The Spooky Raymansion 2
| The Spooky Raymansion 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Developed by | Ryemanni | |
| Soundtrack by | Éric Chevalier (ambient music from Rayman 2 The Great Escape) Plume, Fred Leonard and Laurent Parisi (chase and ambient music from Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc) | |
| Release date | Windows:
| |
| Genre | First-person arcade horror maze | |
| Gameplay mode | Single player | |
| Platforms | PC | |
| Ratings | All ages (OGRS) | |
| Distribution media | Digital download | |
| Game engine | Game Maker | |
The Spooky Raymansion 2 is the first sequel to the horror unofficial game created by Ryemanni, using the Game Maker engine and released in October 2020. It features Noseless Rayman once again as the sole antagonist.
While its predecessor was more of a prototype and a jokey experience quickly thrown together for Halloween, the second entry is intended to be more of an actual game, as noticeable by the great gap in polishing and content between both.
It changed the formula established in The Spooky Raymansion by adding distinct levels, new gameplay mechanics and new behaviours for Noseless Rayman, and a story. Yellow Lums are also brought back with one being found in most levels and being necessary to access an extra level and a bonus ending.
The Spooky Raymansion 3, another sequel, released in 2021. In 2023, Return to The Spooky Raymansion was released, featuring many throwbacks to The Spooky Raymansion 2, including similar locations and most of the same soundtrack albeit modified.
Plot
The player's character is implied to be the same as the first game's protagonist, having nightmares of their journey inside Noseless Rayman's mansion a year ago. In their bad dreams, they are looking for something important, later revealed to be Rayman 4. To find it, they return to the mansion where everything started.
It is suggested by the character's hands and by the next games that this protagonist was Rayman all along, something which Ryemanni has later confirmed[1].
Level 1
The first level serves nothing more than the purpose of an introduction to the game, being one of the only levels in the Spooky Raymansion series where Noseless Rayman never appears. It starts in a swamp area which looks similar to the Canopy from Rayman 2 The Great Escape, with the player facing the mansion. The mansion's entrance is barricaded, so the player must instead crawl into a vent to sneak their way in. Going through the first hallways of the mansion, the player opens a door and gets to the second level. The Yellow Lum of this level is hidden behind the first wall the player sees inside, with the picture of the Rayman mascot hung on it.
Level 2
The second level is very similar to the mansion in the original game, featuring most of the same environment, albeit bizarre pictures are hung on many walls. As the player enters the main hall, they'll notice some texts painted in either blood or red paint on the walls saying "Tings = Key" and "Key = Win", telling the player exactly what they need to progress. Noseless Rayman will appear after a while to hunt them down, being now able to run towards the player when he sees them. Once they collect every Ting and the key, they quickly make it to the next level as Noseless Rayman awaits them in the main hall where the locked door is located. It contains 12 Tings and the Yellow Lum is inside a small room hidden behind a damaged wall.
Level 3
The third level's maze resembles an old attic slightly reminiscent of Count Razoff's mansion from Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc, and it involves a lot more crawling with some places only reachable this way. Noseless Rayman will appear again, trying to catch the player as usual. With the Tings and key obtained, the player can make it to the next zone. It features 14 Tings and the Yellow Lum is found inside an open crate.
Level 4
The fourth level is a cramped dark cave with a ravine splitting it into two halves, bridges allowing both the player and Noseless Rayman to get across. The latter returns after a moment again, and the player must still gather Tings and the key to reach the next level. 14 Tings are found inside and the Yellow Lum is located within a secret area behind a fake wall and a hole, which can be spotted from a bridge.
Level 5
The fifth and final level is comprised of a small unique section as well as all the other levels which must be traversed backwards to escape. The Yellow Lum is hiding behind a fake wall in the first part with a lock on top of the wall highlighting the secret. Entering this place, the player finds what "they were looking for": a copy of Rayman IV. White noise is then emitted from their Ting Finder which suddenly malfunctions, random text flashing on it, one of which spells out "NOSE". As they exit the room, they return to the cave from Level 4, except the entire vicinity is glowing red and frustrated screams of Noseless Rayman are suddenly heard. They must escape him and make it through all the past levels to return to the mansion's entrance.
After going through Level 4, Level 3 and Level 2, they return to Level 1 where Noseless Rayman appears in front of the barricaded door in a last ditch effort to catch his prey. The player must make it to the hole from which they previously entered as quickly as possible. Once inside the vent, the screen will turn black and the protagonist successfully escapes the mansion with the game. They will talk about their escape and what they discovered, being happy that they found what they were looking for, but quickly realising to their dismay that the "copy of Rayman 4" they found was just a bootleg. The player is then sent back to the title screen, where an additional chapter to the story awaits them if they found every Lum.
