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I didn't know it was possible to get angry at a video game, but after playing Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake, I know better. Such mixed emotions I felt while playing it – they are just unreal. Amazing atmosphere, a setting just after my own heart, aesthetics couldn't be better, but the crucial aspect of the game, the gameplay, is a total disaster, and no, the word isn't too harsh.
I must make a confession here. I'd never heard of a Fatal Frame game before, and Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly remake was the first entry I got the chance to play. That said, I didn't know what to expect, but seeing the first couple of screens saying 'Team Ninja' and 'Koei Tecmo', I knew a game made by those guys simply cannot disappoint. I mean, titles like Ninja Gaiden, Nioh, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty speak real volumes about them.
Oh, boy, was I wrong. Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is sadly nothing like those games, and while it has some qualities many huge titles would be proud of, it falls extremely short where it's supposed to shine the brightest.
A Haunting Tale of Two Sisters
Mystery, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty can define the story of Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly. I must admit I was taken completely by surprise by this story. At first, it is very mysterious, confusing even, and as you progress through the game, things start to unravel, slowly but surely.
Maybe for the people more familiar with the lore, it all makes more sense, but for me, the beginning of the game was very confusing. You play as Mio, a small girl playing with her sister Mayu, when Mayu slips into a river and dies. In the next frame, Mayu is alive, and they both mysteriously find themselves inside an abandoned village inhabited by spirits.
Every now and then Mayu disappears, and Mio is searching for her. Everything was seriously over my head at the beginning, and I couldn't get anything that was happening in front of my eyes. However, the story, as you move forward, starts to make much more sense, so if you're a newcomer to this series like me, my advice is to suffer through those opening moments; the real fruits of this amazing story await a bit further in the game.
Apart from a great mystery at the heart of the story, one of its greatest strengths is the incredible atmosphere, which keeps you anxious and under constant tension all the time while playing the game. The story is written in a way to intimidate you, and intimidate you it will.
Mio walks very slowly, and the entire game is filmed inside constant darkness, so every encounter is extremely tense, and the entire atmosphere is made to genuinely scare you; this game is a horror through and through, and it really lives up to it completely.
The story is told through some sort of missions you'll take part in as you try to escape the abandoned village, but apart from that, you'll find a lot of documents left by the people who underwent the same destiny as Mio and Mayu. By reading those documents, you'll understand the purpose of this place and this knowledge will help you find a way out from the nightmare you found yourself in.
Also, every now and then, you'll come across some side stories you can track, and those will help you better understand the horrors you're facing in this strange place. All in all, the story is probably the best part of Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, and if anything even closely justifies the purchase of this game, it would definitely be the story.
A Frustrating Fight for Survival
When you have a heavily story-related game to play, like Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly definitely is, the lack of quality gameplay can easily be forgiven. If that game is a horror game, then even more so. So why then did Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly fail that spectacularly in the gameplay segment, and why is it so important?
The answer is quite simple here. If the gameplay is minimalistic and the game leans heavily on quality storytelling, it is completely okay, but if the game tries to give us some gameplay elements that are totally broken and downgrade the entire experience considerably, then it can and will be called a disaster by me, no matter what the game and no matter who the developers behind it are.
The most crucial aspect of the gameplay, the very element around which the entire game revolves, is the combat system, which, to say the least, is a bit of a disaster, if it can even be called a 'combat system' at all. Your main weapon for fighting wraiths or spirits is the so-called Camera Obscura, a photo camera with which you can take pictures of wraiths and damage their health by doing so.
First of all, using and controlling Camera Obscura is very clunky, while the wraiths' behaviour is totally inconsistent. Once a wraith appears, the combat will commence, and you'll be pushed to fight it. You'll be able to snap at the wraith or dodge its attacks. Dodging, being intimidated by wraiths, or utilising special attacks will drain your stamina bar, while being grabbed and hit will drain your health bar.
To be honest, the entire system is quite complex, and I must admit I've never seen anything like it in any video game. On paper, it is an interesting concept, but in reality, it is nothing but a rage inducer, and if, by any chance, I came across this game by any other means instead as a review code, I'd quit after the first chapter; I'm completely sure of that.
