The Real-Life Hauntings that Inspired Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

My title is Makoto Shibata and I’ve been engaged on the Deadly Body sequence since its inception, making an attempt to create the scariest video games attainable in a approach that’s distinctive to different horror titles. What folks won’t notice once they play my video games is that a few of what you see within the sequence – and a few of what you’ll play in Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse – was truly impressed by spirits that I’ve seen (and even touched!) in actual life. To me, zombies and monsters aren’t scary as a result of they’re not actual, however spirits have been a daunting presence in my life since I used to be younger. I wished to convey a few of my scariest sightings to the video games I created, serving to seize a few of the moments which have stored me up at night time, hoping to do the identical to avid gamers all over the world.

Phenomena and Purification

Within the Japanese sport trade, it’s customary to go to a shrine and carry out a purification ceremony when beginning work on a horror title. The aim of the ceremony is to stop any religious phenomena or disturbances in the course of the sport’s improvement, however for Deadly Body, we thought it could be higher to let the spirits emerge, so we often don’t do the purification ceremony for video games on this sequence. Due to this, some spirit phenomena occurred throughout improvement that was instantly mirrored within the sport – just like the time we have been recording sound and a mysterious voice was truly recorded within the background. We tried to take away it from the recording, however finally gave up as a result of it doesn’t matter what we did, the voice stored coming again onto the recording , so we truly left it within the sport!

However the haunting voice isn’t the one spirit we’ve encountered all through the method of making the Deadly Body franchise. With Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse launching at present, I figured it was a superb time to breakdown the religious phenomena associated to this title.

Man within the Moonlight

The precise supply of inspiration for Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse is from an expertise I had that also provides me goosebumps. Within the sport, one of many locations you’ll go to is Rogetsu Corridor. That is truly based mostly on an outdated, Japanese-style sizzling spring resort owned by one in every of my family. We used to assemble there as a household, and on this one explicit night time, my household have been the one friends within the resort, so there was no one else round. I wakened in the course of the night time, and since the within of the resort was solely dimly lit by the moonlight shining by way of the window, the fantasy-like ambiance lured me to wander round a bit. That’s, till I noticed a person I didn’t acknowledge standing on the opposite aspect of the hallway, searching the window below the moonlight.

There ought to’ve solely been family round, however this man was positively a stranger. As I slowly approached to see who he was, the person checked out me, then shortly disappeared. Extra curious than scared, I went to the spot the place the person was standing. I appeared out the window and gazed on the giant moon. I stood there wanting on the moon for some time till I spotted that I used to be now in the very same pose as the person I had simply seen. I began to surprise, was the person a spirit? Was he a imaginative and prescient of somebody’s previous? Or did I simply see a imaginative and prescient of my future? I knew I wished to seize a second like this within the sport.

Till that second, I at all times thought a specific amount of humidity was needed for spirits to look, however this was such a low-humidity, dusty setting — so I attempted to not solely recreate this second, however recreate this actual ambiance contained in the resort for Masks of the Lunar Eclipse.

A Ghost Grabbed My Hand

Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse additionally encompasses a distinctive system the place the participant is usually grabbed by a ghostly hand when reaching for an merchandise. This was truly based mostly on a religious expertise I had in the course of the manufacturing of a earlier sport, Deadly Body III: The Tormented. Late one night time, I used to be house asleep after I felt somebody seize my hand. At first, I believed it was an phantasm since I used to be nonetheless in a sleep-like haze, however the chilly hand stored maintain, slowly growing power. “It hurts! It hurts!”, I screamed, and I lastly felt the chilly hand draw back earlier than I noticed it disappear right into a wall. Since I used to be sleeping in opposition to the wall, there was no approach anybody may’ve been there. There was a spirit behind the wall!

And it’s not the primary time I encountered spirits inside this wall. It’s the identical wall that I’ve heard spirits whisper from in the course of the night time. I bear in mind when engaged on Deadly Body III: The Tormented, I heard a girl’s voice say: “Let’s go swimming.” It shocked me, as a result of that was going to be the ending scene of the sport. How did she know!?

I wished to incorporate this expertise in The Tormented, the place the primary character, Rei, wakes up and has her hand grabbed by a spirit, but it surely was simply so tough to visualise the feeling of getting one’s hand-held by a ghost, so we waited and launched it as a part of new system within the subsequent sport, Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse.

Urusai!

Whereas engaged on the sequence, there was a recurring religious phenomenon in each title. At any time when I stayed over on the workplace, the spirit of a kid would run round at night time. It appeared like a boy, judging by his footsteps and voice. He would play methods all through the night time, knocking over books and papers on my desk if I didn’t take note of him. Once I would say, “Urusai!”, which implies, “you’re being noisy”, the boy would shortly disappear.

For Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse, the unique model of the sport wasn’t made at Koei Tecmo’s studio, however at Grasshopper Manufacture’s studio, so we by no means noticed the spirit of the boy, however they’d this ping pong desk that I used to sleep on once we have been engaged on the sport late into the night, and each occasionally, I might see the spirit of a lady who would circle across the desk, operating slowly and quietly. If I didn’t reply when seeing her, she would stroll over to the window and sing a track. “4, 4, six…” Apparently, she was singing numbers within the type of verses. I may by no means hear the tip clearly, however I believed this was a message that they wished me to incorporate within the sport, so I made a decision to incorporate an occasion the place a lady says numbers as if she was singing them.

Miyamoto-san’s Dream

This isn’t a narrative about religious phenomena, however about my desires. I believe all of us have scary desires infrequently, however we often neglect them by the point we get up. I bear in mind desires that depart an impression on me, particularly scary ones, and I attempt to take notes after I get up so as to use them in my video games. The truth is, there are a number of map constructions on this sequence that I’ve repurposed from unhealthy desires, whereas a few of the spirits are impressed by my nightmares.

The spirit named Kageri Sendo in Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse relies on “Miyamoto-san,” a determine who typically appeared in my desires. Miyamoto-san is a slender man who walks round with an individual who seems to be identical to him, solely in a wheelchair. He’s at all times well mannered, and bows again at me after I bow, however the particular person within the wheelchair is what strikes me, as he’s clearly useless and crawling with bugs!

Typically Miyamoto-san will not be current and solely the wheelchair and the particular person sitting in it are left unattended. When I attempt to contact them to see if they’re useless, Miyamoto-san angrily runs to me and says, “Don’t contact it!” After which the supposed corpse would begin to transfer towards me.

In Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse, there’s a sanatorium and every flooring is inhabited by a singular particular person. So, in fact, once we had a gathering to determine which spirits would seem within the sport, it was Miyamoto-san who immediately got here to thoughts.

At the moment, as a substitute of recreating Miyamoto-san as he was in my desires, we modified his character to a girl impressed by gothic horror to make her a spirit that customers would need to {photograph}. Among the workers members steered that the character’s title ought to keep as Miyamoto, nonetheless, I didn’t know his first title, and he appeared too weak to be a boss spirit, so we went again to the studio and got here up with a reputation that may be extra acceptable for an enemy of the Deadly Body sequence, Kageri Sendo.

It’s humorous, although, as Miyamoto-san has not appeared in my desires since he appeared within the sport. Having gained kind, possibly he was happy to some extent?

Due to this, when requested to call essentially the most memorable spirit in Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse, I at all times reply Kageri Sendo.

Take a look at Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse at present on Xbox One and Xbox Sequence X|S and make Shibata-san’s hauntings your actuality as three ladies return to the spooky Rogetsu Isle ten years after disappearing throughout a moonlight competition to resolve the thriller of their misplaced recollections whereas battling the spirits haunting the distant island. 

FATAL FRAME: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse

KOEI TECMO AMERICA

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4

★★★★★

Pre-order Bonus
-Ruka/Misaki/Choshiro Unique Accent “Spirit Stone Flashlight Hat” & “Fox Masks”
Notice: Bonus content material is likely to be made obtainable later as purchasable content material.

Early Buy Bonus
-Ruka Unique Costume “Marie Rose Outfit”
Notice: Added as Restricted Time Bonus if the sport is bought by March twenty second, 2023.
Notice: Bonus content material is likely to be made obtainable later as purchasable content material.

Unforgettable Horror

“FATAL FRAME: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse” was launched in Japan in 2008 because the fourth sport within the FATAL FRAME sequence. Following the remastering of “FATAL FRAME: Maiden of Black Water,” the sequence masterpiece is being introduced again to life with upgraded graphics.

■Concerning the Recreation
A gaggle of kids mysteriously disappeared throughout a competition on Rogetsu Isle. Though they have been discovered, they’d misplaced their recollections. Now they’ve returned to the island as youngsters. The ladies depend on the Digital camera Obscura, a digicam with the facility to seize and seal away unthinkable horrors, and the faint beam of their flashlight whereas exploring numerous places and keeping off the ghosts that assault them as they try to find the reality of their haunting previous.

■Options
-Improved Graphics
In-game motion pictures and character fashions have been improved to make the story and characters extra interesting. As well as, the graphics have been improved for every platform. The rendering of shadows and the beam of the flashlight has been refined so gamers can expertise extra sensible horror.

-New Snap Mode
Pose characters and ghosts freely to create haunting recollections within the new snap mode. Maybe you might even take surprising spirit images by chance…

-New Costumes
The unique costume lineup has been altered barely, and new costumes have been added. Change the characters’ costumes to expertise the investigation in several methods.

Notice: “FATAL FRAME: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse Digital Deluxe Version,” which incorporates the complete sport, can be obtainable for buy. Please watch out to keep away from making a redundant buy.