Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake

Steam Reviews

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• Recommended Posted March 15, 2026 on Steam The issue with the high ghost HP has been fixed so if you're concerned about that I can confirm it's no longer a problem. The game is very enjoyable now. The quality of the remake itself is top notch. Great graphics. The atmosphere is thick. Very spooky. Also, very fun. Recommend.
• Recommended Posted March 24, 2026 on Steam [h3]A beautiful remake of a classic horror title[/h3] As a longtime survival horror fan and a newcomer to the Fatal Frame series, I had a thrilling time with this game. It delivers a richly haunting atmosphere, blending an eerie yet beautiful countryside Japanese setting with a compelling mystery-driven folklore narrative. The story unfolds gradually through scattered documents and well-written sidequests. At its core is the bond between two twin sisters—complex, emotional, and just as central to the experience as the horror itself. There are five endings in total, all worth seeing. That said, while the two remake-exclusive endings are wonderful conclusions, they feel a bit too similar to one another. In true Team Ninja fashion, the difficulty can be rather unforgiving at first. For a game centered around exorcising ghosts with a camera, I didn’t expect mobility to play such a crucial role in combat. Compared to previous entries, the ghosts are noticeably faster and more aggressive, making repositioning and well-timed dodges essential. They feel bizarrely tanky and frustrating to deal with early on since your camera starts off very underpowered. Thankfully, this improves as your camera gets stronger. Once the combat clicks and your camera obtains some much-needed powerups, fighting ghosts become genuinely satisfying. Mastering different film types, filters, and reload timing adds a rewarding layer of depth. Visually, this might be Team Ninja’s most impressive-looking title to date. The dreamlike ambience of Minakami Village is surreal, with its blend of quiet rural landscapes and unsettling tatami-lined interiors. The ghost designs are also great, though their high-definition detail actually makes them less frightening than their more ambiguous, uncanny appearance from earlier games. But as with all other Katana Engine titles, the technical performance leaves a lot to be desired. The game suffers from occasional stuttering and is capped at 60 FPS on PC, while console versions fare worse with a 30 FPS lock. Cutscenes are also capped at 30 FPS across all platforms, though honestly, this didn’t really detract from my overall experience. My main pet peeves though lie in the postgame content. Photographing all ghosts, unlocking all outfits, and fully upgrading the camera is an extremely tedious process. Fully maxing out the camera, in particular, feels inhumanely time-consuming, actually taking longer than getting all five endings combined. Outfits are also outrageously priced, making it unlikely for the standard player to unlock even one of them before moving on to another game. On the plus side, the Chapter Select system and the ability to reset side quests help a lot in gathering missed collectibles, though these systems can be buggy and convoluted at times. Anyone aiming for 100% completion should be prepared for a massive grind. Overall, it’s an excellent modern survival horror experience. I’m officially a fan of the franchise now and look forward to what comes next. In the meantime, I’ll be diving into [i]Mask of the Lunar Eclipse[/i] and [i]Maiden of Black Water[/i].
• Not recommended Posted March 12, 2026 on Steam I'm not going to shelf this game because I love Fatal Frame, I've owned every one since the first's original release. I'll play this to the end no matter what, but I am incredibly frustrated by the gameplay changes. I know some people disagree, but I've always found the combat of the older games to be part of the tension: you're forced to stand there staring down the ghosts until you learn through muscle memory to take perfectly timed shots and some of those shot windows were HARD to nail down depending on the enemy. Yes, combat was slow, but it was SO satisfying learning the attack patterns and getting better at nailing fatal frames the more your timing improved. This game throws all the skill of timing out the window. The original games allowed you to believably kill spirits within a slower but still acceptable timeframe even with the weakest film in the game as long as you mastered timing. This remake adds in dodging, SIGNIFICANTLY slows down film reloads so that you are forced to use said dodging mechanic, nerfs the damage your shots do quite a large amount, extends the spirits' HP so it takes forever to even kill average randos that spawn in and won't even let you hit fatal frames until you widdle their health down a certain amount... The fatal frames are the whole point!! I don't understand who looked at Fatal Frame combat and decided to take inspiration from SOULS LIKE games for it. Why does Mio have a STAMINA BAR? Who has ever played Fatal Frame and thought... this would be so much more fun if I had a stamina bar depleting while taking photos in between reloads instead of the reloads just being a little faster like they used to be? I'm sure it improves with upgrades, but