Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir

Horror games have been a staple in gaming industry for a while, from games such as Resident Evil, which pioneered the genre into new directions, to more survival based games such as Amnesia and Blair Witch that have come out in recent times. These games have the tangent to create eerie atmospheres with their use of music and realistic graphics to trap the player into a horrifying illusion. The game that is being discussed today however, puts an anime spin to it.

Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir is an addition to the widely acknowledged Fatal Frame series developed by Koei Tecmo; originally for many different platforms but after its third installation in 2008, it only put out Nintendo exclusive games. The Fatal Frame series has been known to revitalize horror tropes and put their own Japanese animation spin to it, with just as much jump as they put scare.

Cutely Animated Layers of Fear

For the most part Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir is true to its franchise’s identity, which is jam-packed with supernatural spookiness, ancient cult-like rituals and exorcisms and the sort. The game for the most part does an okay job at being a Fatal Frame game, but it does a better job at being a horror game than the rest of the games in the series ever did, first change here is making you the player character and making it a first person experience. The story follows a teenager by the name of Maya, who has somehow lost her memory and is lost in the terrifying book of faces (The 16 page augmented reality booklet that comes with the game) and you the player; have to now save Maya and yourself from the harmful spirits in the book of faces.

Augmented Reality, Real Fear

As mentioned above, the game comes with an augmented reality book, and it serves a huge purpose. The gameplay at some sections requires you to use your 3DS back camera to scan the images inside of said booklet, and they pop up different on your screen with different animations to give you a good, hearty scare. The game also is a bit more of a mature experience than the other Fatal Frame games, but it is still not as mature as other horror games on the market. The gameplay is quite unique as it requires you to use more than just the buttons on your 3DS to get through the game, the uniqueness that this game’s portability and camera makes the game a very different experience. It is the Pokemon Go of horror in my opinion. There are a few issues though, such as the humongous lack of content, you can get through the entirety of the game in 2 hours, for the price point of a whopping $39.99, and this is a terrible trade off, the buyers were not getting their money’s worth whatsoever.

Spirit Camera: A Scary Purchase

Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir is a deliciously unique experience that is plagued by a huge lack of content problem, there is simply not much to take away from this game, the main story is 2 hours maximum for a price point of $39, being one of the scariest purchases for the 3DS community.

Pros

• Great use of 3DS tech
• Fun and engaging gameplay
• A refreshing take on Fatal Frame

Cons

• Extreme lack of side content
• Restrictions on exploration
• Lacklustre horror for a mature audience
• Not enough story