The story focuses on three characters investigating the abandoned and haunted Rogetsu Island: Ruka Minazuki and Misaki Asou, two girls who were involved in a secret ritual and suffered amnesia as a result, and Choshiro Kirishima, the detective who rescued them.

The gameplay, as with previous entries in the series, revolves around the main character exploring environments and tackling hostile ghosts using the Camera Obscura.

Kikuchi and series co-creator Makoto Shibata returned as respective producer and director, while Grasshopper Manufacture's Goichi Suda acted as co-director, co-writer and designer.

The Wii release became the best-selling title in the series up to that point, and was praised by Japanese and Western critics for its atmosphere and mechanics while being mixed on its controls.

The remaster also saw strong sales, but was met with mixed reviews due to the age of some gameplay elements while praising the scenario and art design.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is a survival horror video game that has players taking control of four different characters navigating a variety of different environments, including traditional Japanese houses and a Meiji-era sanatorium-turned-hotel, while facing hostile ghosts through photography using the series' recurring Camera Obscura.

[5] In 1970, ten years prior to the start of the game, suspected serial killer Yō Haibara kidnapped five girls from their rooms in a sanatorium on Rogetsu, an island south of Honshu.

The girls were rescued from a cavern beneath the sanatorium by detective Choshiro Kirishima, who had been pursuing Haibara, but they had all lost their memories.

Eight years later, in the present, two of the rescued girls have died in mysterious circumstances and two of the survivors, Misaki Asou and Madoka Tsukimori, return to discover the truth about their pasts.

During their explorations, the characters learn that the island once used a ritual to send spirits to the afterlife during a decennial lunar eclipse, which countered a supernatural disease called Moonlight Syndrome,[b] which affects memories and identity.

Sakuya reached the final stage of the disease and fell into a coma while shattering the mask, the other girls collapsed and suffered amnesia, and the kagura dancers all died.

Depending on the game's difficulty setting, Misaki's fate is either left unknown, or she is saved by Madoka's spirit and leaves the island.

Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was co-developed by Tecmo, Grasshopper Manufacture and Nintendo Software Planning & Development.

[11] The main development goal for Mask of the Lunar Eclipse was "feeling fear with [the player's] body", with gameplay functions closely tied into the Wii hardware.

An adjustment they made was to the camera perspective: while it had been placed at a distance in previous games, it was shifted to an over-the-shoulder third-person view so the control of the torch was more realistic.

During development, Shibata and Kikuchi felt that Grasshopper and Nintendo's involvement helped them reevaluate the series formula and try out new things.

To help translate the text, they posted the script in segments on internet forums, though access to the work was later restricted due to quality concerns.

The patch was designed to work on any Wii device, bypassing the console's region locking, and included a newly-made costume for the main character.

[34] Eurogamer's Kristan Reed regularly noted its similarity to previous entries in the series, praising the atmosphere and gameplay, while criticizing the control scheme and its negative effect on combat and navigation.

In most other respects he was highly positive, praising the story, combat and graphics, calling it a "labor of love" on the part of the development team.

[5] In its import review, Edge generally enjoyed the unsettling atmosphere that the developers had succeeded in creating by using the dark settings and close-set camera angle.

[28][29][30][31] Zoey Handley of Destructoid felt that the game had an audience due to its atmosphere and gameplay, but noted that the story presentation and elements of its combat and controls had not aged well.

[3] Joe DeVader of Nintendo World Report felt that its control issues and overall design were better suited to series fans than newcomers, but enjoyed the atmosphere and praised the graphical upgrade.

[4] Chris Scullion, writing for Video Games Chronicle, echoed recurring complaints around the movement speed while praising the atmosphere and gameplay design.