u/cra3khead

Fatal Frame 5 is the most divisive entry in the series. Often being dragged through the mud for its tonal juxtaposition established by the previous titles and especially since it came after what is often lauded as the best title, Fatal Frame 4. Yet, it's undeniably the most popular entry and has yet to be surpassed in sales by any other title even the stellar Fatal Frame 2 Remake. Playing through its heavy themes of grief and its brilliant (if flawed) mechanics made me realize it's actually one of the most misunderstood survival horror games out there.

On one hand, the game tackles incredibly dark, heavy themes of guilt, severe depression, and even an incest ghost baby (wtf) and the new glance mechanic is genuinely a great addition adding onto the camera obscura’s fatal frame capturing the ghosts most intimate moment being the split second their attack rips at your body. The glance feature lets you witness how the spirit ended up like that in the first place after you banish them from existence allowing for a more emotional connection to the ghosts you exorcise.

On the flipside… you’re constantly pulled out of the atmospheric isolation they could’ve built up with Mt Hikami by the arcade style mission drops and rankings which allows you to buy literally any item in the game before you start the next mission. Like, I get it was to give the game a bite size playstyle for the Wii U but like even Ubisoft’s ZombiU didn't do that I have no idea why they went this Bayonetta style route.

Now to discuss the two obvious additions to the ghosts. Team Ninja’s fanservice is a bit too much as they’re competing with the level of jiggle physics found in Dead or Alive. You're supposed to be terrified of these tragic shrine maidens, but the FATAL FRAME is highlighting… something else entirely.

Regardless I think this game was unfairly maligned and the large gap between the metacritic’s critic and audience scores reflect that sentiment. This game is ultimately the most misunderstood horror game I’ve played and while it doesn’t take itself as seriously as the other entries in the franchise. You can't deny it being the most popular entry in the series and is definitely a game worth experiencing. Beneath the fanservice and repetitive structure is a deeply empathetic story about loneliness that I don't think gets enough credit.

Mask of the Lunar Eclipse remains a severely underrated release in survival horror history. Bringing in Suda51 to co direct a Fatal Frame game sounds like a fever dream on paper (I liken it to how Kojima was set to direct a Silent Hill entry), but it ended up creating one of the most atmospheric and psychologically dense entries in the franchise.
Suda51 has always flirted with horror (Twilight Syndrome, Moonlight Syndrome, seems like his horror stems from the moon, huh?), but Fatal Frame 4 feels like the only time his writing was grounded by pure, traditional survival horror mechanics.
Playing through it, the atmosphere is incredibly heavy, but it still has those distinct, slightly off kilter Suda character dynamics. The way the game handles memory and trauma feels like a precursor to some of his later work but wrapped in that classic Fatal Frame tension.

I recently played through Doom 3 in coop with a buddy who’s a Quake arena veteran. He spent the whole time complaining about the slow pacing and lack of movement tech. But playing alongside him made me realize that modern Doom owes its entire identity to this 2004 entry.

The industrialized, corporate UAC base on Mars is identical. Olivia Pierce is effectively a gender bent Malcom Betruger. Both are elite scientists who betray humanity, open the portals, and are ultimately forcibly mutated into the final boss by the demons they foolishly trusted. 

Doom 3 was stuck chasing the trend of Half Life esque gameplay and storytelling. They then attempted to follow up with a Call of Duty styled Doom 4 aptly referred to as “Call of Doom,” but they quickly realized that such a pioneering game studio was slowly becoming creatively bankrupt if they kept going down the path of trend chasing, they had to look back retrospectively at Doom 3. By perfectly inverting the survival horror elements into a power fantasy, they built their modern magnum opus.

Do yall agree that Doom 3 deserves more credit for setting up the modern era?

Suda has always been a master at using eccentric presentation to mask deeply existential narratives, but with Romeo is a Dead Man, I think he delivered his most cohesive, polished game since 2012.

If you look at the progression from Killer7 to No More Heroes, Suda has always danced around the "Kill the Past" motif. But Romeo feels like the ultimate culmination of that philosophy. Instead of relying on raw style to mask clunky mechanics, Grasshopper actually built a tightly polished hack and slash game with a narrative weight to keep you thoroughly engaged to completion.

More importantly, it’s a masterclass in subverting expectations. Taking the most exhausted romance trope in fiction and turning it into a hyper fatalistic story about multidimensional rivals locked in a loop of cosmic grief is exactly why Suda deserves the same reverence as the other visionary directors such as Yoko Taro and Kojima.

I feel like I'm going crazy watching the backlash against this game. Seeing people and massive creators drop it after three chapters and write it off as mid or even "creatively bankrupt" is incredibly frustrating.

Is it derivative? Absolutely. When you jump from roots, it feels like Spiderman. When you see the rusted Golems, it screams Horizon. And yeah, Emma is just a mashup of 2B and Eve from Stellar Blade. But derivative doesn't mean soulless.

This was a 6 year passion project for developers who have been chained to the same formula for decades. They clearly just wanted to channel everything they love about Nier, Ghost of Tsushima, and Fromsoftware into one cohesive work. you can feel that heart in Emma and Koo's dynamic. It's like the darkest possible reflection of the classic creature companion formula from Pokemon, where progression is literally tied to Koo's physical decay and blight.

Reviewers who rushed it missed the profound emotional payoff that comes from actually completing the journey. it's a game with a small budget, great gameplay, and incredible music that actually attempts to say something about trauma and survival.

Since Sony is hellbent on expanding the brand with Lego games and Monster Hunter esque spin off, do you think they should buy Ninja Theory to bring out more story driven single player games. They have the talent and Microsoft seems to be giving them away.

I recently played Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the first time, and I was completely blown away by how well it holds up. Before Ninja Theory completely redefined cinematic storytelling in games with Hellblade. Enslaved was their stepping stone in mastering character driven narrative design.

Looking back at it after watching Alex Garlands movies like Ex Machina, Civil War, and Warfare, his fingerprints are all over this script. Flipping the script on Wukong’s headband to be used as both a mechanical constraint and a metaphor for coercion/control feels so distinctly his style of sci-fi. 

Back in 2010, Unreal Engine 3 was the game engine to render thick men in suits in grimdark corridors like Gears of War and Batman Arkham. Ninja Theory completely fought the engine to deliver this lush, sun soaked concrete jungle that laid the foundations for The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn. 

The tragic symmetry between Trip and Pyramid at the climax harkens back to The Master of fallout one providing one of the most morally ambiguous endings in gaming. 

It’s obvious that Star Ocean 4 delivered a much more cohesive, high fidelity space opera experience. Mass Effect 1 is teetering on dogshit territory, and it only gets a pass because the sequels carried. People labeled this game as anime goonbait slop, while ignoring that it has better world design, a more ambitious scifi story, and a romance that actually feels like part of the narrative instead of a gooner cutscene reward. Tri Ace was in their prime here, Star Ocean 4 and then Resonance of Fate the year after! Do yall think this game is unfairly maligned?