Summer Game Fest Hands-on: Fear the Spotlight

At the Summer Game Fest Play Days event, I sat down for hands-on looks at many of the year’s hottest upcoming games. From AAA blockbusters to poignant indie experiences, there truly is something for everyone. One such title is Fear the Spotlight from developer Cozy Game Pals, a husband and wife team, and published by Blumhouse Games.

What is Fear the Spotlight?

Announced during the Summer Game Fest presentation with a slate of other indie horror games from Blumhouse Games, Fear the Spotlight is a single-player narrative horror game inspired by campy 90’s teen horror romps. In it, protagonist Vivian and her rebellious friend Amy break into Sunnyside High, which burned down years ago taking the lives of a number of students. Their goal is to perform a séance, but as it is in horror, nothing goes according to plan.

Gameplay and Presentation

Perfect for newcomers to both the horror genre and narrative video games, Fear the Spotlight emphasizes its story, puzzles, and creepy atmosphere, while presenting all of its mechanics in an intuitive, new player-friendly way. Despite the low barrier to entry, the well-designed puzzles definitely require some out of the box thinking. For an even more immersive experience, the game sports a retro-inspired VCR-like filter (which can be turned off if it isn’t quite your jam).

Reminiscent of survival horror icons of a bygone age, the exploration and puzzles in Fear the Spotlight involve Vivian traversing the halls of the twisted school, evading the titular Spotlight in tense stealth sequences, and solving the mystery behind Amy’s eventual disappearance.

Hands-on

In my hands-on demo, I played about 30 minutes of the opening of the game. There isn’t really combat, but the controls are still polished and responsive. Never once did it feel clunky or annoying to navigate (yes, you can run faster). Some of the dialogue scenes involve you having to grab objects and move them, adding to its immersive style.

Once the lights went out, navigation became a bit trickier, par for the course in a game like this. Add a terrifying monster hot on your heels to the mix and your heart will be pounding. Luckily, I had a candle that I could use to light my way. I highly recommend playing with headphones on and the lights off, as the creepy atmosphere and sound design is a highlight of this experience. The quality of the voice acting and music all lend to the overall vibe, and are executed quite well.

For a development team of only two people, this game will surely be in the conversation among greats of the genre when it arrives on all major platforms in late 2024.