When Jason Blum, founder of horror film arthouse Blumhouse Studios, first announced the creation of a gaming studio devoted to creating horror games, many assumed the games coming out would be primarily adaptations of movies under the Blumhouse label. There was a lot of talk of a M3GAN video game (which will probably happen eventually) as well as a potential return of the infamous movie-based video game adaptations common in the early 2000s.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, the first game under the Blumhouse Games label is a remaster of an indie game released a while ago Fear the Spotlight, a cult favorite in the indie community by Cozy Game Pals that has been compared to Resident Evil, and which was unfortunately overlooked by many when it first released. Now, Fear the Spotlight is coming to consoles with new features and has already gotten a lot of press as the first of wave one of Blumhouse Games. Released at the end of October this year, we were not provided with a review copy. Well, I bought the game myself partly out of curiosity. Does Fear the Spotlight live up to the hype which Blumhouse Studios has earned over the years with its movies? How do the scares compare to other horror games in this genre? Find out in our Fear the Spotlight below!
Fear the Spotlight
Developer: Cozy Game Pals
Publisher: Blumhouse Games
Platforms: Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Release Date: October 22 (on PS4, PS5) 2024
Price: $15.99
A typical school in the 90s is rocked by tragedy when a suspicious fire kills several students, though the school does not close, and administrators attempt to cover up the cause of the fire. Years later, two high school girls sneak into the school to perform a seance in the library. They are Vivian, an avid reader who works at the school library, and Amy, a rebellious Goth girl who is accused of being a satanist by her peers. The seance descends into darkness and Amy vanishes. You must help Vivian traverse the school and rescue Amy.
The art style is pleasantly retro. The way the characters and school are drawn is cute and charming. In that way, it reminds me of the best of the old PS1 games, whose artstyle remains one of my favorite styles to this day. I don’t need advanced AAA, grimy graphics that are common in games like Dishonored or Call of Duty, I much prefer the quaint retro style. Fear the Spotlight is set around 2007 (though the backstory to what’s happening in the school happens in the 90s) and by making things retro instead of grimy, the atmosphere of Fear the Spotlight surpassed my expectations.
However, at first, I had a bit of a problem with the way the filters that made everything kind of wobbly, as if you were looking ahead of you in a desert on an especially hot day. I’m not sure what the purpose of this filter was. Probably to make the game have a more retro vibe, but I don’t recall any of the PS1 games or PC games that I played in the 90s having graphics that were even half this wobbly. The other possibility is that the waviness is meant to make things scarier. While it’s true that it sometimes gave the impression that something was moving at the edge of my vision, (you are running around the school after dark while supernatural beings lurk about, after all,) in the end, the filter made me strain my eyes and almost gave me a minor headache. Luckily, the game gives you options to turn the filters off. I turned two out of three of them off, and that was all that it took to make gameplay comfortable again.
Gameplaywise, this is primarily a stealth and puzzle game. Let’s talk about the stealth aspect first. I’m a big fan of stealth in general, usually I would rather stealth than fight (such as in Dishonored) because it’s more challenging while also usually offering a more rewarding story outcome, and stealth is something I have managed to get good at in almost every game I’ve played with a serious stealth mechanism.
It’s with this context that I can confidently say Fear the Spotlight is one of the best stealth games ever made. It is my personal favorite. Not even once did I glitch while trying to hide around counters or under desks or between lockers. Even in Into the Ballpit, another stealth-centric horror title that released this year, I would often cause the game to break when I hid from the Yellow Rabbit too quickly and the game didn’t know how to respond. We’re not even going to get into the problems with stealth in Hello Neighbor. I am surprised that not once did hiding work in a way that wasn’t logical. In fact, now that I think of it, I didn’t encounter even one bug in my playthrough. Stealthing in Fear the Spotlight revolves around trying to hide from a monster with a spotlight for his head (just like the game title) and later, an evil undead-like lady who shambles around and stalks you. There is also a light similar to the one on the monster’s head that sweeps through school hallways to try and find you. Evading these enemies was deeply satisfying.
