Fatal Frame 3DS spin-off gets a US release

By Fred Dutton Published 17 January, 2012

Nintendo to publish Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir.

A new 3DS entry in cult Japanese survival horror franchise Fatal Frame is to get a rare Western release.

Nintendo will publish the Tecmo-developed Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir in the US on 13th April. That's Friday 13th April, no less. Spooky, eh?

The game sees you playing as a young lady called Maya who has managed to get herself trapped in a creepy old house that's haunted by a mysterious woman in black.

You'll have to evade ghouls with the help of the system's built-in camera and augmented reality features.

The game comes packaged with a 16-page AR-enabled booklet which, according to Nintendo's announcement, serves as a "gateway into this haunting experience". View its pages through the 3DS camera and they'll come to life, showing movies which reveal background plot details.

Not only that, but evil spirits will occasionally pop out of the pages and invade the game world.

See the screenshots below for a closer look.

Alas, Nintendo hasn't confirmed plans to bring this one to Europe yet - we'll update if and when it deems The Old Country worthy.

The last entry in the franchise to make it out of Japan was the rather excellent Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented on PlayStation 2 back in 2006. Its 2008 Wii sequel, Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, never made it West.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 4 months ago

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  • Kami #1 4 months ago

    Excellent. European release now kthnx.

    And more info on that Crimson Butterfly HD remake would also be extremely lovely to boot, Tecmo, thanks muchly. Yours; A massive fan of Crimson Butterfly.

  • INSOMANiAC #2 4 months ago

    I want!

  • Nico4 #3 4 months ago

    Please bring this to Europe

  • Shakey_Jake33 #4 4 months ago

    Got a preorder down for the Japanese version. It looks truely cracking.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rk69Yw108Y

  • Doctor_What #5 4 months ago

    The first two were the only horror games that remained scary from beginning to end. I wish they'd make new ones (with improved controls) for today's HD consoles. Frankly, this series pees on Silent Hill from a very great height indeed.

  • Malek86 #6 4 months ago

    @Kami HD remake? The PZ2 remake is on the Wii. Unless they silently moved it to the Wii U, but they recently said it's still on track for a Wii release.

  • Kami #7 4 months ago

    @Malek86; I think they've been talking about a silent move to the Wii U, but either way, I'll buy it regardless. Project Zero 2 is simply my favourite survival horror, so yeah, I want it.

  • -cerberus- #8 4 months ago

    What about Mask of the Lunar Eclipse for Wii?! I've got the import and the English patch installed but a PAL version would be more than welcome!

  • el_pollo_diablo #9 4 months ago

    Nintendo, please release this in Europe. It looks really good.

  • abigsmurf #10 4 months ago

    The videos I've seen of this make brilliant use of AR, just hope it isn't too cumbersome having to play both using the book and making heavy use of the gyroscope.

    Needs and EU release date though. Region Coding..... Grrrrrrr.

  • oerhoert #11 4 months ago

    More game companies need to realize that we don't want a 'spin-off' on portable systems.

    I want Fatal Frame 5 on the 3DS. Resident Evil 6.

    It takes more commitment to quality to use the series' proper name.

    And that's one of the reasons why Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest IX, Mario Kart, Mario, etc are performing so well. They're not 'lesser' versions or 'experiments', they're the real deal.

  • bemani247 #12 4 months ago

    Fantastic thats its 1 step closer to a Euro release, but that name, its awfull! Why do americans have to ruin titles (Farenheit being called Indego Prophecy for example)