TL;DR
I have quite a few issues with the clunky movement and a few of the gimmicks introduced; but for the most part it's quite a solid horror experience still. I would still easily consider this the "worst" game in the Fatal Frame series. However, seeing how it's mostly detached from the rest of the games' stories, this is actually a decent starting point. If this is your first Fatal Frame game, then things only go up from here.
Details:
Fatal Frame 5 is mostly pretty ok. There were quite a few really well-done, really unnerving sections. My first time visiting the Shrine of Dolls and Womb Cavern were incredibly spooky. Also the Unfathomable Forest is always suitably dark, oppressive, and unpredictable; it's a great setting. The sound design is pretty good, and it really elevates this game.
Unfortunately, the characters were all....REALLY uninteresting. I really had no personal or emotional investment in any of the characters except for Miu since her mom is Miku, the character from the first game. However, I did really enjoy the backstory of what happened on the mountain and the rituals that the villagers practiced, setting all this in motion. Piecing together the horrible things that happened has always been one of my favorite aspects of these games.
The gameplay was pretty serviceable. If you've played a Fatal Frame game, you basically know what to expect at this point, aside from the few new things. The general combat and encounters felt pretty good to play and were often tense. Just make sure if you're using a controller, to turn up that camera sensitivity (in-game AND Camera Obscura) a fair bit.
Unfortunately, the movement controls feel incredibly clunky, way clunkier than I remember the other games' movement feeling. There's a few short instances where the Maiden of Black Water will chase you, and if you touch her then it's an immediate game over and you have to restart the chase sequence. The first time it wasn't bad because she was almost always behind you. However, the second time this happens, she teleports AHEAD of you, and with the very clunky movement controls, you will find yourself running into her instead of deftly sidestepping like you feel like you should've. However, despite the clunky movement controls, doing a dodge always feels quite reliable, I assume it gives you a good handful of i-frames or something because this game runs at like 25-30 FPS on Switch.
Furthermore, opening doors is so fucking slow and drawn out. This is done for the sake of suspense, but they only ever actually capitalize on it ONCE and it's not until way late into the game. There's also the item pick-up gimmick where a disembodied ghost-hand can grab you, but it got old after the third or fourth time. Every time after that, it was just a nuisance.
Also if you accidentally find yourself backed into a corner by 3+ ghosts, get ready to get stun-locked for a good 30 seconds or so. This happened to me only twice, but god was it frustrating. One time I kept getting chain-grabbed. I'd get grabbed, do a counter-shot, and IMMEDIATELY get grabbed by another ghost that was on-top of me.
I will say though that the Spirit Photography of "bonus" ghosts was a huge highlight for me, like in the other games. Sometimes NOT having something to fight is scarier; seeing something watching you, passing you by, or even leading you some place is better horror than another ghost ambush. They really help build the creepy atmosphere wherever you are and are a constant reminder that no matter how alone you seem to be, you're actually not alone, and that's way scarier in this case. The "Fatal Glance" mechanic was also neat too. Getting a few vague tidbits of lore via a grainy VHS cutscene from touching a defeated enemy is really good & spooky.
Another complaint: this game's camera upgrade system REEKS compared to the first three games. Everything costs so many more points to upgrade, and you have TWO cameras to upgrade this time around on top of that. I know this is mostly to encourage replaying the missions on Nightmare difficulty, but honestly I do not want to fuck with that, and it kinda hurts the overall feeling of progress in terms of camera strength.
Last thing: the Ayane DLC missions were kinda boring. It's a damned good thing there's only four of her missions and that they're as short as they are. Her magic flashlight gimmick and the """stealth""" would not have lasted beyond another mission or two because of how half-baked and boring it feels. KT forcing Fatal Frame to share a universe with Nioh/Ninja Gaiden/DOA seems kind of unnecessary. Ayane's hot though I guess, so there's that?
Edit According to the Fatal Frame wiki, in a Siliconera interview, this DLC with Ayane was added at Nintendo's behest. So for some reason, Nintendo really wanted DOA representation in Fatal Frame?
