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?

Better than Splatoon 2 in pretty much every way...mostly. I have gotten far more "Communication Errors" in this game than I ever did in Splatoon 2. I am glad there is a system to penalize players who rage quit mid-match though. Also, there's been two Splatfests (if we're including the World Premier one) and I've still yet to experience a single Tri-Color Battle :T

Still! I appreciate that there isn't absurd weapon clutter with different weapon brands of the same weapons just with different combos of specials & subs. The campaign missions & story are LEAGUES better and the card game is actually pretty fun as well. Also, I love Shiver.

Let me start off by saying that I did not enjoy Fatum Batula; surreal/psychedelic walking simulators are not my thing. This, however, is rather different from FB and I'm glad for that.

I really enjoyed my time with this game. It's really cozy for the most part, but also kind of unsettling and eerie at times; it strikes a good balance. The sound design is pretty nice and I'm a fan of the music being barely there. These things really make a big part of the experience. I will admit though, I had to look up a guide to find my last three fish and one of the secret lures, but discovering everything else on my own up to that point was a blast.

I'd absolutely love to see a sequel (or see another dev make a similar game) add more fish to catch, another fishing hole or two; maybe even make the lake so big you need a a cute little motor boat to scoot around in to reach the deepest parts. Hell, throw in some hats to wear too, just as a treat. I think those things would be pretty swell in a game with this style and tone.

What a fantastic ride. Despite all the jank (even now in v1.6) it's still so great. The story and characters are so strong in this. I love Panam to death and Jackie's my boy for life.

I don't think I've ever had so much fun in an open-world game as this one. I built all-in on Tech Shotguns and Gorilla Arms/Blunt Weapons; was basically unkillable, but the best moments were ones where I thought I was gonna flatline like fighting big groups when they have turrets and such or when I decided to go "cyber psycho" and had to contend with Arasaka's turrets in the corpo areas of the city.

Gotta say though, it's kind of a shame Adam Smasher is so nearly-non-existent in this game because they characterized him so well in the Edgerunners anime. And I was so overpowered by the time I reached his boss fight that it was a total joke; he got crumpled like a tin can. I wish they'd scale his fight with your level/gear specifically so that he's still a challenge no matter how you've built yourself.

Another issue is that some of the "sidequests" are so one-note, I wish some of them had at least another stage or two to them. The sidequests that were proper chains though, I really enjoyed those.

Pretty fantastic game overall. This was 100% worth building a $1700 PC set up for.

After dropping the first Silent Hill, I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy this one very much, but I'm glad to be wrong. This is an absolutely fantastic videogame. I absolutely love the dreary, eerie atmosphere; the lighting effects especially are fantastic, and they looked even better running this with the Enhanced Edition patch. The story had me hooked from the first minute, and the uncanniness of the characters' acting was always unsettling, which was great. By the end, after everything was laid out, I was nearly in tears. This is some actual peak fiction.

I played through the main game, getting the In Water ending, and then I played through Born From A Wish (which...well, it sure does exist I guess).

Minor gripe, but the Action "Normal" difficulty was way easier than I ever imagined it would've been; my inventory was always chock-full of ammo and healing items. Not once did I die. If I replay this in the future, you can bet it'll be on Action "Hard."

THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE:
- Smooth performance for every game
- Online play WITH ROLLBACK
- Tons of unlockable bonus materials for each game
- TRAINING MODE
- Achievements

It's what any and every game collection release should strive to be.

