Basically, Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake is a game about exploring a decrepit Japanese village, zapping ghosts with a magical camera, and holding the hand of your slightly unnerving (and often supernaturally possessed) twin sister.
An expansive remake of a cult classic PlayStation 2 survival horror title from 2003, it’s been overhauled with shiny new graphics and a host of quality-of-life features that make it the first entry in the series that I’d feel comfortable recommending to all survival horror fans rather than a dedicated subset of sick masochists.
It may be more accessible than any other game to date, but that doesn’t mean it lacks depth, and after playing a pre-release version for about seven hours, I’m desperate to dive back in for more when it launches next month.
In the woods
Compared to multi-protagonist narratives of later times Fatal frame games like Black Water Maidenthe setup here is refreshingly simple. You are Mio, a young girl who plays in the forest with her sister Mayu. Flashbacks allude to a recent accident that left Mayu injured, sporting a visible bandage around her leg, and Mio consumed with feelings of guilt and responsibility.
After the appearance of a mysterious crimson butterfly prompts Mayu to wander the forest alone, you set out in pursuit and suddenly find yourself at the entrance to a ruined village in the middle of the night.
Eerie premonitions of bloody murders and whispers of a sinister ritual hint at the region’s dark past, and with Mayu nowhere in sight, you have no choice but to venture inside to explore. The first house you enter is utterly frightening, with creaking wooden floorboards, torn paper screens, and a real sense of decay. It won’t be long before you find the Camera Obscura – the series’ iconic anti-spirit weapon and your only line of defense against the undead.
While the exploration is entirely in third person, helping you really appreciate the fear in the protagonist’s body language and emphasizing your vulnerability, pulling out the camera gives you a first-person glimpse through the viewfinder. Unless you are an experienced Fatal frame veteran, your first encounter with a ghost, which takes place immediately after picking up the camera, will likely be a complicated affair as the combat mechanics are very unique and intentionally tricky.
The main idea is that taking photos of ghosts deals damage, chipping away at their massive red health bars one moment at a time.
Although you have an unlimited supply of base film, it has to be reloaded extremely slowly, frequently forcing you to put the camera away so you can avoid incoming shots. Taking higher quality photos increases your damage, as does taking a photo just as an enemy attacks to trigger a “shutter chance”.
Inflict one just as you bring the enemy back to the correct health level, indicated by a small white line, and you have the chance to activate the titular “Fatal Frame” – allowing for a quick burst of high-damage attacks.
To the point
The Camera Obscura has been massively improved for this remake, with a new focus slider that can further increase damage with clearer shots. Initially this is adjusted automatically, but an upgrade (purchased using points earned from taking snaps) allows you to manually change it to maximize your lethality. There is also now a range of switchable filters, which significantly affect the camera’s capabilities and play an important role in exploration.
One, for example, lets you reveal missing items by aligning the viewfinder exactly to match an existing photo, while another removes magical bloodstains that seal important doors or chests containing useful items. All of these new additions are implemented seamlessly and feel like natural ways to add a little more depth to what was originally a rather simplistic experience.
It’s not long before you find Mayu and are ready to escape, which allows you to try your hand (pun intended) at another new mechanic: hand holding. Mayu’s injured leg means she doesn’t run very fast, so you can hold her hand to guide her at a faster pace. It’s a good way to make sure she stays by your side at all times, and there’s something undeniably quite sweet about watching the two sisters avoid the horrors of the past alongside each other.
Holding hands also heals you, helping you conserve your limited supply of health items when it really counts.
Fatal Frame 2 was never the hardest game in the franchise, but it could still be quite punishing – mainly because of a save system that limits manual saving to sporadic Butterfly Lanterns. Many fights can also seem, frankly, a little out of your control.
An enemy can tear you apart in seconds for no reason, only to be defeated on your next run through almost instantly. Much of your damage is down to luck, whether a specific enemy attacks in a way that’s easy to counter or happens to be close enough to be photographed just as you manage to reload for example, and it inevitably starts to get frustrating when one mistake causes you to lose twenty minutes of progress.
I definitely felt some of that unpredictability in this remake, but it’s countered wonderfully by a robust autosave system. Manual saving is still required if you want to exit, but if you die in a fight you will automatically respawn right before triggering it in most cases. It’s a blessing and turns what could be a nightmare into a much more forgiving experience.
I’m sure some Fatal frame purists will lament this new level of accessibility, but if you’re looking for a chance to jump into the series, then Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake looks like a great starting point. Even though I am far from being one Fatal frame newbie, I know I’ll be there from day one when it arrives on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on March 12, 2026.
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