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Project Zero 3: The Tormented Q&A

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Could you please introduce yourself and explain in what capacity you worked on Project Zero 3.
My name is Makoto Shibata, the director of the Project Zero series. I directed the entire project, from concept design through to the finished product.

For the uninitiated, can you please explain what the Project Zero series is about? How would you say it differs from other horror games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, for example?
Both Resident Evil and Silent Hill are horror games. However, their nature is different from our Project Zero series. The Project Zero games are the condensed essence of Japanese horror, and are all based upon Japanese ghost stories. Project Zero 3 (PZ3) takes place in an abandoned manor in Japan, the architecture of which follows a traditional Japanese form. In Japanese horror, fear is not simply generated through surprise; the silence and suspense in-between the action is important too. This silence makes the player's fear build in his or her mind. Japanese horror is always designed this way.

Another difference from other horror games is that your opponents are ghosts. Ghosts have no physical existence, and, as such, you cannot predict where and when they will appear. With PZ3 we create a feeling that somebody is watching you while you are playing the game and build the fear in the player's own imagination. The ghosts themselves used to be human. They had anger, sorrow, obsession, and passion. They have their own reasons for being there and for attacking you. Giving opponents this detailed background is also one of the differences from other horror games.

One of the big features of the PZ series is that you use a camera to fight the ghosts. This is a magic camera, built to seal the spirit of ghosts within it. The damage the player can deal and whether they can capture the ghost is dependent upon how close the player is to it. In other words, the player has to be face to face with the ghost to fight it effectively. The camera can also show visions of the past, and the player uses the camera to uncover the truth about what's happened in the manor and to solve its mystery.

This mystery and the background of the heroine are intertwined by fate, and the player will eventually learn the secret of this relationship. I think that this style is unique to the PZ series. I believe that true horror becomes a very personal issue, and is something understood differently by each person experiencing it. Project Zero is the crystallization of my horror philosophy.

What are the major influences the team has drawn on in this game and throughout the series?
A major influence was the horror movie Ring. The last scene, in which Sadako ( the ghost who comes out of the TV) attacks, provided the inspiration for the battle system using the camera. I was shocked by the brilliant way the film created this nightmarish vision of an up-close ghostly experience.

Also, the Manga Yokai (Monster) Hunter series, by Daijiro Moroboshi, inspired me a lot. This Manga deals with themes of Japanese folklore. In this, the hero begins to see another world (the world after death) by accident while he is investigating Japanese folklore. The Manga perfectly re-created typical Japanese images of this netherworld.

What can you tell us about the plot this time – is it as disturbing as the tale of twins Mio and Mayu from Project Zero 2?
The previous Project Zero had a little fantasy flavour, but we feature a more indigenous Japanese theme of horror in PZ 3. The story partly takes place in present day and features horror that happens in the heroine's ordinary life. The heroine is a freelance photographer named Rei, who lost her fiancée Yuu in a car accident while she was at the wheel. A while after the accident, she sees a vision of her fiancé at an abandoned house she visits on an assignment, and she follows him.

Suddenly, she is standing in a snowy courtyard and a mysterious woman with tattoos covering her body attacks her. When this woman touches her, Rei has a vision of an ancient religious ceremony. A woman is laid down in the centre of a room. This woman is Rei herself, and standing around her are young, robed girls with stakes in their hands. They drive them into Rei's hands and feet and as they do this, a tattoo appears and begins to spread all over Rei's body. When it reaches her eyes, she wakes up from the daydream.

From this point onwards, she visits the manor in her dreams every time she sleeps. In the manor the tattooed woman walks around, and Rei can hear a strange lullaby. It's now up to our heroine to solve the mystery of the manor and get rid of the tattoo curse that is now upon her. Some of the pictures she takes in the nightmare cross over into her real life when she wakes up. As the player, you investigate the manor based upon these pictures and through this, you solve the mystery.

The re-appearance of Miku from the first Project Zero draws the stories of the games together – how does her life intertwine with that of new heroine Rei?
Miku takes the role of Rei's assistant photographer. She supports Rei and investigates various things on her behalf. Miku has suffered a psychological trauma, caused during the course of events in the original Project Zero, which also brings her to the Manor of Sleep. Rei does not know about Miku's trauma, but she becomes Miku in her nightmare, and thus comes to learn about Miku's past. They live in the same house, have close relationship and are each facing their own traumas deep inside themselves. The Manor of Sleep calls to people like them who have survived a tragedy.

What part does journalist Kei Amakura play in proceedings?
Kei is freelance writer, who investigated the Manor of Sleep before Rei. As a result, he has a great deal of knowledge. He helps Rei by imparting this knowledge to her together with encouragement. He is the first male main character in Project Zero. He has no spiritual power, but tries to face his fate with courage.

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