Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water Reviews
Technical issues aside, I had a good time playing Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. It’s comforting to see the effort that Koei Tecmo put in to make this otherwise practically impossible to get game to a much wider audience, considering that used copies can go for hundreds of dollars online due to the limited nature of its original release. If you have yet to try one of these games, this new release makes Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water the most easily accessible of the bunch and worth giving a shot.
Fatal Frame: The Maiden of Black Water is a weird choice for a remaster. A lot of it has not aged well, specifically its story and characters, and it also remains to be a middling-at-best example of the series. With subtle but important connections to the other games in the Fatal Frame series, it’s strange Koei Tecmo decided to remaster this one. Hopefully this leads to either a new Fatal Frame or more re-releases of the other stronger titles in the series, like Fatal Frame 2: Broken Butterfly.
The ABC of horror games is that they tend to be frightening, but Maiden of Black Water is not only true to that, but also fails to stand up to Fatal Frame name and delivers a simple, average experience on every level.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Fatal Frame was once a one-of-a-kind option in the realm of survival horror games, but that has long since gone. Maiden of Black Water is a modernized version that prioritizes graphics above quality and suffers as a result. It takes a lot more than a basic clean-up to make it work, but there's no denying it can be entertaining under the proper conditions.
If you've never played Project Zero, it's time to do it. Although this remastering does not involve the effort and work that I consider appropriate for such a work, the truth is that it may be a good time to enter the saga. The game is original, its gameplay is still fun, and the story behind Mount Hikami is still creepy, with grotesque elements like fighting ghost kids and their horrific deaths.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The remastered version of Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water offers improved visual effects, additional costumes, and a new photo mode that is quite deep. The problem is that in everything else the game fails. Despite the fact that its initial premise is very intriguing, the game fails to develop its plot with good pace. There is too much repetition in many of its main mechanics. All in all, the fact that the franchise has returned to Xbox after fifteen years is a credit.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water may not have been the best entry to remaster but it still does a solid enough job delivering a chilling enough experience with unique combat.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is undoubtedly a excellent horror game, sexy and beautiful characters, interesting plot. It inherited and optimized the unique battle style--using camera fighting with ghosts. The Janpanese-style horror atmosphere shaping makes the game have a very outstanding performance in the horror game genre.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is quite chilling, but don't expect it to meet the graphic standards of today.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
As successful as it is in presenting an extremely frightening and mysterious atmosphere, the game moves just as far back in presenting some of its structural components.
Review in Persian | Read full review
I do believe it is great to see Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water moved to the current generation devices and away from Nintendo's sadly failed Wii U console, but more could have been done for this re-release.
I have some mixed feelings. On the one hand, I adore Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water for its deeply old-fashioned control scheme and clunky gameplay. I love the rough-around-the-edges graphics that speak of a time that was slightly browner. I love the darkness of the storyline and the bleak personalities of the unfortunate characters. I love all these things, but my heart also longs for an improved version that controls better, looks better and sounds better. Maybe a new game in the series will take care of this longing, but until then we still have a very decent horror game that is well worth a stab.
There are bits and pieces that are cool or interesting, and others that are either duds or just too awkward to pass off as decent storytelling.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is the weakest of the Fatal Frame games and this remastered version fails to address its biggest issues, namely clunky traversal mechanics and a seriously wooden cast of characters. However, look past these shortcomings and, especially for fans of the series, there's still a lot to enjoy in the solid ghost-snapping action on offer here. It may not be the best game in the franchise, but this remaster will still give your spine a good tingle if you let it.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a very good throwback to the weirder survival horror games found on the PS2. It features a looming horror atmosphere I really enjoyed, and a unique gameplay hook with its motion controlled first person camera. While it’s not going to win any game of the year awards, I would think that Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water should be a must play for all survival horror fans, especially with its budget price.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water would be improved with a tighter pace, quicker battles, and more clarity when it comes to objectives in missions. As it stands, the game is often frustrating on both a gameplay and a technical level, but more importantly, it fails as a horror game, as its reuse of the same handful of scares quickly grows tiresome, with attempts to build tension falling flat.
This port of the clever and under-appreciated Wii U J-Horror game might feel a little old, but is a terrific example of a familiar genre given a unique spin.
Sometimes scary games have hurdles to overcome, and this particular Fatal Frame will likely be the first for many players. Maiden of Black Water is scary, but it isn’t too scary, and that goes a long way towards helping players actually complete the game.
For those seeking a new horror franchise to dive into Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will give that uneasy feeling of danger fans crave from horror titles.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is a strange release. It's not a remake, nor a remaster, feeling more like a re-release with a few added features. Visually, it's barely different to the Wii U Release, so if you've already played it, then there's not much I can say. However, considering the original was limited to the Wii U, with a limited audience, this version brings it over to modern consoles and the PC, keeping the excellent atmosphere and different combat system and making it control better than expected. Is it worth buying? That is very dependent on if you like horror games.