Fear the Spotlight review: A creepy, edge of the seat experience from Blumhouse

As a long-time horror fan of around three decades, I like to think I’ve got a firm handle on everything to expect from the genre. When it comes to games I feel like there are two ways to scare someone; either bombard them with surreal and disturbing imagery, like some kind of interactive Clockwork Orange cinema screen, or be so subtle that the player is constantly wondering what’s real and what’s outside of the screen.

One of my favourite ever horror games utilised the latter option, though sprinkled in some awful imagery too. Eternal Darkness, a game that made you feel insane, has rarely been bettered for bringing me to the edge of my seat and messing with my perceptions of what is and isn’t real. Fear the Spotlight comes awfully close to this staggeringly high bar.

Let’s get some preamble out of the way before I dive into what I loved about this little indie gem backed by horror mega-publisher Blumhouse. It’s a haunted school setup, with a Ouija board gone wrong, all brought to you in retro stylings - think late PS2 polygons fuzzed up with some CRT visual static. It’s got some decent spooky vibes overlaying the traditional survival horror kitsch.

Blumhouse Games

While so many hate on the concept of survival horror nowadays, there’s little better than trekking back and forth through a large area unlocking gates, activating computers, opening safes, and hiding from monsters. All of this is incorporated into Fear the Spotlight and yet it has brought with it some modern tropes too. The titular spotlight, for example, is a kind of Mr. X/Nemesis entity that stalks you throughout, always appearing at the wrong time.

I can’t complain about the nuts and bolts of the game - the mechanics are sound, if a little safe and well-trodden, but this is a classic genre for a reason, and why shake the cart too much? If traipsing through darkened corridors to find fuses and statuettes to unlock doors seems a little dated, it matters little as it matches the aesthetics perfectly.

I fear that I could easily spoil the game if I talk too much about the plot because this isn’t an overly long experience. It only took me a few hours and I was taken through all the touchstones of 1990s horror - teenage angst, dimension-hopping, and plenty of blood spatter. So, instead of talking about the story or the survival horror basics, let’s talk about why I almost pooped my pants while playing.

Very little scares me nowadays, although since living on my own recently, that isn’t as set in stone as I once thought. I wasn’t expecting Fear the Spotlight to creep me out, but playing in the late afternoons as the sun starts its downward arc and the rain beats against the window, I’m not ashamed to say that while playing I checked behind me, and down my long hallway, many times.

There was one moment where I looked across a room for clues, before scanning the camera back again. The second time across, however, there was the smallest detail changed. Now, a child made of shadow, with piercing white eyes peeked around a corner at me. Of course, by the time my eyes adjusted to take a longer look they had gone.

Blumhouse Games

Another time I found myself in a traditional horror film scenario, standing in an abandoned school bathroom I could see feet underneath the stall door. Being big and brave like I am, I went to open the door to find it locked. The feet, still there. I walked away, slowly, and of course, the door to the stall creaked open. There was never a jump scare, nor a grotesque monster waiting for me. I’m a bit part in a horror game, the stall was empty, but the lingering sense of sharing the space with… something, persisted.

I’d be lying if I said there weren’t tense moments, but this isn’t an action game. The tension goes as far as being pursued and having to hide underneath tables or behind furniture as a spotlight sweeps the area looking for you. Getting caught is a unique feeling as you’re pinned in place by the light, raised in the air, and shaken to the core physically and emotionally, before being cast aside. It’s worth noting my favourite mechanic here, our protagonist is asthmatic so instead of medkits or bandages, she needs a blast of her inhaler to repair her lungs, probably from silently screaming in terror.

I’m going to end this review here because to say more would ruin the experience. Horror games are difficult to sum up, fear is, after all, subjective. And to spoil a scary story based on suspense and tension is a crime. And so, here I will end my review by saying that Fear the Spotlight is perhaps the first game to scare me in a while and while it is a little trapped in the past, it does a wonderful job of unsettling the player enough that you’ll be thinking about it for some time to come.

Pros: Delightfully unsettling, often scary, great visual throwback, bite-size experience

Cons: The survival horror formula is a little dated, and some elements feel cliche

For fans of: SIlent Hill, Resident Evil, YA horror novels

8/10: Excellent

Fear the Spotlight is available now for Nintendo Switch (version tested), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, and PC. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.