it's made the initial impression of the combat SUCH an awkward slog. Take a photo -> dodge -> dodge again because your film is probably still reloading -> take a photo -> dodge -> repeat until the ghost health is below the designated bar -> congrats you get a fatal frame -> oh but the enemy is enraged now so it regained half its health so.... do it all again! By the way, killing this one random ghost probably took 50 shots if you use type 7 film, but don't worry, if you use stronger film, it still probably took you about 20-30. The film is SO much weaker than other games at the start. Shutter chances don't even feel good anymore because stamina dictates how far you can extend them rather than timing / skill. I actually think these changes made combat feel even SLOWER than the originals. Also instead of spirits just appearing if you linger too long which added an element of anxiety to the other titles, now they just... kinda walk around the village map? You can see them through walls and take stealth shots? The spirits are supposed to be haunting MIO, why has that been reversed??? The story is of course amazing because it's FF2, the star of the series. There was no way for them to mess that up. But the gameplay feels like an ACTION game rather than survival horror and at least in my opinion, cheapens the atmosphere a lot. What a BIZARRE choice for this series. On a brighter note... the game runs perfectly for me. Wish the cutscene FPS were better. Everything else has been fine thus far. I'm still going to play it because FF2 is goated, but if you are going into this, know the combat changes are what's dragging the game down. Happy for those who like the changes! I wish I did too tbh.
• Recommended Posted March 13, 2026 on Steam When Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo randomly announced the remake of Fatal Frame II Crimson Butterfly, I honestly couldn’t believe it This was the game I used to watch my big cousin play back in 2012 when I was a kid Back then I never got the chance to play it myself, I could only watch So finally being able to play it now feels really special. The game starts with that legendary cutscene where Mio and Mayu enter the village The real gameplay begins after you get the Camera Obscura One thing I liked in the remake is the new feature where you can hold Mayu’s hand while walking to recover your willpower and HP, It’s a small thing but it actually makes you feel more connected to the game As you keep playing, you solve puzzles, do side stories, and take photos of revenants, specters, dolls, and wraiths Taking photos of ghosts is honestly one of the most fun parts of the game This is also why Fatal Frame feels so unique and different from other horror games I’ve honestly never seen many people talk about this game in my life, which is surprising because it’s really good Also thanks to Koei Tecmo for letting us turn off the film grain, The game looks much better without it As you read documents and play through the side stories and main story, you slowly realize how dark the story actually is When I reached the ending and Chou by Tsukiko Amano started playing, I honestly didn’t know how to react That song is really nostalgic for me, I’ve listened to it so many times before I finished the game in about 18.5 hours and I don’t regret doing the side stories at all, They were really good Overall this is a very good remake The only thing I didn’t like was the 30/60 FPS cap, They should have added an unlimited FPS option and kept 60 FPS for cutscenes I also don’t think this game is for everyone, It’s a very niche game and not everyone will enjoy the story But for people who have nostalgia for this game, it’s definitely worth playing
• Recommended Posted April 29, 2026 on Steam I first wishlisted this game about a month ago purely because it has a good-looking foil badge. And last week, I caught my friend playing it on Xbox, then the game itself grabbed me. So I finally bought it on Steam. A little pricey, but for such a unique experience, I think it's worth it. [h3]Homework May Help[/h3] I like watching people play horror games, but I barely touch them. And I'm not familiar with Japanese games either. So, before this, I knew almost nothing about the series or its story. But the game's popularity and the bit I saw my friend playing on Xbox got me curious. So I googled the storyline and watched a few videos, a tragic tale. Doing that homework made the whole experience way richer, but it did nothing to reduce the scary feeling. [h3]Overall Feeling[/h3] The twin sisters' story is genuinely heartbreaking. I'd already known the basic story, but the way the game tells it still hit me. And, although there are lots of jump scares, the real horror comes from the heavy, suffocating sadness that hangs over almost everything. [h3]My Weapon Is a Camera[/h3] I'm awful at these types of games, so I will pass my gameplay thoughts. But the weapon is so unique. The concept of snapping photos of ghosts to fight them sounds insane to me, and it is. You basically have to let them get right up in your face to get a good shot, which is terrifying, especially when some ghosts look very nightmarish. I wanna complain that the combat is slow, but I think that is because I was so terrible at playing. The whole game is pretty much like: explore the village, solve some puzzles, shoot