Blumhouse Games and the ‘Fear the Spotlight’ Team Chat About Scaring Players, Their Inspirations, and What To Expect in 2025

Fear the Spotlight was an unexpected indie gem I received the privilege of experiencing late last year. Two stories, expertly intertwined with a lo-fi poly art style, had me hooked from start to finish. As the debut game for Blumhouse Games, it’s set a high bar to cross. However, after getting a chance to chat with the development team behind Fear the Spotlight and the creative director of Blumhouse Games, I learned that this is only the beginning.

Louise Blain, Creative Director of Blumhouse Games

How did the idea of Blumhouse Games come to exist?

As most people know, Blumhouse lives and breathes horror across film and TV. This meant that moving into games felt like a natural place to tell even more scary stories in an innovative way. Zach Wood and Don Sechler founded Blumhouse Games in February of 2023 specifically with an eye on creative indie horror projects. Just like the early days of the Blumhouse film business, Blumhouse Games focuses on low-budget, innovative horror projects that means we can take some creative risks. The indie horror space is full of incredible development teams and, pun always intended, we really want to shine a spotlight on passionate creatives making unique experiences. 

While Blumhouse may be known for its numerous horror franchises, do you feel that Blumhouse Games will aim beyond the Horror genre at any point?

I think we’ll stay firmly in horror, but part of the fun and endless creepy joy of the horror genre is that it encompasses so much. Horror is far more than just slasher movies and survival horror games. It’s everything that can sneak under your skin and stay there, whether you want it to or not! There are so many subgenres and fresh ways to unsettle people that the genre is actually so vast. Whether that’s ghost stories that feel somehow cozy when you read them under a blanket, psychological horror you just can’t get out of your head, or even our fear of the natural world manifested in creature features and folk horror. There are so many directions to go that we certainly aren’t limiting ourselves by sticking to the horror genre. We like to think that Blumhouse Games can surprise you with some fresh scares.

What goes into the process of determining whether or not a game would be suitable for Blumhouse Games?

There’s no simple formula for a Blumhouse Games title, but we definitely want our horror
games to bring something unique to the genre that people haven’t played before. So
that’s what we’re looking for when we get pitches from development teams. Maybe a
fresh approach to an existing genre, or a subgenre of horror that hasn’t really made it
into games before. We really want to play with your expectations — and scare you at the
same time, obviously.

Our slate of announced titles includes Grave Seasons, a pixelated farming sim with supernatural murder, Crisol, a first-person journey into a twisted
version of Spain where only your blood can become bullets, and even a collaboration
between FMV game maestro Sam Barlow and sci-fi horror director Brandon
Cronenberg… All very different experiences that I’m just as excited to play as everyone
else. We really just want to explore horror in every form possible and keep you on your
toes. The indie horror space is incredibly inventive, so there’s certainly no shortage of
unique, innovative concepts to bring to life.

Following up on this, what goes into the approval/denial process for what could become the next big hit for the company?

We’re a small team, so normally, we all meet development teams, see the concept, and then go from there. If there’s a playable build, that’s great because it gives us a real feel of what the game will be. Even in a rough form, it’s great to be able to get hands-on and see a concept in action, especially if it’s something we’ve never seen anything like before.

Are there ways that hopeful game devs in the Indie/AA space can pitch to Blumhouse Games?

Absolutely! Dev teams can email us at hello@blumhousegames.com, introduce
themselves, and give us a brief summary of their game idea. Don’t send any materials
as we’ll have to chat first, but we love connecting with people who are as passionate
about horror as we are.

What upcoming plans does Blumhouse Games have to make 2025 a year to remember?

We haven’t announced any release dates for 2025 just yet, but keep an eye on all things
Blumhouse Games on our social media accounts, and you can join our Discord to keep
up to date, too.

If you don’t mind me asking, are there any plans to take existing Blumhouse properties and turn them into games?

As a publisher, we’re inspired by the low-budget creative roots of the Blumhouse film business, so we’re currently focusing on a slate of all originals to bring unique scary stories to players. We aren’t saying never on making Blumhouse IP into games, but we definitely want to make the right choices at the right time. We’re huge fans of Blumhouse IP, and that means games in those worlds would need to be titles that we would really want to play ourselves. We want to deliver the most authentic explorations of stories that fans are so passionate about, and that’s not always easy, so it needs to be the right fit.

