Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!
Despite this being a SpongeBob SquarePants game, make no mistake: this is a horror game as well, and thus has plenty of scary moments. General
- The music for most of the levels, which perfectly set the mood for what you're getting yourself into.
- The various ways SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward and Mr. Krabs get killed/Jumpscared by the enemies of the levels, whether it's getting electrocuted, eaten alive, literally erased from existence, brutally attacked, etc.
- Pearl attacking Mr. Krabs. If you listen you can hear what sounds like Krabs getting ripped out of his shell! Same with a few other deaths relating to poor Eugene.
- There are levels where another character will follow you around, such as Patrick following Squidward through Tentacle Acres or SpongeBob through Sandy's Treedome. If you die in these levels, you also hear whatever buddy you have cry out in horror at your grisly death.
- If you get killed by Prince Jellien after first encountering him, it sounds like he swallows Patrick whole!
- The most terrifying jumpscare/death arguably is Mrs.Puff. When she catches you, she's visibly shown cutting SpongeBob apart with a ruler.
- The way Dennis kills Squidward is very creepy. He has a Non-Standard Game Over where instead of a jumpscare, he knocks Squidward to the ground and starts choking the life out of him.
- The prologue included when downloading the game is utterly terrifying.
- Some of the various death screens are sure to give nightmares.
- Big Lenny's Slasher Smile on his already disturbing face is just nightmare fuel on its own.
- Left and Right Glovey stare into your soul with dead eyes and a smile to match. Left Glovey even gets black tears and a face that brings William Afton to mind.
- Didn't catch up to Glovey carrying SpongeBob or got Patrick caught at Tentacle Acres? Congratulations, you get to see one of the two buddies cloned.
- Mrs. Puff's doesn't have her staring at the screen, but rather at her ruler...and a torn-off bit of SpongeBob on it.
- Prowler Patrick takes the cake, as all you can see are his eyes. Made worse if you don't escape in time. No goofy death cries from Patrick, just the funny, dumb seastar whimpering in utter horror and despair as the Prowler devours what's left of his mind. And, unlike the rest of the Game Over messages, which are either helpful or hilariously sarcastic, dying to Prowler Patrick leads to this ominous message:Prowler Patrick always stalks his prey…
- Dennis Clone's doesn't even feature him. Instead, it's just Patrick, Squidward, and Krabs' wanted posters. And they're all marked dead.
- The slasher smiles many of the Jelliens give upon killing the player on it's own is very unsettling.
- The background in the Overlord's game over picture is red, almost implying the Overlord didn't even bother with cloning him. He just straight up murders SpongeBob!
- The fact that Red Menaces are capable of producing stings just as lethal as a dangerous jellyfish like Big Lenny is pretty terrifying. But what makes it worse is the implication that Red Menaces are on lower-ranking amongst the Jelliens (only being a step up above Pinkies). Does this mean the Prowler, Nestler, and Angler have far more dangerous stings?
Tutorial
- The tutorial introduces Big Lenny. A gigantic jellyfish with a very disturbing and unnatural face and an eagerness to electrocute anyone he sees to death.
- In the original show, Big Lenny was only seen in a picture and the most we get of it is that Dr.Manowar survived his sting. Here, not only does Big Lenny show up, but one of Potty tips point out that he has a reputation for murdering unfortunate zoologists.
3451 Anchor's Way
- Mixed with Tear Jerker; Krabs returning home to make sure his daughter is unharmed and gather his money, in that order. She's fast asleep, but she serves as the main threat for the level since she's sleepwalking and doesn't like to get woken up... but then when Krabs grabs his hidden weapon, she attacks him for real and shows that's it's actually a Jellian clone. With the dread that his daughter is kidnapped and likely to be dead, along with having to kill something that looks and screams like his beloved daughter in agony, he leaves his money behind and only takes a musical locket showing Pearl as a child.
Patrick's Rock
- Prowler Patrick. When Patrick goes back to his rock to get his stuff, he winds up falling into his imagination box along with a Prowler. What follows is a Battle in the Center of the Mind with Patrick's evil clone! We hardly ever see Prowler Patrick in full detail outside of their jumpscare. The rest of the time? Just glowing red eyes and a smile. Oh and did we mention he spawns shadow clones that lunge at Patrick from out of nowhere?
- The first section of the level sees Patrick in a maze, struggling to find the exit while Prowler Patrick is hunting him down. It's completely tense and Paranoia Fuel, especially since it's possible to run into a dead end and get cornered.
- The second section of the level is even more Nightmare Fuel. Patrick finds himself in a dark room with kelp and he has to follow the path to get his toys. Prowler Patrick summons shadow spawns to eliminate him, and these shadow spawns make creepy sounds and yell loudly as they charge at him.