some ghosts. It sounds repetitive, but every chapter is different. There is a very rich storyline in the game, and the tension stays creepy from start to end. [h3]Graphics[/h3] The visuals are both beautiful and dreadful. I constantly stopped in movie mode to observe the surroundings— the village is with the "abandoned for long enough time and everything is falling apart" vibe, the lighting, your flashlight cutting through dark rooms, moonlight filtering, butterflies drifting, and dust floating in the air. The game is really dark, sometimes maybe a little too dark. I could not even find where I was in the game sometimes, but it absolutely sells the feeling that you're never truly safe. I even looked back a few times to check if anyone stood behind me while playing the game. [h3]Soundtrack[/h3] The sound design is excellent. Playing with headphones on, I could hear footsteps creeping, whispers in my ears, pretty intense. It did give me a scary feeling. The ambient sounds, the wails, all come together to make it incredibly immersive, and the ending theme sounds great, too. Better pick the English voice because I think the Japanese one is a nightmare. It cranks the horror up ten times. [h3]About the Scares[/h3] I give it a 7/10 compared with Outlast (I don't even have the guts to try it), but it is a 10/10 to me. If you've read through every single word of my bullsh*t, thanks for your time! Have a good day and have fun :)
• Recommended Posted March 14, 2026 on Steam Old fart fan of FF series here. I owned and beat all games in the series except Spirit Camera (3DS), also owns the Japanese version of FF1-4 as my collection. When KT announced FF2R I nearly had a heart attack and was beyond happy now that I finally got to play it. This is the most advanced and beautiful FF game in terms of graphics, and aside from nixing the fixed camera angle, everything was almost the same as the original. It's still beautiful, atmospheric, with memorable frights and effective chills that still work 23 years later; testaments to how good the original FF2 was. Now, another reason I'm making this review is to give my opinion on FF2R's seemingly much criticized aspect: the combat. To be honest, I'm surprised that people are complaining about it. Even though the original FF2 was the first to feature the Fatal Frame/Time combo attack, any FF fans worth their salt would remember that its combat was still the weakest because it was much too easy even on Nightmare (the highest difficulty); all wraiths moved incredibly slowly (even in the Wii version, which featured wraiths powering up) and the camera did not need any charging unlike the first game. What this meant was combat became a slog as you waited forever for wraiths to attack in order to get a Fatal Frame combo attack. Players expecting the same, slow combat as the original will NOT find it in FF2R. When I first started FF2R, I jumped straight into Battle difficulty and was thrillingly surprised by how fearsome wraith battles have become. I have decided to play Normal difficulty instead for my first playthrough, but even then I still found some welcome challenges vanqushing wraiths. ...at least in the first 2 hours. You see... I love, LOVE the camera combat in FF series, to the point I almost only use type-07 film (the weakest ammo) to prolong and enjoy the wraith battles. Doing this in FF2R in the beginning hours is a big mistake, which I found out the hard way. Wraiths are much faster and far more aggressive (the drowned girl wraith, one of the slowest in the original, now moves like she's overcaffeinated on crack!), rush attacking you almost immediately even after a successful zero shot that stuns them. This happening while the camera is loading means that poor Mio WILL get knocked down and strangled. But really, the solution is so simple: either immediately switch to a fast-loading film, or dodge! Such simple tweaks to wraiths speed and behaviour forced me to relearn and adapt to FF2R's new combat, and this is something that I think should be appreciated greatly. Battles now feel far more intense and immersive, with Mio and the wraiths being much better animated and expressive. You will soon find that fast-loading films are plentiful in the game, and the game is generous enough to leave surplus films in place for later pick ups. Unlockables for damage boosts are bountiful that now, even only in Chapter Five at time of writing, I'm already finding myself one-shotting wraiths even without the most powerful film. And I need mention that I'm playing on a potato laptop, in 30 fps with 1600x900 resolution!! But combat is still very manageable, so these complaints about the combat difficulty seem curious to me. In closing, for horror fans or newcomers, FF2R is unique enough to stand out from the recent Resident Evil and Silent Hill releases, so do please give this a try! If you're an FF fan, picking up FF2R should be a no brainer. KT even managed to actually make those stupid and incredibly annoying 'ghost hand grabs' when picking up items in FF4 & 5 work intensely here! I always say that being an FF fans means knowing that beggars can't be choosers, after the frustratingly poor executions of Maiden of Black Water, I feel happy that we're still getting a new FF, and I'm more than excited to see what the future holds for my favourite horror game franchise.