Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly - less scary, more reassuring

Aug 25

Pictured: Mio on the left, Mayu on the right. The Crimson Butterfly motif repeats heavily within this game.

Fatal Frame 2 is a great game. Fatal Frame 2 is a beautiful game.

I did not like Fatal Frame 2 as much as everyone else loves it.

Fatal Frame 2 is the continuation of the spiritual smack-around that is FF, and it delivers in a lot of ways. Mio and Mayu, the protagonists of our story, are endearing and adorable. The setting, now an abandoned town known as ‘All Gods Village’ is a solemn and spooky location.

The controls are still full of that early-gen jank but felt markedly less janky than the first game to me. New systems and abilities help to spice the camera combat up and having a partner there with you for some parts of them game (even if you never did help much Mayu) makes combat less tense.

I also love the use of colors the series has going forward. While FF1 had very stark muted color usage, FF2 has a large focus on red as a repeated color. The butterflies, the twins themselves, the shrine maidens and the lamps you use to save all give off this red glow.

The voice acting is better here too, and the story is given more time to come through the characters as opposed to happening at them. The rituals that take place in All Gods Village are comparatively less brutal (it’s really hard to be on the same level as Rope Maidens) but they’re harrowing nonetheless, and the introduction of more lore and connecting threads makes for some genuinely interesting revelations.

FF2’s difficulty never spikes as sharp or as high as its predecessor, and almost feels too easy in comparison at times. The game still has plenty of tense moments, and even a few that are frustrating for sure, but I found myself far less frustrated overall with the game.

Unfortunately, I also feel like they reigned in the fear factor far too much. The game still feels scary, it still has that sense of dread, and it still manages to make me think WTF many times, but the overall feelings that FF1 gave aren’t found here for me. I feel like they cut back on the scary stuff just a tad too much.

The ghost designs in FF2 are still stellar though, and I was spooked by several of them, even on repeat encounters. The game’s primary antagonist feels far more connected to the protagonists too, even if that connection isn’t always felt.

I can understand why FF2 is everyone’s favorite, and I love that others love it. I didn’t hate it by any means, and I look forward to adding it to my yearly Halloween binge, I just didn’t feel the same love for the game that others do. I’d absolutely recommend it though, a great game with great steps forward as far as the series goes.