Survival horror as a genre is becoming increasingly rare these days. With Resident Evil taking a more action-orientated direction in more recent entries to the series, and the much-anticipated Silent Hills cancelled after its director, Hideo Kojima left Konami, horror fans have instead been left to get their scary kicks from indie offerings such as Five Nights at Freddy’s and Slender, but with Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water, Nintendo fans have a spooky survival horror to tantalise their fears with this Halloween.

Project Zero, known as Fatal Frame in the USA, first made its way onto Nintendo consoles last generation with the Japan exclusive fourth entry to the series, but European gamers were treated to a remake of the second game, Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly. When the Wii U was announced, many fans of the series appealed to developers Koei Tecmo that the new console was perfect for Project Zero.

Ghosts are the focus of the Project Zero series, and the player must use the Camera Obscura to exorcise these spirits who are trying to take your life away from you. While before you would use a control stick or the Wii Remote to move the camera viewfinder on screen, with Maiden of Black Water, the Gamepad screen becomes the camera, in what is one of the most involved uses of the Wii U’s unique capabilities yet.

The story of Project Zero 5 is set on the mysterious Mt. Hikami, and revolves around three protagonists. Yuri Kozukata – a girl who can see beyond the natural world and bring people back from the spirit world sets off on a journey to find the owner of the antiques shop she works in, who strangely goes missing. Ren Hojo, our second protagonist, is an author and a  friend of Yuri’s who is researching to write a book about the mountain, and the third, Miu Hanasaki, is drawn to Mt. Hikami after her mother, a protagonist in previous Project Zero games, goes missing.

As legend goes, those who wish to end their life go up the mountain at the witching hour to die a peaceful death, with the assistance of shrine maidens who eventually become overwhelmed and are sacrificed to keep dark forces at bay. Yes, this game focuses on some very dark concepts, with suicide and sacrifice driving forces in the story, so it is definitely not one for the light-hearted and definitely justifies its 18 rating. As the plot progresses and we explore further up the creepy mountain, we learn increasingly more about the area’s unsettling traditions and the mysterious black water of the game’s title.

The gameplay of the Project Zero series is certainly unique, with this latest entry adding several new elements to integrate the capabilities of the Wii U Gamepad. You navigate through a range of environments from forests, houses, tunnels and shrines with wonderfully clunky ‘tank’ controls that just add to the tension and fear. Some may be happy to hear that a sprint button has been added, making it slightly easier to escape pursuing ghosts in times of trouble.

When faced with an enemy spirit, it’s time to whip the Camera Obscura out. While you will still be able to see the ghost and a guide frame on the TV screen, this is where the action moves to the Gamepad. It is controlled using the gyroscopes meaning you can switch from a landscape to portrait shot just by rotating your controller. ZL is then used to focus on your target, with ZR controlling the shutter.

The camera can be equipped with a range of film types and upgradable lenses that cause different amounts of damage and can cause a range of status effects, for example slowing the ghost down. Each type of film also takes a different amount of time to reload between shots.

Sounds simple right? Just take photos of ghosts and they die? Not so much. To cause enough damage to exorcise them, you’ll have to take a so-called 'Fatal Frame'. This is getting your shot just as the enemy is about to attack you, typically within a second. Shoot too early, or too late, and you’ll lose a chunk of health. Pressing the shutter at the right time will give you the chance to get a few more shots as the counter descends to zero without having to worry about reload speed.

Fitting more in your frame will also cause more damage. Enemies may have several focus points, and as you attack these spirits, ghostly fragments may break off. Fit five targets within your frame and you can trigger a ‘Shutter Chance’, causing big damage to these ghouls.

It takes a bit of time to get used to these new controls, and it can sometimes be tricky to know where a ghost has got to when it’s not in your view, but it all adds to the rising fear. Each type of ghost attacks in a different way, so it’s learning these patterns that will contribute to your success. Most didn’t provide too much trouble through the game, but one type in particular, a priest with a fiery staff, left me cursing many times at the difficulty in attacking him.

