Return to The Spooky Raymansion

[Mortamon Saturn]

Noseless Rayman just won't give up! Turns out 3 wasn't "the final one"! The nightmarish Noseless clone of Rayman created by Ryemanni returns at last in his fourth entry:
The Spooky Raymansion 4
Return to The Spooky Raymansion!


Game Jolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/returntothes ... ion/848202
Itch.io: https://ryemanni.itch.io/return-to-the- ... raymansion


Trailer:


Ryemanni's Dev playthrough:


The creator of Rayman Redemption created this in two weeks to practice the use of Godot! So, while the first game used Unity and its sequels were made with Game Maker, this one runs under the Godot engine! Graphics are more evolved and Noseless Rayman got a cursed 3D model now!
As you can see on the trailer and the game's description, switches return from the third game (now only needed for new secrets replacing the Lums), Tings and the Ting Finder also return after being missing in the third one.
The device has evolved into the "Ting Finder 9000" with more functions to adapt to the new layer system! This includes a built-in flashlight which is recharged by picking up Tings, and the ability to trigger new temporary power-ups which spawn at a specific spot once you get 40 Tings!
The mansion now has floors and rooms separated by doors seamlessly grouped into the same levels, meaning we have some verticality now! There are a few times where you can intentionally fall off from some platforms, allowing you to get away from Noseless Rayman who can't do the same!

Past visuals themes and music from the Spooky Raymansion series have returned (mainly from 2), but greatly modified! Levels are far bigger and trickier to explore, and the music has been edited to be much slower and darker.
I like how the mansion can be seen in its true glory in the outside part, and it looks kind of similar to Razoff's mansion, and there's even a reception desk in one of the last levels (possible Phantom Show reference?)!
This is the longest game in the series by far! Be warned as Noseless Rayman is far more challenging this time, being even able to see you in the dark! You can outrun him by sprinting, but just like in Globox Terror, your endurance is now limited when you run so you'll have to manage that efficiently to leave Noseless Rayman's field of view as quickly as possible!
Also, the final parts of the game are more akin to 3, and there are definitely some interesting surprises that are even crazier than this game's ending!

I've made a 100% longplay of version 1.0.0 if you're interested, but I must warn you that this video's frame rate isn't very glorious!

Also, here's an archive of the original version 1.0.0 if you really want it, though I wouldn't recommend it due to the level select glitch patched in 1.0.1, but it's always good to preserve it.

Previous games:
-The Spooky Raymansion
-The Spooky Raymansion 2
-The Spooky Raymansion 3

French topic: viewtopic.php?t=75251

[Greengoop]

Wow. Just wow. I’ve never played the spooky raymansion games before but I feel like I have to go through every last one at this point. From what I’ve seen this could be the best one yet

[Hunchman801]

If not a good surprise, that's definitely good news! I look forward to seeing what this new game will bring compared to its predecessors.

[Mortamon Saturn]

Felt funny to see Hunch's message cloned three times on the front page!
Thanks for the updates, that saves me the work of editing in all three topics!
I wonder if it's the true "final game" or if we're getting even more sequels/similar Rayman horror-themed games in the future (something like the Globox Terror game for example).

Wow. Just wow. I’ve never played the spooky raymansion games before but I feel like I have to go through every last one at this point. From what I’ve seen this could be the best one yet

That one sure does look like an impressive improvement over the trilogy!

Well, good luck if you do cuz they're not that easy! And 1 aged like milk since it was made both as a joke/prototype in just two days (the walls were quite tough opponents in that one ). Though it's still a very funny experience the first time you try it out just for the sheer ridiculousness of being chased by a Rayman with no nose!
My pro tips for the first game is to move both forward and sideways at the same time which will make you walk much faster, and try to only play by looking at the map once you've figured out how everything works and how Noseless Rayman follows you. You can also stay in the two areas of the Lums (hidden behind fake walls you can walk through) as it'll make Noseless Rayman retreat to your original spawn point.
The goal is really to build distance with him to collect the Tings in the dead-ends, he's never faster than you in this game but he can easily catch up if you get stuck in walls or have to go into a dead-end. At worst, you can skip this one as it has no story and only 3 minutes worth of actual content.

Thankfully, 2 and 3 have... an actual game design, so it's just about figuring them out and coming up with little strategies to get around Noseless Rayman.
Just try to find all the hidden Lums to unlock the true final levels. The last level in Spooky Raymansion 3 makes playing those games 100 % worth it!

