Deadly Body 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake is totally terrifying.
Workforce Ninja delivers unequivocal, spine-chilling survival horror, if — and it’s a extremely huge if — you’re keen to abdomen a number of acquainted frustrations.
In recent times, Koei Tecmo has tried to resurrect the Deadly Body/Challenge Zero sequence with combined outcomes. Each Maiden of Black Water and Masks of the Lunar Eclipse obtained the remaster remedy, although we weren’t notably impressed with both.
Deadly Body 2: Crimson Butterfly, nevertheless, will get the total works. It is a correct top-to-bottom remake, and it is clearly paid dividends.
Essentially the most notable shake-up is the elimination of the fastened digital camera angles typical of late-’90s survival horror video games. Of their place is a contemporary third-person perspective that makes exploring Minakami village far much less cumbersome.
It’s simply the primary of many welcome modernisations from the devs at Workforce Ninja. Extra facet tales supply further narrative juice for returning followers of the unique PS2 title, and an all-new unlockable ending awaits these courageous mad sufficient to aim New Recreation+ on Nightmare problem.
As a result of the story explores the origins of the Digicam Obscura, we predict this remake serves as a perfect entry level for brand new gamers unfamiliar with Deadly Body’s distinctive mixture of survival horror, puzzles, and the famously divisive digital camera fight.
Graphics and gameplay fare significantly better too, however right here’s the rub: it is a devoted revamping of its supply materials. It follows intently within the footsteps of the unique, and whereas it undeniably appears to be like and performs significantly better in 2026, it nonetheless falls sufferer to lots of the identical criticisms of the previous. Which feels virtually ironic, if you understand something in regards to the recreation’s darkish story.
The sport follows Mio and Mayu Amakura, twin sisters lured deep into the forest by a crimson butterfly. Sinister forces quickly separate the 2, trapping them in Minakami Village — a settlement lengthy erased from the map and shrouded in everlasting darkness.
Minakami is instantly creepy: an infallibly darkish environment stuffed with vengeful ghosts and ghoulies. These wraiths search to hurt Mio, abduct Mayu, and carry out the forbidden Crimson Butterfly Ritual. As Mio searches for her sister, she begins to uncover the village’s grim historical past and the tragic destiny of one other pair of twins whose story mirrors their very own.
Crimson Butterfly remake is constructed like a basic survival horror recreation, and performs like a nostalgic lock-and-key shuffle by way of a handful of fear-inducing environments, harking back to style all-timers like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Put together your self for loads of backtracking!
Structurally, you creep from constructing to constructing, studying notebooks, discovering keys, listening to spirit containers, and snapping pictures of some fairly rancid-looking ghosts to progress by way of the sport’s nine-chapter story.
We love an excellent bounce scare, and Crimson Butterfly Remake has lots to maintain you in your toes. We discovered ourselves bracing throughout each drawn-out door opening, and each lengthy attain for one thing simply out of grasp — moments clearly designed as the right setup for a wraith to pop up and scare the dwelling daylights out of you.
However the devs are intelligent sufficient to not bombard you and boring the stress. As an alternative, a lot of the worry comes from what isn’t there.
In reality, the final time a horror recreation made us really feel this tense was once we performed 2005’s Condemned: Legal Origins. Hell, this would possibly simply be the scariest recreation we’ve ever performed.
Early on, Mio and Mayu encounter their first wraith — an offended murder-ghost with a hankering for strangling twins. Fortunately, simply moments earlier we have been launched to a magical ghost-killing digital camera, and supplied with copious text-based tutorials on the best way to kill an offended murder-ghost. Phew.
However this additionally brings us to the principle motive we’re hesitant to outright suggest Deadly Body II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, and all of it comes right down to the sequence’ signature weapon: the Digicam Obscura.
As you discover Minakami Village looking for Mayu (and a option to escape) Mio can defend herself from wraiths by snapping footage to deal injury.
Taking pictures portraits of your ghoulish enemies is a good way to get an excellent take a look at their unsettling new faces, however the true trick lies in timing your photographs. Ready for a wraith to maneuver in shut and snapping a brand new face card mid-lunge can set off a Deadly Body, countering the assault and considerably boosting your injury output.
The digital camera comes preloaded with a limitless provide of Sort-07 movie, however a handful of different rolls could be loaded too, every with their very own quirks. Some reload quicker, whereas others possess greater exorcism energy, dealing way more injury when used.
Toggleable Filters additionally introduce their very own exploration gimmicks and particular shot skills. We notably appreciated the Publicity filter, which slows wraiths down throughout fight while additionally revealing hidden trails and treasures throughout exploration.
Battling wraiths is a tense affair, a novel and fulfilling option to take down enemies, albeit just a little clunky at occasions. Fortunately, the remake provides a number of fashionable concessions. Now you can click on R3 to auto-lock onto ghosts in body and press X to dodge incoming assaults. When you familiarize yourself with focal factors, focus, and slap on a few upgrades to the Digicam Obscura, fight begins to really feel way more fulfilling.
Sadly, it’s nonetheless not with out its frustrations.
One mechanic we weren’t so eager on is when a wraith turns into aggravated. At any time throughout a scrap, there’s an opportunity they’ll flip purple and get correctly offended about being papped.
Managing an aggravated wraith isn’t the issue. They nonetheless transfer and assault the identical method, just a bit faster. The actual drawback is that additionally they regenerate well being and may seemingly faucet into this state every time they bloody properly really feel prefer it.
We received’t spoil something, however throughout an enormous set-piece second towards a boss wraith, we merely couldn’t exorcise it. Each time Mio had the groany git on the ropes and was able to ship the ultimate body, the wraith would sit back into its aggravated state and we’d spend one other 15-20 minutes duelling with them. What ought to have been a tense and pivotal second shortly turned a bit exhausting.
We weren’t a fan of the stealth sections both. A number of sections take away Mio’s capability to struggle totally as her digital camera is both misplaced, or ineffective towards an enormous dangerous ghosty, forcing you to run and conceal from them.
Initially, we appreciated the variation it offered, however in the end discovered it relied too closely on trial and error for our liking. It usually seems like we have been anticipated to fail on the primary event, that means it may take possibly two or three makes an attempt at navigating a sequence to get it proper. Which is a disgrace, as a result of it subdues an in any other case terrifying expertise.
