I won’t be able to pretend I had fun with FF II, even to rizz up ps2 survival horror chicks.

I’m not the guy who desperately needs to “like things.” Who cares? But that sentiment has never felt more appropriate than now. I’m genuinely upset that I can’t see the appeal. If anything, experiencing this (although a remake) firsthand made it abundantly clear why this series never truly broke into the mainstream. Its semi-niche status probably made it seem far more alluring and conceptually sound than it actually is.

I’m not entirely sure who I’d avoid recommending this game to. Not die-hard fans, obviously, they’ll have their own informed opinions on whether this remake does the original justice, and they certainly know better than me. I don’t get the sense that Tecmo exactly knocked themselves out here, either. Just look at the game’s tagline: “Together, always.” For fans, that’s supposed to be poignant, stylish, iconic. For the rest, it’s barely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ anything.

Under normal circumstances, given the critical score this thing carries, I’d probably slap a thumbs up on it and move on. However, and won’t lie that recency bias almost certainly plays a part here, I can’t shake the feeling that FF II is being utterly crushed by the shadow of the recent remakes of RE and SH2. That’s probably history repeating itself, but I wouldn’t personally lump FF II in with those titans. Tbf, this game leans much harder into action-adventure territory than survival horror. And I’m picky about my survival horror. I’ll colloquially tag it as such for clarity, but without meaningful inventory management and those other crunchy microsystems, it’s definitely not my preferred flavour of the genre. It certainly didn’t help that it launched barely two weeks after RE9.

I wish I could offer something more substantive than "this game is boring as hell," but I think I'm genuinely at a loss. I don't even know how to convincingly argue that point. In my mind, FF II is an okay game with a genuinely stronger first half. The storytelling is conventionally Japanese in a way I'm not particularly fond of, but it's serviceable. The atmosphere is undeniably unique, bar none, honestly, with maybe only TEW and AW2 coming close to challenging it.

And here’s the thing none of those other games can do: make you stare at your foes. You don’t need to stare at an enemy for prolonged times in most survival horrors. You just need to put a bullet in their not-so-pretty face and move on. Here? You hold them in your frame. You see their expression. The new designs are genuinely uncanny —very Frankenstein-esque. You can tell they were once people, but their movement, their look, their entire presence is just plain erratic. There’s something uniquely unsettling about being forced to gaze at something that refuses to stop moving toward you. Sometimes that results in ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ grab attacks and ends up with a rather cheap jumpscare but I can forgive that.

I'm completely ignorant of the original Crimson Butterfly (and wouldn't mind getting educated on it), so I can't parse the finer nuances. But overall, the source material seems perfectly acceptable for 2003. However, as a revitalization of the genre in 2025? The remake is genuinely annoying.

One reason, as foolish as it may sound, is the utter lack of direction for objectives. Yes, I'm fully aware there are cues tied to the camera, audio, text, and even the environment. But I never felt like anything less than a lab rat desperately trying to prove I possess basic memory retention. Just give me a waypoint. Paint the walls with markers if you have to. I'd be happy. Or, at the very least, make the process less inconvenient.

It's not like the objectives are subtly hidden, either. Chitose, for instance, has a very clear, distinct audio cue to help you locate her, but the game is simultaneously as dark and grainy as physically possible. For some reason, it features some of the ugliest film grain I've ever seen. On top of that, the audio mixing can be wildly off, with far too many low-pitched sounds muddling everything together. I get the distinct impression Tecmo didn't allocate anywhere near the resources to this that they did for Gaiden 2 or Nioh 3. And if that's the case, FF II is still somewhat competent, but it's far from the most cohesive work out there.

The combat is okay. It takes an hour or two to get used to, but you develop quick muscle memory. And to be fair, with the upgrade system —which I understand is making a return from the first game, which makes me wonder why it was absent in the original Crimson Butterfly in the first place— you don't really have to think much about it. You don't need to be anything more than a paparazzo or a voyeur. Sneak a few shots in when convenient, and for the rest, just shove the camera in their faces and they'll die of shame. Max out the basic filter (I never felt the need for the others), upgrade reload speed, auto-focus, magazine capacity, and you'll be snapping every ♥♥♥♥♥ in the village without breaking a sweat. One fatal frame after another.

But of course, some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ refuse to die because... who knows why. I don't think undefeatable foes are an inherently failed concept, but they're not particularly interesting unless there's a really neat gimmick attached. In the FF II remake, there is none. It's plain, tedious hide-and-seek, and it's the most frustrating element of the game. It detracts from the overall experience and adds absolutely nothing.

