REVIEW: Fear the Spotlight is a retro blast
Blumhouse has made the leap into the gaming space with their first survival horror title, Fear the Spotlight. In the game, players take on the role of Vivian who, along with her friend Amy, breaks into her school late one night to hold a seance. But soon, Amy is taken by a beam of intense light (the titular spotlight) and Viv sets out to find her.
From there, players take on the role of Viv and explore the school to find their friend and discover the source of the supernatural entity. The TLDR is that Fear the Spotlight is a great retro-inspired survival horror game, especially for anyone who isn’t super familiar with the sometimes-overbearing genre.
Fear the Spotlight has a great retro feel with modern comforts
Fear the Spotlight is inspired by 90s survival horror games, and staying true to that, the graphics and play mechanics look and feel very 90s. But while the game has a fantastic retro vibe, it also feels very modern. It has all the great old-school aesthetics, but none of the old-school clunkiness. If you’ve ever played an OG Resident Evil or Silent Hill game, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
This awesome retro vibe makes Fear the Spotlight perfect for modern gamers who want a taste of what 90s-era gaming was like, while also giving older gamers a great dose of nostalgia and familiarity.
My favorite part about Fear the Spotlight is that it has awesome, balanced gameplay. You have some puzzle-solving moments, great periods of atmospheric exploration, and during the spotlight scenes, it becomes a proper stealth game. But none of them ever last too long. I’ll always remember how quickly I grew bored of Slender: The Arrival because of the literal nonstop stalking. After about 30 minutes I was too exhausted and bored to ever pick up the game again. Fear the Spotlight never overdoes any of its mechanics, constantly swapping out vibes and play styles to keep the game interesting, fun, and scary.
Plus, it isn’t bogged down by the harder aspects of survival horror. Yes, you can find extra health and items for puzzles, but the whole balancing act of inventory management doesn’t exist (thank god), and there’s none of that “sometimes you need to save bullets and just run past a zombie and take the damage because there’s no ammo anywhere and hopefully there’s a save point somewhere nearby because if you die you’ll have to redo three hours of gameplay all over again” crap.
But saying Fear the Spotlight is “easier” than actual retro horror games seems a bit unfair and simplistic. I think it just doesn’t include some of the overbearing and frustrating aspects that have been associated with the survival horror genre for far too long.
Fear the Spotlight is a solid game and lots of fun
At the end of the day, what’s even more important than aesthetics and game mechanics is: Did I have fun? And the answer is yes. I had a great time playing Fear the Spotlight. It was a fun, relatively short survival horror game that is great for anyone who wants a retro throwback, or just a plain old fun spooky time. Plus, it’s priced at just $20, so as far as video games go, it’s a relatively cheap investment and is perfect to complete over a single weekend.
The Verdict: 8/10