[Greengoop]

Wonder if next he’ll make a “raymansion trilogy remastered” and improve 1 then

[Mortamon Saturn]

I really don't see what would be the point when this new installment already looks like a remake/reboot of the trilogy. Besides, Ryemanni has done far more than enough Rayman fangames in his life and he has already declined remaking Dark Magician's Reign of Terror.
"Shitpost" games are the only fangames he'll do from now on as he said and now you can clearly tell he's only using them as an excuse to practice some things just like he did with this new game to get used to Godot.

[Greengoop]

”Shitpost” games are the only fangames he'll do from now on

R.I.P chances of R2 redemption ever coming out

[Mortamon Saturn]

R.I.P chances of R2 redemption ever coming out

Ryemanni has confirmed it already exists and it's called "Rayman 2 PS1"



I'll try to have a playthrough ready for the game as quickly as possible once it releases. Don't know how long this one is going to be considering how ambitious it looks, but a longplay should still be fine without going outside the usual bounds of my channel.
Guess I'll also have to make a new edition of the jump scare compilation and of the "N_O_S_E_L_E_S_S" series.

I wonder what new Rayman ambient tracks will be used for this one! I'll place my bets on some of those!
For the outside:



For the inside:






I'm curious to hear if any of my prediction will be accurate of if Ryemanni got completely different plans for the soundtrack!

[Greengoop]

Good guesses, I’ll watch your jumpscare comp when it releases

[Mortamon Saturn]

Besides further confirming the Godot practice and the intentional title change, Ryemanni has revealed -through a streamception- that the level design of the new game was first created through Minecraft (which he then converted to finish the texturing and everything else through Blender)!
Between that and the "Rayman has joined the game" message + font, the map in the first game, and apparently the new cursor in Return to The Spooky Raymansion, this series takes a lot from Minecraft.



Guess we can also thank Unity behaving like absolute trash for convincing Ryemanni to learn Godot and have an excuse to make the fourth Spooky Raymansion.
Also realized the game got action prompts now (like "Open") to tell you if you can interact with something.

[Greengoop]

Agreed Unity is very unfavourable. I can’t believe Cuphead was made on it tho

[Mortamon Saturn]

I don't even know what went through their mind when they made that decision of the fees and everything, it's just permanent self-sabotage... Like, I get the whole shtick of out-of-touch companies wanna making even more money as usual, but who thought this would slide even remotely well when it's so blatantly greedy and incompetent?
When you got indie devs behind incredibly popular games like Among Us moving away from you, you know you've messed up... Well, that's their loss, more evolved and friendlier game engines will get more attention now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Guess Ryemanni will be using only Godot from now on (though I don't think he will fully renounce to Game Maker either as he still likes it a lot), at least for 3D games if he makes more for his own original creations and jokey fangames.
That new Spooky Raymansion is also technically his first full 3D game if I understood correctly (don't know if the previous ones used "fake 3D" tricks like DOOM, and regardless they used 2D sprites for Noseless Rayman and most other things), so it's definitely going to feel a bit different and more ambitious.


EDIT: The game is out on Game Jolt and -for the first time- on itch.io!

[Mortamon Saturn]

The game is available and it got an update! This makes Return to The Spooky Raymansion the first "jokey" game by Ryemanni to receive a new version of any kind.

Version 1.0.1 is out.

Quick patch to fix one of the levels not showing up in the level select even after beating the previous level.

Here's my longplay as promised! Though, it was recorded in version 1.0.0, so you can see the level selection's issue at the end, and for some reason my recording ended up with a very choppy frame rate! Don't know why it did that when the game was running 100% smoothly while I played...


(That specific moment at around 40:55 is the embodiment of my pain playing through this, with a lot of internal screaming you couldn't hear )

And yes, as you can see from this video's length alone, this is by far the longest -and hardest- game in its series! And that's not even taking into account the many HOURS of failed attempts I've cut from this! Beating this to 100% in one go was a nightmare!
That aside, what do I think of Return to the Spooky Raymansion? Well, it was definitely impressive, even if it was different from what I expected in a lot of ways both for the best and for the worst. But hey, the game would have been a joke (even if it is intended to be "one" in the first place ) if you could just jump or glide away from Noseless Rayman, although I do wish the ability to fall from certain platforms was more available at times, especially in levels like the cave! Holy balls Tings, some parts of this game were a torture to get through the first times...

