After 15 years, Koei Tecmo brings to the west a remaster of the fourth game in the acclaimed Fatal Frame franchise. But does the horror gameplay and story of this polished-up photo game still deliver in 2023? Find out in Game8's review!

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Fatal Frame Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Rating: Review and Score Explanation

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Score Explanation

Fatal Frame Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Review: A Ghastly Photo Safari

The Fatal Frame IV remaster is one of the best ways for newcomers to get into the Fatal Frame series. It offers great atmosphere, visuals, and a unique gameplay mechanic through the Camera Obscura and Spirit Stone Flashlight.

There's no better way to experience this game from 2008 with updated graphics, so we suggest picking it up at its 50 USD price point, or at least wait for a sale if you're not in a hurry to play it.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Full Game Review

Pros of Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

Things Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Got Right
Great Graphics and Character Redesign Breathe New Life Into Game Creepy Atmosphere That’s Not Too Creepy Unique Gameplay That Keeps the Player Engaged Frightening Ghost Designs

Great Graphics and Character Redesigns Breathe New Life Into Game

Let’s start with the wonderful job Koei Tecmo has done with the remaster. Everything in the game looks sharp! The character models have been redesigned, and all the textures have been upscaled to HD. Ruka, Misaki, Madoka, and Choushiro all look much more detailed, with the crinkles in Ruka’s eyes, the prominence of Misaki’s nose, and the doubt in Madoka’s expressions all coming across much more clearly.

The environment comes across as much dingier now, as you can see the cracking along the walls, the oldness of wood in the textures, and the circles created by the light of your flashlight. Lighting, especially, got an overhaul in how shadows are created when shined on an object, how it darkens the rest of your surroundings when turned on, and how that light reflects off on your character model. It works well with the new subtle bloom effects, making the environment look much more realistic and creepy.

The remaster is also noticeably more colorful than the original, with blue moonlight pouring through the windows and most ghosts having a blue tinge. In fact, the game itself seems to have a blue filter compared to the original, maybe to emphasize the presence of moonlight and nighttime. Though I would’ve preferred it to look grungier with the original brown filter, the new one gives a more serene feel to the graphics.

Creepy Atmosphere That’s Not Too Creepy

In tandem with the graphics, Fatal Frame IV’s atmosphere is an experience. Right off the bat, you’re treated to almost no music at all. Just the low din of electric circuits, a howl of the wind, and the sounds of what seem to be an airplane taking off. While hearing this, you have to navigate through cramped and decrepit halls covered in rotting masks, illegible signs, and walls with cracked paint. Just walking through this place feels disgusting, and you can’t help but feel that a ghost is bound to come out at the next corner.

Adding to this effect, the field of view of the camera is just right – not too wide to give you a good peripheral vision of your surroundings, but not too close that you see nothing. It’s scarier to see a ghost pop up right behind you instead of keeping your eyes forward. Funny enough, Dead Space (another survival horror that used camera FOV particularly well) and the original Fatal Frame IV came out in the same year. Both games seem to have influenced each other so well in this aspect.

There’s also the traditional Japanese aesthetic of the game and its choice of enemies in ghosts that make the game stand out. Most horror games these days like the Resident Evil series are set in faraway locales and concerned with the rising of the undead, mutations, or the rise of a Satanic evil that threatens to envelop Earth. But in Fatal Frame 4, we find ourselves in Japanese hostels, abandoned hospitals, old shrines, bamboo forests, and lighthouses, where buddha statues, Torii gates, and talismans abound. It’s not only creepy, but refreshing too.

Lastly, there are just all the little details in the game that really shows you the effort that went into both the original and the remake. Masks on the wall sometimes fall off when you least expect them, ghosts suddenly emerge from behind, and the camera angles itself in very off-putting ways whenever you enter a door. Static sometimes clouds the screen whenever a ghost is near, and if you look close enough you’ll see there’s film grain too! Just like an old J-horror film.

And if you leave the game menu for long enough, you’ll start seeing specters in the corners of the screen. Very nice.

Overall, the atmosphere is very creepy, but not so creepy that you wouldn’t want to play it. You actually want to play it because of how thick the game lays on its J-Horror inspirations, and I find this a good balance that can keep players scared while still glued to the screen.

Unique Gameplay That Keeps the Player Engaged

So the Fatal Frame series’ gimmick has always been the use of the Camera Obscura, a camera that can detect and exorcise ghosts with the power not of the holy spirit but photography. But don’t think that you can just snap a photo willy-nilly at any ghost you encounter. You’ll have to not only aim the shot properly, but let them get near enough for you to take what’s called a ‘Fatal Frame’ shot, which deals maximum damage to ghosts.

