Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water Reviews
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.
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.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is still an intruguing survival horror experience with creepy atmosphere and engaging story, but younger audiences may not like its old-style controls and slow pace.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water (Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water) just pulls you in and then never lets go. And it really works through great atmosphere, powerfull sound design, stylish artwork, interesting plot and an interesting combat.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water does some things well and misses the mark on others. It generates tension well, but it depends too much on the simplistic, yet rewarding camera-based combat. Either way, Maiden of Black Water offers something compelling for horror fans to dig into, as long as you can accept its shortcomings.
You could do a lot better than Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water this Halloween season; the PS5 has built up its horror library up just enough for there to be something else worthy of your time. Those cutscenes, though. Very creepy.
Project Zero can be frustrating, scary, demanding and off-putting all at once. Fans of Japanese horror will enjoy this, whereas the repetitive combat and recognisable enemies will put others off severely.
[I]t's got an interesting story. It's got some really wicked visuals. The ghosts are creepy as shit. Some of the jump scares are pretty bad. And it just has this sense of creepiness that all the Fatal Frame games have had. So if you're familiar with this franchise, you're gonna be right at home. If you've never played 'um before, it's okay. The games kindof connect via some of the characters, but it's usually a completely new story, so you can jump right in this and still have a great time with it.
As for established fans, it is a solid game. If you are willing to adjust your gaming posture and stretch your back a bit, you'll find a nice package here. The new ideas can be a bit gimmicky, but they all work together nicely. It's the controls, both the motion and dual-analog, that are what hold it back from a full recommendation.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is going to be a tough sell for those who aren't familiar with the franchise. It's got a lot of questionable design decisions and feels like a more bare bones experience than past games of the series. But it's Fatal Frame, these games only come along in a blue moon these days, so savor them while they still exist.
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
Fatal Frame Maiden of the Black Water in 2021 is just a port of the 2015's game, with nothing more than a few outfits and a Photo Mode. If you want some scary experience before Halloween, or are a fan of the franchise, you'll get exactly what you are looking for, with the same camera issues and a few technical hippcups.
Review in French | Read full review
Project Zero V satisfied us. The title effectively outlines a story characterized by suffering, loneliness and hatred, relying on the typical suggestions of Japanese horror productions. The final result has obvious flaws, which, however, fail to cool the enthusiasm for a production that proposes a way of conceiving the videogame horror almost of other times.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water is the worthy successor of its elders. The atmosphere is oppressive at will, we constantly have the feeling that a hand will come to catch ours (which often happens), the overall rendering is very pretty and we find the sensations of yesteryear.
Review in French | Read full review
Ultimately, the revival of Maiden of Black Water on modern hardware is a welcome operation but that is partly a wasted opportunity. The remaster will allow fans of the genre to rediscover an interesting experiment among survival horror, but a greater care would have made the last episode of Project Zero usable by a much wider audience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
As much as I love the Fatal Frame series, I’m not at all hopeful for the future of the series if the publisher thinks this title will renew any interest in it. It’s cumbersome, unfocused and simply not fun to play. Sorry Koei Tecmo; I really love the original trilogy, can we bring them back instead please?
Fatal Frame continues to treat the split between shooting and running as a productive tension, with results that are equally exciting and scary.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water certainly delivers when it comes to scaring the player witless, and its use of the Wii U GamePad is commendable. If only other developers had been so bold with their ideas, Nintendo's console might not be in the dismal commercial predicament it currently finds itself in.
There are certain aspects to Maiden of Black Water that I can't help but question, but overall, it's a solid addition to the series, and finally provides gamers with the feeling of holding a Camera Obscura with the help of a GamePad. And that pushes the gameplay a long way. If it's a scarefest that you're after this Halloween, Fatal Frame is worth the download. Just make sure you have an external hard drive set up first – it's a massive 13GB.