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Fatal Frame feels like a franchise on life support. It’s not bad by any stretch, in fact, one of the games is one of my favourite horror games ever, but the series has never quite reached the heights of popularity as others like Resident Evil and Silent Hill have in recent years. It doesn’t help that the recent game, Maiden of Black Water, didn’t do the franchise any favours either. Thankfully, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake gives me faith that Koei Tecmo still has grander plans for the franchise, as it’s a remake that sings in many ways, though unfortunately, it isn’t the slam dunk the franchise needs. It gets a lot right, plenty even, but the fundamental underpinnings of what a remake should be are unfortunately missed.
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly follows the story of the original game closely. You play as the twins Mio and Mayu as they visit a valley where they used to play as children. Mayu is eventually led away by Mio, almost hypnotised by the titular crimson butterfly. Eventually, the two find themselves in Minakami Village. To make matters worse, the village is supposedly haunted and urban legend suggests that those who enter can’t leave. Given their predicament, Mio and Mayu must try to escape, but it doesn’t help that Mayu has been acting strangely since she stepped into the village.
For the most part, this remake deviates little from the original’s story. The twins are both interesting characters with a strained relationship – for reasons you’ll discover – and that element really plays into the new gameplay mechanics rather well. If you’ve never played a Fatal Frame game, this is the best one to start with. It’s easily the strongest both narratively and mechanically, and one of the most underappreciated horror games as a result. It’s a haunting and harrowing journey through a setting that, at the time, wasn’t explored as deeply as it was here.
Given the horror renaissance that AAA gaming is living in, it’s bizarre to think we’ve gone this long since receiving a (somewhat) original Fatal Frame experience. The remake plays similarly to recent horror games like Silent Hill f and Resident Evil 2. You’ll play mainly as Mio as she explores the village and its mountainous surroundings, finding files that explain what happened in the region and battling enemies. But where other horror games outfit you with pipes and pistols, Fatal Frame does things differently. Your only weapon is a camera, and it’s not any old camera either.
Called the Camera Obscura, the camera can be loaded with different types of film with varying levels of exorcism power. The greater the power, the more damage it will do to the ghosts you encounter around Minakami. Enemies are all ghosts, then, but most of them have unique behaviours and are often tied to the game’s backstory in ways that play into its horror themes. In the original game, for example, you’d read a story of a woman committing suicide in one section. At its conclusion, you’d fight her, and her neck would be backwards and her head hanging below her shoulders. The same principle applies here in Fatal Frame II, and most of the ghosts are terrifying.
The combat system itself is the first major way in which the Crimson Butterfly Remake differs from the games that came before it. The combat feels much more fleshed out, and enemy behaviours have been updated to complement the new combat system. The basics are the same – wait for the perfect shot, or for the ghost to get closer, to get a “fatal frame” and deal the most damage. But where you would circle strafe around ghosts in the previous game, new behaviours and altered film reload speeds mean you really can’t just rely on that strategy.
Certain filters can be applied over the lens of the Camera Obscura to unlock special abilities, which can stun enemies or buff yourself, as well as evasions that use your health but allow you to dodge an incoming attack. Other new mechanics encourage you to stagger a ghost before pulling off a Fatal Frame, which then unlocks a new mechanic called Fatal Time that allows you to take multiple photos quickly to stack big damage. It sounds confusing at first, but it again means the combat is meaningfully expanded without feeling cheap. That being said, there is one caveat – some ghosts do feel spongey, and battles do feel like they go for a smidge too long at times.
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Outside of combat, the camera can be used to investigate certain puzzles and collect photos of less aggressive ghosts. Some of them are blink and you’ll miss it type appearances, but it’s especially satisfying to snap a ghost and earn the points for doing so quickly. Points can then be invested in upgrading your camera at the game’s numerous save points. In doing so, you’ll be able to unlock new abilities for your filters and achieve more efficient film levels. For those looking to get the most out of Crimson Butterfly, it can be fun to replay the game to see which ghosts you’ve missed. It’s almost like Pokémon Snap… but less… colourful.
Even if you’ve played Crimson Butterfly before, this remake does great work at ensuring you’re getting a fresh experience. Locations have been mixed up considerably, item placements aren’t anywhere near the same as they were in the original and a whole bunch more has been added to help beef up the content. A new ending is also available to unlock, though only on a repeat playthrough on a greater difficulty, adding to the endings found in the original release. However, it’s odd to report that the 2012 Wii remake endings (two of them) are absent here. Will you want to replay Crimson Butterfly after finishing it, though? Maybe, but Nightmare mode does require you to have a good command of the game’s mechanics before even thinking about attempting it.
Though we have to talk about the elephant in the room, the game’s presentation. At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking Crimson Butterfly Remake is the best the series has ever looked. And in screenshots, it absolutely is. Running on Katana Engine, the same engine that powered Rise of the Ronin, Wild Hearts, and Nioh 3, Crimson Butterfly Remake is moody and atmospheric. But there’s a huge but. On consoles, and even on PlayStation 5 Pro, the game runs at a locked 30fps, which stutters. It didn’t affect my experience personally, but those who buy a game with ‘remake’ in the title would probably expect a wider range of visual options, given how common that is in games today.
That said, if you can get past this (or even just play it on PC), it is a stellar-looking game. The lighting is moody, the locales look exactly as they appeared in the original, but somehow revitalised, and the character models and ghosts look incredible. I said it before, and I’ll reiterate it here – this is the best that Fatal Frame has ever looked, and a kind of exciting prospect of the places where the team could take an all-original game if the franchise were to continue.
Crimson Butterfly Remake also includes both Japanese and English tracks, and while the Japanese track is the most obvious choice here, the dub’s quality is fairly good too. These games haven’t had a great track record historically, but the remake’s dub does a great job of conveying the twins’ fear at any given moment. The line delivery’s vacancy, whether intentional or not, really helps sell the weird, uncanny vibe the game is going for.
Depending on your preferences, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake could really go either way for you as a remake. On consoles, the decision to lock visuals at 30 fps is quite frankly bizarre, and I hope there are plans to implement a performance mode patch in the near future. But if you can put that aside (or you’re playing on PC), this is easily the best that Fatal Frame has been and an incredible introduction to one of the creepiest franchises of all time.
