'Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake' Preview: The Chilling Return of a Survival Horror Legend
Author's Note: The author received an early access preview Steam code from the publisher for the purpose of this preview.
Dread. That is the word I find myself coming back to over and over again as I reflect upon my 4.5 hours so far with Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake. Dread to see what scary ghost is around the next corner, dread to open another door, and even dread to pick up some much-needed items. After playing through the first four chapters of the game, I am confident that developer Koei Tecmo Games has not only recaptured the magic of Fatal Frame--they may have created one of the best entries in the entire franchise.
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake is just that—a remake of the classic 2003 survival horror game, often regarded as one of the scariest video games ever made. Much like other modern survival horror remakes, like the Resident Evil remakes (excluding Resident Evil 3 remake) and the Silent Hill 2 remake, Koei Tecmo Games seems to have completely understood the assignment--keep the great things about the original game, improve shortcomings, and add new elements to keep returning players engaged.
If the first four chapters are indicative of the quality of the rest of the game, Fatal Frame might officially be back and better than ever.
Lost Sisters
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly 2Remake follows the original game's plot almost exactly. Twin sisters Mio and Mayu Amakura are very close, but there is some tension between them due to Mio accidentally causing Mayu to suffer a leg injury prior to the start of the game. While in a village in a forest where they played together as kids, Mayu follows a crimson butterfly, and soon, both twins are spirited away to Minakami Village. With the sisters seemingly trapped in the village, they must figure out why they are in the village, why evil ghosts are attacking them, and escape, with nothing but each other as comfort.
Much like classic survival horror, a lot of the game's lore and general information is explored in notes that Mio picks up along the journey. The notes are not overly detailed, and they add much-needed context without hurting the pacing of the game. They all feel intentional, and all the information presented in them adds to the overall narrative, and none of them feel like filler.
The narrative has a dreamlike mystique about it. The sisters care for each other, but they don't seem overly bothered or scared by their predicament. That, of course, is intentional, without giving too much away. Keeping with its survival horror roots, the game's story is more in the notes, and after the first hour or so of the game, cutscenes are dialed back in favor of environmental storytelling, small details, and nuance, which I always appreciate in survival horror games.
Classic Survival Horror Exploration
Instead of the classic fixed camera angles of the original game, Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake has taken the modern Resident Evil approach: over-the-shoulder camera. The change works well, just like most other modern horror game remakes. Mio feels heavy to play, and that is clearly intentional. She isn't a fighter or a police officer. She's just a young, ordinary woman, so she isn't a track star or able to roundhouse kick ghosts with no effort like Leon S. Kennedy.
Exploring Minakami Village is another highlight. The village feels like one gigantic puzzle box with smaller puzzle boxes tucked inside that must be solved in order to move forward and gain access to new areas. Again, all classic survival horror stuff.
While exploring, there are some light stealth elements. Mio will eventually pick up a flashlight, which lets the player spot items from a greater distance, but the use of it can attract ghosts to Mio's location. That creates a tense risk-reward system that is riveting. There is a crouch button that also lets Mio move much quieter. Though I will say, besides one part in particular in which there were several ghosts all on the path I needed to go down, I didn't quite see the stealth options being too integral into the game. That being said, it's early, and there may be more ways to use stealth than what I got to explore in this preview build.
Back when I said picking up items can be dreadful, Mio needs to search for items like health restoration and more film (basically ammo) for her only combat weapon, the Camera Obscura. Something I thought was quite clever was that there is a risk to picking up items. Sometimes, picking up an item will actually lead to Mio getting attacked by an enemy and force the player into a combat encounter. It's a great system that adds an additional layer to classic survival horror resource management.
Do you take the health item under the stairs and risk being attacked? Or do you leave it because you feel like you have enough and you don't want to chance being attacked? Those fight-or-flight questions create outstanding tension and atmosphere.
Modern Twists On A Classic Formula
Additionally, for the remake, there is now a map built into the U.I. in the top-right of the screen, which will mark save points (in addition to the game's generous auto-save system) and can be used to point yourself in the right direction. It's a nice feature, but if fans want to preserve the feeling of classic survival horror, it can be turned off. While the game does provide objectives and sub-objectives, the game does not tell you what to do or exactly how to get to places like a waypoint system. It's more like a decipherable map than a modern GPS.
Backtracking is still present in this remake, but it's done in a modern way, and almost makes the game feel like a Metroidvania in some instances. For example, in chapter four, I needed to collect two different keys to open a cell door. I had previously seen one of the keys I needed, but was unable to obtain it because I didn't have the items needed for the puzzle. Upon further exploration, I came to a giant library, which had two different paths to the same place that gave me one of the keys. Upon returning to the library, I could now look for the books I needed for the other puzzle and then return to where the first key was. Then I could do the puzzle, grab the second key, and make my way back to the cell room, which ended the chapter and my preview session (which left me craving for more).
