Fatal Frame - a lovely idea (with rough execution)
Pictured: Promotional art for FF1 showing Miku
I got into the Fatal Frame series knowing very little. It was something I’d been meaning to do for a long time, but I never committed to it until recently.
As an idea, the thought of running around a haunted location without the usual weaponry (to be specific, a paranormal camera called the Camera Obscura) is a brilliant one. I love how the characters are everyday people equipped with cameras instead of guns. Having your main weapon force you into a close-up boxed off viewfinder when fighting freaky spirits is such a good idea. I also appreciate how the game and the series as a whole dives into Japanese mythology and religious customs.
Fatal Frame is, for better and for worse, the reason the rest of the series can exist. It’s a legitimately unsettling game with nearly unparalleled atmosphere, and the designs of both the manor and the ghosts themselves are nothing short of perfect. The controls are janky and unintuitive though, and they make an otherwise tense situation extremely infuriating.
The game begins the series trend of using colors in distinct ways. FF1 is a very muted game, its colors and shades all far less bright than later entries, and it has a focus on reds and oranges that helps important things stand out.
The game’s voice acting (as far as English goes, I’ve got no clue on the Japanese version) is also… not great. It’s by far one of the weakest aspects of the game, and the characters of Mafuyu and Miku are, for me, hard to get too bonded with.
FF1 also has a few rough spikes in difficulty (I’m looking at you Night 3) that make the many encounters you’ll be getting far more frustrating. One enemy in specific - the Wandering Monk - shows up repeatedly in some of the worst locations and at the worst times. The ghosts in FF can move and attack through walls. Makes sense, they’re ghosts right? But when you’re in cramped corridors with enemies that are basically attacking from another room things get infuriating quickly.
The story of the game is far more interesting. It warrants more than just one playthrough, as the sheer number of characters and threads that all tie together (both in this game and the others too) is a joy to spin together.
While I didn’t do it for my run, I highly suggest taking notes as you play. X character did this? Y character did that? Write it down, see how it all connects, and compare those findings to the later games too. It’s really enjoyable to mentally map out what exactly happened and who knew who in the manor.
All in all, the first game is a strong start to a series I genuinely enjoy. There are some rough patches; the voice acting/direction, the controls being incredibly clunky at times, the difficulty spikes without adequate build, etc. But even despite those downsides the game as a whole is a wonderfully thrilling step into a world of brutal rituals and madness.
Pictured: Miku on lower left, her brother Mafuyu on upper right.
