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I have immense respect for developers who, despite working with very limited budgets, manage to create games that turn out to be exceptional. This is especially true for indie studios made up of only a few people. We've seen situations where a single individual has developed an entire game, and the result has been impressive across many aspects.
One such game made by only two people is Fear the Spotlight, a horror adventure that follows the story of two high school friends who decide to play with the supernatural, and as a result, they are pulled into the horrors they never imagined possible.
This is exactly how the story begins: Vivian and Amy, two friends viewed as a bit odd by their schoolmates due to their unique way of dressing and a bit reserved nature, decide to sneak into the school one evening. They stumble upon a tablet meant for communicating with spirits. Without any malicious intent, they are unexpectedly transported back in time to 1991—the period when a tragic fire and accident occurred at their school, claiming many lives.
To make things even worse, Vivian and Amy are pulled into separate locations, which adds a totally different dimension to the story. Because of this, the tension is through the roof all the time because a lone teenage girl going through the corridors of an abandoned school makes the fear even more intense. As a result, the game allows you to experience the story from two perspectives through both Vivian's and Amy's eyes.
The story is quite good and very unpredictable. As you follow one of the girls, the game will try to tell you what happened during this tragic accident. You'll find many journal pages, newspaper articles, and all the relevant media that will explain to you, step-by-step, how the local students were involved in the accident and how it was caused since the real truth stayed hidden back in 1991 when it occurred.
The other part of the story, the one involving Amy, will be more personal and will reveal the events that occurred during her youth when she lived with her mother and brother—her father left and this period shows their struggle but also the beautiful moments she lived through, especially with her baby brother.
The game doesn't involve any kind of combat system—the monsters that hunt you are too powerful to be battled by the two fragile little teenage girls—instead, you'll use all sorts of cat-and-mouse techniques to evade them as effectively as possible. Both protagonists have different enemies to hide from. Vivian will be hunted by a huge guy whose head is a big spotlight, and she will have to avoid its gaze by any means necessary.
Amy, on the other hand, will be persuaded by a totally different monster: a huge woman who tracks her movement throughout the game's levels. However, the way the enemies are evaded is always the same: hide under stuff, anticipate the movements and go the other way, and all other evasion strategies seen in many similar titles.
In Fear the Spotlight, the health system is presented a bit differently as well. If you're caught either by the spotlight or the huge lady, you'll lose one health point. Even though there's no health indicators, you'll be able to sustain only three grabs before you die. However, you can restore health as Vivian by using the inhalers to repair her lung damage, or Amy by lighting the incense sticks to repair her brain damage.
To progress through the story, you'll have to solve all kinds of puzzles that are, hands down, excellent for such a level of production. The puzzles will be solved progressively and will give you a challenge from time to time. By progressively, I mean when you solve one puzzle, the path to the other one will be opened, and you'll rarely have room for making mistakes.
However, during the endgame phase, you'll be prompted to solve one huge puzzle, including at least ten different locations you'll be able to visit. The puzzle will go progressively as all the others, but this time, you'll have a choice of which location to visit first, which gives the game a little different pace, but regrettably, this is an isolated situation; all other puzzles, as much as they are intricate and sometimes even hard, are unfortunately quite straightforward.
Visually speaking, Fear the Spotlight is not an attractive game, to say the least. However, if you choose to observe it as a piece of art, then its art style can be somewhat intersting; it's all really up to you. Fear the Sptlight's graphics are reminiscent of the ones from the PlayStation 1 era, maybe even a bit earlier than that.
The textures are so low quality that you won't be even able to read the signs written on a wall. To see what a message says, you'll have to interact with it to read it through subtitle text. The character models, the environment, and the models of stuff you interact with are so bad-looking that you won't believe your eyes how a game like this can be released in 2024.
However, as I said earlier, that definitely has a certain charm to it, and it perfectly depicts the era when the plot is actually taking place. For example, you'll use VCR recorders, CRT televisions, and all the technology from the early eighties so this art style actually makes a lot of sense when seen from this angle. On the other hand, the horror elements are quite intensified with such looks.
The dark and light effects, on the other hand, are completely modernised and it can be noticed quite well once you turn your fleshlight on. The shadows made by a light source showcase the use of modern graphical rendering techniques, and here you can tell that this game is really a modern one, but with an art style that will transport you back into some older, more romantic gaming eras.
Regarding sounds, I must give special praise to the developer's choice to include real voice acting, which is, by the way, done exceptionally well. Both actresses who lent their voices to Vivian's and Amy's characters did a stellar job. Apart from them, there are a couple of other voices that are nothing special, to be honest.
The other sounds are okay, but no more than that. Since this is a horror title, the sound effects should play a pivotal role in creating the atmosphere. Unfortunately, that isn't the case here, and if there's anything I could highlight as a drawback, I'd say it's the poor soundtrack and sounds in general. But again, this game is made by two people only, and looking for a needle in a haystack would be inappropriate, to say the least.
Conclusion
At the end of this review, the indie developers or small teams, like the duo behind Fear the Spotlight, deserve our unquestioned respect for their efforts. While this might lead some to expect leniency in judging the game, the truth is that Fear the Spotlight is a high-quality horror title. It features puzzles that are truly intricate and horror elements that will genuinely give you a good scare.
If the PlayStation 1-style graphics don't bother you and you love good horror adventure, then this game could definitely be for you. Apart from all that, the story you're about to experience is more than interesting, and given the fact that you can see it from two different perspectives, it gives it a totally new dimension. With all that being said, Fear the Spotlight is a great horror game you'll love if you're a fan of the genre, and even if you're not, you'll still find something to like it for.
The Good
High-quality horror elements- Intricate and progressively challenging puzzles
- An engaging story told from two perspectives
- Effective voice acting for main characters
The Bad
Low-quality, outdated graphics- Weak soundtrack and sound design
