Was that a tree branch over there, trembling in the wind – or was it a disembodied hand?
#Fatal frame 4 switch series#
The series has long been one of light and shadow, with Black Water doing a great job of playing tricks of the eye. The other striking thing about Fatal Frame is its desaturated look, players roaming through almost-black-and-white environments, dotted by the occasional blood red of a faded kimono or tatami mat. Fatal Frame‘s best moments have always been these – the ones that rely on atmosphere and well-deployed jump scares, as opposed to the frantic combat sequences that play out through the first-person lens of a camera. They’ll grab at your feet as you race across a bridge, or appear in a corner where moments ago there was only shadow. It’s the latter that generate the best scares: these spectres have a nasty habit of popping up when you least expect, especially when you think you’re safe.
The combat in Black Water is the same as it ever was: run around frantically in third-person, then draw the camera up in first-person to snap a photo and, hopefully, knock a vengeful spirit back a few paces.įatal Frame‘s most frightening aspect is the ghosts – the aggressive ones, with the health metres that must be whittled down via photography, but also the random ones. In terms of actual gameplay, it’s a third-person survival horror game, which means deliberately wonky controls, deliberately obscuring camera angles, and an emphasis on exploration and light puzzle-solving. As far as I can tell, this is one of the first video game series to more or less age in real time. The legacy of that original Fatal Frame looms large over this one, not only through its at-times convoluted lore, but in the way its twenty-years-later plot mirrors the actual timespan since Fatal Frame debuted. Characters include Yuri Kozukata, a local occultist who vibes “good witch” Ren Hojo, an investigator hired to look into a missing person case and Miu Hinasaki, a young woman who shares a last name with the protagonist of the first game. Things here don’t just go bump in the night they ooze, and shriek, and claw at you through the walls. Like its predecessors, Black Water puts players in the shoes of a rotating cast of characters exploring a forgotten, Very Haunted, Japanese village. It’s still a heck of a lot scarier than most modern horror games – I’m looking at you, Resident Evil – but it’s no longer that game with the bloody handprints that spooked my sister all those years ago. By turns too generous with items – when you can survive almost anything, the survival part of “survival horror” goes out the window – and too linear – when you know exactly where you’re going, the tension dries up – it’s nevertheless a unique, Ringu-influenced horror experience that’s worth checking out. It has one great central gimmick – a first-person “camera obscura” which is your only means of defence – and its arrival on next-gen systems is nothing short of a Halloween miracle.įatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water – technically, Fatal Frame 5, though the fourth entry never saw Western release – is probably the least scary Fatal Frame to date. If you’ve ever waded into Fatal Frame‘s murky, quasi-black-and-white waters, you’ll understand the sheer terror of its crumbling Japanese environs, creepy dolls, and unpredictable ghosts. Long a cult classic, it also enjoys the distinct reputation, for those who’ve played it, of being the single scariest “survival horror” series of all time. The Fatal Frame (also known as Project Zero) series has for too long been the overlooked kid sibling to the Resident Evils and Silent Hills of the world. It wasn’t Fatal Frame‘s best scare, but this terrifying breaking of the fourth wall was certainly one its most memorable. In my absence, a series of bloody handprints had manifested on top of the pause menu, as if some invisible spirit tried to claw its way out of the TV. Returning to the room, I found her cowering in the corner, blankets pulled up tight.
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I paused for a bathroom break, leaving her alone with the PS2 controller and an admonition not to proceed without me. The year was 2002, and my sister and I were playing Fatal Frame late one school night, well after bedtime. You, alone, late at night, in a room lit only by candles and the glistening eyes of a thousand porcelain dolls. Released on Octofor PS5 (Reviewed), Switch (Reviewed), PS4, Xbox X/S, Xbox One, and PC.Ī remastered version of the least scariest, yet still scary, entry in the greatest survival horror series. Our review of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, developed by Koei-Tecmo.
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