During my summer holidays I dusted off my Nintendo Switch after several months, if not years, of inactivity - mainly to pass the time during long train journeys.
I still like video games (I feel extremely old just using this definition - are they still called that way?), but they don’t relax me in the way I need to de-stress between a long day of work and a reasonably early bed.

Anyway, after hearing about it on Evolution of Horror, I bought Fear the Spotlight, the first game released by Blumhouse Games, which of course is the game-development branch of the film production company specialised in low-cost - but often hugely popular - horror films, such as Paranormal Activity, The Purge, Get Out and Split. The creative lead of the software house is film journalist Louise Blain, previously a core part of the Evolution of Horror team.

The first thing that struck me was the game’s graphic style, which brought me back directly to 1992, as it reminded me so clearly of when I played Alone in the Dark on my PC (plus, there was a blurry/cathodic effect applied to the visuals, the reason for which I didn’t really understand—I was relieved when I found out that part of it can be disabled through the game’s options).
Anyway, in place of Edward Carnby, the game follows Vivian as she roams the corridors of ‘Sunnyside High’ looking for her friend and love interest Amy, who disappeared after a midnight séance gone wrong.

I’ll be honest: although this is the kind of game I would usually love - focused on exploring a closed space, finding objects and solving puzzles - I didn’t enjoy Fear the Spotlight very much; the mechanics are clunky and repetitive, the puzzles offer no challenge at all, the backstory - seemingly unrelated to the main characters - is deployed through ‘diary pages’ written by several teen students and it annoyed me rather than making the game interesting.
Some creepy creatures appear here and there, but the main antagonist is… a walking spotlight, which gives thematic meaning to the adventures of two school ‘outcasts’, but is otherwise quite a ridiculous enemy.

I finished the game, feeling very disappointed.
But with the end credits, also came a ’letter’ from the developers - Cozy Game Pals -, explaining they are just two people (a married couple) and thanking everybody for playing, and… I felt guilty about not liking it.

But also… there’s a twist! Completing the game unlocks a surprise ‘second chapter’, which is so so so much more satisfying: thanks to a parallel, more personal story, a way of telling it that relies much less on text, a new setting, as well as a shift in genre from (essentially) sci-fi to a ghost/occult story, this became a real interactive - and terrifying - horror experience.

In an unexpected turn, after finishing the whole game, I would absolutely recommend it, and I look forward to Blumhouse Games’ future titles (especially the one Brandon Cronenberg is contributing to).