The film company behind Insidious and The Purge releases its first video game and it’s a nostalgic romp through PS1 era style horror tropes.
This year’s Summer Game Fest was a rather unexciting preview event, but the one reveal that did pique our interest was the announcement of Blumhouse Games. We can’t pretend to be fans of many of their movies but Blumhouse’s approach to becoming a games publisher was surprisingly unconventional and interesting.
They’ve already announced half a dozen indie style titles, that range from a Stardew Valley cosy game that turns sinister, to one where you play as a developer, and a team-up between Immorality’s Sam Barlow and film director Brandon Cronenberg. There’s little clue as to how any of them will turn out but the fact that they’re all so unusual is very encouraging.
As you might imagine, or we wouldn’t have brought it up, Fear The Spotlight is the first of these games: an indie style homage to Resident Evil and Silent Hill that’s been made by just two people. There’s a wonderfully endearing message from them, when you beat the main story, admitting that the game is not perfect, but while that’s true it is a very engaging mix of nostalgia, scares, and teenage angst.
The influence from Silent Hill and Resident Evil isn’t just in terms of gameplay (although there is no combat in Fear The Spotlight) but also presentation. The game is presented as a faux PlayStation 1 title, complete with wobbly polygons, very basic character models, and a purposefully clunky menu interface.
However, much like 2D indie games that are reminiscent of old NES titles, but which feature graphics far beyond anything the actual console could manage, Fear The Spotlight is merely reminiscent of PlayStation 1 games and is not subject to their same limitations. There’s no problem with frame rates, the camera and controls are thoroughly modern, and the old school graphics are purely an affectation – with a dithering effect used to pretend the visuals are more low-tech than they actually are.
In different circumstances that may have come across as obnoxious, but the effect is essentially the same as horror movies that mimic the look of old 80s direct-to-VHS films or stick purely with practical effects.
However, there’s a huge difference between horror movies and games, in that by using limited locations and unknown actors the films can be made for vastly less money than other genres – so it doesn’t matter that they appeal to a smaller audience. But a big budget horror game doesn’t cost any less than any other title, which is why indie games were the obvious way to go for Blumhouse.
As well as classic horror games, and the Ring film franchise, the other big influence on Fear The Spotlight is the original Life Is Strange. Protagonists Vivian and Amy are reminiscent of Max and Chloe, as the pair break into their school at night in order to perform a séance, since it’s Halloween and the building suffered a terrible fire in the 90s, that killed a number of students.
Naturally, things quickly go sideways and Vivian is spirited away, while Amy is left to rescue her – despite having no idea what is going on or any way to defend herself. The initial atmosphere is very unsettling, since you’re just as lost as Vivian, as ghostly apparitions scuttle just out of sight, and you enter what seems to be a portal to the 1990s version of the school.
The game’s relatively complex backstory becomes clear through discarded messages and school reports, that initially centre around a school play, bullying, and a pair of lovestruck pupils. Initially, the only things that can harm you are unearthly spotlights that beam down from the ceiling and which you have to stealthily avoid. Although eventually a roaming monster with a spotlight for a head is also introduced.
There are some genuine scares in Fear The Spotlight but they gradually reduce as you get a feeling for the setting and gameplay, and realise that there’s actually very little that can hurt you – and what there is, is very easy to avoid. Rather than stealth, the primary gameplay element is puzzle-solving. These are all perfectly engaging puzzles, that make more practical sense than anything in Resident Evil or Silent Hill, but they’re also rather easy, especially as the pieces needed to complete them are never that far away.
Everything is surprisingly tactile though, as you pull levers, rotate dials, and smash glass using an onscreen cursor that forces you to enact the movements with the left analogue stick. Even so, the game does feel a little undercooked and potentially interesting sequences, such as when the spotlight monster is stalking you round a classroom, as you try to install a disc and print out a file, are not only rare but trivially easy to pull off.
A lot of the time you’re just wandering around on your own, drinking in the spooky atmosphere but otherwise solving puzzles as if this wasn’t a horror game. This is not necessarily a mistake, it’s just what the game is, but it does feel a bit like the developers got so drawn into designing the puzzles they forgot they were supposed to be making a survival horror.
The narrative element works very well though and while it’s all very stripped down the characters, particularly Amy, are given a surprising amount of depth through the various revelations. The main story campaign lasts three or four hours and then a second scenario, in a completely different location, about half that again.
Clearly, it’s not very long, and there’s no replayability, but at the same time it doesn’t overstay its welcome and when we closed the lid on the game we felt very satisfied with the whole experience. It’s a little frustrating it doesn’t fully embrace being a survival horror but it does have some effective scares, while also being charmingly nostalgic and featuring more interesting leads than many games that are ten times the length.
It’s an excellent start to Blumhouse’s publishing ambitions and if the subsequent titles are all as unique and unpredictable as they seem from the trailers, then they will hopefully open up a rich new seam of interesting indie games, regardless of whether they’re horror related or not.
Fear The Spotlight review summary
In Short: A fun mix of PS1 era horror nostalgia and Life Is Strange style emotional drama, that goes a little too light on the scares but is still a compelling mix of influences.
Pros: The retro graphics and horror atmosphere work extremely well. Puzzles are well thought out, with some neat tactile elements. Likeable and surprisingly well-defined protagonists.
Cons: Too easy and not very frightening. Quite short, with no replayability.
Score: 7/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £17.99
Publisher: Blumhouse Games
Developer: Cozy Game Pals
Release Date: 22nd October 2024
Age Rating: 12
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