Fear the Spotlight
Summary
DuringScreen Rant ’s exhaustiveSummer Game Fest 2024 coverageschedule , I had a chance to sit down early on my last Clarence Day of the event to see a game Blumhouse Games was demoing . nuzzle in a outer space laden with blasphemous and purple light , between a trading card plot demonstration and some bright , happy cozy games , I threw myself onto the couch in front of a projection screen with an menacing subject matter : Fear The Spotlight . vision of my ill - fated encounters with games likeAmnesiaandDeath Strandingwere at the forefront of my nous - even a little jump panic can make me drop my controller .
I ’m absolutely terrible with revulsion games . It ’s not that I ca n’t act them at all - I would countResident EvilandSilent Hillamong some of my favorite games in the genre , and like them well enough in possibility - but that they always ramp up my anxiety to the point that it feel like enjoying them can be an impossible project at times . I ’d rather watch someone else play and dwell vicariously through their nervousness . So it ’s with a lost but affirmative mindset thatI walk off from my time with the Blumhouse Games horror claim sleep with full well I ’d be playingFear The Spotlightas presently as it released .
Blumhouse has jeopardize into game publication and its slating of coming horror game - revealed at SGF - has me excited for some unique horror games .
Fear The Spotlight Does A Lot With The Familiar
Telegraphing The Source Of Horror
I play the first 25 bit ofFear The Spotlightand it was clear-cut from the outset that there was not going to be a mystical , nameless horror haunting the game ’s outer regions . It ’s a very knowledgeable origin of terror that lies at the heart of the storytelling in the plot , and it feel like it will be better for it in recitation . The instauration project two teenage girls break into their schoolhouse at night to direct an supernatural ritual using a ouija board . It ’s the type of horror trope that ’s been well - practiced with time , and there is n’t anything straight off different about howFear The Spotlightapproaches it .
That suppose , some of the grandness is in the buildup to that seance moment . The young woman have to quickly duck the security measure photographic camera in the hallway lead up to the library , whereFear The Spotlightfirst introduces the primary source of its panic attack - being observe . It need no time at all to feel the tension among the two girls as they persist concealed behind piece of furniture as the camera ’s regard drifts off from them , and then they ’re into the program library , solving the secret plan ’s first elementary teaser and sit down to begin something they both lie with they should n’t .
I love the frame-up and I enjoy how we get there in that 25 second , which smartly uses each pulse of Vivian ’s slow walk or Amy ’s taunting , then panicked vocalisation to ramp up investment funds in its story .
There are still plenty of directions the plot can go , butFear The Spotlightstarts with a haunting located within its school - a flame that claimed the lives of many students . Once the girls are sit , Amy , the rebellious one , start the ritual and has the musician hold the ouija display board ’s planchette . It ’s here that I experienced the first bit of genius in the game - while interacting with the planchette , our hero Vivian can move it as she wants to in response to prompt from Amy - until suddenly she ca n’t . The sinking feeling of realizing you did n’t input the control to move the planchette to an inauspicious answer immediately compound the secret plan ’s stakes .
The back third of the demonstration have a much more dramatic and supernatural event drive space , with Amy disappearing and Vivian needing to attend for her in the duskiness of the school library . As fervor erupts through the edifice and the library ’s intimate shelves tress and bend to block her path , it becomes percipient Vivian is now involved in something much bigger than a well - have in mind prank from a friend with a bad sense of humour . I roll in the hay the frame-up and I bonk how we get there in that 25 moment , which modishly use each cadence of Vivian ’s slow walking or Amy ’s taunting , then panicked voice to ramp up investing in its story .
Audio Design & A Fondness For Retro Serve Fear The Spotlight Well
Headphones And A Stubborn Camera Enhance The Game’s Experience
One affair became obvious to me while I was playingFear The Spotlight- you ’ll want a good set of earphone to really enjoy the experience . The game does so much with its audio to order its story and ameliorate its environmental set bit that it would be a pity to drop any of it , whether it be Vivian ’s wheezing breather in a nerve-racking minute or the creak of a floorboard in the swarthiness . Fear The Spotlightsmartly utilise small audio cues to demonstrate something may be wrong , and I understand Vivian needed an inhalator well before the game explicitly told me it was a mechanic in my geographic expedition .
It ’s not just sound purpose on a micro level , though . The absence of any music to set the humour is perfect , countenance Amy ’s confident chattering and Vivian ’s timid but affectionate reception do all the body of work . It ’s also clear Cozy Game Pals understands that less is often more in repugnance - once Amy evaporate and that watercourse of awareness monologuing is conk , it feels so solitary to force Vivian through the iniquity and taste to find her supporter . There are so many deft little moment that make me confidentFear The Spotlightwill adhere the landing on its retro horror delivery .
I ’m eager to see what elseFear The Spotlightcan do with its intelligent exercise of formerly ' plaguy ' mechanism .
Even game mechanics that can be frustrative are employed to large effect inFear The Spotlight- even if they are still thwarting . A stubborn camera that moves sluggishly and feels like you ’re fighting it at all times actually helps maintain the perspective of Vivian as she explores quite nicely . When you hunker down , you do n’t get to just see everything from an omniscient view above Vivian ; you ’re limited to the immediate area around her , admit ingest your imagination obscured by the objects she ’s crouching behind .
When Vivian is hightail it through environmental hazards , the camera does n’t let you check over your berm easily , and you might just trip up into a fallen ledge or some books the way you might if you wereactuallyfleeing a supernatural presence breathing over your articulatio humeri and creating unnatural fire in a library . I ’m eager to see what elseFear The Spotlightcan do with its intelligent use of formerly " annoying " mechanics that are now being used swimmingly to make the experience more involved and immersive .
Fear The Spotlight Is Going To Give Me Nightmares
A Horror Game Worth Checking Out Even For Those Afraid Of The Genre
I ’ll be the first to admit that my succeeding playthrough ofFear The Spotlightis not a good idea for my eternal sleep docket that week . I really ca n’t get these types of game out of my head - even low - poly horror like former - schoolSilent Hillwas brutal , so it ’s unlikelyFear The Spotlightwill have any less of an impression , provided it ’s of a similar quality . But that ’s the thing -Idobelieve it has the hazard to be of a standardized quality to those old - schooltime greats , so it ’s worth a shot , even for someone as terrify of the repugnance genre as I am .
Fear The Spotlightdemonstrated a lot in the 25 minutes I had with it , but more than anything else , it was adept at building on what feels recognizable and twist it subtly into something just unfamiliar enough it creates unease . The pacing seems first-class so far , the vibes are spic - minus the whole haunting component - and its retro aesthetic help serve its panic attack rather than sabotage them , creating some difficult to see aspect or images that make them palpate unknown . I detest horror games , but I ’m going to playFear The Spotlightas before long as I ’m able , and that ’s as big a testament to its quality as I can provide as a genre novice .
