Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake Preview

The Fatal Frame series has always walked a tightrope when balancing its scares with its action. The Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake continues that struggle, flitting between maintaining a genuinely creepy atmosphere and villains with a silly combat system that feels pulled from an obscure arcade game.

The main gimmick of the Fatal Frame series is that it involves fighting ghosts with a camera. While most horror properties encourage the player to look away from the scary imagery, Fatal Frame forces the player to get up close and personal, ensuring they see the good side of the horrors that stalk the night.

The original version of Fatal Frame II, released back in 2003, was tasked with improving the mechanics of the original based on gamer feedback. The aim of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake is to modernize the game even further, bringing it out of the fixed camera angles of its predecessor and into a whole new world of scares.

Making the Jump to True 3D

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake stars Mio Minakami and her twin sister, Mayu. While on a trip to the countryside, Mayu becomes entranced by a butterfly with crimson wings, which leads the sisters to an abandoned village in the mountains.

It doesn't take long for the siblings to realize that they're now trapped in this village. They find diary fragments from previous visitors who claim they were unable to leave, as the mists always sent them back.

Not only are they trapped in the village, but it turns out not to be as abandoned as they originally thought. The ghosts of the dead wander its streets, who possess the power to drain the life force of the living.

While wandering the dilapidated buildings, Mio starts having flashbacks to ancient times, seeing ghostly visions of horrific sacrifices and grisly rituals, all punctuated by the feeling that she had been here before. The village is filled with twin iconography, and it soon becomes apparent that Mio and Mayu's arrival was no accident.

One of the biggest upgrades for Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake is the visuals. Not only have the world and character models been upgraded to modern standards, but the experience is now fully 3D. The original Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly featured a 3D world but still relied on the fixed camera angles popularized by the Resident Evil franchise, switching to a free camera when using the Camera Obscura.

The visuals in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake are gorgeous and represent a marked step up from its predecessor, while the shift to full 3D for the camera offers a drastically different experience from the original, giving returning fans a reason to check it out.

Pokémon Go or Pokémon Ghosts?

Fortunately for Mio, she finds a most unusual weapon among the town's treasures: the Camera Obscura. This old film camera not only has the power to see the past, but also supernatural abilities that allow it to destroy the undead.

The battle system in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake involves banishing ghosts by photographing them. The better the photo quality, the more damage the enemy will take. There's also a variety of film types that act like ammo in similar titles, dealing more damage or reloading faster, but is only found in finite amounts.

While Mio isn't exactly the next Leon Kennedy, she also has some defensive options of her own. Mio can run from enemies, as well as dodge at the last second. This drains Willpower, however, which is restored by damaging the ghosts. The lower the Willpower, the more harm ghosts will deal to Mio.

Mio was alone for large chunks of gameplay in our preview of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, but there are times when she has to protect her sister. Mayu has a leg injury that affects her walking speed, so the player needs to hold the shoulder button to guide her movement. This means there are times when the player has to protect their sister, while also trying to take good snaps of the ghosts.

Arcade Action Vs. Scares

There are several interlocking mechanics in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake's combat system. The Camera Obscura can display five dots to help guide the player. The more dots that are red, the more damage they'll deal to the enemy. There are also special shots that drain Willpower, but have an extra effect, such as temporarily stunning the enemy.

Timing is also a huge part of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, as there's a little light above the camera's screen. The light not only indicates the direction of nearby ghosts, but it also flashes red just as they're about to attack. If you take a photo just as the light flashes red, you'll not only parry the enemy's attack, stopping its attack, but you can also follow up with extremely damaging shots.

There's a careful balance that needs to be maintained in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake​​​​​. You have to take as clear photos of the ghost as possible to damage it, but that can be hard if it's constantly moving around. When you're holding the Camera Obscura, you're also defenseless, with a slight delay to your dodge, making it possible for enemies to knock you to the ground and start draining you.

The combat system is punctuated by an arcade aesthetic that goes against the horror tone, feeling more akin to House of the Dead than Silent Hill. The game judges players on their performance, awarding points for higher-quality shots that can be spent on healing items and accessories at save spots. The sound effects are also exaggerated, with the Camera Obscura sounding like a sci-fi weapon from Half-Life.

Combat is Slow and Too Reactive to Enemy Movement

The biggest issue with the combat system in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake is how slow it feels, especially in certain fights. You're totally at the mercy of the enemy's movement patterns, as you need to be able to get a clear shot of it to actually deal any damage or stun it.

This would be fine if so many of the enemies weren't incredibly slow to actually attack the player. At the end of the preview, I faced the ghost of a woman who had drowned, and she spent so long dancing about outside my view that I was convinced that the game was bugged. I was practically begging this ghost to attack me, because I couldn't harm her, and was unable to leave the area.

The enemies also tend to attack in extremely short windows, which would be fine, save for the fact that they Yoga Teleport around the battlefield to attack from blind angles while spending the rest of the time hiding their faces. Have you ever seen a cat do something cute, reach for your phone to take a picture, and then it stops doing the cute thing? That's every enemy in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake.

If the enemies were more aggressive and relied less on anime flash steps, the combat system would better match the arcade tone. As it stands, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake can't decide on what it wants to be. Is it a spooky Japanese horror movie with deadly ghosts, or a flashy arcade-style shooter with lots of lights and gimmicks?

Some people might love the dissonant tone of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, and I might have appreciated it if the combat weren't frustrating at times. The fact that you have to spend so long staring at the ghosts dilutes how scary they are, as you have to watch them extensively to learn their attack patterns. Anything less means becoming ghost food.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake has a great setting, and the revamped world looks gorgeous. I was genuinely invested in where the story was going and learning more about the horrors of the village. The idea of spending another 10–15 hours with the combat system is the truly chilling experience, and might be too spooky for me.