It’s no secret that Cozy Game Pals was heavily inspired by survival horror classics like Silent Hill when giving life to Fear The Spotlightso much so that there are several references and Easter eggs that put the protagonists in the same universe of Konami’s cursed town.
The cursed school and the nightmare house that Vivian and Amy visit are clearly based on the ‘other world’ of Silent Hill and we’re sure that the searchlight-headed monster has a bit of Pyramid Head in his DNA, but that’s not what we’re going to talk about, but rather the winks and Easter eggs that refer directly to Silent Hill.
Before continuing, we invite you to read our review of this game and the puzzles and achievements guide.
Inventory
The design of the game’s inventory is directly taken from the inventory of the games in the saga Silent Hillspecifically the first two
Book of Lost Memories
In the library exhibition where we find the Ouija board is the first and most important of the references to Silent Hill of Fear The Spotlight. There is a tome called ‘The Book of Lost Memories’ and Vivian describes it as “a collection of notes and photographs about the secret history of our haunted neighboring town”.
The Book of Lost Memories is a very important item that allows us to reach the ‘Rebirth’ ending both in Silent Hill 2 like in its ‘remake’.
The radio
Another of the objects that we find in the same exhibition is a radio that the game describes as a spectrum-sensitive radio that “can capture the distorted sounds of a horrifying alternate world”.
Despite the low quality of the graphics, we can notice that its design and orange color are the same as the radio we found in Silent Hill 3. Of course, its description is based on the way it works in the games of that saga, in which its sound warns us of the presence of enemies.
The piano
In the first Silent Hill There is a puzzle infamous for its difficulty and Fear The Spotlight continues its references by paying homage to it. In this title we also have to solve a ‘puzzle’ by playing a piano that has some keys stained with blood.
Heather
When we begin to learn about the school’s tragic past we learn two key names. Chrissy Castro, a young victim of bullying; Heather Moore, a rich and popular girl who bullies him.
Although it is a common name, it is very possible that Heather is a reference to Heather Mason, the protagonist of Silent Hill 3. Even his last name begins with the same letter.
As for Chrissy, yes there is a character with that name in one of the comics Silent Hillbut we do not believe it is a reference.
The chained door
If after going up to the second floor of Amy’s house we try to return to the basement, we find that the door is chained in a similar way to the one in Henry’s apartment in Silent Hill 4: The Room
«Mysterious fog invades Lake Toluca»
When we finish the game with both Vivian and Amy, we will see that they are reading an article on the Internet related to what happened. Right there there is another headline that says “Mysterious fog invades Lake Toluca.”
Lake Toluca is the lake that surrounds the town of Silent Hill in games and fog is one of its most iconic elements. The sign seen there is the iconic sign also seen in the film.
Other references in Fear The Spotlight
In addition to references to Silent Hillin Fear The Spotlight We find ‘Easter eggs’ inspired by other horror series, movies and games. These are some of them (but not all).
- The town where the story takes place is called Sunnyside. This is a reference to Sunnydalethe town of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Amy’s previous house was in an area of Sunnyside called Manon Circle. Manon’s circle is the name of the coven in the film Young Witches.
- ‘The Black Water Woman’the movie that Amy saw as a child and from which the monster that chases her comes out, is inspired by Japanese horror films such as The Hoop y Dark Water. The ghost is identical to Sadako.
- The posters we found in Amy’s house are references to various existing movies and rock bands.
- The work that the school students are preparing is The Phantom of the Opera. The story of Chrissy and her disturbing stalker is very loosely inspired by that work.
- The movie that Vivian and Amy are going to see at the end of the game is Freaky: This body is to kill.
Other articles and guides on Silent Hill en PS5
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