New to the series is the ‘Fatal Glance’. Once a spirit has been exorcised, you can approach it and touch it to take a look into its soul. Occasionally, this will trigger a cut scene, showing you just how that ghost originally died. While these are non-essential, they do a good job of building the folklore of Maiden of Black Water and make the ghosts more than just plain enemies out to get you. These scenes feel ripped straight from your typical Japanese horror film. They also give you extra points towards your end of level rank.

As suggested by the title, water plays a big part in the core mechanics of the game, with a wetness meter part of your on-screen display. Represented by a blooming lotus flower, the wetter you are, the more susceptible to ghost attacks you are, but you will also do more damage, with the wetness bringing you closer to the spirit world. There are items that will dry you off, but I found these quite pointless at many points of the game where it is raining, so you’ll just get wet again straight away. The only reason to use them is when a shrine maiden ghost attacks you and the flower fully blooms, which puts you in a state of constant energy drain until the ghost is defeated or you use a Purifying Flame.

Tecmo Koei has done a wonderful job with creating a tense, spooky atmosphere. It’s dark, but beautiful. The music is haunting and some of the noises the ghosts make can really creep you out. With the whole 'black water' theme, they’ve done a brilliant job with the rain and mist, but some parts of the graphical representation of wetness may seem unnecessary to some – it makes some of the girls’ clothes see through. Realistic, perhaps, but along with the slightly 'jiggly' physics borrowed from the Dead or Alive series and some kimono-wearing ghost maidens showing a bit of extra cleavage, it does seem to be added purely for fan service. The Japanese release had some questionable bonus costumes but this edition has replaced them with some slightly more appropriate unlockables.

Perhaps the biggest question that needs answering when reviewing a horror game is “how scary is it?” Now, of course, your mileage may vary, but personally, I didn’t find it too bad. There aren’t too many cheap jump scares, which may annoy some, but the horror comes more from the creepy setting, atmosphere and the dark themes. You’ll be more spooked by revisiting areas again and noticing changes, moving dolls, boxes containing sacrificed shrine maidens, putting you on edge for what’s going to happen next. Each time you pick up an item, the game slows and eerily chimes as you reach towards it, always in anticipation of a spirit hand potentially trying to drag you into another dimension.

There is one chapter in particular that really freaked me out though, and it’s not even in one of the spooky shrines, but back at the antiques shop at the foot of the mountain. While the other characters sleep, Ren checks the security cameras. It felt reminiscent of the Paranormal Activity films, and reminded me why I’m not the biggest fan of scary things! One ghost in particular gave me nightmares. But at this time of year, it’d be wrong not to face our fears, right?

Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is a pretty substantial adventure, with 14 chapters that should take you at least 15-20 hours to complete first time around. There are multiple endings offering an incentive to replay several times, but I did find this put a dampener on things slightly as I felt myself tiring of what I believe to be the game’s biggest fault - the same areas being used again and again, especially in the final chapter. There is also a 'Nightmare' difficulty unlocked on completion, providing an even bigger challenge to the player.

There are also four bonus chapters starring Ayane from the Dead or Alive series, and while it offers slightly different mechanics to the main game, it doesn’t really add a lot if you’re not a fan of Dead or Alive.

Here in Europe, Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is having a quite peculiar release, only being released at retail as a £49.99 special edition, and on the eShop. £49.99 is a lot of money for what is a niche title, and that price point will put many off straight away. Gamers will have the opportunity to download a trial version featuring the prologue and first two chapters, which is a nice move from Nintendo but ultimately, with the Wii U’s release calendar looking so sparse it is a shame they’re not pushing it harder by offering it at a regular retail price of £30-£40. It feels like it’s been sent up Mt. Hikami as a sacrifice.

As my first experience of the Project Zero series, it was certainly one I enjoyed. Fans of traditional survival horror should love this; it has a suitably disturbing story and a tense atmosphere that will keep you nervy as you navigate Mt. Hikami. While it may not be the pinnacle of the genre, its unique gameplay makes full use of the Wii U Gamepad that not even Nintendo try to do in most of their games, and for that, it’s a game that Wii U owners should at least give a shot through the trial version.

If you’re a fan of Japanese horror, or just fancy something a bit spooky for Halloween, Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water won’t disappoint.