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I’ve waited 15 years for this game. 15 long years, and I finally had the chance to play it. Let’s get straight into my Fatal Frame Mask of the Lunar Eclipse review.
Story
Let’s start with the biggest aspect of most Fatal Frame games. The girls all go to Rogetsu Isle to get answers to their blacked out memories, and the answers to why two of their friends mysteriously died recently.
Fast forward a lot and well….a good chunk of this story is told via the documents we find lying around Rogetsu Hall. As you find more of them, you’ll learn bits and pieces of the girls’ lives and they’ll also start to get some of their memories back as well.
From Misaki realizing she had a “special friend” to Ruka discovering her dad played a part in everything. I won’t spoil what it is, but there’s a reason all this happened. Only, here’s where it goes sour.
A lot of this didn’t click until phase VIII, and by that point, I felt I had done so much exploring with little answers. This hurts it a bit, due to the story being a major point in this series.
With that said, after I actually understood, it made it much better. Especially after a surprise twist, that I won’t spoil. I personally feel it takes two playthroughs to truly understand it all.
Gameplay
Ah yes, what is a game if the gameplay isn’t solid? Thankfully, mostly everything about this game hits the mark in this category. It’s easy to control the camera, though I did turn the gyro function off, and it’s just as easy to move around.
The actual game is held in chapters, phases actually, referring the moon. Each phase, you’ll be controlling one of the three characters:
Ruka, Choshiro or Misaki
The story all connects, but you’ll be playing them all in different time periods. Meaning they don’t overlap in locations, you’ll only catch remnants of what they did.
Graphics
I won’t stay too long on this one, but after doing a bit of research, there didn’t seem to be too much of a difference between the PS4 and PS5 versions, so I went PS4 this time. Overall, I felt the graphics were pretty good, very modern looking. Better than Maiden of Black Water in some ways. In the end though, while the graphics were very nice, I didn’t pay too much attention to them since I was so focused on beating (running away from, crying) ghosts and trying to piece together the story.
Soundtrack
While I believe all Fatal Ftame games have a decent soundtrack to them, I have to say, this one was really nice. It is memorable, in my opinion, which leaves a nice impression on me.
Personally speaking though, even though I do take notice of the music, I can’t say that it affects my experience that much. Sure, misplaced music might be annoying, but a majority of the time, it’s in the background to the gameplay.
Replayability
The game has a replay value in terms of revisiting the story, and exploring the haunting halls of Regetsu Isle. With plenty of ghosts to catch on camera, some interesting characters and I would say even some fun battles, if not sometimes moderately frustrating, Fatal Frame IV will be a game to revisit.
Final Scores
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Controls: 9/10
Soundtrack: 8/10
Replayability: 7/10
Overall:
Conclusion
There you have it. that’s it for my Fatal Frame Mask of the Lunar Eclipse review. Fatal Frame IV is available on Steam, (paid links) PS4 & Switch. Make sure to check out the newly released Fatal Frame II Remake, which is available on Steam, (paid links) Playstation 5 & Nintendo Switch 2. Until next time, happy gaming!
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