This means if you want to get rid of the ghosts, you’ll have to let them get right up to your face and wait until they scream and lunge at you before taking a picture. Face your fear of ghosts making scary faces, and get rid of them in the fastest way possible. Of course, if you’re facing multiple ghosts, don’t just stand where you are. You’ll have to keep moving around, or else they’ll get ya. The walls won’t save you since they’re ghosts; they can just phase through the wall. That means if you’re fighting them in cramped close quarters, then good luck.

You can upgrade the Camera Obscura with Spirit Stones scattered around the level, as well as various lenses and upgrades that will make it into a more powerful photo-snapping machine. Just be careful whenever you’re picking up an item – a ghost arm might suddenly grab at you from out of nowhere.

But the game’s not all about taking pictures of ectoplasm. In sections that feature Choushiro Kirishima, you get to use the Spirit Stone Flashlight, which functions almost exactly like the Camera Obscura but instead of film, it uses moonlight. It also gives you a much wider field of vision compared to the Camera Obscura’s viewfinder. The only catch is that when you run out of moonlight, you’ll have to wait for a bit before it replenishes. So you’ll have to make each blast of moonlight count.

Aside from the combat mechanics, you’ve got your standard survival horror puzzles. There are also a lot of logs from different people who used to live on Rogetsu Isle, filling you in on the lore of the place and how the island met its untimely demise. All in all, the gameplay’s varied enough to keep you interested throughout its relatively short playtime and a decent plot.

Frightening Ghost Designs

Let me just go on a tangent about the game’s ghost designs because man, some of them are rather off-putting and fit the game very well. Of course, ghosts in other Fatal Frame games might surpass them in creepiness, but there’s just something about a lady in black pushing around a wheelchair of a living doll that just makes you want to nope your way out of whatever she’s haunting.

What kinds of ghosts do you have to deal with anyway? Dead nurses, patients who have gone insane with wide grey eyes, painters that throw paint at your UI whenever they attack, and a multitude of malevolent masked men as well as children, among other ghosts. Plus almost all of them have a ‘blooming’ version where they’re shown to have disfigured faces that you'll have to take pictures of. Wonderful.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that the game has a ghost list? Yes, it’s more or less a pokedex with ghosts. So you can approach this game as you would a session of New Pokemon Snap, taking pictures to fill your ghost list and gain access to certain unlockables once you finish the game.

Cons of Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

Things That Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Can Improve
Clunky Flashlight and Combat Controls Some Textures Appear Glitched or Low Resolution Game Might Not Be Scary Enough For Modern Audiences

Clunky Flashlight and Combat Controls

A note about the original Fatal Frame IV. It was released in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii, meaning you had to control the flashlight and Camera Obscura with its Wii Remote. Now, in 2023, you'll be instead using the joycons for the Switch, controllers for the PlayStation and Xbox, and the Keyboard and Mouse for the PC.

If you boot up the game, you can tell right away that the controls have been translated rather badly from the Wii to the other platforms I’ve already mentioned. On the PC, aiming the flashlight with the mouse is a slow process that forced me to crank the mouse sensitivity all the way up just to get a more tolerable experience. It’s also easy to make the mistake of running past a ghost and aiming the camera instead of quick-turn, turning you into a sitting duck for a few precious seconds.

That’s if you even find out that you could control the camera and the flashlight with the mouse in the first place. The tutorial teaches you to use the keyboard to aim the flashlight and shoot the camera, with no mention of mouse control whatsoever. For quick-turning, you’re told to use the V button, even though the ‘Tab’ button is mapped for quick-turning as well. So if you’ve been using your keyboard all this time since the game told you to, I suggest saving yourself the trouble and trying out the mouse.

Another (maybe petty) nitpick I have is how slow the characters move. We get it, you’re playing a couple of dainty girls who are exploring a haunted island, sure. But if they’re running from deadly ghosts, shouldn’t they be running just a bit faster? Not the girly gait that they’re currently using. The guy, Choushiro, can’t run fast either. Sure, the faster movement might make the game too easy, but a bit of an adjustment to help us position to fight ghosts in tight corridors would be appreciated.

Some Textures Appear Glitched or Low Resolution

At least on the PC version of the remaster, our team noticed rather grainy textures on some of the environments. Sure, the characters themselves look fantastic. But sometimes you’ll see the odd door or the odd wall or a wooden surface coated in a dirty, pixelated texture that clashes with the other HD textures. I hope they didn’t just run the original textures through an image upscaler, set it to 4k, and called it a day. I'm kidding, of course. An upscaler would produce better results.

