Few games helped define the survival horror genre quite like the Fatal Frame series. More than twenty years after its original release, Koei Tecmo has revisited one of its most beloved entries with Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake, an updated version of the 2003 classic.
Back then, I was probably busy throwing tantrums as a toddler, so I naturally missed the original’s release (apologies if that makes some of you feel old). Still, I’ve long been familiar with the game’s reputation and story, so I was excited to finally experience it for myself. In many ways, this remake succeeds in preserving what made the original so memorable. The eerie atmosphere, tragic narrative, and haunting setting are all intact, and Koei Tecmo clearly aimed to modernise the experience without stripping away its identity.
Unfortunately, not everything from 2003 translates smoothly to modern audiences. While the remake improves several aspects of the original, some gameplay decisions and technical issues made it feel like I was still playing a PS2 game.
Fatal Frame (Drops)
The story of the Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake remains largely unchanged from the original. You play as Mio, a young girl who becomes trapped in the abandoned Minakami Village alongside her twin sister, Mayu, and it soon becomes clear that the twins’ presence isn’t just a coincidence. The village has been cursed following a failed ritual involving two sisters, leaving the area trapped in an eternal night.
Throughout the story, the present begins to mirror the village’s tragic past, slowly revealing what happened to the people who once lived there. While the narrative occasionally leans into melodrama, it remains compelling enough to keep the story moving forward.
Although Mayu sometimes accompanies Mio, much of the game sees you searching for her as she wanders off in pursuit of the mysterious crimson butterflies. This means exploring abandoned homes, shrines, and forest paths alone while the restless spirits of Minakami Village make themselves known. Ghosts frequently appear just out of sight—standing silently in hallways, drifting through the distance, or vanishing the moment you try to focus on them—and it’s these subtle moments where the horror worked best for me.
The remake is a clear visual upgrade over the original, and Minakami Village looks fantastic in its updated form. Darkness dominates most areas, with faint lanterns and scattered light sources barely illuminating the environment. Combined with excellent sound design, it creates a tense and oppressive atmosphere.
Unfortunately, that immersion is often broken by the game’s technical performance. I played on PS5, and my playthrough was plagued by frame drops—how ironic. The game is capped at 30 FPS, even on the PS5 Pro, and it struggles to maintain that target consistently. Even as someone who doesn’t usually focus on performance, the instability was noticeable enough to pull me out of the experience.
Beyond the visual overhaul, the remake adds a few welcome extras. New side stories expand on the tragic histories of the ghosts haunting the village, while Prayer Beads scattered throughout the world can be used to upgrade the Camera Obscura. These additions give players a few more reasons to explore Minakami Village’s haunted corners.
The Camera Obscura, you ask? Right, it’s probably time to address the elephant-sized ghost in the room…
Lights. Camera. Action?
If you’ve ever heard of the Fatal Frame franchise, then you’d know that at the core of the game is a camera, namely the Camera Obscura. It essentially acts as Mio’s primary weapon, allowing her to photograph hostile spirits to damage and eventually banish them.
During encounters, I found myself dodging attacks while trying to line up the perfect shot, carefully framing the ghost in the camera’s viewfinder before snapping the photo. The closer and more precise the shot—and depending on the type of film I used—the more damage it would deal. It’s an undeniably unique mechanic that still stands out within the survival horror genre, offering a very different approach to combat compared to most horror games.
There’s one glaring problem, though: perhaps controversially, I truly despise the system.
Nearly every encounter turned into a slow dance with the ghosts, as I circled around them waiting for the right moment to take a photo, repeating the process again and again until the spirit finally disappeared. These fights could drag on for minutes at a time, which unfortunately killed much of the tension the game worked so hard to build. Just as the atmosphere started to pull me in, a ghost would appear, and the pacing would grind to a halt.
I understand the intention behind the system. The camera forces you to confront ghosts head-on rather than keeping your distance, which should theoretically make encounters more frightening. In practice, though, the drawn-out nature of these battles often made them feel more tedious than scary.
That’s a shame, because the ghosts themselves are genuinely interesting. Each one behaves differently depending on their past or how they died; child ghosts are smaller and quicker, while others have unique attack patterns tied to their stories. One early encounter with the ghost of a drowned woman attacking from beneath a bridge stood out as particularly memorable.
Moments like that highlight the potential of the system, but I couldn’t help but wish that the combat leaned more into the variety. If encounters were quicker but more dangerous—allowing ghosts to go down in fewer shots while posing a greater threat—the tension could have been much higher.
Instead, combat often feels like an interruption to the game’s strongest element: its haunting atmosphere.
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake Verdict
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake is a faithful recreation of a survival horror classic, and it’s easy to see why the original still has such a devoted fanbase. The story remains compelling, and the beautifully realised environments do a fantastic job of selling the haunting atmosphere of Minakami Village.
Unfortunately, the gameplay doesn’t always support that atmosphere. Between the sluggish combat and the persistent frame drops, Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake feels less like a modern revival and more like a relic from the past.
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Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake
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Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake
