These multi-leveled structures are playgrounds for ghosts and the imagination, and poking into every nook and cranny sells the sense of desolation and destruction. Exploring an abandoned building often involves discovering which doors are locked, searching for keys, creeping through soggy basements and running along rickety porches. Watching my character slosh through stagnant ponds of dirty water made me feel uneasy watching her flashlight play off gravestones and ancient, broken stone lanterns made the setting feel chillingly real. Apartments are bathed in the dull golden glow of lamplight, creating a sense of warmth but also emptiness. Abandoned shrines sit coldly under canopies of dark, dripping leaves, shadows playing along decrepit wooden beams. The graphics aren't the sharpest, but the game does an amazing job of setting a sorrowful tone and creating an atmosphere of simmering tension. But the game is at its best when it sets you down in an area and lets you explore on your own. Not exactly surprised, here.įor the most part, Maiden of Black Water tells you exactly where you need to go and keeps you firmly on the path to getting there. I found it difficult to empathize or care about these people, because Maiden of Black Water tells you these relationships exist but doesn't bother to show you why they exist, or why they matter. Character decisions like this are abrupt with no drama or emotion behind them they are only things that need to happen to further plot. Yuri's aforementioned decision to find the missing is not given much context she just does it, apparently with no motivation given. There's barely any progression within relationships, no reason to believe a young woman looking for her mother actually gives a damn about her mother or that Yuri's guardian cares about Yuri. Every line is delivered in the same stoic, stone-faced way. Lifeless lines are delivered through lifeless acting, and the story gives little indication of genuine affection between its characters. It’s hard to care about anyone in Maiden of Black Water because nobody acts like they care, either. It doesn’t help that characters have punishingly little depth. Much of the middle is a tedious slog, as you retread previous areas wringing little revelatory substance. Discarded notes and journal entries scattered throughout each area add color to events, but don't yield anything new you're exposed to enough heavy foreshadowing earlier on that everything is predictable. But Maiden of Black Water front loads most of its intrigue, blowing major plot twists within the first few chapters and destroying any sense of dramatic pacing. If you’re familiar with Japanese horror flicks, or have at least seen The Ring, then you know what to expect in terms of pacing this brand of cinema tends to reveal mysteries bit by bit through increasingly gross and shocking events. The two other playable characters-a miserable young man with equally miserable facial hair named Ren and a troubled teen named Miu-also get caught up in the mystery, with their own specific problems to resolve because of it. Also unsurprisingly, her altruism uncovers the area’s greatest ghost story. She decides to find people who have gone missing on Mt. You spend most of the game controlling Yuri, a young woman with the ability to see dead people and view their memories. The mountain hosts a number of dilapidated buildings, including a shrine that in ancient days was filled with pious maidens. Hikami, a neighboring landmark that has become a popular place for young women to commit suicide. The story takes place in a small rural Japanese town and on Mt. But a paper-thin narrative and clunky, frustrating controls drag the experience down. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water has fun, survival horror moments and does an excellent job building its atmosphere. It’s such a shame, then, that its latest entry is so disappointing. It’s a weird mix, but one engaging enough to earn the franchise a cult following. Game plots center on horror stories steeped in Japanese myth and tradition, and the main mechanic features using an in-game camera to ward off ghosts.