Fatal Frame shoots a sequel

According to the latest issue of Famitsu magazine, Tecmo's Fatal Frame horror series is returning to the PlayStation 2 this summer in Japan. The game is tentatively titled Fatal Frame: Zero and will be known in Japan as Rei.

Zero inherits the dark, predominantly Japanese atmosphere from its previous two installments, and once again gamers will be using a camera to fight against the spirits that come after them. This time, the camera will come with a strobe light, which momentarily stuns ghosts.

The main character in Zero is a 23-year-old female photographer named Rei Kurosawa, whose nightmare begins after she finds her dead boyfriend in a photo that she took during one of her jobs at a supposedly haunted mansion. Rei soon discovers that a snake tattoo is beginning to spread across her body, and it just so happens that the spirits that she fights also have tattoos on their ghostly form.

There will also be two other playable characters, Miku Hinasaki and Kei Amakura. Miku returns after her stint as the main character in the original Fatal Frame. Since appearing in the original, Miku has recovered from her brother's disappearance and is now working as an assistant to a cameraman (which is most likely to be Rei.)

Kei Amakura is a nonfiction writer and a good friend of Rei's deceased significant other. Kei also happens to have the same last name as the main characters in the series' second installment, Mio and Mayu. Since Kei doesn't have strong spiritual powers, he'll be using rational thought and scientific knowledge as his weapon.

Zero will take place in two settings: reality and nightmare. Players enter the nightmare realm when Rei falls asleep at night. While in this state, gamers will explore a Japanese mansion, taking on spirits and solving mysteries. Not much is known about the reality side, except that things might not be as safe as they seem.

According to Famitsu, Zero is currently 60 percent complete in development.