Fatal Frame II’s reputation has always been intriguing. Hyperbolic phrases like “the scariest game ever made” have often been associated with the 2003 PlayStation 2 game, and I can frankly understand why after playing the remake. Fatal Frame II is frightening with its near-constant jump scares, oppressive atmosphere, difficult enemies, and arguably too much darkness. But more so than fear, the emotion I frequently grappled with was frustration.
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, like the original game, follows twin girls Mio and Mayu as they explore the haunted Minakami Village, a town that is just absolutely lousy with angry ghosts. The narrative, though intentionally vague and sometimes confusing, is engaging and follows the young girls as they grapple with the terrors of the village, its history, and a looming murderous ritual they must perform that sounds unpleasant. The quiet mood of Crimson Butterfly and the characterization of the sibling relationship are well executed, but fighting with the ghosts – the primary action of the game – is frustrating and usually ruins the mood.
The basic idea of using a camera to defeat attacking ghosts is a strong one, as it was when the franchise debuted with the first Fatal Frame in 2001. Looking through the lens as a ghost ambles toward you and holding out until the last second to “fire” off a shot is scary. But every encounter with a ghost takes too long. The initial encounter with every enemy is tense and fun, but the longer you spend taking pictures of the angry ghost lady with the big sleeves, the less scary she gets. I was so frustrated by the time it took to destroy a ghost, especially early in the game, that I worried I fundamentally misunderstood the basic concept, re-reading the tutorials and even looking up gameplay from the original game. But no, it’s by design.
Adding more than one ghost to the mix also just ups the annoyance rather than the terror. Running back and forth to each side of a small room as multiple ghosts trade off trying to grab you in a rhythm not conducive to photographing either of them stops being scary almost immediately. I am attempting to defeat the lingering souls of the undead, not trying to offer them multiple angles for an Instagram post.
And then, sometimes, the ghosts will become Aggravated, recover their health, and take even less damage from your photographs. Using the in-game term Aggravated is actually perfect, because it’s how I felt every time it happened. I would be okay with the challenges of fighting and photographing the ghosts, but it always hindered the fear factor tremendously, making every encounter less scary the longer it went on. Upgrading the camera and becoming a better photographer over the course of the game certainly helped with my annoyances, but I was never able to fully overcome them.
The jump scares are also overbearing and too frequent. Fatal Frame II relies heavily on them to unsettle the player, but they’re excessive. Reaching for items can lead to a jump scare; Opening doors can lead to a jump scare; Looking through the lens at an enemy also frequently leads to jump scares where ghosts will suddenly apparate right in front of you and scream in your face. It’s an unavoidable attack that can’t be predicted, which made me mad instead of scared. It doesn’t take long to recognize all the jump scare tricks being broadcast, and though it’s hard to deny they are effective and made me yelp, they quickly feel cheap and manufactured.
I like the setting and characters of Fatal Frame II. The quiet moments between photo-combat and jump scares are moody and ethereal in a way I admire. The overall stability of the game is perfunctory, to be polite, and the load times are long (but infrequent), but I do like how the game looks and the delicate performances of the dialogue. I don’t mind spending time in Minakami Village (even if I never, ever want to go there in-person), but the majority of Crimson Butterfly is spent behind the camera, which is where I was the most frustrated and, importantly, not scared.
