Goosebumps HorrorLand (video game)

The player controls a child character who wanders the park of HorrorLand after receiving an invitation. To progress onwards to other areas of the park, the player must ride and score a certain amount of points on the park attractions, referred to as "Frights."^[4] Each minigame has a threshold of points that need to be earned in order to gain the lowest-tier of Frights, the lowest being Bronze, and the highest being Gold.^[5] There are a total of 30 minigames across the HorrorLand theme park, which include rides similar to bumper cars, mini golf, and roller coasters.^[3][6] Once a minigame is successfully completed, the player can re-play the minigame on the main menu.^[4]

The game features an open-world amusement park, where the player can talk to characters and earn rewards, interact with HorrorLand employees, and talk to attendants in order to ride an attraction.^[4] When the players interact with GiGi, the players also have the option to sneak up on Horrors and "pinch" them, which causes the creatures to deflate.^[7] HorrorLand also has five areas, each named based on its own theme: Carnival of Screams, Vampire Village, Fever Swamp, Mad Labs, and Terror Tombs.^[3]

The game opens with a child who has been invited to HorrorLand under mysterious circumstances, alongside their friend Nate. Once they arrive at the park, they become aware that they are trapped and cannot escape unless they progress through the entirety of HorrorLand. It is revealed by the park owner Horrifico that a creature known as the "Great Gargantua" has escaped and is loose in the park, and warns the player of the creature. The player, after having ridden the Roller Ghoster in Vampire Village, meets a young girl name GiGi, who reveals that she can locate the player's missing ticket pieces that will let them leave the park. After Horrifico reveals that he will not let the child leave the park, the player, GiGi, and Nate break for an escape on the final ride, where it is revealed that GiGi was the Great Gargantua the whole time, in a human disguise. She thanks the player for freeing her, claiming that she will now make the whole world her personalized "own HorrorLand."^[8][7][9]

Goosebumps HorrorLand was developed to be a tie-in with R. L. Stine's revived Goosebumps series, sharing the same name with the video game.^[3] Unlike previous books in the series, each novella in the HorrorLand sub-series takes place in primarily the same location, with several of its releases crossing over events from the previous books.^[10] Much like the books, the Goosebumps HorrorLand video game features several references to past Goosebumps books, with some of the park attractions being named after them.^[4][5][11]

Goosebumps HorrorLand is primarily inspired by the 1994 children's book from the original Goosebumps series, One Day at HorrorLand.^[3] The game utilizes the concepts from the original novella, including the location of HorrorLand, the creatures known as "Horrors," and some of the park's attractions mentioned in the book. The concept of dressing as Horrors, which was utilized midway through the main game's storyline, first appeared in Stine's 1999 novel, Return to HorrorLand.^[12] The location of HorrorLand is primarily inspired by American amusement parks, with Goosebumps HorrorLand featuring several bumper car, mini golf, roller coaster, water ride, and arcade game-styled attractions based on these locations.^[3][7]

Goosebumps HorrorLand was announced in the summer of 2008,^[3] and was released on 28 October of that same year for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and PlayStation 2 in the United States. European versions of the game were delayed, and released the following year on 16 October 2009.