I couldn’t have a higher opinion of the Fatal Frame games, but I wouldn’t say I have a tremendous amount of fun playing them. I enjoy and endure, I suppose, while occasionally yelping like a puppy and noping out of entering a particularly creepy room or opening a creaky door. These games can be as scary as it gets, and Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is one of the most downright freaky there is.
Publisher Koei Tecmo and its Team Ninja studio are in the final stages of a remake, imaginatively enough called Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake, and has today announced a new demo for the game, as well as a collaboration with Silent Hill f.
The secret sauce with Fatal Frame is that you don’t have anything in the way of traditional weaponry, but you do have the Camera Obscura, a device that can…. I dunno, capture the souls of ghosts and monsters. It’s a brilliant mechanic because, at the very moment you want to clench your butt cheeks and run, you’ve got to stay still, line up the perfect snap, and then hopefully get it right.
Team Ninja says the remake “introduces new gameplay elements, including a brand-new ending featuring the song ‘Utsushie’, composed by Tsuki Amano, along with new side stories and new locations to explore.” It promises to expand on the game’s (excellent) story, and says the new areas will include the “Umbral Mound, an ominous burial site tightly bound with ropes and hidden within dense bamboo groves, and the candlelit hall of Eikado Temple, with its pair of twin statues tied together by sacred cords.” Both of those places sound extremely well-lit and cheerful.
One would hope that the gameplay improvements include a control overhaul: my memories are a bit dim, this was a PS2 game after all, but occasionally clunky controls are one of the things you just had to tolerate in the original. I also remember the camera upgrades being a real pain, though this is one of the areas that Team Ninja specifically mentions, with the remake including reversion beads allowing you to try different upgrade paths, and new “Special Shots.”
These involve applying filters to your camera, with two examples given. The Paraceptual Filter activates the ‘Blinding’ special shot, which temporarily blinds the target. The Radiant Filter activates the ‘Purging’ shot, which sacrifices some of your character’s willpower for increased damage. There’s also a new photo mode that allows players to take screenshots and then layer various visual effects atop them, which should provide some amusing / horrific community moments.
The Silent Hill f collaboration involves free downloadable costumes, which will arrive after launch. The demo for Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake releases on Steam March 5, with the game arriving one week later on March 12.