- And by Battle in the Center of the Mind, that's not an exaggeration because according to Word of God, the rest of the level after the Prowler Jump Scares Patrick and drags him into his "imagination box," isn't taking place inside the box at all. The reason for this is that Prowlers have the ability to influence their prey's mind and imagination to some capacity in order to take them over; in this case, Patrick's mind. Really think about this for a second; this is a predator that can not only turn itself near-invisible to ambush prey, but can also read the minds of and (by similar means) Mind Control their prey into effectively becoming their puppets to perfectly infiltrate any La Résistance to bring them down from within without the fear of being detected. That is the most dangerous thing to fight against in an Alien Invasion. If the Jelliens were comprised of mostly Prowlers, they would've effectively won without having to clone their targets. The Thing, eat your heart out.
- Patrick killing the Prowler in his level. Considering all the other bosses he fights either just simply get knocked out or end up killing themselves, this means Patrick was hitting it harder and purposely trying to beat it to death (granted, the Prowler did put Patrick through a hellish nightmare, so it's not like he didn't have it coming)
SpongeBob's Pineapple
- Doodlebob in this game is far more malicious than he was in his debut in the original show. Not only will he erase SpongeBob from existence upon catching him, but his game over quote implies that he kills Gary next.
Mrs.Puff's Boating School
- Everything about the Mrs Puff clone is just nightmare fuel. The ambiance that plays in the background during her section of the Boating School level definitely sets the tense mood. The various threats and comments she makes as she patrols the halls are just unsettling. The sudden music that kicks in upon her spotting you can take you by surprise. And the fact that she's the only clone (other than Plankton and Dennis, and excluding animal/monster clones) that actually KILLS you instead of capturing you, and also that she kills you by literally cutting you into pieces with a ruler, not only makes her all around a terrifying enemy to encounter, it might also imply she's different than the others. That she isn't a mindless zombie like the others, but she's choosing to be sadistic and evil.
- Many of the threats she makes as she patrols the school are very menacing and terrifying, making it very clear that she's crazy. Plenty of them of course detail what she's going to do to you, but she also threatens to feed her students to the Overlord and one of her lines hint that she's planning on killing Squidward and turning him into calamari.
- The intro cutscene includes one of the students, having escaped and gotten outside, attempting to sneak out of the area, only to fall and alert one of the anglers. The Jellien then proceeds to shock the poor kid to death.
Goofy Goobers
- Goofy Goobers is widely considered the scariest level in the game, and for good reason. Scary "music", almost pitch black, the first appearance of an Alpha, and the scream that the Suited Prowler makes when seeing the player. And to add onto the fun, the Suited Prowler will only get faster every time it's scared off with the light.
Goo Lagoon
- Perhaps one of the most pressing encounters is Squidward's run-in with Dennis at the Salty Spitoon. Despite being a Jellian clone, he's almost a splitting image of his normal self, to the point where many people didn't even think he was a Jellian clone thanks to his Sinister Shades covering his eyes. Just like who he was spawned from, Clone Dennis is a cold, capable bounty hunter who notices Squidward has a price on his head and doesn't care who pays the bounty out, or even why the target's face is on a wanted poster. The moment he sees through Squidward's disguise, he sets the entire bar on fire to cut off his escape routes and chase him down. If he catches Squidward, instead of just punching or crushing him, you're treated to a first-person view of Dennis choking him to death with glee. The game over screen afterwards then implies that Dennis immediately goes outside and kills Krabs and Patrick as well.
- Downplayed, but the pinkies in the Sand Castle of Goo Lagoon deserve a mention. Unlike other pinkies who sting you once and then just go about their business, these guys when dug up from the sand will relentlessly chase you down and keep stinging you repeatedly. Although the stings are ultimately nonlethal, considering what the Jelliens as a whole are like, the behavior certainly comes off like a bloodthirsty maniac trying to desperately kill you.
Final level
- A close second to the scariest level in the game is the final mission during the Rock Bottom section. Completely pitch black save for the light of the lantern SpongeBob has, no sound except the background ambience, and two killer worms stalking the group in the darkness. The bubble motifs don't play once you die, you just hear the whole group scream in terror before everything suddenly becomes dark. But between the two worms, The Parasitic Worm especially could easily be considered the scariest from the way she's always watching you in the dark. And what's even creepier is if you flash your camera at a certain moment, you can catch her right up close to you only to viciously recoil back from the bright light, likely the game's way of telling you that you were milliseconds away from death.
- The scene where Patrick defeats Doodle Patrick and burns him to death. He's definitely an Asshole Victim, sure, but his screams and cries of pain sound incredibly realistic, being partially disturbing to listen to.
Other
- The escape minigame. Squidward is alone in a dark kelp forest and what's that chasing him? A giant nightmare version of SpongeBob!
