Fatal Frame is one of my favorite horror franchises. The concept of ghost hunting with a camera feels natural, and combining the tension of fear of survival-horror with the oddly addictive gameplay of a photography sim lead to some of the most exciting gameplay I've ever encountered. On top of that, Fatal Frame II is probably my favorite game in the series, and it's the point where I feel the franchise hit its stride. I had a lot of high expectations for this latest remake of a survival-horror classic. In some ways, it exceeded my expectations, but in others, I found it to be a step back.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake follows the same concept as the original game. Two sisters, Mio and Mayu, are visiting a place they used to play as children. Mayu catches sight of a red butterfly and follows it into the depths of a nearby forest. Before long, the two have ended up in an abandoned village, with seemingly no way to return. They must explore the village, which is haunted by malicious and angry ghosts who wish nothing more than to have the sisters join them in death. Their only defense is the Camera Obscura, which has the power to exorcise the spirits of the dead.

Crimson Butterfly's plot is a rather engrossing experience. It's paced extremely well, and each uncomfortable reveal and disturbing twist drives the story forward. I don't want to spoil the plot in a significant way, but it does a good job with Mio and Mayu's relationship and the gradual build-up of the village's mysteries. There's new plot content in the remake that is integrated very well with the original story, and it helps to expand upon what was already there, so newcomers and old fans alike have a lot of things to look forward to.

Crimson Butterfly is a familiar survival-horror experience. You'll wander through the insanely haunted surroundings, solving puzzles, gathering lore, and in general trying to stay alive. You primarily play as Mio, with Mayu tagging along for good chunks of the game. This technically means you'll spend a lot of time doing escort missions, but they never feel particularly onerous or annoying. The original game used fixed camera angles, but Remake uses a new, over-the-shoulder camera angle similar to modern Resident Evil or Silent Hill games.

I'm a little torn on the change because I think the new camera angle works against the game. The original game used fixed camera angles, which I can see being controversial today, but they also served a purpose. By limiting your view, it created tension and made it more nerve-wracking. You have a much clearer idea of what is around you, which might be more "realistic," but also means it's more difficult for the game to scare you. It's a modernization element that isn't executed as well as it could have been.

Likewise, combat has been changed in both big and small ways. If you've never played a Fatal Frame game before, the concept is relatively simple. You're under assault by terrifying ghosts that can flicker in and out of reality, twist space, and want nothing more than to rend you asunder. When you use the Camera Obscura to take a photograph of a ghost, it damages them. Succeed in taking enough photos, and the ghost is exorcized, but there's a cooldown between shots so you can't just "fire" wildly.

A major part of this involves timing your pictures. The better the picture you get, the more damage the ghost takes. Different types of film can do more damage but are in more limited supply. There's also a counter mechanic, which is the titular "fatal frame." There's a small light on the camera that flashes just before an enemy attacks. Time your photo with this flash, and you do a Fatal Frame attack, which inflicts massive damage. Enemies who are weakened will enter a Shutter Chance state, where taking a photo of them does serious damage, but only for one shot. Combine the two, and you'll trigger Fatal Time, where you can "unload" on the enemy with multiple shots in a row.

New to Fatal Frame II Remake are zooms, focuses and filters. Zoom will allow adjusting the range of your camera, zooming in lets you hit from farther away, and zooming out lets you hit more but with less accuracy. Imagine it as a rifle and a shotgun. Focusing normally occurs automatically, but manual focus allows you to control the focus of the camera, and if you master it, it lets you more easily focus on enemies to take shots quicker. I think zooming is a nice feature, but focusing is a touch too fiddly, and you're likely better off not stressing about it.

Filters are probably the biggest difference, with each filter adjusting the range and power of your camera. For example, the Paraceptual makes the camera slower to charge but gives it a much longer range, while the Radiant hits like a brick but has much shorter range. These filters also unlock new powers for the camera, like Paraceptual letting you see ghosts through walls and the Radiant filter letting you open certain doors. Each also has a special shot, which can do things like knock back or blind enemies for a bit.

Also new is the Willpower gauge. Separate from your health, this gauge represents your character's emotional stability. It goes down when being hit by attacks, running, or evading and goes up by successfully taking photographs, using items, holding hands with Mayu, or just over time. It's a limited resource, and it's not particularly well implemented. If you're good at the game, you'll have an overabundance of Willpower, and if you're struggling, you end up struggling more since you have a harder time dodging and running. I like the implementation of Mayu restoring your Willpower because it means the times she isn't around, you really feel her absence and wish she were back, but the actual mechanic feels a touch hollow.

However, these new features feel a bit like a solution in search of a problem. They add more options but not more choices because you're going to be using the same things over and over again. To compensate for your greater firepower, enemies have more hit points and can enter an angry state. In this state, they take way less damage and are way more lethal unless you knock them out with a well-timed counterattack. This technically adds more challenge to fights but also discourages you from using anything but the very best choices. Willpower adds more resource management but not in a notably engaging way; either you're flush with it, or you feel limited in basic mechanics.

The core problem with Fatal Frame II Remake is that the combat is technically more advanced but not in a way that contributes to making the game more fun or more frightening. The new mechanics are interesting in theory, but in practice, it feels like the balance is way off. Angry ghosts have too many hit points until you get the specific gear that everything becomes trivialized instead. Far from being frightened or tense like I was with the original game, I quickly got bored with the combat. It doesn't feel quite polished enough to be fun for the act of fighting, a la Resident Evil 4, but at the same time, it feels so video-gamey that it negatively impacts what were otherwise terrifying ghosts.

The combat in Fatal Frame II Remake is fun, and on paper, it's a much more technical experience with more room to express yourself, but I don't think it's an improvement over the original. The experience of the original game was perhaps a tad simple, but it worked well with the atmosphere and tone of the game, while the remake is far more involved and modern but feels bolted on. I don't think it ruins the experience, but I wish they'd had a lighter touch because atmosphere is arguably the most important thing in a Fatal Frame game.

For all that I've been negative about the changes to combat, I do like some of the changes. There are new areas and new side-stories that delve more deeply into the history of the village, and those are masterfully well executed. They exist pretty seamlessly alongside the content in the original game and genuinely feel like they amplify and improve on what was already there. Discovering more about the haunted place and its unfortunate inhabitants contributes to the horror of where the sisters find themselves, and that's exactly the sort of thing a remake should include.

The remake is also graphically stunning. It looks gorgeous, from the characters to the environments to the ghosts. It is wonderful to look at, and for any complaints I have about the gameplay or camera angle, the visual improvement is almost entirely a straight upgrade in terms of tone and atmosphere. The audio is also phenomenally good. Fatal Frame has always excelled at making noise one of the best parts of its horror, and this is no less true. Fatal Frame 2 Remake is horrifying to play at night with headphones, when every eerie groan or subtle noise can portend the appearance of something dangerous and horrifying.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake is an interesting example of how modernizing a game can be both a plus and minus. It looks fantastic, it's deeper and more complex, and it offers a lot more to do. At the same time, not all of its changes hit the mark, and some areas that were improved actually detract from the whole. It's still a darn fun game, but it feels like a "sidegrade," rather than an upgrade to the original.

Score: 8.0/10