The first of Blumhouse Video games’ newly introduced slate, Fear The Spotlight guarantees throwback horror with a extra approachable tackle PS1-era horror gameplay designed for non-horror followers to get pleasure from. Set on the evening of a break-in gone flawed, this story follows two excessive schoolers on a evening they received’t quickly overlook as they unravel their college’s darkish previous.
Fear The Spotlight follows a pattern that has but to get previous in that it seems a lot like an up to date PS1 sport. Chunky character fashions carrying low-resolution textures and a CRT filter might need you consider that that is a misplaced sport from the late ‘90s. However don’t let its homage for bygone video games like Silent Hill or Resident Evil mislead you – Fear The Spotlight isn’t any hole nostalgia journey. Wandering across the college’s dim halls reveals a free digicam, trendy lighting techniques, and most significantly, modernized controls.
Sunnyside Excessive can get fairly spooky after hours. The high-pitched whir of safety cameras and exaggerated creak of each door make every part simply a bit extra tense; you by no means know who or what could possibly be across the subsequent nook, with nearly sure detention threatening any misstep. Ducking beneath desks to keep away from the watchful eye of a rotating safety digicam or operating from room to room exploring empty halls feels clean and responsive. General, Fear The Spotlight appears intent on avoiding a lot of the pitfalls that maintain its predecessors at this time, as a substitute letting its story and mechanics shine in their very own proper.
That story exhibits immense promise. The half-hour demo I performed adopted two women: Vivian and Amy. The image of a excellent pupil, Vivian’s hesitant strategy to their quest to interrupt into the varsity’s library and carry out a seance utilizing a Ouija Board-like Spirit Board paints her because the goody-two-shoes foil to the rebellious and morose Amy. This punky goth child is continually pushing Vivian exterior of her consolation zone. In the meantime, one thing’s not fairly proper with Amy, nevertheless it’s arduous to care… Her dynamic with Vivian was so compelling through the first half-hour of the sport that each one I wished to do was see what occurred subsequent, it doesn’t matter what the results have been.
We study that a long time prior, Sunnyside Excessive had a hearth that claimed dozens of scholars’ lives. The ghost of those victims loomed over the varsity’s library as I discovered my manner into the librarian’s workplace, fished the important thing for a show case out of their desk, and finally freed the ‘Spirit Board’ from its glass jail. Small interactions like transferring the Spirit Board’s planchette myself revealed simply how a lot love and care has gone into constructing this expertise with a number of dialog timber and responses to my trickery earlier than ending the seance with an abrupt shock as Amy was seemingly possessed. Abruptly, the varsity began shifting, turning the acquainted library into one thing else solely because the hallway emitted a vivid mild, creating a regarding silhouette.
A mysterious letter for Amy sits in Vivian’s stock. Its imprecise description, which hints on the hopes of giving it to her on the finish of their journey that evening, provides an additional layer of pressure of one other type; one which’s the proper mix of teenage pining and worry of what would possibly come between Vivian and making her confession.
Apparently, this primary challenge from husband and spouse duo Cozy Recreation Friends already launched on Steam in 2023 earlier than the pair pulled it from storefronts following their take care of Blumhouse Video games to be able to add extra into the sport. Cozy Recreation Friends promised me that this up to date model of Fear The Spotlight is getting about two extra hours’ value of content material, in line with their estimates. Given how detailed the primary part was, I’m assured that the brand new additions to this short-but-sweet-seeming expertise can be simply as detailed as the unique launch when it comes out on PC and consoles someday later this 12 months.
Fear The Spotlight units up a nice premise for a horror sport. With well-realized characters in a enjoyable, trope-y premise, Cozy Recreation Friends teased one thing with plenty of potential on this demo. Though I want I had the chance to see extra of the puzzle and exploration mechanics, its story has me actually excited—and scared—to see what occurs subsequent.