Fear the Spotlight

Fear the Spotlight is a survival horror stealth game released in 2024. It was developed by Cozy Game Pals and published by Blumhouse Games. The story centers on high school students Vivian and Amy, whose attempt to contact spirits with a ouija board goes wrong, dragging them into supernatural events at their school.

The game was created by the husband-and-wife team Bryan Singh and Crista Castro. They started work on it in 2022, drawing inspiration from the early days of their own relationship. An initial version appeared on Steam in 2023. Soon after, Blumhouse Games discovered the project and offered support to expand it for console release. The developers accepted, and Fear the Spotlight became Blumhouse Games’ flagship title.

The game launched on 22 October 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It received a positive reception.

**Plot**

Vivian Singh, a book-smart student, and Amy Tanaka, a goth, are close friends. Vivian secretly loves Amy. Amy persuades Vivian to sneak into Sunnyside High after hours. In the library, they use a ouija board to try contacting spirits of students who died in a 1991 school fire. During the séance, Amy mentions feeling a spirit following her. A figure appears behind her, and Amy vanishes.

Vivian searches the now-altered school. She finds Amy, but Amy is pulled into a fire that engulfs the building. Vivian escapes through a student memorial. She then enters a decaying, shifting version of Sunnyside from 1991. There, she encounters ghostly spirits and puzzles. Notes reveal the story of Chrissy Santos, an unpopular student who had a crush on jock Raoul Rousseau. She hoped to win his attention by auditioning for the school’s production of *The Phantom of the Opera*. This angered Heather Moore, the popular daughter of the superintendent, whose influence covered up Heather’s bullying. Heather and Raoul got the lead roles; Chrissy became an understudy. She gained a secret admirer.

In the locker room, Vivian is chased by a monster with a spotlight for a head. It pursues her through the school. She calls Amy, who casually invites her to a show she is headlining. Deeper in the school, Vivian hears another call where Amy mocks Vivian’s feelings, but Vivian persists.