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I wonder why Koei Tecmo decided on FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE. It’s quite a weird choice considering that a FATAL FRAME (the first one) remake would be a much more logical point to start. I mean, the FATAL FRAME: Maiden of Black Water remaster (which came out in 2021) is the prequel to the first game!
If I had to bet money, I’d have wagered that Koei Tecmo was angling for a remake of the original! Not the sequel!
It’s even weirder considering that FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly already has a remake, one that was released for the Nintendo Wii. It also has a director’s cut version on the original Xbox!
Somebody at Koei Tecmo must really, really, really, really love FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly.
Does that mean the remake is worth playing?
What is FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE?
FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE is a first/third person survival horror game developed by Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo. It is available right now on the PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and the Nintendo Switch 2 consoles.
Our review copy was provided by the awesome folks over at Koei Tecmo! Thanks so much!
As always, I’ll be reviewing the game on our trio of test systems.
Here are their specs:
Desktop 1 –
– MSI B550M Mortar WIFI
– AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with NZXT Kraken X73 RGB Liquid Cooler
– MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X 24G
– Teamgroup T-Force Dark Z 64GB DDR4 RAM
– Samsung 980 PRO 2TB SSD
– NZXT C1200 Gold ATX 3.1
– Lian Li LANCOOL III RGB case
Desktop 2 –
– MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi
– AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D with Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360L Core ARGB cooler
– Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB
– G.SKILL Trident Z5 NEO 32GB DDR5-6400 RAM
– Samsung 990 PRO 2TB SSD
– Corsair RM850x PSU
– Lian Li LANCOOL 207 Digital
Notebook –
MSI Raider GE78 HX 14V
– Intel Core i9 14900HX
– NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
– 32GB DDR5 RAM
– 1TB SSD
FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE supports DLSS and FSR so pretty much any modern system can run it. I even tried the game on an ASUS ROG Ally X and it ran fine at 1600 x 800 on Standard settings with FSR 2. It’s not 60FPS, not even a stable 30FPS but it does play decently. I reckon knocking down the visuals can get you an even smoother experience.
On the desktops, the game ran without any issues…mostly.
The game uses Koei Tecmo’s KATANA engine so it doesn’t really have the issues of Unreal Engine 5 titles…save one. It suffers from stuttering whenever you enter a new area. Be it indoors or outdoors, there’s always the omnipresent stutters when you transition to a new location.
It’s a streaming issue definitely as it mostly occurs in new areas. Shaders and data’s probably being loaded on the fly and the game stutters due to that. It’s not our hardware that’s the issue, as other gamers are also saying the same thing. Whether this can be patched or is a weakness of the KATANA engine, I have no idea.
The thing is it only happens once per new area. After that, it’s no longer present.
Honestly speaking, it’s not that big of an issue most times.
It may date me, but I actually played FATAL FRAME II when it released on the PlayStation 2. Then the Xbox version. Then the Wii version. Now, I’m playing the remake. I was actually hoping for the first game to get the remake treatment, but eh…what can you do.
While FATAL FRAME does have ties to FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE, it’s not as much as you’d think. The plot here is self-contained to a degree, and doesn’t rely on the first game to set things up. It’s the third entry that has a lot of callbacks to the first two games!
In FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE (as in the original), twins Mio and Mayu get trapped in a haunted village that’s forced to repeat a specific night for eternity. Escaping the village is impossible – a curse prevents any who enter from leaving. When Mayu mysteriously abandons Mio in the early going, it’s up to Mio to find her twin and a way out of the cursed Minakami Village before the wraiths kill them both.
If you’re a veteran of the FATAL FRAME games, you’ll be really familiar with this schtick. It’s always a curse of some sort with the series, and this one is no different. The gameplay loop is comfortingly familiar too – run around creepy locations (a rundown village and its surroundings), gathering items while fighting ghosts by taking their pictures to advance the plot.
As a title born during the Golden Age of Survival Horror, FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE retains a lot of touches that made the original great.
The visuals are outstanding and the move to a fully third-person over-the-shoulder perspective only serves to highlight the art design even more. Wandering around Minakami Village is nerve-wracking from the get-go. The rundown locations (while delightful to explore) are literal haunted houses that will creep the hell out of you.
Every noise will set you on edge. Every creaking floorboard a potential scare. It’s not just the locations that are eerie, it’s the sound design too.
Koei Tecmo has perfected the art of keeping you on your toes with creepy ambient sounds (and tons of jump scares).
