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

The creepy season has been on track after the successful release of the Silent Hill 2 remake, but survival horror fans are looking forward to this month with the release of the cozy gaming companion spotlight. The first of multiple projects that Blumhouse Games has plans to publish is fearing that the spotlight is a decently creepy and teen slave-style riot, but that’s not all scary, but it’s a powerful start for the publisher’s upcoming game slate.

You first play as Vivienne – your stereotypical “geek” was featured in the media of the 90s – and as her romantic interest, Amy (she appears to have just walked from the set of crafts) decided to break into schools outside of business hours and confuse Ouija boards. If you’re reading this, you may have consumed enough horror media to know exactly where this is heading. Amy goes missing during seance after things are surprised, and Vivienne notices that she is alone at school and trying to find her in the midst of confusion. But this is where things started to surprise me. Because Vivienne is actually exploring previous versions of schools since the early 90s, and is troubled by corridors and rooms that are frankly meaningless. As we dig into the school’s past and find some answers about the fire that caught it in 1991, things begin to feel a very quiet hill.

The 2-3 hour mark closes Vivienne’s story, and things take an unexpected turn just to find that Amy’s story is unlocked from the main menu and accessible. Here you play Amy’s experience after seance is wrong, and it’s a totally different, dark time compared to Vivian’s quest for her crash.

It is this segment that jumps into Amy’s spirit, where she finds herself in the devastated version of her home, continuing to hide from the spotlight and flees to stalking, undead enemies, continuing to face her own trauma. In this, you continue to solve the tactile puzzles – the lock picking task that frequently appears among the most satisfying ones – and navigate the countless corridors and changing environments that Amy has to push to reunite with Vivian.

Fear The Spotlight is another product of its inspiration. The explicit Silent Hill 2 Easter Eggs found alongside the Spirit Board feel very inhabited with a collection of various mask pieces and pedestals. The transforming environment, the story of a lost spirit, accompanied by the story of two main characters who are merely exploring another love.

Fearing the spotlight continually presents players with more questions than they want to find answers. Even if you think you might have already put two together and two, you will try to surprise the player and succeed in doing so at your best. The second part of the game is certainly more eerie than our experience with Vivian, and we detailed Amy’s past details on the effects of bullying and using mobile interfaces, often the creepy tale of Silent Hill’s The The The Short message. But the story of the terrifying spotlight is more than bullying, but about the loss of grief and love. But in a light note, witnessing Vivienne and Amy’s relationship with each other’s flowers is one light relief that can be found in all the darkness of the whole fearing spotlight.

That tactile puzzle is content to solve, and the story often reminds me of Stephen King’s Carrie, but with relatively rivets, I feel like the game is confused about what it is or what it is trying to do from time to time. The PSX-style TV grain and polygons go back to the 90s aesthetics of survival horror games, but this doesn’t feel like one of them, and it feels like a modern indie horror with PSX-style cans of paint thrown in.

It’s a small personal Qualm, but this doesn’t affect how the game ultimately plays and how the story unfolds, but I don’t always expect it to cover my fears or eyes. Amy’s story stands out as two creepy characters, removing you from school and being relegated to another environment with new threats, but once you get used to these threats, you’re afraid that the spotlight doesn’t have too much of a fear factor in it. A psychological factor that intrigus you? absolutely.

Though the horror didn’t impress me as much as the likes of Hollowbody or Demo in the upcoming games, Healtworm has more success, but has tried to recreate the 90s formula, which still doesn’t deny that this is a solid start to the cozy game Pal. Regardless of how you feel about fear, regardless of the spotlight’s approach to survivor horror jittegeists of the late 90s and early 00s, throwing yourself into a provocative tale of the dangers of troubled teenagers is worth the time of the horror fan.

When it comes to horror games for young adults, this is not a new story, but I never came. So, the story of Amy – it feels like it’s about the core relationship between Vivienne and Amy, but you’ll find yourself even more fascinated about the story between Christie, Heather, Raul and the 1991 Raul. To Amy, the new star of the Sunnyside show, these events now mean hell. The good news is, unlike many horror games of similar kinds, you get some answers about what actually happened and what’s going on now.

There’s not much to worry about in terms of combat, fearing the spotlight. This is a game that focuses more on the story and puzzles than anything else. The only enemies Amy faces, the spotlight and ghoul, are the only enemies you face, and most often there is no way to fight back, so you are forced to hide from them and pass through the rooms they occupy. If you get caught by one, you will need to use a Vivian inhaler, or an Amy Incense stick to bring them back to full health when she escapes the danger. This was one of several small touches – using Amy’s level of calm to measure Amy’s health rather than having a health bar, rather than having a Viv lung air volume, it stood out to me for fear of the spotlight.

When it comes to tactile puzzles, I fear the spotlight will shine. These do not need to be careful precisely, but you should rely on notes and discovering different items to resolve them. You can interact with all buttons, latches, wires related to each puzzle or mechanism you need to be in. The buttons on the vending machine connect the wire to the TV and actively spin the dragonfly. The action can be repeated, but this is very satisfying and really helps you immerse your players in the game world (and it feels good on the console as well as on the tactile puzzles). I’m afraid that the spotlight puzzle will raise it and ensure that despite my anxiety I’m having a good time walking around Sunnyside High School and Amy’s head.

If you’re looking to delve into a supernatural story loaded with satisfying tactile puzzles, Spotlight is an epic way to spend 4-5 hours this fall. However, if you’ve been hoping to maintain your toes and lose sleep, it may be better to wait for other titles that publisher Blumhouse Games has that sleeve.

Fear The Spotlight was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch using code provided by Publisher. There were no performance issues.

update: This review was removed and republished with additional content and score changes after reviewers performed Amy’s story.