Fear the Spotlight review: Blumhouse Games’ ghost story debut is a promising start

Spooky season is well under way following the successful launch of the Silent Hill 2 remake, but fans of survival horror have more to look forward to this month with the release of Cozy Game Pals’ Fear the Spotlight. The first of multiple projects that Blumhouse Games has plans to publish, Fear the Spotlight is a suitably creepy, teen-slasher style romp that — while not all that scary for the most part — is a strong start for the publisher’s upcoming slate of games.

You first play as Vivian — your stereotypical ‘nerd’ featured throughout 90s media — as her and her romantic interest, Amy (who looks as though she just walked off the set of The Craft), decide to break into their school after-hours and mess around with an Ouija Board. If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you’ve consumed enough horror media to know exactly where this is going; Amy goes missing during the seance after things turn awry, and Vivian finds herself alone in the school mindlessly trying to find her amongst the mess. Though, this is where things began to surprise me, as Vivian actually finds herself exploring a past version of the school from the early 90s, riddled with corridors and rooms that frankly don’t make sense. It’s here that things begin to feel very Silent Hill, as we delve into the school’s past and find out some answers about the fire that engulfed it — and more notably, its students — in 1991.

It’s at around the 2-3 hour mark that things take an unexpected turn — quite literally — as you wrap up Vivian’s story, only to find that Amy’s story is then unlocked and accessible from the main menu. Here, you play out Amy’s experience following the seance gone wrong, and it is a wholly different, darker time compared to Vivian’s search for her crush.

It’s during this segment that you get to dive into Amy’s psyche, as she finds herself in a run-down version of her home, fleeing a stalking, undead enemy while continuing to hide from the spotlight and face her own trauma. Amidst this, you continue to solve tactile puzzles — the lock picking tasks that appear frequently being among some of the most satisfying — and navigate the myriad corridors and changing environments that Amy has to push through to be reunited with Vivian.

Fear the Spotlight is yet another product of its inspirations — the explicit Silent Hill 2 easter egg found alongside the Spirit Board goes to show that much, with the collection of various mask pieces and pedestals feeling very Resident Evil. The transforming environments, the tale of spirits lost and in love, accompanied by the story of our two protagonists who are only just exploring their love for another.

Fear the Spotlight continually presents the player with more questions that you will want to find answers to — even when you thought you might have already put two and two together, it strives to surprise players, and succeeds in doing so at the best of times. The second portion of the game is certainly creepier than our experience with Vivian, and often reminded me of Silent Hill’s The Short Message eerie tale of the effects of bullying and use of mobile interface to detail more of Amy’s past. Though, Fear the Spotlight’s story is about more than just bullying, but grief, and love lost. Though, on a lighter note, witnessing Vivian and Amy's relationship with one another blossom is one light bit of relief you will find amongst all the darkness throughout Fear the Spotlight.

While its tactile puzzles are satisfying to solve, and its story — which often reminded me of Stephen King’s Carrie — is relatively riveting, it feels as though the game is confused about what it is, or what it is trying to do at times. The PSX-style television grain and polygons hail back to the 90s aesthetic of survival horror games, but this doesn't quite feel like one of those, and more of a modern indie horror with a tin of PSX-style paint thrown over it.

While a small personal qualm, this doesn't have any effect on how the game utlimately plays out and how it's story unfolds but don't expect to be constantly cowering in fear or covering your eyes. Amy’s story stands out as the spookier of the two, removing you from the school and whisking you away to a different setting with new threats, but once you become accustomed to these threats, Fear the Spotlight doesn’t have much of a fear factor to it. A psychological factor that’ll intrigue you though? Definitely.

While Fear the Spotlight didn’t impress me as much as the likes of Hollowbody or demo for upcoming game, Heartworm, who both attempted to reproduce the 90s formula in the modern day — albeit with more success — there’s still no denying that this is a solid start for Cozy Game Pals’ first foray into horror. Regardless of how you feel about Fear the Spotlight's approach to the survival horror zeitgeist of the late 90s and early 00s, it’s still very much worth any horror fan's time if you fancy throwing yourself into a provocative story about the perils of troubled teenagers.

This isn’t a new story when it comes to horror games for young adults, though there are a couple of grim twists and turns I didn’t see coming - namely Amy’s story -, and while the story feels as though it is about the relationship between Vivian and Amy at its core, you’ll likely find yourself more enthralled about the story between Chrissy, Heather, and Raoul, and the events that unfolded between them in 1991; alongside what the hell these events now mean for Amy, Sunnyside’s supposed new star of the show. The good news is that unlike plenty of horror games of similar ilk, you actually get some answers as to what happened — and is currently happening — this time around.

There’s not much to worry about in terms of combat in Fear the Spotlight; this is a game that quite clearly focuses on its story and its puzzles more than anything. Spotlights and the ghoul that stalks Amy are the only enemies you’ll face, and with no way to fight back for the most part, you’re forced to hide from them and plot routes through the rooms they occupy. If you do get caught by one, you’ll need to use Vivian’s inhaler — or Amy’s incense sticks — to bring them back to full health when she’s done escaping danger. This was one of a few small touches — using the air capacity of Viv’s lungs or Amy’s level of calmness to measure their health rather than having a health bar — that stood out to me about Fear the Spotlight.

Fear the Spotlight shines when it comes to its tactile puzzles. While these aren’t exactly tricky, you’re left to rely on notes and the discovery of various items to solve them, and as you do, you get to interact with every button, latch, and wire involved in each puzzle or mechanism you must fiddle with. The buttons of a vending machine, plugging wires into a television, actively turning the tombola, and so forth. While actions can be repetitive, there’s something deeply satisfying about this, and it really aids with immersing the player in the game’s world (and these tactile puzzles feel great on console too). Fear the Spotlight’s puzzles go a long way in elevating it and ensuring that despite my qualms, I still had an enjoyable time roaming around Sunnyside High School and inside of Amy’s head.

If you’re looking to delve into a supernatural story laden with satisfying, tactile puzzles, then Fear the Spotlight is a grand way to spend four to five hours of your time this autumn. Though, if you were hoping for something that would keep you on your toes and have you losing sleep, you might be better off waiting for the other titles that publisher, Blumhouse Games, has up its sleeve.

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Fear the Spotlight was reviewed on Nintendo Switch with a code provided by the publisher. There were no performance issues.

Update: This review was removed and republished with additional content and a change to the score after the reviewer played Amy’s story.