The scariest movies are those where what they show you is never as scary as what happens in your mind. The visuals and sounds of good horror may stick with us, but it's the ideas behind them that truly take root in your head and refuse to leave. Fatal Frame 2 on the PS2, and later the original Xbox, excels at everything good horror needs to accomplish to be truly scary. It layers a scary setting, creepy characters, frightening mechanics, and a twisted concept to create a game that is completely unsettling and fun to play.

We begin with twin sisters who are out exploring in the woods, and they find what appears to be a village... only to have their way out blocked when they investigate. One of the sisters seems to be falling into the thrall of a mysterious force inside the village, and the hunt to solve the mystery of why this place is locked in darkness begins. You find a camera that can see things your eyes can't, and this acts as your weapon in the game. The tension increases as you learn about the village and why it called to you. It soon becomes clear that something terrible has happened, and you may need to do something just as terrible to get out.

A prequel that improves on the first game in all ways

The first Fatal Frame is also a classic of horror gaming, but the second game ramps up the scope of the series while improving on the mechanics and storytelling. During the course of the game, played in third person, you'll explore an entire village instead of the single haunted house of the first game, and the way the story slowly unfolds is masterful. Since you're trapped inside a village that seems to be lost in time, you're completely alone, and you watch your sister begin to lose her mind as some force begins to work on her.

You do have the Camera Obscura, an item that can not only see ghosts, but can hurt them by capturing their image. You bring up the viewfinder to switch the game into a first-person perspective, and then try to take clear pictures where the ghost takes up most of the frame. It's an interesting mechanic that takes nerves of steel to perfect, and it also keeps the game from moving into the tired world of jump cuts and cheap scares. You're not seeing the restless and violent spirits out of the corner of your eye; the game actually forces you to stare at them for seconds at a time, only "attacking" by hitting the shutter as they get close.

The camera has an unlimited amount of the low-grade film that doesn't do much damage, but you'll also find and use a limited amount of higher-quality film that does much more damage. There are also different ways to upgrade the camera to increase your abilities in combat.

The odds always seem stacked against you, no matter how many ways you have to dispel the spirits you come across. If you're a fan of the first game, it's also interesting to learn exactly where the camera came from, and how it gained some of its special properties.

The game takes place in a world where ghosts not only exist, but they will speak to you. One character even helps you in your quest. The game is so affecting because of how well it tightens its grip on the characters as you explore the village and find out what went wrong, and why twins are so important to its history. You are cut off from the hope of anyone's help, and as you piece together the story of the village you begin to understand why things are the way they are, and the idea of "good" and "bad" characters is nicely subverted. This is the classic moment where you realize the needs of the few are nothing compared to the needs of the many—and you're one of the unfortunate few.

It's very hard for any form of media to keep you scared for an extended period of time; even good horror movies have their ups and downs. Fatal Frame 2 is unrelenting when it comes to knocking you off balance and keeping you from feeling safe through the entire experience. There is no place to run or hide, and the village is as much a character as anyone or anything you encounter while playing. In fact, the village seems to be the primary character, and the remnants of the villagers themselves are just animated scabs that crawl over its surface. You are not an unwelcome guest here, you have been invited in and then trapped. This wasn't an accident.

The game features multiple endings, but there is one that Fatal Frame 3 takes to be canonical. It's also the ending I achieved in my first playthrough, and after revisiting the game it's the ending I consider to be the best. I won't ruin anything else from the game, as you can still buy it on the cheap, but suffice it to say the ending scenes will be stuck in your brain for years. Fatal Frame 2 is always out to scare and unsettle players brave enough to play, and it's very successful at doing just that. There are plenty of good horror games out there, but this one of the few—if not the only—masterpieces of horror gaming.

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