This new translation certainly improves the clarity of the clues and notes you’ll find around the game, making the story and progression a little bit smoother than the fan-made translation. While there was a fan translation of Fatal Frame IV released back in the early 2010s, this remaster is the first time it’s getting an official English translation since its release fifteen years ago. The controls feel snappy and responsive, even if there is a little bit less freedom in how you can control the flashlight, but it doesn’t really detract from the gameplay. This includes a much-needed quick-turn feature, an over-the-shoulder camera style, added navigation hints after obtaining certain items or solving certain puzzles, the addition of suspenseful item pickup animations, and an auto-tracking feature that snaps to the nearest ghost of any kind when you pull out the Camera Obscura.Īll these improvements to the game shine brighter than ever in the remaster, especially the added accuracy of the new control scheme, which doesn’t involve motion tracking like in the original Wii version. Suda had a strong pedigree of unconventional and unique Japanese horror games before this, including the Twilight Syndrome series, Moonlight Syndrome, Killer 7, and Michigan: Report From Hell.įatal Frame 4 marked a big step forward in several ways for the series, changing up several game mechanics to make things more streamlined and accessible, and less clunky overall. Well, I got a chance to go hands-on with a playable preview build of the game a full month before its release, and I’m happy to report that it’s looking and feeling great so far.įor those who aren’t aware, Fatal Frame 4 was a Japan-only release on the Nintendo Wii in 2008 and was directed by game auteur Suda51 and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture instead of being entirely in-house at Tecmo for the first time in the series. It’s the first time any Fatal Frame game has been playable on PC, and Koei Tecmo is even offering free new-gen upgrades for PS4 and Xbox One owners.As we approach the release of the remastered version of the “lost” Fatal Frame game in the West, Fatal Frame 4: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse in March, many are curious to see how much it improves on the original. The picture-taking horror series has lingered in limbo ever since, until an E3 2021 announcement revealed the game would find its way to modern consoles, and PC, at the end of this month. Maiden of Black Water is the fifth mainline Fatal Frame, which launched on the Wii U in 2015. When pressed about a Fatal Frame 6, Shibata said that the team “didn’t release the remaster for the sake of making a new game”. In all likelihood, the answer to this question will remain a mystery until Koei Tecmo gets sales data from Black Water’s rerelease. He didn’t end on that note though, and added the reactions to Maiden of Black Water’s remaster were surprising. In the JP Games interview, Shibata started out by stating Koei Tecmo had no plans for remasters. Shibata adds that reactions “exceeded our expectations” in a recent interview with JP Games, but he won’t specify what it means for the series. Although it hasn’t been released yet, Fatal Frame director Makoto Shibata appears happy with the response to Maiden of Black Water, which was released on October 28.
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