Fear the Spotlight review for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC

Twenty-twenty four has been an interesting year for horror games. We’ve seen the likes of indie masterpiece Crow Country, and not so great AAA remakes like Alone in the Dark. No matter which way you look at it the genre has gotten a ton of love as of late.  For me, the last couple of years I’ve enjoyed playing horror games that go back to low poly style graphics and in some cases even old school “tank” style controls. Titles by Puppet Combo, for example, are at the top of my heavily played games list with these vibes.

Once I heard Blumhouse Games was putting out a PS One inspired survival horror title, I had to check it out. Fear the Spotlight was charming at first glance with the teaser trailer showing a mix of exploration, puzzle solving and staying alive with no way to defend yourself.

You can see a ton of inspiration for classics such as Silent Hill, Clock Tower and Overblood to name a couple, and despite the inspirations, Fear the Spotlight holds its own in some great ways. For one, the puzzle system is point and click style with a unique form of immersion. When interacting with items, you need to do more than just press the button. For example, you may need to remove some nails from boarded up wood planks and you have to hold the action button and pull the nail out of place.

It’s such a simple improvement to the tradition of puzzle elements in survival horror, but I enjoyed this much more than I would have expected. Another awesome mechanic was the healing. Your main character Vivian does not use med kits or healing sprays.

In order to “heal” Vivian uses an inhaler which is such a creative touch for me as an asthmatic. Your health meter is measured by lung strength and as you are started or injured, she breathes heavier and you will need to be mindful as each inhaler is one pump/one heal.  In my time through the story, I only found two.  A game that had a similar mechanic, but focused on your heart and being scared, was illbeed — and I love that game.

As you explore Fear the Spotlight, one thing you won’t experience is jump scares. This is important because some moments may feel like there’s going to be one, but it’s the immersion in the creepy atmosphere that’s otherworldly and eerily delightful. The developers at Cozy Game Pals put so much love into this game and it shows throughout.  And even without the jump scares my anxiety was in full effect when escaping from [Redacted].  You will still get scared but in a truly effective manner.

The puzzles in Fear the Spotlight are enjoyable and some had me scratching my head for a good while, which speaks to their creativity. Some are straight forward and others had me second guessing myself.  Some portions of the game have you interact with some items from the ’80s and ’90s which I’m a sucker for so even more points there.

There really isn’t anything I didn’t like about my time with Fear the Spotlight other than not discovering it sooner. Once I completed it, I went online to learn more about the developers and discovered the game has been on PC since last year.  It’s a joy to see Blumhouse help a small team of two developers to bring their game to more platforms and provide more exposure, but let them keep their creative vision.

I was already a Blumhouse fan and now I’m a Blumhouse Games fan. Fear the Spotlight is an easy recommendation for any retro survival horror fan.

Note: Blumhouse Games provided us with a Fear the Spotlight PS5 code for review purposes.