HAUNTING GROUND IS LESS "FRIEND SHAPED" THAN I HAD HOPED
There are a "whole bunch" of video essays by excellent content creators about this game. I will not be watching any of them until I am done scribbling my own thoughts, which are as follows:
Haunted by Design
There are a lot of really interesting design choices in Haunting Ground---a lot of risks that I wish modern games would take (thank fuck for indies). There's no HUD. It is entirely up to the player to figure out Fiona's stamina and sanity levels from crafty visual cues. Giving orders to Hewie are similarly up to the player to figure out. Is the doggo not following your orders? Start rewarding him when he does a good thing and you'll find he starts being a lot more helpful. Scold him too much (or god forbid, kick him), and he will become more defiant towards you.
This is also one of the best "stalker" horror games out there (which honestly isn't saying a whole lot, but still). I was genuinely spooked for the first time in a while by a horror game because of the intelligence of the AI and the excellent level design that made chase sequences frantic and adrenaline pumping, but also not too bad in terms of navigating to your nearest hide-y spot. Unfortunately, there were certainly sequences where I felt the following: "Okay dude. Can I like...progress through the game or a are they going to be puppy guarding this hallway forever?" The little whisps (the only "non-main" enemy almost) are also irritating as they will pop up sometimes in places where you need to fucking stop and work on a puzzle. Oh by the by the puzzles are almost all pretty damn solid for a PS2 era horror game.
Then there's the mid-to-bad stuffs. "Crafting" items is unintuitive and the little mini game feels mostly luck based. The items themselves racked up in my inventory like so many useless gel pens after a bookfair. I used healing items sometimes? Never for the dog until the last fight. And the defensive attack items were an absolute crap shoot. Enemies literally avoided my mines despite tight corridors, and the throwable grenade one was entirely dependent on which way the finnicky Fiona decided to turn last minute from the "way too sensitive" stick inputs.
Story Time
Amnesia. Azoth. Spooky castle/mansion. There's not a lot going on in this department. It's definitely a psychosexual horror experience that takes time out of its hallway sprinting-ly, panic attack-ed "runscares" to allude to themes of female bodily autonomy, objectification, and violence against women. Problem is: the presentation of Fiona completely nullifies these earnest dealings.
I had heard that Haunting Ground contained that Silent Hill 3 quality of exploring the fears and themes unique to women's experiences. And I could get the sense that the developers wanted to challenge the players (mostly male audience at the time) to realize their...appreciation for Fiona's generous breast-ifying jiggle physics was no different from how the evil bad guys are also viewing her. Maybe to elicit a sort of, "are we the baddies?" type beat. However, that's completely undermined by the way the game actively encourages you to exploit Fiona. If you beat the game, you can put her in some leather lingerie, or a cowgirl outfit that sports only a bikini top that really emphasizes the bounce in her step.
I'm not a prude when it comes to wanting to make hot characters in video games. I just think you kind of missed the point of your own art when you go out of your way to make the character a visual object of desire while simultaneously saying, "Hey, isn't it fucked up how women are just seen as objects of sexual desire?" Their case is not helped by the fact that Fiona has nothing in the way of feeling like a person character. She's an afraid girl in a real bad situation, and that's about where the buck stops.
So no. I would barely give this game a participation trophy for tackling these themes. I think some people just grab at any game (especially Japanese for some reason?) that even remotely examines things like objectification or unwanted pregnancy. Silent Hill 3 and Rule of Rose did it far better.
A Few Final Thoughts
The graphics are gorgeous for a PS2 era game. It still holds up marvelously in 1080p. The cinematics are really well executed. I really enjoyed the first two levels as well. Their intricate level design and intuitive, but challenging puzzles were fun to tackle. I also thought it was cool how each of the villains has their own sort of mechanics to figure out and solve.
