Blumhouse had no intention of releasing a game in 2024. The studio, one of the leading names in horror films, announced In February 2023, he was launching a video game publishing business, and executives were investigating projects from independent teams with budgets of less than $10 million. Blumhouse Games’ goal was to support a few rad horror films per year, with an initial plan to begin publishing in 2025.
But then, in September 2023, the people of Blumhouse came across Fear the spotlight. It was a moody, noisy horror game about two friends sneaking around their high school who communicate with the ghosts of students who died in a fire in the 90s. Horrible shenanigans and cryptic puzzles ensued, all in third-person and presented in a gritty PS One aesthetic. Fear the spotlight Cozy Game was a PC game developed by Crista Castro and Bryan Singh of Pals, a husband-and-wife team with impressive professional credentials: Castro was an art director and art director at Nickelodeon. Animals reboot and Singh was a programmer who worked on The Last of Us and Uncharted series Travel. They quit their corporate jobs and founded Cozy Game Pals during the pandemic and Fear the spotlight It was the first big project together.
Fear the spotlight It didn’t make a particularly splashy debut, but a few weeks after it hit Steam, Blumhouse Games President Zach Wood and creator Louise Blain took to Twitter to notice it. Castro explained to Engadget how it went down:
“Zach found it and he sat down with Louise Blain and played it together and said, oh my god, this is the kind of game we want to publish, this is really great. Let’s reach out to them and see if they need any help. Is there something we can work on together here?’
“Meanwhile, yes, we needed help,” Singh added with a laugh. “We released it, but we had no idea how to let people know about it. People who found it were saying very positive things, and we’re like, well, that’s great, but what do we do now? We know how to make something, but we don’t know anything except marketing.”
Blumhouse signed up Cozy Game Pals and asked them how they could improve Fear the spotlight. Initially, Castro and Singh suggested porting it to consoles and adding additional languages, essentials, to bring the existing game in front of more players.
“They were excited about the idea, but then they offered more time,” Singh said. “They asked, ‘What would you do if you had an extra year to work on it?’
Ability to expand Fear the spotlight It surprised Castro and Singh. This scared them at first.
“We’ve never thought of making a significant addition to the game before,” Singh said. “We also had a finished game that we were really proud of. So it was really, really hard to figure out how to add to something that we felt was finished; we didn’t want to destroy it. Part of it is our pleasure and business, and part of it feels like black magic. For example, if we mess with it, will it come out in a way we’re proud of?”
Castro and Singh seized the opportunity. Active October 26, 2023about a month later Fear the spotlight‘s debut, they pulled it from Steam with the promise of adding new games, console versions, and localization features. They didn’t mention Blumhouse at the time. Behind the scenes, Blumhouse Games gave Cozy Game Pals a year to create the definitive version of the game. Fear the spotlightwithout any creative limitations.
Updated version Fear the spotlight It was released on October 22, 2024 on Steam, PS4, PS5, Switch and Xbox Series X/S, developed by Cozy Game Pals and published by Blumhouse Games. this the first game on the Blumhouse publishing list, which includes upcoming titles from THE EYES WENT OUTHalf Mermaid, Perfect Garbage, Playmestudio and Vermila Studios.
Cozy Game Pals made good use of the extra year of development. Instead of messing with the black magic of the original, Castro and Singh added an entirely new segment, doubled the game’s runtime, and expanded on their original idea in complex, terrifying ways. Fear the spotlightit’s a great horror experience by the way. It has low-poly environments, low-res textures, and grainy CRT effects, but its animations are smooth, and the camera uses third-person controls that exude a sense of nostalgia without sacrificing modern conveniences. The story revolves around two teenage friends, Vivian and Amy, and takes them on individual yet relatable journeys through twisted, soul-filled versions of reality. Their dialogue and personalities feel authentic, and their emotions are incredibly relatable, whether in the face of unexplained horrors or simply talking to their girlfriend. It also has a few good jump scares.
first half Fear the spotlight filled with satisfying puzzles, terrifying phantoms, and intense hide-and-seek mechanics. The second half, created after Blumhouse’s intervention, adds layers of emotional depth and introduces a truly formidable foe. Vivian is the main playable character in the original version, and Amy’s story takes center stage in the expanded content.
“The first Vivian story was really figuring out how to make this game,” Castro said. “But then we learned a lot of lessons while making Amy’s. I think the monsters are better, the puzzles are better, the stories are simpler. The second half ends it very well.”
In addition to directing the art, Castro was the main writer Fear the spotlightWhile Singh was doing programming. Castro was a die-hard horror fan in a relationship—he was a Resident Evil guy, she was a Silent Hill girl (read Avril Lavigne’s thread. Sk8er Boi) – and together, they wanted to capture the fun of being scared in video game form. Fear the spotlight draws from their personal lives and high school memories where every emotion feels new, extreme and sometimes silly. through this lens, Fear the spotlight it also deftly tackles serious topics such as loss, death, prejudice and love.
“It’s a very impactful time in our lives, in most people’s lives,” Castro said. “I grew up playing these games in the 90s or early 2000s, like Silent Hill one and two and three. Going back to high school and thinking about my own feelings, writing the story was like I can only write from my own personal experience. Being loved and feeling awkward and when you really connect with someone, that’s how special it is.
Continuing the theme, Singh said, “I think home life—we’re connected to a lot of our shared experiences that are represented in the game. Families are complex, family structures. Having a father who’s not in your life or losing a very close family member just changes you and affects you. They are simply removed from our lives.”
Castro and Singh fondly described Blumhouse Games as a scrappy team of horror enthusiasts, with fewer than 10 people supporting multiple projects at once, trying to prove themselves in a new market. Click on and to manage attachments Fear the spotlights re-release, the Blumhouse team helped Cozy Game Pals find a contractor to do the logo and core art, a shipping company to help get the game on consoles, and a localization team. However, Castro and Singh said people at Blumhouse Games are really enjoying the projects they’re signing.
“They’ve just been the ideal partner, they’ve been incredibly supportive,” Castro said. “They really let us decide everything for our game, the game is our vision. We would show them prototypes and level designs, and of course they had feedback and ideas, but yeah — ”
“They know our game very well,” Singh said. “They are true fans of the original release. They know our game intimately and can talk to us about our ideas from a very knowledgeable perspective.”
Castro concluded, “They’re coming at it from a support standpoint. For example, how we can help you create your don’t see that you take care that you are happy. It was amazing.”
Fear the spotlight available now for $20 SteamPS4, PS5, Switch and Xbox Series X/S.
