Fatal Frame is a franchise I don’t have too much experience with. I believe I played one back in the PlayStation 2 era, but clearly it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. While this is the latest game of the series, it’s also still quite old. Developed by Koel Tecmo Games and originally released on the Wii-U back in 2014, Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water feels like a relic of its time. A part of me even suspects that a lot of it may have even felt dated back when it first came out.
The story follows three separate characters and revolves around a mystery at Hikami Mountain. A haunted place known for many suicides. While the overall story of the game is maybe the best aspect of the entire thing, it’s a real bummer that all the characters seem very robotic. It was difficult to connect with any single one of them when they’re on screen. The structure of the game itself also felt off; too many times, I felt constantly cut off from playing and was presented with yet another abrupt conversation with a person. Some of the time they may actually be speaking out loud, while other times, there are just text boxes with silence, it felt like the developer’s decisions of what they should be doing here was very inconsistent.
What really makes Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water a product of another time is its unfortunate gameplay. Walking and running is clunky, exploring areas can be repetitive, slow, and when searching for objects it can feel very tedious. You’re given an item called the camera obscura and it’s the main mechanic of the game. Using the camera to identify spirits and even get rid of them completely. It even uses the gyro motion in your controller, but I suspect it was also an option on the Wii-U. The camera has multiple features that do their best to mix things up for the player, but often had me get the opposite reaction and I was constantly struggling to keep wanting to play.
In an era where remasters are all the rage in the video game industry, it’s a real bummer that this is more of a port than anything else. Playing the originally released version is probably no different at all than the product they’re selling for $40 dollars to their consumers here. I couldn’t notice anything special between the PS5 version over the PS4 version. They’re seemingly identical, and another issue is if you start your game on the PS4 version and hope to maybe switch to the PS5 one later on, be ready to be disappointed, because there is currently no option to transfer your old generation save to the new generation.
All in all, I was very let down by Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water. The story had a lot of potential, there were a lot of interesting directions they could have gone. But with the constant cheap jump scares that run like clock work and the overbearing dialogue with wooden characters just really put out any spark this game could have had, at least for me. Fans of the game already, should expect nothing more or less with this port, besides the addition of trophies.
Check Out the Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water Trailer: https://youtu.be/l7f9lkk3z8A
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PlayStation 5 Review
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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