Fatal Frame

Overview

Fatal Frame is a survival horror game from Tecmo set in Japan in 1986. It was released on December 13, 2001 in Japan and later on March 4, 2002 in North America to positive reviews and has since spawned multiple sequels and spin-offs. Fatal Frame set the tone of the games to follow, casting the player in the role of a character in a haunted environment with a special camera as their only defense against angry spirits. In North America, the game was billed as being based on a true story, though no such claim was used in its Japanese marketing.

Gameplay

Fatal Frame is a survival horror title in the vein of the earlier entries in the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. As the player moves through the environment, the game's fixed camera angles will shift, obscuring what lies around corners. The player's only weapon and primary tool is the Camera Obscura, an antique camera that has the ability to defeat ghosts and reveal clues hidden in the environment. When actively using the Camera Obscura, the game shifts to a first-person view. Like a normal camera, it also requires film, several grades of which are available and that can be found scattered around the environment. The weakest film grade does little damage to ghosts and is only useful for taking pictures of clues, but more powerful film grades can cause damage to even the most powerful of spirits wandering the mansion's halls. The Camera Obscura can also be upgraded to improve aspects such as shutter speed, effective range, and damage strength.

Plot

High school student Miku Hinasaki travels to the Himuro Mansion, an old, abandonned manor, in search of her missing brother Mafuyu. Two weeks earlier, Mafuyu had traveled to the mansion himself in search of his mentor Junsei Takamine, an author that had previously disappeared along with both his editor and his assistant while performing research for his next noevel. Initially armed with only a flashlight, Miku eventually finds the Camera Obscura, the key to her survival.

As Miku delves deeper into the mansion, she uses the camera to fend off ghosts as she uncovers what happened to Takamine and his associates, the horrific history of the mansion, and what happened to her brother.

Characters

Miku Hinasaki

The primary character of Fatal Frame. Miku Hinasaki is the daughter of the deceased Miyuki Hinasaki, who possessed a special sixth sense. Miku inherited that ability from her mother, and as a result, she can sense some of what happened at the Himuro Mansion when she touches items within its walls. With her mother dead, Mafuyu Hinasaki is Miku's only family. She came to Himuro Mansion to find out what happened to him after he failed to contact her for two weeks. Her sixth sense tells her that he was kidnapped by a ghost in a white kimono with long, flowing hair.

Mafuyu Hinasaki

Mafuyu is Miku's missing older brother. He is playable during the game's prologue as he searches for Junsei Takamine and his staff. However, Mafuyu is also taken the ghosts.

Kirie

A woman raised to become one of the rope shrine maidens of the Himuro Mansion. As a part of the preparations for the rope shrine ritual, she was raised in seclusion and kept away from others she might form an emotional bond with, but who falls in love with a handsome young man. When the ritual fails and Kirie is killed, the rituals participants and other figures within the manor are all killed in a horrific bloodbath. In the present day, Kirie spirits Mafuyu away because of the striking resemblance to the man she loved. She is the ghost in the white kimono that Miku's sixth sense warns of.

Mansion Confusion

Following the release of Fatal Frame, minor confusion arose as to whether or not the Himuro Mansion, the haunted locale in which Fatal Frame is set, actually exists. Fans believed that the Himuro Mansion in the game is based on a legendary mansion of the same name located just outside of Tokyo, Japan. However, the mansion and its grisly past are entirely fictitious and were concocted by the game's development team, with inspiration and influence taken from local folklore and urban legends.

Unlockables

New Costume for Miku

Beat the game once. Then load the file, choose Story Mode with Special Costume.

Battle Mode

A mini-game focused on battling ghosts. Beat the game once.

Game Soundtrack

Beat the game once.

Nightmare Mode

Nightmare mode is the game's hardest difficulty, in which the strength of all ghosts are doubled. To unlock this mode, the player must complete Battle Mode once and the story mode twice.