After about 15 years,Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipsehas finally left Japan and is being made available on all modern consoles. A collaborative effort between Koei Tecmo and Goichi Suda’s studio Grasshopper Manufacture as well as being published by Nintendo,Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipsewas a 2008 Wii exclusive that most fans outside of Japan could only read about, and the few that played it had to know Japanese or install fan patches to understand the story. Now, everyone curious to play it will get to know how it holds up.
The answer is that, overall,Mask of the Lunar Eclipseis a solid entry in theFatal Frameseries and a great horror game, but not without its issues. The story is compelling and deals with some heavy themes while dripping in a haunting atmosphere, but some clunky movement controls and a lack of substantial graphical upgrades do little to hide the game’s age.
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As far as ghost stories go, the one inMask of the Lunar Eclipseis straightforward. Three girls named Ruka, Misaki, and Madoka visit the haunted Rogetsu Isle to find out the truth behind their mysterious pasts, and following behind them is Choshiro, a detective sent to the island to find them. Players take control of each of these characters at varying points in the story, as they pursue the different truths they are looking for while learning more about the tragedy that befell the island’s population.
Given the protagonists' connection with the island, themes of coming to terms with grief and overcoming trauma can feel pretty on the nose. But it is handled in a way that is effective while tying it into its gameplay. The protagonists are not the most fleshed out in their present-day forms, but reading diary entries written by them, listening to audio recordings they had made, and seeing them come to terms with the moments that affected them most make it easy to grow attached to the central cast. Given thelackluster narrative ofFatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, it is nice to play an entry that has a good story, even ifMask of the Lunar Eclipseis technically an older title in the series.
What is the best aspect of the game is the atmosphere. Given the moon’s importance in the story, it’s fitting it holds an undeniable presence whenever exploring a room with open windows or one of the few outdoor areas. Hallways with moonlight bleeding through the windows and seeing the moon’s reflection in a pool are two examples of how the player is reminded of its presence. It also helps to add a haunting but intimate layer to the environment and given the amount of backtracking the player has to do, having an incredible atmosphere helps keep the game exciting.
The atmosphere does a lot of heavy lifting for the game because despite this being aremaster ofFatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, the visuals look like they did not receive much of an update. Character models look fine and ghost designs are inspired, but seeing the environments up close gives a stark reminder as to how old the game is, looking incredibly pixilated and rough by contemporary standards. They look fine from afar, but it feels like more could have been done to update them while keeping the original atmosphere as superb as it is.
Another area where more improvements could have been made is in its controls. They work fine for the most part, especially in combat with Camera Obscura or Spirit Stone Flashlight prepped and ready to fire, but the movement could have used more fine-tuning. This is not a new complaint about the game, with the movement criticized for feeling clunky back in 2008. While it works during exploratory segments, it can feel disorientating since the camera only sometimes moves with the player character and not others. It becomes manageable with time and arguably helps keep the tension high, but it can be equally frustrating.
When the player figures out a good flow to combat, the game does develop the problem of becoming almost too easy. Between permanent upgrades to weapons and ease of accumulating enough points to purchase a plentiful supply of healing items and ammo, even the toughest enemies fail to stand much of a chance on the normal difficulty. This is doubly true when their patterns are figured out, and a Fatal Frame is triggered, causing massive damage with multiple shots in quick succession. It still remains satisfying to get a nice combo going from perfectly timed shots from the Camera Obscura or Choshiro’s Spirit Stone Flashlight despite the latter lacking the ability to trigger a Fatal Frame.
Although the game has a deliberately slow pace, with an emphasis on careful exploration and slow movement, the game has a relatively short runtime, with the in-game counter clocking in 8.5 hours at the end of a playthrough, but since time is not counted when in menus or cutscenes, an average playthrough is likely closer to 10 hours. Still, withFatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipsehaving alternative costumesto unlock, new lenses for the weapons that unlock after completing the game, a Mission mode, and New Game Plus, there are plenty of reasons to revisit the game after an initial playthrough.
For fans ofFatal Frameand the survival horror genre, seeingMask of the Lunar Eclipsehave an official English release with a solid localization is like a dream come true. Even if this remaster is hampered by some graphical updates that are barely noticeable and stiff controls, it is easy to look past those issues to experience a solid ghost story with an incredible atmosphere.
IfMask of the Lunar Eclipsehas the same success found withMaiden of Black Water’s port to modern platforms, thenremasters of otherFatal Framegamesor even a new game would have a better chance of being released. There is a lot of potential for renewed interest in the franchise, and despite gripes to be had withMask of the Lunar Eclipse’s remaster, the game itself still holds up as a solid horror game.
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipselaunches on March 9 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Game Rant was provided a PC code for this review.
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse
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A group of children mysteriously disappeared during a festival on Rogetsu Isle. Although they were found, they had lost their memories. Now they have returned to the island as teenagers. The girls rely on the Camera Obscura, a camera with the power to capture and seal away unthinkable horrors, and the faint beam of their flashlight while exploring various locations and fending off the ghosts that attack them as they attempt to discover the truth of their haunting past.In-game movies and character models have been improved to make the story and characters more appealing. In addition, the graphics have been improved for each platform. The rendering of shadows and the beam of the flashlight has been refined so players can experience more realistic horror.Pose characters and ghosts freely to create haunting memories in the new snap mode. Perhaps you may even take unexpected spirit photos by accident…
