One of the prevalent thoughts I had throughout the SH2 Remake, awful combat aside, is that less is more. While not exactly a bad thing, I felt the remake was honestly too long compared to the original while not exactly adding that much more and perhaps being too on the nose about its messages. This is kind of how I feel about the Fatal Frame 2 Remake after finishing a playthrough. Not so much about the message but more so the length. The original is a rather short game, especially when you know what you're doing, and ESPECIALLY when you're not exactly scared of its horror aspects. The remake is naturally longer though I'd attribute it more to the removal of fixed camera angles and a full 3D freely explorable environment. If there's one place that was definitely way more fleshed out in the remake though, it's the Dollmaker house. By now, I'm not exactly jaded towards horror but I'm very accustomed to it. However, that house was a little bit unsettling. Or perhaps alot of unsettling. Of course, the remake's atmosphere is phenomenal alongside the sound design and definitely enhanced that and many other parts of the game.

Now the combat. This one's a little odd for me to talk about. Weirdly enough, I always felt Fatal Frame combat to be quite... arcade-y, if that makes sense. The fatal frame mechanic, points system, and the game's end score rankings made the combat feel not exactly scary after a while. The initial thing with letting ghosts get as close as possible in their attack animation to you for more damage kinda fizzles out rather quickly especially as you upgrade your camera, where it's often far more optimal to just rapid blast ghosts once you have quick recharge time on your shots. There are, however, some ghosts that can be rather unsettling to fight, especially with how some of them... move. There is also one big change that I was not a particular fan of in the remake. Ghosts now have a chance of becoming a "Wraith" when they reach low health. That means they recover a large portion of their health and become faster and more resistant to your shots. In order to un-wraith them, you have to deal enough damage which can wear down on your resources rather quickly in the beginning. But the real kicker is after you un-wraith them, they have a chance of becoming a wraith again at low health, which is really really dumb. I had to reload when it happened to me and opted to just use my best film and rapid fire the ghost to death. A patch was released to nerf wraiths but honestly I don't see the point of their addition in the first place. Anyway! If you're familiar with Fatal Frame's combat, not much is really different. Once you get your upgrades and filters, ghosts aren't exactly a threat at all on Normal and below. Honestly, only the first hour or so can be a bit rough if you're unfamiliar with the series.

That said, this brings up something that could be considered an issue but is something that is present in the original. And that's the matter of how you get the endings. Like in the original, in order to get the "best" ending, you have to clear the game on Nightmare difficulty, which is unlocked after clearing the game once. Though I've heard that there are other requirements regarding charms but I haven't looked too much into it yet. I was hoping this wouldn't be the case once I saw how long the game was on top of the addition of wraiths and I'm honestly not sure I'm going to do it especially when there are other games that I want to get to. I certainly enjoyed the game, but Fatal Frame is not exactly the kind of game I want to optimize a run for, especially when I'm already familiar with all the endings and the original as much as I am. Like with Silent Hill 2, though I enjoyed the remake quite a bit, I honestly feel everyone should just play the original instead. Or first. Or at least at some point after playing this remake. It's great, don't get me wrong, but for me I certainly don't think it's better than the original.

Before I forget, one last thing I want to mention. Holding hands does indeed passively heal you. That is a real thing.