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

My name is Makoto Shibata and I’ve been working on the Fatal Frame series since its inception, trying to create the scariest games possible in a way that’s unique to other horror titles. What people might not realize when they play my games is that some of what you see in the series – and some of what you’ll play in Mask of the Lunar eclipse: The Fatal Frame – was actually inspired by spirits that I’ve seen (and even touched!) I have seen and touched spirits in my real life. To me, zombies and monsters aren’t scary because they’re not real, but spirits have been a frightening presence in my life since I was young. In order to share some of my worst nightmares with the gamers I have created, I wanted to help capture those moments and hopefully inspire others.

Pureification and Phenomena

It is part of the Japanese gaming industry to perform purification ceremonies at a shrine before starting work on horror titles. The purpose of the ceremony is to prevent any spiritual phenomena or disturbances during the game’s development, but for Fatal Frame, we thought it would be better to let the spirits emerge, so we usually don’t do the purification ceremony for games in this series. Because of this, some spirit phenomena occurred during development that was directly reflected in the game – like the time we were recording sound and a mysterious voice was actually recorded in the background. We attempted to delete it, but we couldn’t get it out of the record. The voice continued to come back on the recording. , so we actually left it in the game!

But the haunting voice isn’t the only spirit we’ve encountered throughout the process of creating the Fatal Frame franchise. This is what you will get: Mask of the Lunar eclipse: The Fatal FrameI launched today because it seemed like a great time to discuss the spiritual phenomena associated with this title.

The Moonlight and Man

Inspiration comes from within. Mask of the Lunar eclipse: The Fatal FrameThis is a quote from an unforgettable experience that gave me goosebumps. In the game, one of the places you’ll visit is Rogetsu Hall. The idea is actually taken from an older, Japanese-style hotspring property owned by one my family members. My family used to visit the hot springs as a whole family. On this particular night, we were the only ones in the hotel. The hotel’s interior was dimly lit from the moonlight through its window. This lured me into wandering around the place. That is, until I saw a man I didn’t recognize standing on the other side of the hallway, looking out the window under the moonlight.

There should’ve only been relatives around, but this man was definitely a stranger. The man looked at me as I approached him, and then quickly vanished. I became more interested than nervous and went over to where the man was. The large moon was visible through the windows. I noticed it as well. For a time I stared at the moon, until it struck me that this was the same position as the man whom I just saw. The man I saw was a spirit, or something else. Was he a vision of someone’s past? Did I see my future vision or was he just a vision of someone’s past? This was the moment I had in my mind.

Until that moment, I always thought a certain amount of humidity was necessary for spirits to appear, but this was such a low-humidity, dusty environment — so I tried to not only recreate this moment, but recreate this exact atmosphere inside the hotel for The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.

The Ghost grabbed my hand

The Fatal Framework: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse features an unusual system in which the player can sometimes grab a ghostly hands when reaching for an object. It was inspired by a past spiritual experience that I had while creating a game. Three-dimensional Fatal Frame III: Tormented. A few nights ago, while I was sleeping at my home, someone grabbed me by the hand. Although I initially thought the feeling was a visual illusion, it became more real as my sleep was getting deeper. The cold hands held me steady, gradually increasing in strength. “It hurts! It hurts!”, I screamed, and I finally felt the cold hand pull away before I saw it disappear into a wall. Since I was sleeping against the wall, there was no way anyone could’ve been there. The wall was haunted by a spirit!

And it’s not the first time I encountered spirits inside this wall. It’s the same wall that I’ve heard spirits whisper from in the middle of the night. When I was working on it, that’s what I remembered. Three-dimensional Fatal Frame III: Tormented, I heard a woman’s voice say: “Let’s go swimming.” It shocked me, because that was going to be the ending scene of the game. I don’t know how she knew that!?

This experience was important to me. The Tormented, where the main character, Rei, wakes up and has her hand grabbed by a spirit, but it was just so difficult to visualize the sensation of having one’s hand held by a ghost, so we waited and introduced it as part of new system in the next game, Mask of the Lunar eclipse: The Fatal Frame.

Urusai!

Every title has had a consistent spiritual phenomenon while I was working on it. When I would stay over in the office, the spirit was like a little child running around at night. His footsteps and his voice suggested he was a boy. He would play tricks throughout the night, knocking over books and papers on my desk if I didn’t pay attention to him. When I would say, “Urusai!”, which means, “you’re being noisy”, the boy would quickly disappear.

