Somehow, Nintendo managed to pack more into its 40-minute Direct presentation than nearly every other game publisher at E3 2021. Along with major new game announcements including a brand new 2D Metroid game and a release date for Guardians of the Galaxy on Switch, Nintendo is also bringing back one of the best horror franchises of all time.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will make the jump from Wii U to the Nintendo Switch later this year. It will also be coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
Originally released back in 2014 in Japan and 2015 everywhere else, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water was the fifth game in the Fatal Frame series and the first to make use of motion controls for the Camera Obscura, adding a new level of immersion. Holding the Wii U Gamepad up like an actual antique camera, the player’s perspective switches from third-person to first-person to fight off deadly ghosts by taking snapshots of them. The better the picture, the more damage you deal to your mildly dead opponents.
Although Maiden of Black Water drew praise for its controls, critics were less charitable about the game’s pacing, plot, and portrayal of female characters. It’s not the best in the series, but it’s still considered a classic and it’s the most recent (and possibly final) Fatal Frame game.
Nintendo’s re-release on the Switch will presumably feature the same Camera Obscura controls using the Switch’s motion controls, but it didn’t look like there was any effort being made to update the game’s graphics. Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will re-release on the Switch sometime later this year.
There was plenty more to get excited about at today’s Nintendo Direct, like Life is Strange coming to the Switch in September with True Colors. The Remastered Collection is also getting a Switch release, but that likely won’t be until after September 30. Advance Wars 1 and 2 are also getting remade for the Switch, and there’s a new look at Breath of the Wild 2, which is now targeting a 2022 release window.