Level X
An extra sixth level available if the player has gathered every Yellow Lum and by selecting it in the main menu's level selection. It acts as a secret true ending to the game and is implied to directly take place in the protagonist's nightmares. The final labyrinth is a sinister stone maze with a ground and ceiling comprised of metallic grates. It contains four square-shaped areas, which are joined together by a smaller square section. The player must gather the 44 Tings and a key for the final time, which will allow them to escape through another locked door, while making sure to avoid Noseless Rayman. There is no Yellow Lum in this level due to its nature. If they survive Noseless Rayman by escaping this oneiric maze, they'll be wakened up by the sounds of birds outside and will claim that their nightmares have stopped, another assumption proven wrong as revealed later in the events of The Spooky Raymansion 3.
Gameplay
The Spooky Raymansion 2 is a first-person horror maze game sharing a similar concept and structure to Pac-Man, just as The Spooky Raymansion. In this second game, the player can sprint and crawl, allowing them to move faster or get through some places which are unreachable by Noseless Rayman.
The player must get through every level, with most of them involving collecting every Ting, getting a key, and unlocking the door to move on to the next area. The player is helped by their Ting Finder, a device pointing at the nearest Ting and indicating how many are remaining. In every level except Level X, the player can find a Yellow Lum, often hidden behind a fake wall. Those Lums are necessary to access Level X.
Noseless Rayman will appear at a specific location in every maze after a short moment with the message "Rayman has joined the game." Noseless Rayman will inevitably go towards the player, although he can have troubles getting through some obstructions between him and the player, such as walls, a crate in Level 3 or the chasms in Level 4. If Noseless Rayman spots the player, he will run towards them. Noseless Rayman is very difficult to outrun in this game, so the player must avoid him at all costs and crawl into some hiding spots whenever possible. Noseless Rayman cannot reach a player crawling within a vent or hiding in a secret area, and so he'll retreat to his spawning point. Being caught by Noseless Rayman will result in the player getting jump scared and losing instantly, resulting in a game over screen telling them they couldn't find what they were looking for. To avoid Noseless Rayman, the player can listen for his voice and his footsteps.
In Level 5, the player will obtain the box of Rayman IV, which has no gameplay purposes despite being held in the player's hand. From that point on, the Ting Finder will not function properly any more, making static noises and having a constantly changing text. During the chase in Level 5, Noseless Rayman will appear from where the player enters every section, and from the front door in the final part. Every section will glow red and Noseless Rayman will be making sounds implying he's furious. If the player gets caught during this level, the text on the game over screen will tell them instead that they couldn't escape in time. Once the player makes it through the hole from which they first crawled into, they'll get to see the ending and will earn access to Level X from the level select if they gathered every Lum.
Level X has no particular distinctions from the other labyrinths, at the difference of featuring no Lum and treating the player to a bonus true ending if they survive it.
Gallery
Trivia
- The story taking place a year after The Spooky Raymansion is a reference to the real-life time separating the release of both games, making it possibly the same for the sequels.
- The music playing on the title screen is a sample from the "Moonlit Swamps ~Echoes in the Dark~" track from Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc.
- The ambient music playing during Level 1 is the "(Ambient) The Bog of Murk" track from Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc. It can also be heard very briefly at the exact moment the player escapes the mansion in Level 5.
- The ambient music playing during Level 2 is the "(Ambient) Air Currents" track from Rayman 2 The Great Escape, which was already used during most of The Spooky Raymansion.
- The ambient music playing during Level 3 is the "(Ambient) (Ambient) Razoff's Mansion" track from Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc.
- The ambient music playing during Level 4 is the "(Ambient) Dark Caves" track from Rayman 2 The Great Escape.
- The ambient music playing during Level X and the first part of Level 5 is the "(Ambient) The Tower of the Leptys" track from Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc.
- The sound playing when finding Rayman IV is an unused jingle for opening The Sanctuary of Rock and Lava in Rayman 2 The Great Escape.
- The music playing during the chase in Level 5 is the attack theme of the Zombie Chickens from Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc, returning from The Spooky Raymansion.
External links
References
- ↑ The Spooky Raymansion 3, Ryemanni's stream of the third game, https://youtu.be/ntxOIqc-v5U?t=592