Nintendo does an odd thing with some 3DS eShop games called free-to-start. Say with a game like Stretchmo , people can try the first few levels of a game for free, then pay to continue if they enjoy it. It turns out Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will be the Wii U’s first free-to-start game, as well as an eShop exclusive.
Here’s how it will work. Someone with a Wii U can head to the eShop and download Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, a creepy horror game where you take pictures of ghosts to “banish” them. The entire first chapter, and part of the second, can be played for free as something of an extended demo. If you enjoy it and want to keep playing, it’s $49.99 to unlock everything.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water will be released on October 22, the week before Halloween. We’ll see if the digital initiative pays off with this one for Nintendo.