Fatal Frame

It's about time I continued with this series.

At first, I wanted to review part 1, 3 and 4 all at once, but then I became aware that 5 is releasing at the end of October, and because of time constraints, I was unable to play through 3 or 4 for the first time yet. Therefore I have decided to leaving Fatal Frame as a series towards the original for the time being, while I already reviewed 2's remake a few years ago.

The Camera Obscura concept is established here, and it's great to play with this formula again, I really missed out on these installments and I intend to beat them all. The original's story focuses on a missing brother investigating strange occurences at the Himuro Mansion, and his little sister intends to find him and discover the truth abput strange rituals taking place there.

There are hostile and neutral ghosts wandering about, intended to scare you and possibly defeat you. It's another dark setting with miminum amounts of light, and you will have to solve puzzles, sometimes creepy ones, in order to progress.

Demon seals are also present which block doors, and the only way to unseal them is by photographing ghosts who are hiding on various spots left behind as clues through the shots you make on the seals. Although Fatal Frame is not as scary as the sequel, there are still eerie and jumpy moments to be found, and it's certainly not a theme park for children to play around in.

The gameplay is well designed and quite original at the time of it's release, making it a respectable installment that alongside Resident Evil and Silent Hill could be considered perhaps all part of the Big Three of horror video game franchises at some point, although RE and SH could use a new killer installment right about now.

If you like Japanese culture and wonder what the deal is about scary Japanese ghost stories, Fatal Frame would be a great start for you. Excellent to break the ice with, to create a suspenseful mood and it's very suitable to play on Halloween, or at least in october.

Rating: 8.0