What do you consider to be the most influential horror games of all time, and why?

Juicy question. Personally, the exciting thing for me is that horror games are evolving
and twisting endlessly. Obviously, Resident Evil and Silent Hill led the way when it
comes to survival horror — and so many people still consider these first experiences of
these series some of their scariest ever (me included) — but gaming’s scare-o-meter has
only climbed since. Amnesia: The Dark Descent gave us just light to fight the horrors in
the dark, and even then, it couldn’t really save us from insanity…

Outlast handed us a night vision camera and didn’t supply nearly enough batteries to enter an abandoned asylum… Alien: Isolation made hiding in a cupboard a genuinely attractive prospect when faced with a perfect recreation of one of cinema’s most terrifying monsters. And
then, in 2014, both Five Nights at Freddy’s and P.T. arrived and changed horror all over
again. Suddenly, staring at a monitor or simply pushing an analog stick forward felt
like the most stressful, terrifying thing in the world.

With all of the incredible recent indie horror — hello, Inscryption and Dredge! – the cycle never really stops, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

‘Fear the Spotlight’ was an excellent debut title for Blumhouse Games; what was the most memorable part of the launch process as the publisher/Creative lead?

I’ll be cheeky and choose two memorable moments, if I may. First off, it was announcing
Fear the Spotlight and our slate of games at Summer Game Fest in June 2024 on
stage with Geoff Keighley. Hearing the excitement in the room after us having to hold off
telling anyone anything for so long was an incredible feeling. Finding out from people
which title they were most excited about was great, too. Horror is so subjective, and everyone having specific different favorites really just means we have something scary
lined up for players of all tastes.

My second launch highlight was seeing the reaction to Fear the Spotlight. Bryan and Crista have crafted such an incredibly atmospheric, compelling, but also emotional experience. It was wonderful to be along for the scary ride on the development of Amy’s Story, but seeing people connect with Vivian and Amy has been an absolute joy.

‘Fear the Spotlight’ Developers Bryan Singh and Crista Castro of Cozy Game Pals

What inspired the general retro style and feel of ‘Fear The Spotlight’?

Bryan: We’re huge horror fans, and the PS1 era was a big turning point for us in terms of what horror games could be. Those early 3D horror games, like Silent Hill and Resident Evil, really opened our imaginations. We think of Fear the Spotlight as our love letter to horror — it felt natural for us to go back to some of our earliest horror inspirations.

Crista: Artistically, I love trying different styles, and the PS1-era aesthetic is a great fit for the kind of creepy, mysterious atmosphere we wanted. On a practical level, too, going for a lower-detail art style made it possible for me, as the sole artist, to handle everything (from the environments to the characters and textures) without feeling overwhelmed. It was a great balance between creativity and practicality, and it really helped shape the game’s tone.

Speaking of inspiration, what was the main source of inspiration for ‘Fear The Spotlight’?

Crista: When we both left our jobs to start working indie, we didn’t have any game in mind to make. We started thinking about the games we enjoy playing, and horror was at the top of the list. Once we settled on the genre, we circled around elements that were interesting to us and couldn’t help but inject inspiration from other horror games we loved. Fear the Spotlight is really inspired by a blend of all our favorite horror games, movies, and TV shows.

Bryan: And beyond the retro and horror inspirations, we wanted it to play as smoothly as a modern action-adventure game. My past experience working on games like Uncharted and The Last of Us definitely shaped how I think about gameplay design. Even though we’re just a two-person team, I tried to bring some of that polish and approachability into Fear the Spotlight.

The amount of interactivity with objects/puzzles was a welcome surprise. What was the main reason for incorporating this much interactivity in puzzles/general gameplay?

Bryan: A big reason was pacing. If players do the same thing for too long, it can get boring, so we wanted the puzzles to provide a break from other gameplay. Adding this variety helps keep the game engaging as you move through the adventure.

