Yesterday, I got my first hands on time with Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, an augmented reality horror game from the makers of Fatal Frame that uses the 3DS as a “Camera Obscura” — a possessed camera that players use to take photographs and interact with Spirit Camera’s ghastly world. Through a combination of AR and the Gyro Sensor technology, players get transported to and from a spooky mansion as they attempt to piece together the larger mystery taking place.
My demo begins with the arrival of package that includes the Camera Obscura and a small notebook called the Book of Faces — in the real world, the Book of Faces included with Spirit Camera is actually a small pamphlet, but hopefully you get the idea. The prologue identifies the Book of Faces as a mysterious and haunted object, and one whose appearance usually leads to strange happenings and disturbing events. As much as that sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon — and I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that to some degree — that vibe contributes to why I’m so interested in Spirit Camera. Sure, the premise is a bit silly, but a horror title where invisible things appear and disappear through a special viewfinder is still entertaining.
