We cannot deny the failure of the Nintendo Wii U, but it had some very interesting games that made it an attractive option despite its problems. Fortunately for those who never got one, the vast majority of these titles made the jump to Switch and other platforms. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water in Europe) is one of them.
If you are not familiar with this horror game series, we recommend taking a look at our retrospective of the saga. Like its predecessors, this installment allows us to live a terrifying Japanese horror story strongly inspired by the cinema, Shinto traditions, Buddhists and the ‘survival horror’ genre. Thanks to that, it is a real gem in terms of setting. Sadly, her age and a few bad design decisions negatively affect almost every other aspect of her.
In this review, based on the Nintendo Switch version, we will find out if Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water it is worth it despite its flaws.
The story of this title revolves around Hikami Mountain. This place is infamous for the number of people who go there to end their own lives and is inspired by Aokigahara, Japan’s “suicide forest”. Yuri Kozukata, the protagonist, begins to explore this place in search of her missing mentor. He soon discovers that the place is inhabited by the ghosts of those who perished there. His only defense is the camera obscura, a gadget that allows him to keep them at bay with photos.
The forests, lakes and sanctuaries of the mountain are the true stars of the game. Its lurid details and accompanying sound effects create one of the best settings we’ve ever enjoyed in a modern horror game.
The plot of Maiden of Black Water, in which a failed ritual and the traditions of the inhabitants of the mountain are revealed little by little, which led to turn it into a cursed place, it is not very different from previous Fatal Frame. That is not really a problem, because the details are different and that gives it a special personality. The real drawback is the protagonists. Yuri and the other two controllable characters, Ren Hojo and Miu Hinasaki, do not have interesting personalities and their backgrounds are as boring as they are predictable..
Fans of the saga will recognize Miu’s last name, as she is the daughter of the protagonist of the first game in the franchise. This would have made for an interesting connection to the rest of the series, but it has almost zero relevance to the rest of the plot. The presence of mother and daughter does not seem to be more than ‘fanservice’.
Speaking of ‘fanservice’, this is probably one of the worst aspects we found in our analysis of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. Despite her null personality, Yuri is a very sexy character and the game seeks to capitalize on her appeal in the worst possible ways.. Any movement causes her breasts to jiggle in a ridiculous way reminiscent of Dead or Alive. In those fighting games, this was nothing more than a curiosity that was not necessarily “exciting”, but funny. But here it directly sabotages the themes of the game.
The haunting of ghosts is a clear metaphor for depression. In addition, suicide is one of the key themes of the story. It is unforgivable that after a sequence about a character desperately trying to overcome his trauma, he follows a movement in which the swaying of his breasts is highlighted. It also happens that, when the characters get wet, their clothes stick to their bodies, especially marking the shape of their buttocks. Yes, it looks great and is sexy, but it does not fit in with the other elements of the game at all.
Although it is never stated explicitly, there are two relationships in the game that are difficult to interpret differently from lesbian romances. These let the same fans fill in the blanks, something that shows in the ‘fanart’ and ‘fanfics’ it inspired. Not for nothing is the protagonist called Yuri.
Survival horror fans are going to find a very different rhythm than usual. Fatal Frame has always had a much slower action and fewer enemies than the games of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The characters walk very slowly, as the objective is to let the gloomy setting consume us little by little, building tension so that the scares and battles are more shocking.
The problem of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water the thing is controls feel heavy and imprecise. This can lead to many frustrating moments when we get lost or cannot locate the enemy.. We highly recommend adjusting your camera’s sensitivity options to reduce this problem. When it comes to fighting, the Switch’s motion sensors turn the console into the same camera and that helps create immersion.
We have the option to keep an automatic focus on the enemies, but this ends up making the battles too easy. In fact, this is a pretty easy game on normal difficulty. Healing items are not in short supply and more can be purchased at the beginning of each chapter. We will only die if we forget to heal ourselves. Even if this happens, we have objects that automatically revive us. The lack of challenge and repetitive routines of many of the ghosts make fighting boring in the middle of the game. Only a few feature attacks or special moves that add some variety.
The difficulty ‘Nightmare’, which fixes some of these problems, is only available when we pass the game for the first time.
The fighting is not the only thing repetitive. The structure divided into chapters of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water makes us have to go through the same scenarios on multiple occasions, many times without adding new elements to them. In the last chapter we even have to travel the same route with two characters, one after the other. The scenes have a macabre beauty worthy of being appreciated, but this loses impact when we have to see the same landscapes so many times.
But his biggest sin is that, because of his repetitive aspects and lack of challenge, he quickly loses his ability to scare. There are sudden appearances of ghosts that manage to make us jump. But the number of healing items makes the slow and repetitive attack routines of these spectral entities more of a nuisance than a source of tension.
When we get to the end of the game, which can take us 14 to 15 hours, we discover that we have other challenges ahead of us. In addition to the ‘Nightmare’ difficulty, we can play again to unlock more costumes and lenses by completing the ghost list and obtaining different endings for the three characters. But the truth is that only completists will find the motivation to repeat the chapters again.
Finishing the adventure also unlocks a new story starring Ayane from Dead or Alive, which does add variety through new game systems. Since the Mugen Tenshin clan ninja does not have a camera obscura, she must resort to stealth and a tool that allows her to temporarily stun ghosts to advance.
The setting of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water It is truly fantastic, the story is intriguing, and the ghost designs will delight horror lovers. Despite being from a past generation, it has great graphics and doesn’t suffer from many performance issues on the Nintendo Switch, just occasional pauses in the action. If that’s not enough to make you ignore repetitive gameplay, underdeveloped characters, and control issues, remember that you can spend hours in cool photo mode creating chilling images.
Review made with a digital copy of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water for Nintendo Switch provided by Koei Tecmo.
