One of the more surprising announcements Nintendo made during its E3 Direct was the remaster of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. It’s due to release on the Switch sometime later this year. The game will not only have updated graphics, but will also feature new costumes and photo modes (appropriately) whenever it’s eventually released.
Maiden of Black Water follows the story of three different protagonists trying to survive a haunted mountain. In case you don’t know, the main gameplay loop of the series involves attempting to exorcise the spirits around you by taking pictures of them with the Camera Obscura. Fatal Frame is not one of Nintendo’s hottest franchises — Maiden of Black Water was the last game released in the series back in 2014.
The game was one of the few horror games released on the Wii U. The only question is how the game is going to transfer one of its central mechanics over to other consoles: The in-game Camera Obscura was controlled with the Wii U’s controller screen, the unwieldy precursor to the Switch. There’s no way of telling how that mechanic is going to transfer over to the Switch. Still, it couldn’t do much worse than the game’s original worse, which got a very tepid critical reception.
Don’t let the game’s appearance at the Nintendo Direct fool you, though: The game is also coming to other consoles in addition to the Switch. Specifically it’s launching on Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Considering it originally launched for the Wii U, a console with infamously abysmal sales, it’s about to reach a much larger audience than it ever has before. If this sells well, there’s a chance that publishers Koei Tecmo might revive the series — the series producer said last year that he’s not yet given up on there being another Fatal Frame game.
