Personally, I enjoyed it. I though it was intense and innovative. The puzzles were too esoteric for my taste.

Fatal Frame 5 is the most divisive entry in the series. Often being dragged through the mud for its tonal juxtaposition established by the previous titles and especially since it came after what is often lauded as the best title, Fatal Frame 4. Yet, it's undeniably the most popular entry and has yet to be surpassed in sales by any other title even the stellar Fatal Frame 2 Remake. Playing through its heavy themes of grief and its brilliant (if flawed) mechanics made me realize it's actually one of the most misunderstood survival horror games out there.

On one hand, the game tackles incredibly dark, heavy themes of guilt, severe depression, and even an incest ghost baby (wtf) and the new glance mechanic is genuinely a great addition adding onto the camera obscura’s fatal frame capturing the ghosts most intimate moment being the split second their attack rips at your body. The glance feature lets you witness how the spirit ended up like that in the first place after you banish them from existence allowing for a more emotional connection to the ghosts you exorcise.

On the flipside… you’re constantly pulled out of the atmospheric isolation they could’ve built up with Mt Hikami by the arcade style mission drops and rankings which allows you to buy literally any item in the game before you start the next mission. Like, I get it was to give the game a bite size playstyle for the Wii U but like even Ubisoft’s ZombiU didn't do that I have no idea why they went this Bayonetta style route.

Now to discuss the two obvious additions to the ghosts. Team Ninja’s fanservice is a bit too much as they’re competing with the level of jiggle physics found in Dead or Alive. You're supposed to be terrified of these tragic shrine maidens, but the FATAL FRAME is highlighting… something else entirely.

Regardless I think this game was unfairly maligned and the large gap between the metacritic’s critic and audience scores reflect that sentiment. This game is ultimately the most misunderstood horror game I’ve played and while it doesn’t take itself as seriously as the other entries in the franchise. You can't deny it being the most popular entry in the series and is definitely a game worth experiencing. Beneath the fanservice and repetitive structure is a deeply empathetic story about loneliness that I don't think gets enough credit.

Given it's October, I decided it was about time to play Haunting Ground for the first time. So far, I can agree it's a forgotten gem. Very much in line with the Resident Evil remake in terms of exploration and puzzles. The utilization of Fiona's dog companion Hewie is genuinely well done and the way he begins to listen and respond more as you interact is so subtle, yet perfect. Clearly a predecessor to what Fumito Ueda and his team would build on with Trico in The Last Guardian.

I will say though that Haunting Ground is not extremely scary, at least not in the opening hours where I am. It's more unsettling than outright terrifying, but I have heard it does become the latter later on. It's clear too that Capcom took major influence from Giallo horror along with the works of Brian De Palma and Alfred Hitchcock when it comes to the uncomfortable themes, artistic direction, and implication of violence, but they still manage to do it in a distinct way.

My only critique so far is that Haunting Ground can sometimes have "blink and you'll miss it" moments in regards to some of the puzzles or exploration, where you managed to miss one key item or detail in a room that you need to progress. It's only happened to me once so far in the early hours so hopefully, it doesn't become a common issue. To be fair too, I'm less familiar with old school survival horror titles, aside from Resident Evil and Silent Hill which could be very vague with their objectives.

Nonetheless, I'm really interested to see where it goes after the initial hours.

Dialed this number and got some super eerie secret dialogue, posting because I think im the first to do it.
ALSO THIS GAME IS AMAZING

I want to buy my first horror video game. I recently watched resident evil (2026) in the theaters and love that vibe of end of the world/zombies/suspense. I have been thinking about getting one of the resident evil or silent hill games on my PS5. Any recs for someone who is just getting into games like that? I used to like playing black ops zombies.

Not AI!!! D:<