Puzzle-wise, Fear the Spotlight surprised me a little by not having any optional side puzzles throughout the game. All puzzles are essential to proceed forward in the game. There was one point in which I found a statue of a lady without her face. She had three pieces scattered around the nearby rooms. Now, at this time, my main goal was to enter the theater after finding a way to turn on the sprinkler system so as to put out the fires blocking the entrance. I assumed the statue was optional, so I immediately got to work doing that first so that I wouldn’t miss out on unlocking some cool upgrade maybe, or lore, or a better ending. Turns out, putting together the statue is essential for getting to the place I needed to be in order to turn on the sprinklers in order to proceed.
Some players might be annoyed at the lack of bonus puzzles to solve. It’s true that this might reduce replay ability value if extra puzzles is what you value, but personally I didn’t mind. I eventually got cozy with the fact that the puzzles were essential, though of course I kept my guard up in the final puzzle revolving knowing where to use your phone in chapter two and was rewarded for it – but remember, there is only one ending.
The characters and story of Fear the Spotlight are excellent. It’s similar to a recent Resident Evil game, only much better in my opinion, and is also similar to Gylt. As you play for Vivian and attempt to rescue Amy, you’ll uncover a dark conspiracy revolving around the tragic fire that killed so many students years ago. You’ll also read notes from students and learn the tragic tale of Chrissy, an aspiring actress who really wants to just get into the play to be near the boy she loves, even as she is ruthlessly bullied by Heather Moore, daughter of a powerful man who has the staff of the school groveling at his feet. Vivian the reader and Amy the goth are lovable protagonists; they’re a dynamic duo that just work good together.
Fear the Spotlight also goes against the trend in modern storytelling that I hate the most. One of my biggest frustrations with modern storytelling is the need to deconstruct everything (including deconstruction itself!) and leave you feeling nihilistic and unsure of what is good and what is evil. In recent years, stories featuring characters who should have good and heroic were instead used as bait to lure viewers in (or players, or readers) and pull the rug out from under them.
“Haha, you thought this character was good because she or he was trying to be good? Think again, he’s actually a child abuser, or she actually just has daddy issues!” This was the big problem with Patty Wurst in Destroy All Humans Big Willy Unleashed. I’m happy to report that Fear the Spotlight doesn’t engage in this type of resentful storytelling. Vivian truly does care about Amy and vice versa. When all the other students are being cruel to the goth (honestly, how can you not like a cool goth girl?) and Vivian is nice to her and expresses anger at the bullies, this is a touching and sincere moment. There are no rug pulls; Vivian is not secretly a bully or even worse. The characters who are good are truly good and the ones who are bad are truly bad.
I was thrilled when I thought I had finished Fear the Spotlight (the credits were even rolling!) when suddenly I got a cliffhanger post-credit gameplay scene, and an End of Chapter 1 message. Chapter Two is a repeat and continuation of the story of Fear the Spotlight, but from Amy’s point of view. We get introduced to a lockpicking mechanism which was pretty easy to learn and fun. I genuinely enjoyed every lockpicking challenge once I got the hang of it after the first two times. Chapter 2 is also where you learn more of Amy’s family. Thankfully, Chapter 2 doesn’t ruin the ending of Chapter 1, and in fact, it closes some loose ends and gives everyone a happy ending. There is no chapter 3, at least not yet, but if there was, I’d love to return to these characters. But if not, that’s fine, this was perfect.
If you like Resident Evil, school horror games, or stealth, you’ll enjoy Fear the Spotlight. The horror is also family-friendly, with no gore or jump scares, so it’s safe to gift this to a younger family member or sensitive friend even if they normally don’t like horror. After playing Fear the Spotlight, there is no longer any question in my mind. Cozy Game Pals is a publisher with heart. If future games from this new studio are even close to as good as this one, then Jason Blum will very become the king of horror gaming just as he has become for the horror film world.
Fear the Spotlight was reviewed on a PS5 using a copy purchased by Nichegamer. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Fear the Spotlight is now available for PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
