Jul 182014
Fatal Frame: The Black Haired Shrine Maiden
At this point, you might be saying, “Wait a minute. Wasn’t it just a week ago you mentioned you still haven’t played Fatal Frame?”
It’s true. The only Fatal Frame game I’ve played so far is the spin-off title Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, which isn’t a stellar look at the series. Spirit Camera suffered from many flaws, the biggest of which was its reliance on the 3DS’s camera. I had to play certain sections directly beneath a lamp to make it function at all, which isn’t an ideal setup for a horror game.
But enough about that misstep (I’m certain it looked great on paper). I own the first Fatal Frame game, and I will get around to playing it. In the meantime, the success of the series is important to me because of my interest in the survival horror genre. Mainstream survival horror games are rare these days, and Fatal Frame is one of the big ones still active.
It’s also the first series I think of when it comes to using the Wii U GamePad in new and interesting ways.
Fatal Frame (which is called Project Zero in Europe and 零 Zero in Japan) centers around a device called the Camera Obscura, a camera players use to explore and to fight evil spirits. It’s almost weird that I haven’t played the games yet, because Fatal Frame uses some of my favorite horror elements–ghosts and dark rituals.
So, what are the Fatal Frame games?
- Fatal Frame, the first game, was released first for the PS2 and was later ported to the Xbox. It’s the only main series game to be rated T.
- Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly was also released for the PS2 and ported to the Xbox, and it received a PSN release last year. A Wii-exclusive remake, Deep Crimson Butterfly, came out in 2012, but only in Japan, Europe, and Australia.
- Fatal Frame III: The Tormented was released for the PS2 and later on PSN, like its predecessor.
And this is where our localization worries begin.
- The fourth game, known as Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, was released for the Wii in 2008, but only in Japan.
- And now, The Black Haired Shrine Maiden is coming out for the Wii U.
The three spin-offs include a Japan-only mobile game called Real: Another Edition, Spirit Camera, and a manga called Fatal Frame: Shadow Priestess. The manga has been translated, and while Japan is getting a movie adaptation on September 26 (and an original novel in August), it was recently announced that a Hollywood movie is also in the works. Maybe this means we have a better chance of the new game being localized, as well.
The announcement of the fifth game was accompanied by a trailer. Let’s take a look.
Looks nice and spooky to me! The trailer kept up an atmosphere of dread, so I have high hopes for the game. The game’s official site includes a few more gameplay clips.
The Black Haired Shrine Maiden has a strong focus on water, more open areas, and themes about the line between life and death. The protagonist can locate people who were taken into the spirit world and bring them back.
And yes! The Wii U GamePad will be used as the camera!
Now, normally I get a bit nervous when the word “open” is used to describe games, but in this case, I don’t think the “open areas” mean it’s going to be open world or anything like that. It’s just not set in a mansion or enclosed area, this time, but at the Hikayama mountain, or the “mountain of death,” and will be larger than any previous Fatal Frame game. Just like narrow passages and small rooms aren’t enough to make a game survival horror, open outdoor areas aren’t enough to make a game not survival horror, either.
Will we see this in the West? The fate of the fourth game suggests we won’t, but on the other hand, when director Makoto Shibata was asked on Twitter if The Black Haired Shrine Maiden would be released overseas, he said an overseas released hasn’t been announced yet.< Yet? Sounds like it already has a better shot than Ace Attorney Investigations 2.
I may not have played Fatal Frame yet, but I’m excited for The Black Haired Shrine Maiden. Most of my information about it is thanks to Operation Zero, a group dedicated to encouraging the localization of the Fatal Frame series. Drop on by if you’re as interested as I am in getting this game localized.
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