Looking for a comprehensive Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Review? We’ve got you covered! A decade-long terror awaits on Rogetsu Island. 10 short years beforehand, a mysterious incident occurred, involving 5 young girls going missing; once found, all memory from before their rescue was murky. Now, 3 of the 5 girls return, being beckoned back to the Island by something, to find answers? Or become the next victim of something which shouldn’t have happened. Here is our Fatal Frame: Mask Of the Lunar Eclipse Review.
Developed and published by Koei Tecmo, dares you to enter into the “Unforgettable Horror” of Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. Standing as the 4th instalment in the franchise, and the second to be remade for modern technology after Maiden of Black Water, our delve into the Horror inspired by Japanese culture is part of the best survival horror franchises I have experienced, but Maiden of Black Water is still better.
STORY
The story, like most Fatal Frame games, follows a central female protagonist through events which are supernatural. Mask of the Lunar Eclipse begins 10 years prior to the current events, and ones which you play through. In 1970, a mysterious disappearance took place on Rogetsu Island, which led to all inhabitants dying, 5 young girls disappearing, and the lunar phenomenon known only to affect the people of Rogetsu Island called Blossoming. We can return to this later, now, in the present day, and when you take control of the characters, you begin playing as Madoka Tsukimori, one of the 5 girls who dissapered 10 years prior, returned to the island with her friend Misaki Aso to learn what happened and why they have no memory of the events until they were rescued.
As you take control of Madoka Tsukimori, you learn that Misaki Aso has disappeared, and you will have to look for her alone, in a spooky old building. What could go wrong? Ultimately, Madoka is Spirited Away and ends up becoming a Wraith (Vengeful Spirit). Continuing the story, you take control of the “True” main character, Ruka Minazuki, who is a third girl who went missing. The missing 2 who have not been mentioned died before the events of Misaki and Madoka coming to Rogetsu Island. While Misaki is on the island to learn about a special individual with whom she feels a connection, Ruka feels like she is called back to the island and wants to know why she can’t remember. As she says
If no one remembers something, did it realy happen?
This is also the central theme for the game, with it revolving around Amnesia, Ritualistic Depiction, and Rediscovery.
As the game progresses, you get your third character, who is a former detective named Choshiro. Choshiro’s role is because of Ruka’s mother requesting him to save Ruka once more after she learns that her daughter has returned to Rogetsu Island. While Choshiro has this goal to aim for, his own agenda is masked by him seeing and chasing after a suspect he believed was the kidnapper 10 years ago, a person named Yo Haibara.
As the game progresses, the characters’ stories start to come together, and they learn things that they had forgotten; however, other things are revealed to the player, more than just the events of 10 years ago. Each character’s storyline spans a set number of Phases (Chapters) and concludes at different intervals. An example is Misaki’s story ends in Phase 8, whereas Choshiro’s finishes in Phase 10, and Ruka continues to the conclusion of the game.
Mechanics, Graphics, & Technical things
Mechanically, the game plays like a PS2-era game and looks like it with some of the lower resolution textures and bitty sounds; however, the character locomotion states and models look and feel like they are from mid PS3 era upwards. The horror mechanics are limited, however, with jumpscares, encounters, and an overall horror theme being minuscule. While these are bad, considering this is a Survival Horror game, mechanically, you could just spend a lot of the time in a walking simulator, haunted house style. Not very encouraging, right?
Graphically, the game is dark, almost tranquil, with its limited horror encounters throughout the events. I mean, just look at this, it’s like it was made to be a survival horror game, but only the atmosphere is what would count for this. Due to no “Random” encounters, the game is just really rather boring a lot of the time, and you find yourself walking through hallowed empty halls hoping a Wraith will jump out at you. This, coupled with the “Scripted Chance Encounter” System, means you are in a Walking Simulator a lot of the game when scripted encounters are not in effect. Sorry to say, Maiden of Black Water has this beat. That being said, the game is still as interesting as its successor, with an emphasis on utilising a camera of all things to deter, wound, and defeat opposition within the world.
CONCLUSION
Overall, while the game is good, it doesn’t live up to the Horror game as part of the Fatal Frame franchise, I know. From a personal standpoint, Maiden Of Black Water was way worse than this instalment. I like horror games, but as this goes, Fatal Frame: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse doesn’t hit the criteria I like. Don’t get me wrong, the game is good, but there are lots wrong with the game, for instance:
- No Localisation
- Animation States are not changing when damaged
- Characters don’t run into each other (this is touched on next)
- Not a satisfying conclusion
So one of the biggest problems I have with the game is that the characters don’t run into each other, or find evidence that the others have been there, other than Madoka leaving notes, and the environment being impacted. This goes hand in hand with the conclusion to the game, which I won’t say left me unsatisfied for a horror game; it just felt like the ending was missing. While it’s hard to conclude a horror story with this magical ending, where everything works out, Remedy’s game Alan Wake franchise explains it well.
“The greater the evil, the higher the cost the hero must pay” “There is no fairytale ending to a horror story”
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is no different, with the greatest threat to the characters being the Blossomed Wraith Sukuya; each of the characters has a price to pay to make it through the long night. The only trouble with Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is that the price they have to pay seems to be paid by Ruka, meaning that Misaki and Choshiro get off lightly. This isn’t the case, however, Misaki’s price is losing the people she cares about, which means the one in her memory and Madoka. Choshiro is a bit different as his price is himself. At the conclusion of his story, it is revealed that he is already a spirit, meaning he paid the price when he was alive. What is unclear is whether it was real-time or in the 10 years prior, and he has been waiting to fulfil a promise; either way, his cost for helping Ruka is to rest in peace. Ruka, on the other hand, knows full well what is going on by the time the game ends and what happened, equating to the loss of her father, who, in the end, tried in his own way to prevent what occurred.
While it is a more or less a sad ending, full of loss and pain, regardless of the ending, the game is good, and despite the distinctive lack of encounters, I really enjoyed the game. While I still wish it was longer and, by the time I reached the epilogue, I wanted more from the story, I can be happy knowing that at least 2 of the characters resolved the situation on the island. I am, however, stuck with the after-credits sequence where it shows the Moon reflected in a pool of water, and I can’t help but think that there is more to Mask of the Lunar Eclipse than the story.
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