Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly lands on PSN next week

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly's series director Makoto Shibata has said the game's story was based on a dream he had after the first game had been completed.

According to an entry posted on the PS Blog, Shibata described the dream as "scary, magical, traumatic, and with perfect plot." He set out to interpret the dream and recreate it through the game.

"In a psychic horror scenario, it is normal for ghosts and spirits to not appear in the exact locations where they previously appeared," he said. "Even at any exact locations where spirits died, one can feel the presence every now and then. Also, the way a given spirit makes an appearance may be different on occasion. Such never-ending loops of thoughts are the core characteristic of psychic horror.

"One may notice a slight difference in what the true meaning of the story concludes when playing the game. The more times you play through it, the more different outcomes you’ll feel every time as a result. This is actually a reflection of what happened when I was trying to figure out the meanings behind the dream I had mentioned earlier on.

"This never-ending illusion is something which has been reflected in the game. I recommend it to anyone who has not encountered any spiritual occasions in real life, to try and get an idea of what they are missing."

Fatal Frame 2 is hitting PSN next week, and to me, it was one of the scariest games I ever played. The original Fatal Frame is already available as a PS2 Classic on the service.