The loss of fixed camera angles probably detracts from the experience as well, eliminating any potential for surprise. Now, the tricky part is that I'm someone who genuinely geeked out over the remakes of MGS3, RE2, and SH2. But in my mind, despite losing their original perspectives, all those remakes were gamified according to today's paradigm. I can't tell if FF II meshes well with modern reflexes. You can see the ghosts even without pulling out the camera now—I don't know if that was the case in the original—and it's definitely a bad idea. The cinematic dread just isn't there. Regardless, I low-key appreciate the movement of the enemies, since they don’t have much else going on aside from a few ranged attacks.

As far as I'm concerned, the change to the camera upgrade system definitely meshes better with modern standards. It creates a genuine reason to explore. But while it rewards exploration, it also ironically de-emphasises the need to actually line up good shots. To answer my earlier question: I think they once realized it was far more clever to tie upgrades to playstyles and make exploration a bone for the combat system, rather than sticking to generic survival horror exploration.

The village is a decent hub (or closed world, if that's the right term, though it's quite limited in scope), but the game is the backtracking king. There's no virtue in revisiting the same space for the 4th or 5th time. Hell, the game has the audacity to ask you to revisit a place you just escaped from to grab a crest. FFS. You know what that's called? ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Despite new items and enemies appearing, you're already far too familiar with the space. I think FF II being this claustrophobic and set in similar-looking environments is generally a huge plus, it does mess with your sense of direction. Getting lost in survival horror is a good thing. But there's absolutely no virtue in revisiting a place for yet another item or objective hunt for another ten minutes.

There's probably more to add, but I'm willing to leave it here. I just got bored. I can't tell how much of that tedium should be attributed to the original material and how much to the remake, but that's my relational ontology for the day.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

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Full review [thertn.substack.com]

Note: It's currently not possible to unlock achievements.

Two things are undeniable: the OST is catchy, and the gameplay has rough edges. But seeing something like Don't Stop Girlypop in the bloody arena shooter market for sweaty dudes is inherently interesting. It’s a weirdass mashup of Ghostrunner, Ultrakill, Neon White, Metal: Hellsinger, and even an instagib.

The first two hours are a generic Y2K-coated arena shooter with lots of bunny jumping. Then, mechanics pile on. The problem, however, it feels disjointed. It’s like the team ran a game jam or launched an user-created map contest and included every map/mechanic so no one got upset. To put it shortly, it's not as cohesive as something like Sayonara Wild Hearts with its 2 hours runtime.

Movement is alright —crouch + dash to keep speed as weird as it may sound— and you get used to it. The HUD is clear and centered on the middle, making it always visible. Weapons have alt fires, but they’re mostly pointless. Once the sniper/railgun appear, it becomes an instagib FPS. Honestly, that’s where it’s best.

The screen is almost always cluttered, but you can still tell when an enemy is alive (star) or dead (heart) through the symbols, there's your visual feedback. It doesn't always give enough impression of how much damage you do, but it gets the job done.

There’s a Marauder-type enemy. Interesting to see a ♥♥♥♥ like that post-Eternal discussions. It’s annoying and kills flow, but at least it’s easy. Weapon juggling isn’t really required, but balance is off. I feel the sniper outclasses everything else.

The final boss is fun, switching between the girlypop OST and the villain’s theme. Wish there was more unique stuff like that. It actually introduces a prior mechanic (shooting to the beat) and reuses it. The game doesn’t always do that. Example: a stopwatch mechanic appears in a few levels, messes with your motion and perception, then vanishes once you started to get familiar. Some might like the rhythm shift, but in a movement shooter? Ehh. The stopwatch could’ve let the game breathe, but instead, they throw more shielded enemies and incredibly fast traps at you. Platforming becomes even more painful when the screen is cluttered. I tried avoiding the stopwatch. Died way more. The intent was clear —arenas were built around it— but adding mechanics for flair doesn't guarantee good results.

You get interrupted constantly. Kill animations, a parry, a dash finisher (where it's very Ghostrunner). A phone keeps talking (not necessarily interrupting the combat, but still annoying). Little things add up fast to build bigger frustration.

Arenas have jump pads, rails, grapple points but they’re underused. Movement is never used to its full potential like in Ghostrunner or Neon White. Then, right at the end, the rocket launcher gets an alt mode that lets you fire your own grapple points. For one platforming segment. Why not earlier? It would’ve solved so many elevation problems even if the intervals were long for a relaunch.

Rankings are meaningless. Never got below S for 'Love' and 'Speed', even when I thought I massively sucked. Clear time seems to be the only metric that truly matters. If it’s that easy to max out Love and Speed, what’s the point? Is it meant to be a speedrunning game in disguise?

Anyway, it’s a good 4-4.5 hours. Annoying at times, but it manages to serve ♥♥♥♥. If anything, it’s overdeveloped. Keeping it simpler but more intense would’ve been finer.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

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