Out of focus.
Survival horror fans are having the time of their lives at the moment, with remakes and new entries coming from franchises including Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and now Fatal Frame. Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo have paired for Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly Remake, though sadly this one doesn’t reach the heights of other remakes in the genre.
Crimson Butterfly Remake is a retelling of the 2003 PlayStation 2 original. Like other survival horror titles at the time, the original employed fixed camera angles, though added the concept of the camera obscura, a unique tool that both solves puzzles and fights back against malicious spirits. Twins Mio and Mayu Amakura use said camera after being trapped in Minakami Village, a land steeped in mystery and vengeful spirits. Playing as one twin, it’s up to you to save your sister, uncover the secrets of the area, and ultimately escape.
Just like Resident Evil 2 Remake took the original’s core concept and updated everything for modern times, Fatal Frame 2 Remake at least does the same in terms of camera angles. No longer fixed, you’ll play in third-person and are able to control the camera at all times while investigating Minakami Village. When it comes to other modern enhancements, though, Crimson Butterfly Remake falls flat; in fact, Project Zero 2 Wii Edition has almost as many enhancements and that’s from back in 2012.
First — and as many have lamented when starting up the remake’s demo — the game runs at 30 frames-per-second on console (even on PS5 Pro) and with such severe film grain it’s hard to see what’s going on at times. Graphics are updated as compared to the 2003 original, but not by much and still look like something out of the PS3 (or PS4 in terms of some truly beautiful lighting); you’d be forgiven for mistaking this as a remaster rather than a remake. Photo mode turns off the film grain and really illustrates how pretty Crimson Butterfly Remake can look, but that’s not what you’ll be seeing as you play.
At default settings, Crimson Butterfly Remake is incredibly dark, which compounds existing visual issues. Attempting to correct this and lightening things up only makes the film grain effect more noticeable.
Fatal Frame 2 Remake is also extremely reliant on tutorial screens, the first of which pop-up to explain the concept of a flashlight. These tutorials continue, on and on and over and over, and are frankly too numerous and too confusing. This entire feeling of confusion extends into the camera obscura itself, with a series of numbered film types that I was never able to keep straight in my head. Some are powerful and take longer to reload, while others are quick and weak. I generally tried to use whatever was plentiful and quick.
Combat, through the camera, is incredibly frustrating. You’ll hold the camera to your face and are tasked to track and focus on enemy spirits to attack them. Taking a photo of your opponent will decrease their health, and you’ll be rewarded with extra damage by keeping the enemy in frame for a while and then taking a shot at exactly the right moment when the baddie is about to attack. Do this with consistency and you’ll be able to take a fatal frame (the name of the game, wow!).
Enemies are rather difficult to track with the camera, and frame rate drops certainly don’t help. What’s more, enemies will sometimes blip out of existence to rematerialise directly in front of you for a cheap jump scare. They’ll shift in and out of existence to your sides, which mean all the framing you’ve been engaging in is for nothing. Battles also take far too long and consist of shooting, dodging, lining your shot back up, and repeating. Heaven help you if your opponent randomly decides to regenerate its health while you’re loading film.
There are some fun moments to be had, of course — sneaking around spirits rather than engaging with them can be quite tense, and the story that unfolds as Mayu investigates the village is compelling. The problem really resides with core gameplay surrounding the camera obscura, which is too obscure for me to enjoy.
I’m not trying to yuck anyone’s yum here and realise that there are many Fatal Frame fans who will be as pumped for this remake as I was Resident Evil 2. To those people, I truly hope that you have a blast. To many others, most of whom have just experienced truly desperate and bleak survival horror through Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem, I say simply that this ain’t it. You’ll end up far more frustrated than entertained.
Gaming has moved on since 2003, but Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly Remake seems to want to look and play true to its original. I can’t recommend this to most as a result, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Grab the demo here on Steam, here on Xbox, here on PlayStation, or here on Switch 2 and have a look for yourself. Save data carries over if you decide you want to continue with this $75 AUD game.
Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly Remake heads to Windows PC via Steam, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS5, and Switch 2 from 12 March 2026.
Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly Remake was reviewed using a promotional code on PS5 Pro, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.
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Fatal Frame 2 Crimson Butterfly Remake13 March 2026PC PS5 Switch 2 Xbox Series S & X
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