Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann concurs, telling MCV in 2015 that Crimson Butterfly is "the scariest kind of experience in any medium. Crimson Butterfly made me scream, over and over and over again. Did that mechanic make me scream? It almost killed me dead. Did I mention that you can only see the ghosts when you raise the camera and the game flips into first-person? I didn't? Ah, sorry about that. The game gives you no weapon in which to defend yourself, other than an enchanted camera – the Camera Obscura – which has the power to exorcise ghosts. Not only do you play as a child, Mio, but you're charged with protecting your twin sister, Mayu, who, it should be said, limps through the game with a damaged leg. Fatal Frame's sequel arrived sandwiched between the excellent American remakes of Hideo Nakata's first two Ringu movies, known in the west as The Ring, and in the year between the Japanese and American versions of The Grudge. This was an era whereupon Japanese – and to a lesser extent Korean – horror movies were making waves within western pop culture. I came to Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly unaware of the 2001 game that preceded it, but certainly enchanted by dark east Asian folklore. And yet compared to Tecmo's Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly – known within its native Japan as Project Zero 2 – it still feels like the player is overloaded with resources in which to travail all the nightmares put before them. The latter is a game set onboard a spaceship, and which rewards the player with neither weaponry nor a defensive mechanism. instead.2001's Silent Hill 2 deserves it's universal and enduring acclaim, but 2002's Clock Tower 3, 2003's Forbidden Siren, and 2004's Echo Night: Beyond all delivered their frights in idiosyncratically fiendish and innovative ways. But those who find pleasure in scaring themselves pantless will have better luck watching Richard Simmons Farewell to Fat infomercials at 3 a.m. It’s perfect if you’re just looking for something with an eerie plot and offbeat gameplay to tool around with. Despite its best intentions, Fatal Frame is definitely a “diet” fright game. Overused, campy sound effects that tend to say “Halloween haunted house,” rather than “survival horror,” and anime-influenced character designs act as constant reminders that FF is indeed just a game. Some weaknesses, though, will keep it from being on the top of your horror hit list. Piecemeal storytelling through note scraps, journals, audio tapes and news clippings scattered throughout an exquisite Japanese mansion also helps establish an ominous foreboding in the game. And although Frame risks players not taking this mode of gameplay seriously, especially against some of the more heinous-looking ghosts, keeping a steady hand can be quite challenging during the game’s scarier moments. Most would probably prefer a gun or Ghostbusters proton pack over a Kodak when zapping paranormal entities, but Miku’s slight, almost helpless disposition is critical to instilling the sense of nakedness one feels in the game. Taking a cue from the Blair Witch Project, Fatal Frame puts you in the shoes of a shaky teen whose only protection from predatory specters is an old-fashioned camera.