Anyway, it felt like a proper mix of the trilogy (even if a few things were removed like being able to crawl) even including 1 for the overall level design and gameplay approach of listening to Noseless Rayman's movements and building distance from him.
Even the creepy/silly portraits returned except they're randomised this time! This includes a few things Ryemanni had created and shown on Twitter years ago.
And it's finally and definitely the true conclusion to this series (as it took place in "real life" instead of a nightmare, unlike 3 and Level X in 2)... Unless the real Noseless Rayman somehow survived turning into an atomic explosion (after all, he doesn't disappear from the title screen this time despite the fact he's not there before Level 1...), in which case he'll probably want all his Tings back from Rayman and Globox.
There are also some very welcome additions to help you like power-ups that always appear in the same spots when you get 40 Tings (and they look like a rainbow laser-washing powder can from Rayman 3). It seems they are 4 different ones given to the player randomly and only working for a very limited time (though you can trigger them whenever you want):
-Flashlight upgrade which illuminates the area.
-Infinite endurance.
-Tings detector. Displays all the Tings through everything.
-Noseless Rayman detector. Same thing as the Tings's, but displays the noseless monster's position to help you evade him. Seems like this one isn't randomised as I started getting it constantly after dying way too many times.

As for the secrets, there are no Lums nor any fake wall shenanigans this time and the intro doesn't even have one despite being so expanded compared to its equivalent in TSR2 (which is why I was messing around so much with the maze outside as you could see in the playthrough), but you have to find the three switches in most levels and then reach the hidden area located behind a locked door.
What are these secrets besides giving you a shortcut back to a normal area? Well like the copy of Rayman IV you found in 2, now you'll find boxes from the Rayman classic trilogy, plus the actual Rayman 4 with a fanmade box art! At last, Rayman truly finds what he was looking for since TSR2.
Haven't checked yet if they're necessary for the final level this time, but I assume they should. And yes, just like in TSR3, the ending was again the best thing in the game by far and that's what makes playing this worth it! That giant Noseless Rayman was such an awesome surprise and the remake of the previous final boss fight using Undefeatable from Sonic Frontiers was amazing!


Also, my whole prediction for the soundtrack ended up wrong since Ryemanni took a different approach for this one!
The tracks are actually the same as 1 + 2 for the most part, except edited to sound a lot slower and more atmospheric!
Though, there a few original tracks that ended up being used as they are. Here's the whole list:
Title screen:


Intro/Level 0 (edited):


Level 1 + Introduction scene (edited):


Level 2 (edited):


Level 3 (edited and new):

EDIT: Corrected the track, it's not Dark Caves from Rayman 2 again.

Level 4 (edited and new):


Level 5:


Level 6 (final boss):
https://youtu.be/u_FRDqHT5y0?si=R1vAyVJ_CGDOruzg

Ending:



Feel free to ask for any tips if you find the game too hard!
I especially don't recommend that you get through it in one go like I did (it's really not like the previous entries which you could beat in less than 20 minutes), because you'll be exhausted by the end of it otherwise...

[Greengoop]

So I was just curious… do ambient music actually appear in the game?

[Mortamon Saturn]

I've listed the game's ambient music at the bottom of my previous post if that's what you mean (and my prediction was 100 % wrong ), though they're very different in-game as Ryemanni edited them.
The ambient tunes are the same selection as those used in The Spooky Raymansion 2, except with the Tower of the Leptys' ambience from TSR2's Levels 5 + X being changed to a different one from Hoodlum Havoc (and edited too).

Oh, btw I forgot the sound for collecting the secrets:


Since the ambient part of the soundtrack is modified to sound so different from the originals, I guess I could try to record it and share it on my bonus channel eventually, since I highly doubt Ryemanni will upload anything as it technically isn't his original creations... That would be a good excuse to do a complete soundtrack for the whole Spooky series, even if all the other tunes are from official Rayman games and some extras.
But like for Redemption back when the OST wasn't out, I'd have to record them in the game. Thankfully, you can just stay in the elevators to prevent Noseless Rayman from spawning (and Level 1's music is also heard for the intro picture), so I should be able to record them without any sound effect messing it up (as there are no settings to mute them).

Also I find that to be a funny coincidence that the other game I'm playing at the same time on my channel (since last month) is Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion when both got a similar name, a creepy mansion with impossible areas inside and levels separated by elevators.

[Greengoop]

Oh! Thanks Saturn I didn’t know that

[lyndo64]

Dude when I downloaded the game from Gamejolt my pc detected a trojan lol

[Greengoop]

Lmfao how the heck

[lyndo64]

bruh

[Mortamon Saturn]

Well that's very weird, I downloaded both 1.0.0 and 1.0.1 and got zero issues...
So that must be one heck of a false positive because my Antivirus is usually overly paranoid with things I download, I even just ran an analysis to be double sure. Or maybe something went wrong on Game Jolt's part...
Ryemanni isn't really the kind of guy to hide viruses in his programs lol