In this Fear The Spotlight review, we’ll be talking about it’s art style, the story, the good and the bad, and everything else we can talk about this new game from the famous (or infamous, depending on what you think about them) Blumhouse Productions.
Photo from NicheGamer
This year’s Halloween season seems to keep on giving because we have one of the biggest names in Hollywood today, Blumhouse Productions, making a horror game. Fear The Spotlight had a demo from two years ago (the earliest one I could find online is back in August 2022). A lot of the people who played the demo gave it quite a good score, too, unlike Star Wars Outlaws.
Being the horror fanatic that I am, I couldn’t help but indulge in this PlayStation 1-inspired survival horror game that’s become the talk of town!
What Is Fear The Spotlight All About?
The game features Vivian and Amy, friends and students at Sunnyside High, as they set out on a terrifying and enlightening night. The two conduct a séance to communicate with unidentified ghosts shortly after breaking into the school late at night.
As a result of the illicit activity, Amy vanishes, and Vivian searches for her companion while coming across a weird creature, several challenges, and sinister mysteries about the school’s past.
If you enjoy spooky short stories, you should read Fear The Spotlight. Although the idea is quite simple, there are plenty of surprises that continue to keep you interested as you play.
You are drawn deeper into the experience by Maganda Marie and Khaya Fraites’s remarkable performances as Amy and Vivian. The extended tale features many trophies to unlock and takes about five hours to complete, which I believe has also been covered by other Fear The Spotlight review articles.
A Befitting PlayStation 1 Art Style for Horror Fans
Fear The Spotlight is marketed as a vintage 3D horror game with an artistic aesthetic. Cozy Game Pals wanted to make a game that was evocative of horror movies from the 1990s.
The game developer’s creative vision is shown in everything from the designs of numerous interactive devices to the utilization of gloomy corridors. Since they set the game’s events to have occurred in the 1990s, this helps to convey the spirit of the era.
Although I am aware that not everyone will find this particular visual style appealing, it is a wonderful fit for the narrative they are presenting. During my playing, I found no bugs or performance difficulties, and the animations were clear. There might have been problems with performance and the idea not fitting together as well as it did if this had been substantially more graphically intense on a contemporary scale.
And while I do agree that Blumhouse’s first video game is best enjoyed as an intro to horror, it’s still a pretty good game. That’s my honest take on the game in this Fear The Spotlight review.
Puzzles and Atmosphere Await the Players
The main gameplay mechanics are ambient exploration and puzzle-solving. Vivian encounters an enigmatic monster with a spotlight for a head as she begins looking for her friend.
To keep from being illuminated by the spotlight, she must be stealthy. If Vivian gets caught in the spotlight, she will continue to take damage and die if the player isn’t careful. After her death, players will have to restart from the last save checkpoint and try again. The objective is to rescue Amy while dodging the monster and sporadic spotlights that could show up throughout the campus.
In order to advance in the plot, Vivian must solve special riddles as she unearths more truths about the school’s history. I was reminded of the puzzle design of the Resident Evil games by these imaginative riddles, which I simply cannot undermine in this Fear The Spotlight review.
Here is the game’s official trailer that captures the possible horrors the game has prepared for players:
Does Fear The Spotlight Stand on Its Own?
The inventory menu, where Vivian’s lungs serve as the health bar and recovery is limited to finding inhalers, is subject to the same criteria. Surprisingly, there aren’t any conventional jump scares throughout this game. It seems like the developers wanted players to have time to adjust their tactics even though their interactions with the “spotlight” monster were intense.
My experience with the game, to write this Fear The Spotlight review, was enhanced by this ingenious fusion of puzzle-solving and exploration, which will have you wondering what will happen next. Although the game is not as cinematic as Until Dawn, the entire mechanics make it stand out.
Concluding My Fear The Spotlight Review
This Fear The Spotlight review shows that the game is an excellent third-person horror title with a lot of atmosphere. It’s a good addition to Blumhouse Games’ portfolio. You won’t be let down if you enjoy retro-styled horror games.
This one is easily 4 out of 5 stars for me, with the only caveat being that the horror veteran in me didn’t feel the same fear I had compared to the classic PlayStation 1 Resident Evil Games, Silent Hill, Nightmare Creatures, and Evil Dead: Hail to the King.
It’s been a pleasure talking about a great game, and I’d like to thank everyone for being with me here today. Stay tuned for more news on games and the gaming industry with GameEels!
