Fatal Frame Is Coming To Nintendo Switch

© Screenshot: Koei Tecmo Fatal Frame on the Switch will have added modes. Here, a character looks downward, rather worried.

The Fatal Frame games are a masterclass in Japanese horror.

This spring, a Fatal Frame pachinko game was announced, seeming to dash hopes for a proper release anytime soon. But good news! Today, during Nintendo’s E3 Direct, it was announced that Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is headed to the Switch.

The game marks Fatal Frame’s 20th anniversary. The game originally debuted in December 2001 on the PlayStation 2 before getting an Xbox version. The Fatal Frame games have long done an excellent job of capturing just how unsettling and terrifying Japanese horror can be. It’s easy to see why Fatal Frame got a live-action cinematic adaptation in Japan a few years back.

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water was first released on the Nintendo Wii U in Japan in 2014 and got an international release the following year. At that time, there were concerns the game would not fit on the Wii U, so perhaps the game is better suited to a Switch version? We shall see!

This isn’t the first time Koei Tecmo has revisited a previously released Fatal Frame. Project Zero 2: Wii Edition, for example, was a remake of PlayStation 2 title Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. No doubt, it won’t be the last time, either!

Once again, players will use the Camera Obscura to snap photos of menacing spirits, capturing and repelling them as they explore Hikami Mountain and all the grim secrets it holds. The gameplay should make excellent use of the Switch hardware, and the upgraded graphics are a welcomed addition.

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water on the Switch has new costume and photo modes, which, no doubt, will be revealed in-depth at a later date. I do wonder if the new costumes will sidestep controversies of the Wii U version.

Fatal Frame will be out on the Nintendo Switch this year from Koei Tecmo.