Project Zero: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse review – a spine-chilling ghost story is exhumed

In the triumvirate of classic Japanese horror game franchises, Project Zero (known as Fatal Frame in its domestic market) is the one that’s been most overlooked by western players – which is a real shame. While Resident Evil is all about zombie gore, and Silent Hill focuses on psychological tension, Tecmo’s horror series provides straight-up supernatural terror, masterfully employing folkloric tropes and ghostly enemies that would be familiar to anyone who loved Onryō and Jidaigeki movies such as Onibaba, Gu-On and Ring. When this game originally arrived on Wii 15 years ago, it never even got a release outside its home country, a stunning omission when you consider it was co-directed by Goichi Suda, creator of cult hits Killer7 and No More Heroes. Now, Koei Tecmo has produced a refreshed version, allowing a new generation to discover a fine addition to this genuinely spooky series.

The action takes place on the remote Rogetsu Island, where five abducted schoolgirls were once discovered, mentally scarred and unable to remember the bizarre ritual they had been forced to take part in. Years later, two of the survivors have returned to discover the truth of what happened to them – and they find an isle crowded with vengeful spirits and haunted buildings. You play several roles through the course of the game as you explore an abandoned psychiatric hospital, lighthouse and other unsettling locales, searching for clues about the past. Your only weapon is the camera obscura, a device that allows you to see ghosts and capture their tormented souls in photographs.

Newcomers should definitely not expect a similar sort of modern reconstruction as Capcom’s Resident Evil remakes. Although graphically updated, Lunar Eclipse remains an old school survival horror experience, with a glacial walking pace, weird camera angles and deliberately obfuscating controls. Save points, health drops and extra camera reels are scarce commodities to be jealously guarded. Every encounter with a vicious wraith can easily end in catastrophe as you struggle to pull-off a 180-degree turn while aiming the camera, fitting the correct lens, and timing your snapshot to make the most damage. It’s incredibly tense and demanding, requiring patience and planning, and a lot of backtracking around the dark, gothic environments.

But wow, the atmosphere. The opening hospital location is a masterpiece of horror game architecture, a labyrinthine trap of narrow corridors, wood-pannelled dining halls and mildewed libraries. Weird noises follow you everywhere: distant clangs, children crying, radio static, bumps, steps and scrapes – famed audio lead Masafumi Takada threw the whole Survival Horror sound effects album at this game. Naturally there are lots of puzzles involving masks, paintings, telephones, intercoms, safes, locks and passcodes, and veterans of the 1990s Japanese horror gaming scene are going to love being thrust back into this creepy milieu.

But I think anyone who wasn’t playing games back then is going to struggle. Characters move painfully slowly, and the run button just makes them shuffle ever-so-slightly faster as though they’re on the verge of having some sort of highly embarrassing accident. On anything other than easy mode, ghost battles are unforgiving, and searching every room for shining objects to pick up becomes a chore after a few hours, detracting from the ruined beauty of the interiors.

If you’re looking for a nostalgic J-horror experience, and you’re prepared to put in the effort and work with the control scheme, Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is an enjoyable, highly atmospheric adventure, with many brilliant moments of fear and dread. The spirits are wonderfully designed, and spotting a black-eyed ghost child lurking behind you, or in the corner of a room, never fails to send a shiver down the spine. For those of us who believe the Project Zero series should be as revered as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, it has been a pleasure to step, once again, into its chamber of horrors, with just a camera for protection and the remnants of an ancient ghost story ready to be exhumed.

* Project Zero: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is available now on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC