The fifth main entry in the Fatal Frame series, it was originally published by Nintendo for the Wii U in Japan in September 2014 and worldwide in October 2015.

As with previous games in the series, players navigate areas filled with hostile ghosts which must be fought by taking photographs using the Camera Obscura.

The story, which is set on the fictional Hikami Mountain, focuses on three protagonists who are drawn into supernatural events revolving the area, including an ancient ritual to seal away the Black Water, a malevolent force corrupting the surrounding spirits that is tied to the fate of the titular shrine maiden Ose Kurosawa.

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a survival horror video game that puts the player in control of three different characters traversing a number of environments across Hikami Mountain from a third-person perspective, including ruined buildings and dark forests.

In time, their emotions would overwhelm them, and would be sacrificed as Eternal Flowers to keep a malevolent otherworldly power called the Black Water at bay.

The story follows three different protagonists: Yuri Kozukata, who can to bring people back from the shadow world into the real world due to her descent from the Hikami shrine maidens; Ren Hojo, an author and friend of Yuri who goes to the mountain to research his new book with his assistant Rui Kagamiya; and Miu Hinasaki, the daughter of earlier Fatal Frame protagonist Miku Hinasaki.

Depending on his actions, he either unites or breaks up with Ose as Asou's present-day avatar, or puts Shiragiku to rest and returns to the living world.

If the player gets the "Good" ending, a post-credits scene plays where Rui wakes up to find Ren in front of her, telling her he will remain by her side forever.

[8]: 163–166  The staff included Kikuchi, series co-creator and director Makoto Shibata; and Toshiharu Izuno and Tohru Osawa from Nintendo, who had previously worked on Mask of the Lunar Eclipse.

[10] The team used traditional Japanese horror as an aesthetic starting point as with earlier Fatal Frame titles, with the main purpose being to make it as frightening for players as possible.

In aid of this, the flashback videos and core concept of rescuing people from supernatural hot spots was brought in, although several proposed elements related to this were cut.

[8]: 163–166 [9] The story and characters combined elements from four previous Fatal Frame game proposals, with the mountain setting taken from one of those scrapped projects.

Maiden of Black Water features the largest number of storylines up to that point, but due to the amount of narrative he wanted to include, Shibata ended up neglecting other elements such as Mount Hikami's history of suicides.

[11] As it was the first game on a new console, the development team comprised people new to the series, including designers Akira Ohtani and Yuki Sakamoto.

These included combat, puzzle and navigation mechanics involving the analogue sticks to promote higher immersion; and using the gamepad's microphone to blow on objects within the game environment.

While they had initially been visually similar to rest of the game, part of the series' appeal was the fear evoked by unseen objects, so they added distortions.

[8]: 163–166 [9] The shift onto more powerful hardware also enabled the team to incorporate more graphic scenes, which contributed to it receiving a higher CERO rating than previous titles.

[10] The game was first announced in April 2014, alongside multiple media expansions to the franchise, including a Japanese live-action film and an original novel and comic.

[23] Yuri Kozukata became the basis of a DLC costume in the Nintendo Switch version of Nights of Azure 2[24] and reappeared as a summonable Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros.

[26] A remaster of Maiden of Black Water was suggested by Kikuchi to celebrate the Fatale Frame series' 20th anniversary, as talks on creating a new title had fallen through multiple times due to a lack of dedicated staff.

[39] Nintendo World Report's Andrew Brown cited the main cast as being more "down to earth and relatable" than those from previous games in the series, and said that it was easy for players to sympathize with the ghosts encountered.

[40] Ryan Bates of Game Revolution, while enjoying the creepy atmosphere, found the number of characters introduced early on confusing.

[41] Eurogamer's Aoife Wilson was highly critical, calling the story "half-baked" and generally faulting the characters in comparison to previous games in the series.

[38] Brown, while noting some blurry textures and blocky structures, generally cited the lighting and other graphic effects as one of the game's high points.

[3] Krupa enjoyed both the use of the Wii U gamepad as the Camera Obscura and combat for most of the game, but found later sections tedious due to repetitive battles.

[39] Corriea liked the use of the gamepad despite some control issues,[38] Bates was highly positive about the thrill it brought into battles,[37] while Turi found that the function did not bring long-term enjoyment and that backtracking through environments negatively impacted on the experience.

[36] Wilson likewise enjoyed the gamepad's role in the game, while faulting most other aspects including the high amount of health items and character controls.

[29][30][31][32][33] Joe DeVader of Nintendo World Report generally enjoyed the atmosphere and gameplay, though found issues with its controls and characters, and was pleased the game had been brought to more platforms.

[49] Shaun Musgrave of Touch Arcade described Maiden of Black Water as a satisfying game for pre-existing fans made more accessible with the remaster, but felt series newcomers might find issue with its controls.

[50] Destructoid's Dan Roemer was fairly negative, calling it outdated and lacking scares despite enjoyable boss encounters and a strong setting design.