When it comes to spooky games, there aren’t a whole lot of series that you could consider the pillars of the genre. Resident Evil and Silent Hill would certainly have to be mentioned as the forefathers of horror gaming, but the big names drift away pretty quickly after that. You could argue that Click Tower was fairly well known for a while, and although it’ll upset some purists it’s hard to deny the recognition of Five Nights at Freddy’s (just go into any shop with toys or collectibles). Another series that has done a good job of standing the test of time is Fatal Frame (or Project Zero for some regions) and it continues to show up to the party with another remake in the form of FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE.
In this shiny new version of perhaps the most beloved entry in the series, you play as Mio. You and your equally skinny and porcelain skinned twin sister Mayu find yourselves lost in a village that disappeared many years ago, and wouldn’t you know it there are vengeful ghosts inhabiting the place. Only by utilising the Camera Obscura will you be able to survive this place, and uncover all the dark and sinister secrets it holds. At least I assume so, I was only able to try the first few chapters for this preview.
I’ve played a couple of the Fatal Frame games over the last few years, all of which were remakes of different titles in the series’ history. For the most part I enjoyed them, but it’s hard not to notice quite how similar they all feel. This series features a whole lot of dark forests and abandoned villages, meek young female protagonists who have embarrassingly delicate running animations, and of course transparent foes you fight with your camera.
The main hook of Fatal Frame is how the combat works, because it’s a very unique concept. Your weapon is the Camera Obscura, which you use to photograph various angry wraiths to hurt them. By ensuring you have as much of each ghost in the frame as possible you’ll deal more damage, and that’ll increase even more if you make sure they’re in focus. It’s a clever way of forcing you to get up close and personal with the spooky apparitions of the series, and requires some skill to get good at.
There are lots of other elements to ghost photography that you’ll unlock as you progress too, like special attacks that use your Will meter to stun ghosts. You also have different types of film that do increased damage or reload faster, and of course the titular Fatal Frame attack where you suddenly use rapid fire snaps to deal bonus damage after hitting a weak point. There’s actually a lot to think about when you whip the camera out, and if you’re not careful you’ll get grabbed, shaken and eventually killed by the spirits of the village.
Whereas I’ve been a big fan of these camera battles in previous games, I found myself struggling with the combat in FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE. The main reason for this is just how little damage it seems like you deal to every wraith you come across, even when using the best film and your special attacks as often as possible. It’s hard to be scared of a ghost when you’re staring at it for five minutes and just wishing the health bar would drop faster, and because of this I didn’t really feel any of the tension I was hoping for from this horror game.
Outside of the camera fighting there’s at least a lot of exploration to be done, in different rural environments. It’s the typical survival horror setup of exploring every square inch of the map, collecting helpful items that’ll keep you alive and finding text notes from previous people in peril. There are some interesting elements to this though, like how you get different camera filters that help you track missing people, and that there’s a weird hand holding mechanic with your twin sister that heals you as you walk.
Despite some novel ideas, I struggled to fully enjoy the first few chapters of FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE. It felt so familiar to the other titles in the series I’ve played, and because of that it was hard to really feel on edge playing it. There are also some frustrating elements that began to grind me down as I played, like the long combat encounters and the way your torch turns into a strobe light every time you look at something vaguely interesting. If you’re a diehard fan of the series then you’ll probably enjoy it, and thankfully you don’t have long to wait to play it for yourself.
FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE is coming to PC (Steam), Xbox Series X|S, and PS5 on March 12th.