Find out more Mask of the Lunar eclipse: The Fatal Frame, the original version of the game wasn’t made at Koei Tecmo’s studio, but at Grasshopper Manufacture’s studio, so we never saw the spirit of the boy, but they had this ping pong table that I used to sleep on when we were working on the game late into the evening, and every once in a while, I would see the spirit of a girl who would circle around the table, running slowly and quietly. If I didn’t respond when seeing her, she would walk over to the window and sing a song. “Four, four, six…” Apparently, she was singing numbers in the form of verses. Although I couldn’t hear the ending, I felt it was important to convey their message. So, I included an event in which a girl sings numbers.

Miyamoto-san’s Dream

I am not going to tell you about any spiritual phenomenon, this is about my dreams. Although we may all experience scary dreams, we tend to forget about them when we get up in the morning. Dreams that have left an impression on my mind, particularly scary dreams, are something I keep in mind. I make sure to remember them and take down notes whenever I get up to reference later. In reality, I’ve reconstructed many map structures from my bad dreams. Some of these spirits were inspired by my nightmares.

Kageri sendo, the spirit of Japan. Mask of the Lunar eclipse: The Fatal Frame is based on “Miyamoto-san,” a figure who sometimes appeared in my dreams. Miyamoto is a thin man walking with a wheelchair-bound person. He is always polite, and bows back at me when I bow, but the person in the wheelchair is what strikes me, as he’s obviously dead and crawling with insects!

Miyamoto, sometimes not even present, will leave the chair and person sitting on it unattended. When I try to touch them to see if they are dead, Miyamoto-san angrily runs to me and says, “Don’t touch it!” And then the supposed corpse would start to move toward me.

Mask of the Lunar eclipse: The Fatal FrameThere is also a Sanatorium, where each floor is home to a different person. Miyamoto, the original spirit who appeared in the game was immediately recalled by us when we had a meeting.

We decided to change Miyamoto’s character from the one I had in my dreams to a gothic horror-inspired woman to give him a personality that would be easy to capture. Some of the staff members suggested that the character’s name should stay as Miyamoto, however, I did not know his first name, and he seemed too weak to be a boss spirit, so we went back to the studio and came up with a name that would be more appropriate for an enemy of the Fatal Frame series, Kageri Sendo.

It’s funny, though, as Miyamoto-san has not appeared in my dreams since he appeared in the game. Maybe he had achieved form and was happy to some degree?

This is why, when you are asked which spirit was the most memorable in your life, they will respond with “The Most Memorable Spirit” Mask of the Lunar eclipse: The Fatal FrameI answer Kageri Mailo every time.

S. This game will make Shibata’s hauntings a reality. Three women who disappeared during a lunar festival ten years ago return to the remote Rogetsu Isle to find the truth about their missing memories.|S and make Shibata-san’s hauntings your reality as three women return to the spooky Rogetsu Isle ten years after disappearing during a moonlight festival to solve the mystery of their lost memories while battling the spirits haunting the remote island. 

FATAL FAME: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

KOEI TECMO AMERICA

☆☆☆☆☆
4

★★★★★

Pre-order bonus
-Ruka/Misaki/Choshiro Exclusive Accessory “Spirit Stone Flashlight Hat” & “Fox Mask”
Note: Additional bonus content may be available as a purchaseable item later.

Special Early Buy Bonus
-Ruka Exclusive Costume “Marie Rose Outfit”
NOTE: This bonus is only available for a limited time if you purchase the game before March 22nd 2023.
Note: Additional bonus content may be available as a purchaseable item later.

Unforgettable Horror

“FATAL FRAME: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse” was released in Japan in 2008 as the fourth game in the FATAL FRAME series. Following the remastering of “FATAL FRAME: Maiden of Black Water,” the series masterpiece is being brought back to life with upgraded graphics.

■About the Game
One group of children disappeared mysteriously during an event on Rogetsu Isle. They weren’t found and had no memories. The girls are now teens and they’ve returned to the island. As they try to uncover the truth about their ghostly past, the girls depend on the Camera Obscura. This camera can capture unthinkable horrors and the faint glow of their flashlight.

■Features
Improved Graphics
To make characters and stories more engaging, in-game movies have been enhanced and the character models improved. The graphics on each platform have also been enhanced. To give players a more authentic experience of horror, the lighting effects and beams of the flashlight have been improved.

The Snap Mode is a New Version
To create haunting memories, you can freely pose ghosts or characters in the Snap Mode. Perhaps you may even take unexpected spirit photos by accident…

New Costumes
New costumes were added to the original costume list. To experience the investigation differently, you can change the costumes of the characters.

Note: “FATAL FRAME: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Digital Deluxe Edition,” which includes the full game, is also available for purchase. You should avoid purchasing redundant items.