. The block switch mechanic it's the trickiest part of the level in my opinion, the second half of the level kept me on my toes all the way through.

The final boss is good too, the fake Spongebob fight is alright but sometimes when it jumps you can't harm him but other times you can. The Squidward phase however is the best fight in the whole thing, it's a bit cheap with the 5 row bullets but it's the most challenging fight of them all, as you have to dance with Squidward to keep his bullets at bay until he chooses to get to ground level to open himself to attacks.

The third secret phase after getting all 7 golden spatulas is very meh, I like the idea of the boss having more advanced attacks, but because there's nothing stopping you from attacking it's weak points like in the Effigy it's a cake walk, and the invulnerability frames for all bosses to be as short as Spongebob's only makes them easier to defeat, specially what is something as cool as the last battle in the game.

The endings of this game are really good too, they give me Xploshi vibes. The true ending is the one that takes the cake tho, the credits roll with all the distorted employee portraits was surreal, unsettling and fun at the same time.

The game has some sort of lore it seems with the Squidward stuff, I might've missed some background secrets along the way of what's really going on. But either that gets solved in future games by Bunchy Soft or it's gonna be like RED from Godzilla NES where it's just a false deity that rules over the now corrupted land.

Overall, with all of the things I've listed, this is quite a good short game, specially for an amateur developer. It's a 8/10 from my part because it left me wishing for more due to it's length and executions, but this is a must play for anyone that comes across this game.

It's 2 AM as I write this, and I'm eager to replay this game tomorrow to spot new things I might've missed. Legitimally shocked this game with only 1 month of existence remains at 413 views and 5 likes, it honestly deserves way more than it's currently got.

this is actually a good game, 9/10.