Don't get me wrong, the combat isn't hard or anything that you might call a 'skill issue'; it is just dumb (I believe the term is quite appropriate). First, as I said, the movement is so sluggish it will take forever to switch positions during combat. On top of that, once you raise the camera, you get very small field of view and the camera becomes extremely sensitive, which makes aiming almost impossible.
Also, the wraiths are very fast (unlike you, of course), and on top of everything, they can teleport, which makes the combat so unfair and so mood-killing that I guarantee you'll be tempted to drop the game after the first couple of encounters; I know I was.
When I said the system is quite complex, I really meant it because you'll be able to improve your experience considerably. While exploring the world, you'll come across prayer beads, which can be used to upgrade Camera Obscura and add some additional features to it. Also, the world is fully explorable and is designed in some sort of open-world system, even though this design has many flaws.
For example, you'll be allowed to explore the map as you see fit, but you won't find anything in certain locations until the story takes you there, which will spawn items and enemies in those locations, which makes exploring quite limited. Apart from already mentioned documents, you'll mostly be finding health and stamina items and all sorts of different films usable in Camera Obscura.
Camera Obscura has a default film with unlimited usage, but you'll also be able to find many more different films with better performance. Some of them will deal more damage, for example, but have longer reload times, while the others will have other benefits, so you'll have to choose wisely which ones to use in different situations.
However, it won't make much of a difference because, as I said earlier, the combat system is so broken; those several features that can make it bearable are just not enough to give you any sort of satisfaction during the gameplay.
Darkness and Atmosphere Done Right
I've already mentioned earlier that one of the highlights of Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is a fantastic atmosphere that induces a real feeling of dread and anxiety, and a good visual presentation takes the most credit for that. The game looks really fantastic in its own strange way. Of course, I'm not talking about some high-end visual effects that will blow you away with their presentation; the beauty of Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly lies in the perfect depiction of the darkness.
Apart from several opening scenes, the entire game is filmed in the dark (it is explained in the game that because of the curse, this place is always in the dark). However, even though you might expect, because of constant darkness, that the scenery will become monotonous or something, every new area, every new building you visit, will positively surprise you with its aesthetics and attention to detail.
It is especially visible inside some buildings with traditional Japanese design. You'll see a lot of Japanese decorations, like those papers with Kanji inscriptions, traditional masks, and many more. Character models are impressive as well; Mayu and Mio look just gorgeous, while the enemy design is a bit too simplified and not so significant, I'd say.
What didn't sit well with me is a sort of overuse of the film grain effect, which, by the way, on the PlayStation 5 version, cannot be switched off. Speaking of graphic options, no fidelity/performance choice is present on the PS5 version as well. The game has preset graphics that seem to be running at around 40 FPS with occasional drops in more demanding areas.
Since the game is extremely slow-paced, the lack of a 60 FPS mode isn't the worst thing ever; it is quite bearable to play the game like this, but since this is a remake version of the game made in 2003 and it is 2026 now, a 60 FPS mode should be a must, in my opinion.
As much as the visuals contribute to making the haunting and dreadful atmosphere, the sounds play an equal, if not more important, role, and the sound design in Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is a real small work of art. The constant terrifying silence broken only by the occasional scream, or the hunting music that plays in the background, building a dreadful atmosphere, or even minimalistic sounds made by a small helpless girl in a place which will shake even the bravest warriors – everything mentioned heavily contributes to making a really special, almost unmatched atmosphere.
Conclusion
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake is a game of extremes. On one hand, it delivers an outstanding horror atmosphere supported by a genuinely intriguing story, haunting visuals, and exceptional sound design. The abandoned village, constant darkness, and slow, tense pacing create a sense of dread that few horror games manage to achieve, making the narrative journey through Mio and Mayu’s nightmare truly memorable.
Unfortunately, the experience is heavily dragged down by a deeply frustrating combat system that kills much of the game’s potential. The clunky controls, awkward camera mechanics, and inconsistent enemy behavior turn encounters into irritating obstacles rather than tense horror moments. While the story and atmosphere are strong enough to keep dedicated players pushing forward, the broken gameplay prevents Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly from becoming the great horror remake it could have been.
The Good
Intriguing and mysterious story- Outstanding horror atmosphere
- Strong visual style and environmental design
- Excellent sound design
- Interesting concept behind the Camera Obscura mechanic
The Bad
Frustrating and clunky combat system- Sluggish character movement
- Limited exploration
- No 60 FPS mode on PS5
