New publisher Blumhouse Games' first release is a throwback to when fuzzy pixels darkened the mood.
Summer Game Fest, the mid-year gaming conference that has supplanted E3, began with a trailer showcase that included many first glimpses from new boutique publisher Blumhouse Games. The first of these is Fear The Spotlight, an indie game that uses the grainy polygonal look of PS1-era graphics to heighten the ghost-story dread... but not overly.
That's because Fear The Spotlight was designed to be a "accessible horror" for those who are afraid of the dark, according to the game's husband-and-wife team, developer Bryan Singh and artist Crista Castro of company Cozy Game Pals.
"We have people we have in mind when we're making this game, are our friends and family, that don't quite like horror yet, but we think that they should," Singh explained. "We're trying to put all this stuff we like about horror in a way that plays smoothly that's kind of fun, kind of quirky, kind of charming, but still is really horror."
I spoke with Singh and Crista after listening their 20-minute demo of Fear The Spotlight, which begins innocently enough: Vivian, a straight-laced adolescent, has stepped outside of her comfort zone to assist her rebellious goth friend Amy in sneaking into their high school library, where they -- what else? -- use a Ouija board to communicate with the beyond. The spirits reach back out, with disastrous results.
The game's PS1 polygons establish the tone, with rough aliased edges on people and landscapes that transport the player back to the days of the original Resident Evil and Silent Hill. But the created nostalgia only goes so far, since the sound effects are clearly crunchy while the language is sharp. Similarly, if the visual effects are excessive, you can manually Reduce some of the antique PS1 appearance. You may change the tracking lines on the TV, which Singh refers to as a "VHS filter," as well as the background wobble of character polygons and the game's camera.
"I suppose my favorite type of horror is when you don't know if you saw something in the dark hallway -- I'm not sure if that was just a polygon wiggle or a specter that I saw. And that is something that we actively contribute to," Castro remarked.
"Our specific interpretation of the PS1 aesthetic tries to enhance that ambiguity," Singh stated.
The game pays homage to witchy films and other '90s culture, evoking the textures and era of low-resolution terror. After two years of development, Singh and Castro were approached by Blumhouse Games, who admired Fear the Spotlight's style and accessible horror appeal. Following another year, Fear The Spotlight appears in the 2024 Summer Game Fest teaser. showcase. It is the first game from Blumhouse Games' nascent roster to be exhibited to the press, as well as the only one available at the hands-on media event.
Making approachable horror involves emphasizing creepy emotions over gore or jump scares. The game has no combat; instead, when a monster appears, the player, Vivian, a terrified adolescent girl, crawls around crawling and hiding. However, tension persists, as evidenced by the demo. Vivian's respiration quickens as she crawls about dodging a surveillance camera and the vision shifts to first person. That implies at more panicked sneaking to come, hence the title Fear The Spotlight.
There are lots of riddles to solve and objects to collect as you explore the after-hours library, or whatever it becomes once the spirits return. As I walked around the too-quiet bookcases and vacant tables, it wasn't hard to uncover hints.as to their origins. I noticed a large plaque and class portrait lamenting the children lost in a fire years ago, an image that becomes frightening after the seance succeeds and Amy departs.
Only to emerge, floating and possessed, before everything catches fire and I flee down an eerie crimson corridor lined with dark pixels.
"We created a game in which we aim to drag you along like a roller coaster. In many respects, it reminds me of a movie. But we're also attempting to lessen the level of complexity so that it can be enjoyed by someone who is new to gaming," Singh explained.
Fear The Spotlight will be available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox One X/S later in 2024.