Crista: Making the puzzles satisfying to touch or move (what we call “gameplay texture”) is just as important as the puzzle design itself. It also helps make the puzzles more memorable. In this kind of game, players have to remember a lot of locks and keys, so giving each one a unique look, feel, or sound really helps.

Bryan: We were also inspired by first-person horror games like Amnesia, where physics-based puzzles make you feel more connected to the environment. That sense of interacting with the world directly felt perfect for the atmosphere we wanted in Fear the Spotlight.

Amy and Vivian were quite a lovely pair of protagonists. Were they based on any real-life friends/acquaintances, or are they completely original characters?

Crista: Thank you! Amy and Vivian started out as nods to common ‘90s movie tropes: the goth and the nerd. But as we worked on them, they grew into something much more personal.

Bryan: We were both shy kids who didn’t quite fit in until we found the right friends, and that experience shaped how we wrote their dynamic. By the time we got to writing Amy, we really started pulling from our own lives. Things like having immigrant parents, dealing with complicated family relationships, and processing grief. A lot of our personal lives became the backdrop for her story.

‘Fear the Spotlight’ covers many touchy subjects, and they are all handled expertly. What was your favorite part of the narrative to craft, and why?

Crista: This was our first time writing a narrative at this scale, so it was a big learning experience. The two chapters tell their stories in different ways, and each is rewarding in its own way.

Bryan: Vivian’s story is very plot-driven, focusing on uncovering a mystery. It’s inspired by Phantom of the Opera, but we wanted to explore how unsettling we find the relationships in that story, even though they’re meant to be romanticized. It was fun to reimagine that dynamic with a horror twist.

Crista: Amy’s story, on the other hand, is more personal and tragic. It focuses on her family and home life, so it’s more character-driven. We pulled a lot from our own experiences, and it was really fulfilling to create a character who feels familiar to us in a way that isn’t often represented in media.

Bryan: Both were fun to write, but we feel especially close to Amy’s story because of how personal it is.

The atmosphere for ‘Fear The Spotlight’ is both moody and eerily silent. What was the main reason for using the art of silence to intensify the mood of each area?

Crista: Simply put, we love that type of horror! Some of the most tense moments in horror come from the silence before something happens. Silence plays with people’s expectations, it heightens your senses and makes you question everything. Was that creak something to be afraid of? Or the flicker of pixel eyes in the dark? It’s all about building that tension and keeping the player on edge.

What was the most gross, yet delightfully fun puzzle to create? I have to admit, finding a urinal full of “black sludge” was quite unpleasant; which was your favorite to create?

Crista: One of our favorites to create was the garage sequence in Chapter 2. We love the initial fun of smashing open a car window, followed immediately by deep regret as the car alarm starts to blare and the enemy enters the room.

Bryan: Sometimes an idea fits the game so perfectly, it feels more like discovering it than creating it.

Outside of ‘Fear the Spotlight,’ what are some of your favorite horror games of any generation?

Crista: It’s so hard to pick favorites since we’re such big horror fans! Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Fatal Frame were huge inspirations for this game. But we also love indie horror games like Little Nightmares 1 & 2, Inside, and Detention.

Bryan: After releasing Fear the Spotlight, we got the chance to play some newer horror games too, like Signalis, Crow Country, and Hollowbody. We’ve really been enjoying those as well.

Crista: We are also horror fans outside of games. Movies, books, comics — if it’s horror, I’ll give it a chance.

In a hypothetical sequel to ‘Fear the Spotlight,’ do you plan to continue the story of Vivian and Amy, or shift your focus to a new pair of pals?

Bryan: We wouldn’t want to force a story we’re not excited to tell, but there are a few background characters from the school and Amy’s life that got cut for time. If we had the chance to explore them more, we might be able to find a larger story worth telling.

Crista: Yeah, as much as we love Vivian and Amy, we feel like their story is complete. And now that we’re done working on Fear the Spotlight, we can’t wait to figure out what’s next for us.

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I would like to thank Bryan Singh and Crista Castro of Cozy Game Pals, as well as Louise Blain, Creative Director of Blumhouse Games, for the opportunity to chat about one of my favorite games of 2024, as well as what we can expect to see from the budding company in 2025.

If you’d like to give Fear the Spotlight a try, it’s available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.