It’s a shame there are quite a handful of those (I’ve always felt that jump scares are lazy pops) because FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE doesn’t need them to scare you. The game is already creepy and terrifying enough without needing to resort to cheap tricks like jump scares. It’s especially annoying when a ghost awaits behind a door just as you open it.
I just wish Team Ninja didn’t use them as much as they did because they’re pretty unnecessary for the most part.
I strongly suggest playing this with a headset, or if you’re too much of a scaredy cat (like me), play with a surround sound setup. It’s not as terrifying as a headset, but a surround sound setup makes it feel like you’re there.
I absolutely love both the art and sound design in FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE. The wraiths are just as terrifying as they are in other games. I’d even say more so in this because of the modern graphics. Their wails and moans are great, though you have to play with Japanese audio to truly appreciate this. After all, when in Japan…
One thing that I really want to highlight (pun intended) is the flashlight. It’s not just a constant stream of steady light like in most games. In FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE, it constantly flickers and cuts in and out, like it’s about to die. Every single time it happens, I’ll unconsciously go ‘Oh shit’ before catching myself and remind myself that’s meant to be like that.
It might be just a teeny feature, but it really helps to sell the tension because you’ll always be thinking, ‘What if this time it really goes out?!’ even if you know it won’t.
I also love that the game gives you incentive to explore and complete side missions. You need parts to upgrade the Camera Obscura, and those parts are usually hidden away from the main paths you tread for the main story. Unless you want to be underpowered, it means taking the time to explore and do optional content is much more meaningful.
The gameplay’s also been tweaked with new additions such as a Willpower meter that governs actions like dodging and running.
Honestly, I’m fine with this. The wooden movement in past games (including the recent remasters) has always irked me and the addition of dodging mechanic is something that’s long overdue. Too many times I’d get caught by a ghost in past games because the only defensive option was to backpedal.
Willpower also determines whether you can get knocked down by a wraith’s attack. This is another new mechanic. If you’re downed, the wraith will attempt to finish you off by getting up close and personal. Your only hope in this case is to take a close-up shot with the Camera Obscura. Mess up and you lose a ton of health…possibly even die.
It’s a life or death mechanic that might seem overpowering at first but once you get the hang of the Willpower meter, it’s not that big of an issue. Wraiths do have special moves that can drain your Willpower by a huge chunk (called Leer attacks) at once though so you’ll still need to be on guard.
Another change is relatively minor but very much appreciated. You no longer need to press R2/RT to pick up items like in past games! Yes, the ghost grabbing mechanic is still intact (you escape by pressing X/A) but no more holding the trigger to watch Mayu sloooooooooooooooowly reach out for something. Thank you Team Ninja!
Stealth also makes its appearance in FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE. I find it questionable that ghosts can be fooled by hiding or moving quietly, but here we are. The mechanic does have its uses, though I just preferred to engage ghosts head-on instead of sneaking around them. The points you get from beating ghosts can be used to buy stuff, so there’s always incentive to fight instead of avoiding conflict.
There are times when you need to use stealth though… especially when you’re confronted with the Kusabi (think a ghost version of the Nemesis from the Resident Evil series). The Kusabi will relentlessly chase you until you manage to hide. It will not stop, it cannot be defeated. Running and hiding (in alcoves where you need to crouch to get in) is your only option. It’ll always turn up at the most inopportune moments possible.
I like being chased by the Kusabi but only being able to thwart pursuit by hiding is a pain. You have to remember where the hiding alcoves are at all times, because they’re the only way to escape. I wish there was a technique or skill that Mio can use to at least break pursuit.
The Camera Obscura gets a few new modes and upgrades too (including the ability to change filters) to liven things up. Filters give different benefits (and also detriments) depending on what filter is being applied. The Paraceptual filter for example, lets you view past events but comes with slower film loading. It goes without saying that this isn’t the best one to use for combat.
There’s a total of four filters and you’ll constantly need to cycle through them as you progress, though I just prefer to use the Standard filter when it comes to combat.
Ironically, the tweaks done to the combat are what holds the game back from being the definitive edition of the game.
Past games (even the remasters) had the combat down pat, so I don’t know what came over Koei Tecmo to radically change it by introducing two major changes and a host of minor ones.
The first is that ghosts now can randomly enter an Aggravated state whenever they get damaged. You’ll know it instantly because the ghost will go berserk and a red aura will surround them.
