Fear the Spotlight

The survival horror genre is in an incredible place right now. Over the last few years, we’ve received some absolutely outstanding games, including the Resident Evil 2 and 4 remakes, and just a few weeks ago, the remarkable remake of Silent Hill 2 was released. But there is another side of the survival horror genre that’s thriving—indie games paying homage to the 90s origins of those aforementioned titles. Games like Tormented Souls, Signalis, Alisa, and now Fear the Spotlight are all amazing titles that replicate the 32-bit look and feel of classic 90s and early 2000s horror games in the best way possible. Fear the Spotlight is a very short—but truly remarkable—horror game paying homage to the games we grew up with as kids.

Right from the start, Fear the Spotlight wears its 90s survival horror influence, especially from the first Silent Hill, on its sleeve. With screen filters, frame rates, character models, environments, and even the inventory menu looking like something from the original PlayStation, the game exudes a nostalgic feel and creates a fantastic atmosphere. For those who find the retro effects overwhelming, including the screen bobble effect, all of these can be adjusted, increased, or decreased in the options menu.

Fear the Spotlight begins with friends Vivian and Amy breaking into their high school in the middle of the night to sneak into the library for some spooky fun. They plan to grab a spirit board and perform a séance. Why in their school, specifically? Well, it just so happens that back in the early 90s, a horrific tragedy occurred when a fire broke out in the school, claiming the lives of many students. The girls attempt to call upon those spirits—which probably wasn’t the best idea—as spooky things start happening, and Amy is pulled through a portal. Vivian goes to save her but ends up in what she thinks is her school, although something feels off.

From here, the game follows the typical survival horror structure. You explore different areas, finding a door that requires certain items to open. You move from room to room in the school, collecting items, solving puzzles, and discovering scraps of paper—notes passed between students—which flesh out the story and lore. I won’t dive too deeply into the story, but it connects to the fire that started the tragedy. The mystery is compelling and kept me excited to find more notes to piece together what happened. The puzzles are great as well, with some backtracking involved. A few, like needing to find video cables to plug a VCR into an old CRT TV, brought a huge nostalgic smile to my face.

There’s no combat in this game, and Vivian doesn’t have any weapons at her disposal. There are really only two types of dangers. In some sections, spotlights will appear in the hallways, and stepping into the light will cause damage. During these moments, you’ll need to watch the light patterns and move accordingly. Typically, these areas have desks or wall spaces where you can hide until the light passes. The more dangerous enemy is “Spotlight Head”—a large humanoid monster with, as the name suggests, a spotlight for a head. He roams the environment searching for you, and if he spots you, he can pull you in for a damaging attack. These sections are quite tense, becoming a game of cat and mouse where you must crawl, hide under tables, and find cover behind desks to avoid him.

One particular section is especially heart-pounding as you have to complete a puzzle with Spotlight Head in the room, making your timing crucial. Even with only a few enemies, the game is terrifying to play. You do have a flashlight, but its beam doesn’t travel far, so you often find yourself entering dark areas where you can only see a few feet in front of you. This is the kind of game where, even though there’s a sprint button, I found myself walking slowly to avoid running into a scare—and there are plenty of scares here. They aren’t just jump scares, though there are a few of those. More often, you’ll find yourself suddenly saying, “What the hell was that?” as you hear something in the room with you, hear a knock on the door, or catch a glimpse of something behind a wall that disappears before you can process what you saw. Despite the scares, the game has a charming art direction. Personally, I found the game adorable, even though some of the things that go bump in the night scared me. When I finally got a look at them, they were so cute. The voice acting is also excellent. From the brief interactions between Vivian and Amy at the start of the game, it’s clear they’ve been best friends for years, and as the story progresses, Vivian transforms from a scared, timid girl into a strong, determined friend, ready to rescue Amy.

One thing I noticed about this game is that it’s extremely short. There are really only two main areas of the school to explore before you reach the end. You can easily finish it in a single afternoon—my first playthrough took about four hours. That said, I always appreciate when movies, TV shows, and video games are as long as they need to be to tell their story, and Fear the Spotlight does just that. It’s short, but it never overstays its welcome, never feels padded, and ends with a satisfying conclusion that wraps up the story nicely. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that when you beat the game for the first time, you unlock another scenario after returning to the title screen, which was a pleasant surprise. Completing this additional content and getting the true ending took me around six hours in total.

I had such a great time with Fear the Spotlight. When I reached the true final ending and the credits rolled, I’ll admit I got a bit emotional. Emotional because of the beautiful game I’d just played, filled with so much love, care, and passion. Emotional because, like many other 90s-style survival horror games, it made me feel like a kid again. And emotional because of the heartfelt thank you from the developers to the publisher, Blumhouse Games, for taking a chance on their small horror game. Honestly, I thank Blumhouse too, because we need smaller developers creating art like this as much as possible in the industry right now. This is a game that proudly displays its love for the genre, shining through from the very start to the end of the credits. If you’re a fan of survival horror, I cannot recommend Fear the Spotlight enough. I hadn’t even heard of this game until recently, but now it’s absolutely going to be on my Top 10 Games of the Year list—and very high up at that.