Mio is sometimes with her sister, Mayu. During those sequences, Mio can hold the hand of her sister to slowly recover health. It's a good addition that adds a gameplay layer to the relationship of the sisters, as well as provides the player with the relief that the spirits will have a much harder time killing Mio when she's with her sister.
That being said, I did find Mayu's A.I. to be a little inconsistent. During combat, she will often cower in fear and not move. That's fine, the majority of the time, but she can be attacked, and she can die. So she sometimes ends up in the way of an intense combat encounter. That only happened a couple of times during my preview, but it was a little irksome.
Additionally, there is a "stalker" ghost of sorts that is unkillable, which will chase Mio and Mayu. The screen turns black and white, indicating Camera Obscura is currently useless. I found the chase sequences to be riveting the first two times they happened, but I started to find them a little more annoying than scary after that. Thankfully, they're not too frequent.
Snapping Killer Shots
Combat plays out in an expanded classic Fatal Frame style. Using the Camera Obscura, players battle ghosts and other spirits from a first-person camera view, just like looking through the lens of a real-life camera. Using different angles, focal points, and zoom settings, players take photos that damage the enemies. Mio and Camera Obscura start very weak, which enhances the survival horror aspects of the game. Each encounter feels like Mio is fighting an uphill battle. Eventually, Mio will pick up more powerful films and new filters that add some pretty interesting combat depth that isn't present in other Fatal Frame games.
The three filters, plus the no filter option, can all be toggled in the middle of battle with the press of a button. All the filters have different statistics, and they all have a Special Shot. One of the filters allows players to use Mio's Willpower to shoot a Special Shot that slows enemies down, and another one allows Mio to push enemies away.
With dodges, multiple filters, stealth shots, angles, manual zooming, Fatal Frame counter shots that lead to Shutter Chance (which lets Mio snap photos in rapid succession for maximum damage), and a plethora of upgrades for the camera and all its filters, Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake's combat has a surprising amount of depth for a survival horror game. With the addition of equippable Charms, which provide passive bonuses like higher damage using a certain filter, or more damage with stealth shots, or letting Mio survive what normally would be a fatal blow, I can see a lot of experimentation to be had for both newcomers and series veterans.
Though I must note that the combat works wonderfully against one enemy. When Mio is faced with two or more enemies, the combat becomes chaotic because of how much health the enemies have. Some enemy encounters are forced, and you have to defeat the spirits to progress. The spirits will often teleport around the room or go through walls, which makes them scary, but it also makes them sometimes frustrating to fight.
I found some of the encounters last too long, especially when an enemy becomes Aggravated, which lets them recover health and become more aggressive. Thankfully, there is a filter and upgrades for players to try to make those situations more manageable.
For example, early in the game, I had to go into a small room and pick up a key. That room also has some healing items and film, so I expected an enemy encounter, and sure enough, the door locks, and you have to defeat the spirit to get out of the room. The fight is fine at first. However, when that ghost is near death, another spirit will join the fight, which does add tension and fear, but it also makes the battle go on far too long. Because of the second enemy, it can also lead to some frustrating hurdles. The spirits are all unique with different attacks, patterns, and teleports. When you have more than one of them in a very small room, there is just too much going on all at once, which led me to be more confused than scared.
Thankfully, those encounters are few and far between, and most of the game's combat (at least in the first four chapters) is against just one enemy at a time, or it's running away and hiding from the "stalker" spirit.
A Terrifying First Impression
I walked away from my preview experience impressed and on edge, and that's one of the biggest compliments I can give a survival horror game. There is a lot of disturbing imagery and creepy moments that I didn't touch on in this preview because I feel they are best left unspoiled. I played the preview in the dark, headphones on, late at night, and I found myself looking over my shoulder a couple times because of the game's excellent sound design and intense atmosphere--two things that are essential to crafting a great survival horror experience.
I also got to experience two separate puzzles in the preview section. Neither of them were particularly challenging, but they did add to the lore and the world, which is always great. I expect there will be more nuanced puzzles in the final game that will require some thinking.
All in all, with Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake's new additions, like the addition of the camera filters and the new sub-stories (which I picked up two of, but I don't think I was able to complete either of them in the preview section), combined with modern gameplay design is gearing the game up to be a triumphant return of a survival horror classic. If the tense atmosphere holds out and the multiple enemy encounters remain infrequent, then it seems Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake won't just be a great game; it will be yet another classic horror tour de force return, much like Resident Evil and Silent Hill before it.
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake will release on March 12, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. A free demo will also be released on March 5, and players can carry over their story progress to the full game.