What that means is that they heal some of the damage you’ve inflicted on them and get stronger. That means more powerful attacks and less damage received. In practice, it means they become sponges that can absorb insane amounts of punishment while your attacks barely damage them. If this is something like the Blister Head (or Crimson Head) mechanic, where the ghost returns later stronger, it might be OK.
After all, you’d be sufficiently kitted out after having some playtime under your belt.
Nooooooooooooooooope.
Aggravated ghosts can trigger as soon as Mio leaves you in the beginning and you’re searching for her. Not every wraith you fight will turn, but every single one you fight has the potential to. I think it’s a random chance every time they’re damaged but I’m not sure about it. Either way, it’s always a headlong rush to burst damage ghosts and exorcise them as fast as possible in case they change…which radically alters the feel of the combat from slow and deliberate (like in past games) to frenetic and reckless.
This isn’t good but it gets even worse if the ghost turns into an Aggravated one.
It is infuriating to take picture after picture and do slivers of damage, even with a fully charged Fatal Frame (counter) shot. In fact, a Fatal Frame is pretty much the only way to deal decent damage to Aggravated ghosts until you get a certain filter. The only way to cancel out the state is to damage the ghost a certain amount. That’s easier said than done because the damage you can do is miniscule even with the stronger films.
Aggravated wraith fights can drag on for an obscene amount of time, with you dodging and running, all while taking potshots to whittle down the ghost’s HP.
It is not fun. It is boring and repetitive, especially if you’re confined to a small area for the encounter
You’re forced to waste powerful film (the game is more generous with doling these out in the remake) to even stand a chance and finish these fights in a decent amount of time. That just doesn’t sit well with me. It’s like forcing players of Resident Evil to use the shotgun or magnum on zombies when they’ve just started the game. You can survive, but you know the balance’s out of whack.
Something is seriously wrong when you’re looking forward to boss fights because they end faster and are less tedious.
WHY YOU DO THIS TEAM NINJA?
Combat used to be a delicate dance. The past games had great balance between enemy HP, camera damage and film attack power! It was even possible to go through large swaths of the game by just using the weakest film! You didn’t need to tweak the combat to this degree! I get that you guys want to add a new twist to combat, but this isn’t it!
At the very least, nerf the health recovery amount and increase the damage films inflict to Aggravated wraiths!
To be fair, the tedium is mitigated somewhat as you get stronger, and gain more combat options but damage is still abysmal (even with damage increase upgrades) unless you use the upper tier films.
That just drives home the fact that this is an ill-conceived mechanic that shouldn’t be present in the game in its current state. A New Game+ or hardest difficulty option perhaps, or even something that only triggers after midway through the game.
It’s definitely not something that should be present at the outset!
Combat itself has received minor tweaks too. Films take much longer to load, so you’re attacking less often overall. The wraiths now tend to teleport more often too, so you’re forced to constantly look around. They also tend to get up in your face, so you’ll also need to rely on the dodge button to move out of the way and escape damage.
What it means is that you’ll be constantly raising and lowering your camera. You can’t dodge while aiming, so you’ll need to raise the camera again once you’ve dodged. The faster paced combat works sometimes (it works best during short fights) but when fights get too long (like when a ghost gets Aggravated), it just becomes tedious.
The Bottom Line.
FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE perhaps would’ve been better as a remaster. Yes, there’s a lot here to love but the changes to combat fundamentally alters one of the best parts of the original.
The Aggravated ghosts will undoubtedly turn off most folks from progressing further into the game (when you get the tools to shut them down fast) because of the tedium and chore of fighting them. The faster pace of the combat also might turn off veterans of the series because it unnecessarily forces you to keep dodging attacks or risk damage.
All isn’t lost though. Koei Tecmo can (and probably will) patch the game to reduce the frequency of aggravated ghosts in the beginning. They can nerf their damage resistance and HP recovery too, so these are all potential non-issues in the future.
Even if they don’t, FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE is an incredible entry in the series and genre. While the combat changes are questionable, every single other aspect of the game is stellar.
This is the haunted house game to play on a dark and stormy night, hands down.
… Now can we please get the original FATAL FRAME remade and FATAL FRAME III remastered, Koei Tecmo?
TLDR:
FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE shines in every aspect other than the combat.
The Good:
- The art style is incredible.
- Superb sound design.
- Creepy wraiths to fight.
Dodging mechanic is much needed. - Upgrading the Camera Obscura is fun.
The Bad:
- Aggravated ghosts are a chore to fight.
- Faster pace of combat isn’t good.
- Stuttering when loading new areas.
- Constantly dodging in long fights is tedious.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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