Game Might Not Be Scary Enough For Modern Audiences

Lastly, I noted that Fatal Frame IV wasn’t really too scary. In fact, it was the perfect balance of scary and intriguing. However, I also know that I don’t have that big of a tolerance for Survival Horror games in general, so I can’t help but think that what I perceive as ‘perfectly scary’ might come across as ‘not scary at all’ to other players.

You can see it in some aspects of the game such as the enemy designs. Now hold on, I praised the enemy designs in the pros section, sure, but there are a few notable ghosts out there that don’t really look too scary. The nurses, for example, look more like ordinary people wearing makeup than supernatural beings. Hell, even the demonic ghost brat Ayako looks too human. Take away how she acts, and she wouldn’t be a scary ghost at all.

Another thing, when comparing the remaster to the original Wii version, the remaster is markedly brighter. Maybe lowering game brightness might help restore the original’s dark brown gloom somewhat, but the default bright haunted environments really take away some of the terror. Hopefully, someone comes up with a lighting mod in the future.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Story Plot

Ten years ago, Rogetsu Isle was a peaceful tourist attraction where the dazzling “Kagura Dance'' used to be held. But, one day, almost all of the island’s inhabitants had disappeared through unexplainable circumstances. The place has been left abandoned ever since, haunted by the restless spirits of its people.

Before the disappearance of Rogetsu Isle’s inhabitants, however, five girls were kidnapped and told to perform a so-called “Rite of Descent”. Though they were rescued, the events of their kidnapping left deep psychological scars on each of them.

In the present day of the 1980s, two of the girls have died under mysterious circumstances. This forced the three other girls (Ruka Minazuki, Misaki Aso, and Madoka Tsukimori) to go back to the island to find out what happened, or else death would claim them as well. Meanwhile, the detective who rescued them, Choushiro Kirishima, has returned to the island as well, to bring the man who kidnapped the girls to justice.

After 15 years of being only available in Japanese, Fatal Frame IV has finally arrived in the west with a remaster for the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 4/5, the Xbox One and Series S/X, and the PC. Featuring updated graphics and models, the game is a faithful upgrade of the original 2008 release which, until now, has never been officially localized.

Just like in other Fatal Frame games, players are not armed with guns or any kind of weapon, but the Camera Obscura, an occult camera used to find ghosts. Ghosts will be your only enemy, as you piece together the mystery of Rogetsu Isle, and how to remove the curse that seems to have trapped the spirits of its inhabitants. They can be defeated with the Camera Obscura, but the catch is that the player needs to let them get as close as possible to deal maximum damage.

Will you be able to solve the mystery of Rogetsu Isle, and help its spirits find salvation?

Who Should Play Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse?

Fatal Frame Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is Recommended if You Enjoy:

• Classic Resident Evil games
• Silent Hill
• The Siren series

Though you won’t find even a single zombie in this game, Fatal Frame IV will be a treat for fans of the first three Resident Evil games and Silent Hill for its creepy atmosphere and the great use of sound to set that feel (plus the pseudo tank controls, if you’re still into that).

Fatal Frame is also a must-play for those who have played another classic Japanese horror series: Siren. Games in the series also deal with traditional Japanese supernatural themes, as well as a creepy first-person perspective whenever you “sightjack” an enemy.

Is Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Worth It?

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Is Worth It if You’re New to the Series

The Fatal Frame series is rather famous in the survival horror genre, and also gives a refreshing take by using the surprisingly underutilized horror element that are ghosts. Fortunately, all games in the series are self-contained, so the Fatal Frame IV remaster is a perfect entry point for those who want to give the series a whirl.

Older fans might also like the game, though they may get turned off by the changes in how brighter the remakes are, how janky the controls can be, and the original games’ level design. Still, it may be worth a try, considering that a game that’s never been released in the west for the last 15 or so years is selling for 50 USD.

Plus, there’s all the costumes and accessories you can get if you beat the game on specific difficulties, as well as Mission Mode, so you’ll probably be spending a good 12 to 18 hours on this game and getting your money's worth.

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Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Trailer

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Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Product Information

Title	FATAL FRAME / PROJECT ZERO: MASK OF THE LUNAR ECLIPSE
Release Date	March 9, 2023
Developer	Koei Tecmo
Supported Platforms	PlayStation 4|5, Xbox One/Series S|X, PC
Genre	Japanese Horror Adventure
Number of Players	1
ESRB Rating	Teen
Official Website	https://www.koeitecmoamerica.com/fatalframe/mask/

Michael Mendoza Ab..

Reviews video games by day, tries to write novels by night. He's a sucker for open-world games (Bethesda Fallout titles, Mount and Blade Bannerlord, Grand Theft Auto), CRPGs (Planescape: Torment, Disco Elysium), and First-Person Shooters (Call of Duty, Battlefield, and immersive sims like Bioshock..