Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, Director’s Cut -Xbox- 8

October 29, 2024

I celebrated this year’s Halloween season by playing Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, Director’s Cut for the original Xbox. This is my first time playing a game from the Fatal Frame series, but my understanding is that each entry’s story is independent from one another and you can play them in any order you want. I got the standard ending for beating Fatal Frame 2 on normal, after going back to rescue Mayu in the final chapter. (And I later went to YouTube to watch the other three endings).

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is a survival horror game about two twin sisters, Mio and Mayu, who find a lost village while exploring deep in the woods of countryside Japan. The village is haunted by ghosts, and you soon learn about an ancient ritual where the villagers would sacrifice twins into an abyss that they believed to be a gate to Hell. The creepy history behind the lost village of Fatal Frame 2 is told subtlety by piecing together clues from lost diaries and film reels you find, as well as listening to audio clips on your spirit stone radio. Mio also experiences traumatic visions as she explores the village, slowly unveiling what happened in the past.

The game differs from other survival horror titles with the use of a camera Mio uses to combat the ghosts. It took some getting used to, but once I got the hang of how the shutter worked, I enjoyed battling the enemies with perfectly timed snapshots. When you are not defending yourself against spirits, you navigate the spooky village to find a way for you and your sister to escape.

Fatal Frame 2 evokes a tense atmosphere with disturbing imagery and unsettling sounds. There are many genuinely frightening moments throughout the playthrough, especially in the final third of the game. I got the chills every time Sae the female ghost appeared and chased after Mio. The visuals changing to grainy black&white and the use of eerie and alarming sound effects heightened the feelings of stress to terrifying levels.

Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly is a must-play horror title for fans of the macabre. The ominous mood, intense scares, and solid gameplay enticed me to uncover the dark history of the lost village’s demonic rituals, while exorcizing the ghastly spirits that stalked Mio and Mayu. I rate Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly an 8 out of ten.