I love this game so much. Tri-Ace & Star Ocean are back from the dead and with a serious fucking vengeance. I absolutely adored every single party member and the way they all interact. The story wasn't earth-shatteringly amazing but it got the job done and was enjoyable still. The environments are GORGEOUS and are so much fun to explore thanks to D.U.M.A.; collecting all those purple crystals while soaring through the air was rather reminiscent of Gravity Rush in a nice way. The combat too feels the absolute best it's ever been in the series as well, I dare say. Any time I was getting fucked up in a fight, it felt like it was because I wasn't paying attention or just had bad combos setup or wasn't Blindsiding when I should've. I will say here that while the music IS still good, it's not the best the series has seen. Still, it's pretty serviceable. However, I also can't say I'm very surprised it's a bit middling compared to Sakuraba's past works considering he's been composing for multiple games at once for the last while now. Don't expect insane bangers like you'd hear in the SO3 and SO4 soundtracks. The visuals are pretty good in general for the most part too.

There's so much more I feel I could say but I can't really articulate it currently. Because there were certainly some issues I had with this game too at times, or at least, things I thought could be better-executed. Regardless though, I had so much fun with this game. Tri-Ace absolutely knocked it out of the park.

I've only just started playing with the newest season (Chapter 4 Season 1) but it's actually so much fun. I played this when it first came out and hated everything about it; the building, the lack of sprinting, the way everything else felt. But now that there's Zero Build mode, sprinting, sliding, and vaulting? It kinda rules now. I was a major hater for so long but now I can barely go a day without playing at least two rounds.

This game has some serious FOMO though when it comes to the item shop dailies and battle pass, it hits hard too.

An absolute blast. This is the first Castlevania game I've ever finished, and I loved every minute of it. It was so much fun to go through, exploring around and trying to get all the furniture and relics on the first pass through an area, and then returning later to comb through it all again. The whipping felt super satisfying, and being able to it to let it hang out for JUST a second as you jump and fall is some mighty good game feel. The combinations of Weapons and Spell Books also kept things really fresh. During my seven hours, I was almost always experimenting and trying out different combinations to see what was the coolest or most effective spell/weapon combo to use. The movement in general felt so much better/faster than CotM as well. I loved being able to just dash or slide through already-visited areas

This particular version having Save States and the "Collection Gadget" on the sidebar, showing you that there are X-amount of furniture/important items to be collected still in an area were helpful, ESPECIALLY the Collection Gadget. The save states were just for convenience honestly, like saving before a boss fight so if I died I could quick load instead of walking all the way back. And thanks to the Collection Gadget though, I was able to easily keep track of whatever Dracula relics and furniture I was missing. Getting the true ending, on top of that extra touch where Lydie hugs Juste's arm, made the extra effort worth it.

The only negative I have to say about this game is that the music DOES leave some to be desired. 99% of it is just fine, not great, but definitely not awful; the only actually-bad track was the Entrance Theme/Juste's Theme.

Coming to this after playing Harmony of Dissonance felt a bit strange; I really missed the whip and the classic items. Thankfully, most of the weapon types in this wound up being pretty fun still. Just as well, a lot of the demon soul abilities were fill-ins for the classic items, though some of them were even better in some cases. The music is definitely a huge and immediately noticeable upgrade from HoD's, which was quite welcome.

Despite all the positives, I think I still actually prefer HoD over this, just by a bit.

I absolutely adore the music in this game, as well as the general art design. Everything looks so crisp, colorful, and spooky; there wasn't a single stage screen I was bored of looking at. The moment-to-moment gameplay and movement were nice, though I did sometimes find myself wishing Simon moved a LITTLE bit faster. One aspect of the level design I really enjoyed were the "door knockers" that you had to swing from. I also really enjoyed/was terrified by how Simon can confidently land on the LAST pixel of a ledge, in lesser games that just wouldn't have even counted, so thanks SCIV.

The game was also seriously tough (and a bit frustrating) compared against the likes of HoD or AoS. However, I also recognize that it's still infinitely more forgiving than what I've played of the first three Castlevania titles. And as much of a time-saver as the use of a single save state was, a few bosses were still just really tough to fight against, and no amount of save-stating made those fights any easier. I can say confidently that the overwhelming majority of my deaths definitely felt like they were my own fault/lack of skill rather than the game just being unfair.

(played as part of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on Nintendo Switch)