I have quite a few issues with the clunky movement and a few of the gimmicks introduced; but for the most part it's quite a solid horror experience still. I would still easily consider this the "worst" game in the Fatal Frame series. However, seeing how it's mostly detached from the rest of the games' stories, this is actually a decent starting point. If this is your first Fatal Frame game, then things only go up from here.
Details:
Fatal Frame 5 is mostly pretty ok. There were quite a few really well-done, really unnerving sections. My first time visiting the Shrine of Dolls and Womb Cavern were incredibly spooky. Also the Unfathomable Forest is always suitably dark, oppressive, and unpredictable; it's a great setting. The sound design is pretty good, and it really elevates this game.
Unfortunately, the characters were all....REALLY uninteresting. I really had no personal or emotional investment in any of the characters except for Miu since her mom is Miku, the character from the first game. However, I did really enjoy the backstory of what happened on the mountain and the rituals that the villagers practiced, setting all this in motion. Piecing together the horrible things that happened has always been one of my favorite aspects of these games.
The gameplay was pretty serviceable. If you've played a Fatal Frame game, you basically know what to expect at this point, aside from the few new things. The general combat and encounters felt pretty good to play and were often tense. Just make sure if you're using a controller, to turn up that camera sensitivity (in-game AND Camera Obscura) a fair bit.
Unfortunately, the movement controls feel incredibly clunky, way clunkier than I remember the other games' movement feeling. There's a few short instances where the Maiden of Black Water will chase you, and if you touch her then it's an immediate game over and you have to restart the chase sequence. The first time it wasn't bad because she was almost always behind you. However, the second time this happens, she teleports AHEAD of you, and with the very clunky movement controls, you will find yourself running into her instead of deftly sidestepping like you feel like you should've. However, despite the clunky movement controls, doing a dodge always feels quite reliable, I assume it gives you a good handful of i-frames or something because this game runs at like 25-30 FPS on Switch.
Furthermore, opening doors is so fucking slow and drawn out. This is done for the sake of suspense, but they only ever actually capitalize on it ONCE and it's not until way late into the game. There's also the item pick-up gimmick where a disembodied ghost-hand can grab you, but it got old after the third or fourth time. Every time after that, it was just a nuisance.
Also if you accidentally find yourself backed into a corner by 3+ ghosts, get ready to get stun-locked for a good 30 seconds or so. This happened to me only twice, but god was it frustrating. One time I kept getting chain-grabbed. I'd get grabbed, do a counter-shot, and IMMEDIATELY get grabbed by another ghost that was on-top of me.
I will say though that the Spirit Photography of "bonus" ghosts was a huge highlight for me, like in the other games. Sometimes NOT having something to fight is scarier; seeing something watching you, passing you by, or even leading you some place is better horror than another ghost ambush. They really help build the creepy atmosphere wherever you are and are a constant reminder that no matter how alone you seem to be, you're actually not alone, and that's way scarier in this case. The "Fatal Glance" mechanic was also neat too. Getting a few vague tidbits of lore via a grainy VHS cutscene from touching a defeated enemy is really good & spooky.
Another complaint: this game's camera upgrade system REEKS compared to the first three games. Everything costs so many more points to upgrade, and you have TWO cameras to upgrade this time around on top of that. I know this is mostly to encourage replaying the missions on Nightmare difficulty, but honestly I do not want to fuck with that, and it kinda hurts the overall feeling of progress in terms of camera strength.
Last thing: the Ayane DLC missions were kinda boring. It's a damned good thing there's only four of her missions and that they're as short as they are. Her magic flashlight gimmick and the """stealth""" would not have lasted beyond another mission or two because of how half-baked and boring it feels. KT forcing Fatal Frame to share a universe with Nioh/Ninja Gaiden/DOA seems kind of unnecessary. Ayane's hot though I guess, so there's that?
Edit According to the Fatal Frame wiki, in a Siliconera interview, this DLC with Ayane was added at Nintendo's behest. So for some reason, Nintendo really wanted DOA representation in Fatal Frame?