For fans of the original, don't be afraid to dive in. The gameplay is different to the original, but overall an improvement.

If you played other Fatal Frame games, this one is still the best in the series.

New game plus unlocks an entire tier of new upgrades as well as multiple new endings and side quests for replayability.

If you're a fan of survival horror in general, give this one a try. It's more of a personal journey than most. The world isn't in danger. The village is already cursed. Will you live long enough to escape it? And how much are you willing to sacrifice along the way?

This was my first Fatal Frame ever and I couldn't have loved it more!
The game is stunningly beautiful and it has an incredible atmosphere that is very opressive, creepy and a lot darker than I thought it would be by judging by the characters' art style. The story leans a bit more to the minimalistic side than I expected, you learn most things via flashbacks or reading files, but the endings are all amazing and WILL leave a mark on you. There are 6 of them and they range from heartbreaking tragedies to beautiful and heartwarming.
The new song by Tsuki Amano, "Utsushie", made specially for this game is also really special and fits the endings perfectly.
Gameplaywise I can't really compare to older FFs since I didn't play them, but I really enjoyed the combat and thought it was pretty unique. The only downsides are probably the huge amount of backtracking (I know this is pretty common in horror games but this one really has it all the time, specially if you do side missions) and that there is quite a grind if you want to 100% the game. I played the game 4 times for all endings, got 100% achievements and still need A LOT more points if I want to buy all the costumes in the game. Thankfully, those are purely cosmetic.
To sum it up: AMAZING game! An absolute must play for any horror fans out there.
I REALLY hope it does well so that they can remake the other Fatal Frame games too! Would absolutely play them! (probably day one XD)

(Review was supposed to be longer but I got owned by the character limit)

Having almost 100% the game I've got a lot of good things and bad things about this entry. the Fatal Frame/Project Zero has always been a series that goes 2 step forward and 1 step back and this one is no exception.

The big boy of the game the Camera Obscura.
The basic idea of the OG is still here (the closer the ghosts the better) but they updated it with focal points that add a little bit more input and skill from the player.
I love the OG to death but a big gripe I had with it was just how easy everything was since it's purely based on how close the ghosts were with very little skill involved except for getting that core shot.
A thing that might be a little overwhelming at first is how much things you need to take into consideration now (focal points, focus, if Mayu's in the shot) all these things are important if you want to deal good damage and get a lot of points which fortunately they did a good mix of older titles.
Unlike 4 where your points are basically useless or 3 where everything is bought with your points Fatal Frame 2 Remake does something clever where finding the beats is to upgrade your Camera and your points are there to buy Charms (more on them later) and upgrade them, buy stickers if you're into that and you unlock an expanded shop once you beat the game once which has positives and negatives.

A big change they did from the usual is the lenses .... they're gone now instead we get those filters which I think is a good change and should be a stample for future entries. (or at least tie it to a character)
you use them for puzzles, help you find collectibles or taking sneak shots with the improved sneaking mechanic (more on that later) if I had to classify them as weapon the Paraceptual works like a wall hack sniper, the Exposure works as an anti Aggravated machine gun and the Radiant as a I don't want to deal with this gun all useful in their own right although the Paraceptual feels a little niche compared to the rest.

All these filters have stats that change your reload speed, range, damage etc so it becomes important to switch between all of them at a moments notice to get the desired effect (switch to Exposure to reload faster than switch to standard to get Willpower back or Radiant for big damage) which adds an extra layer of complexity to the fights you'll need to switch quick during certain encounter less you get caught with your pants down.
fortunately you have access to a dodge at any time and special shot who are tied to your filters (they work a little like lenses) some useful like the push from the Standard filter some are the blinding from the Paraceptual which exists.


The wraiths themselves got a massive glow up from the OG, if you called them pacifists in the OG you'd be right the only ghost that would actually attack you were the Mourners which were pretty fun to fight, can't remember half the wraiths moveset in the og since you could for the most of them completely ignore them or even walk into them and they would do nothing about it so glad these once are aggressive but ......

At a certain point in the game you get attacked by so many wraiths it becomes an actual chore to traverse Minekami village for the side quests you no joke get attack by at least 5 random ghost going from the Osaka house to the Kurosawa house and that is if you're lucky doesn't help most of the Wraiths that attack you are of the higher tier so it can take a bit before you beat them ( I hope you love the broken neck lady ) the new mechanic they introduced the "aggravated state" and the "leer attacks" aren't that big of a deal once you get good at the game but the frequency of wraiths spawning in that part of the game sure makes it tedious on replays.

They added a new Charms mechanic which gives you smalls buffs on a lot of things but saldy you can only carry one on your first playthrough which is really odd since those Charms are clearly meant to be used with each other so having an entire mechanic locked behind new game+ is a little head scratching.
the clearly wants you to replay it since your camera wil be fair from maxed out during your first playthrough as I write this review I got all the endings before I even finished maxing out the camera and that is once again because they locked a mechanic (transcendance beads) to new game+.
this game has 6 ending that are in reality 5 + an after credit scene no ending from the Wii version here which brings me too.

there's very little unlockable and costumes in this one half of them are dlc and the rest look okayish but the real kicker is their price get ready to grind a lot which wouldn't be a problem but you only have the campaign in this one.
No Mission Mode, No Survival mode, No Fatal mode or even a version of the jumpscare house from the wii version which can make the grind for costumes and making out the camera ..... not very fun.

It is also the buggiest Fatal frame I've played. from small things like animation looking funny to Mayu getting eaten by the void to thing outside of the game like achievements not unlocking it can be really frustrating if you want to truly 100%

Despite that the game offers a lot of new thing the OG didn't have like an section of the village where the common folk lived or a new temple giving a fresh coat of paint to people who played the OG.
remember those houses you could only interact with ? now you can enter them and do stuff there, it's also way easier to find stuff by just playing the game and you don't have to do some cryptic thing like the previous games to find one ghost. (at least not as much)
You do have a lock-on but here's it's actually well made as it serves more as a help during Fatal time instead of your entire gameplay being (I hope the wraith doesn't teleport out and lose all my charge).

With all that said I'd give this game a solid 7 or 8 out of 10, it's a really good experience but there's a lot small and not so small things that keep it from being perfect get it if you're a big fan of the series and get it on discount if not just be warned getting into it can be a little rough.