Your least favorite ventriloquist dummy returns in the second installment of Krikey’s Goosebumps 2 AR trilogy.
Slappy, the mean-spirited ventriloquist dummy with a serious Napoleon complex, is back in a new Christmas themed AR mobile game full of jump scares, manic puzzles, and that infamous giggle as he taunts you through the entire experience.
The game, titled ‘Slappy’s Haunted Christmas,’ is the second release as part of Krikey’s ongoing Goosebumps 2 AR game trilogy. If you recall, the first game, ‘Trap Slappy Challenge,’ was launched in early October and featured a Tetris-style experience.
In Slappy’s Haunted Christmas’, R.L. Stine’s infamous villain is back with a challenge that tasks you with unboxing Christmas presents as you search for a mysterious manuscript buried inside one of the gifts. For some reason, Slappy is in desperate need for the digital document, and it’s your job to find it before he does.
Gameplay resembles that of classic Jenga. You and an opponent take turns removing long blocks in hopes of putting your competitor into a situation where the remaining tower comes crashing down during their turn.
Each round promises to be different from the previous game with creepy bugs randomly jumping out at you and plenty of special surprises. Don’t even bother trying to figure out a pattern as the manuscript will never be in the same location twice!
As the partnership between Sony Films and Krikey continues to towards the third AR game in the planned trilogy, it’s undeniable that Hollywood has begun to recognize the possibilities of AR and VR as next-level marketing tools capable of delivering meaningful advertisements that extend further than simple TV spots and print ads. Movie makers can make you apart of the action via game experiences, interactive educational material, or simplistic animations that can be unlocked through multiple forms of immersive technology.
On top of well established names, such as Star Wars and Ghostbusters, AR & VR marketing is now being featured in franchises such as Jumanji and Hotel Transylvania to connected with fans. The interaction has actually evolved from being a straight up gaming experience, to an interactive experience that actually adds to franchise canon, or in some cases, is a unique tool for movie companies to educate movie goers on details of the film with behind-the-scene footage and interviews with the actors before they even enter the theater.
For example, Universal Pictures used AR and VR for two of their recent 2018 films. The studio used VR to create buzz for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with their immersive Jurassic World VR experience that inserted you directly into the Jurassic World universe through an exclusive game available at 110 Dave & Buster’s locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. For the Ryan Gosling film First Man, they took a more serious direction with an educational AR experience that used the actual moon to unlock behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with the cast, and showed you what it was like to be with Mission Control during the Apollo 11 launch.
Krikey’s Slappy’s Haunted Christmas’ is part of a large growing list of AR and VR experiences designed to go beyond not only conventional marketing, but the film itself.
Download the Krikey app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play now to join Slappy in some creepy Christmas festivities. Just remember, he’s not your friend…
You can expect the final installment of Sony Films and Krikey’s AR trilogy to arrive this December. With the Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween DVD set to release sometime this January – having an AR trilogy leading up to the DVD release dates seems like smart marketing.
Image Credit: Krikey / Goosebumps