But the villains themselves are a pretty boring bunch. Especially the last two. The CGI cutscene of the car crash at the beginning made me want to vomit as Fiona's jaw unhinges like a fucking python when she screams as the car skids out of control. I had to watch that uncanny, horrific facial expression like four times throughout Haunting Ground and I really mean it when I say it was PHYSICALLY UPSETTING. The final stretch of the game is god awful. Just frustrating and seemingly luck-based. I was so glad I could save scum because dear god, there's a part where you have to keep a pillar from falling on you and if you don't random button mash perfectly, you get one-shotted by the big bad and go back to do the chase over from scratch (the rest of which is also a total nuisance). The "good" ending, despite containing a fun homage to Clock Tower, was also disappointing to say the least. I don't know what on earth they could have done more with the lack of building materials they had to begin with...but it did leave me with the lingering feeling of, "So...that just happened I guess."
All in all, I'm really glad a game like Haunting Ground exists. It executes enough unique and risky gameplay choices to make me wish there were more games like it today. But if I may be completely honest, I had to force myself to finish it. I came within a hair's width on three occasions of simply putting the game down and watching someone else speedrun through the "story" on YouTube.
Don't get me wrong...Hewie is a very good boy. But Brown is better.
There are a "whole bunch" of video essays by excellent content creators about this game. I will not be watching any of them until I am done scribbling my own thoughts, which are as follows:
Haunted by Design
There are a lot of really interesting design choices in Haunting Ground---a lot of risks that I wish modern games would take (thank fuck for indies). There's no HUD. It is entirely up to the player to figure out Fiona's stamina and sanity levels from crafty visual cues. Giving orders to Hewie are similarly up to the player to figure out. Is the doggo not following your orders? Start rewarding him when he does a good thing and you'll find he starts being a lot more helpful. Scold him too much (or god forbid, kick him), and he will become more defiant towards you.
This is also one of the best "stalker" horror games out there (which honestly isn't saying a whole lot, but still). I was genuinely spooked for the first time in a while by a horror game because of the intelligence of the AI and the excellent level design that made chase sequences frantic and adrenaline pumping, but also not too bad in terms of navigating to your nearest hide-y spot. Unfortunately, there were certainly sequences where I felt the following: "Okay dude. Can I like...progress through the game or a are they going to be puppy guarding this hallway forever?" The little whisps (the only "non-main" enemy almost) are also irritating as they will pop up sometimes in places where you need to fucking stop and work on a puzzle. Oh by the by the puzzles are almost all pretty damn solid for a PS2 era horror game.
Then there's the mid-to-bad stuffs. "Crafting" items is unintuitive and the little mini game feels mostly luck based. The items themselves racked up in my inventory like so many useless gel pens after a bookfair. I used healing items sometimes? Never for the dog until the last fight. And the defensive attack items were an absolute crap shoot. Enemies literally avoided my mines despite tight corridors, and the throwable grenade one was entirely dependent on which way the finnicky Fiona decided to turn last minute from the "way too sensitive" stick inputs.
Story Time
Amnesia. Azoth. Spooky castle/mansion. There's not a lot going on in this department. It's definitely a psychosexual horror experience that takes time out of its hallway sprinting-ly, panic attack-ed "runscares" to allude to themes of female bodily autonomy, objectification, and violence against women. Problem is: the presentation of Fiona completely nullifies these earnest dealings.
I had heard that Haunting Ground contained that Silent Hill 3 quality of exploring the fears and themes unique to women's experiences. And I could get the sense that the developers wanted to challenge the players (mostly male audience at the time) to realize their...appreciation for Fiona's generous breast-ifying jiggle physics was no different from how the evil bad guys are also viewing her. Maybe to elicit a sort of, "are we the baddies?" type beat. However, that's completely undermined by the way the game actively encourages you to exploit Fiona. If you beat the game, you can put her in some leather lingerie, or a cowgirl outfit that sports only a bikini top that really emphasizes the bounce in her step.
I'm not a prude when it comes to wanting to make hot characters in video games. I just think you kind of missed the point of your own art when you go out of your way to make the character a visual object of desire while simultaneously saying, "Hey, isn't it fucked up how women are just seen as objects of sexual desire?" Their case is not helped by the fact that Fiona has nothing in the way of feeling like a person character. She's an afraid girl in a real bad situation, and that's about where the buck stops.
So no. I would barely give this game a participation trophy for tackling these themes. I think some people just grab at any game (especially Japanese for some reason?) that even remotely examines things like objectification or unwanted pregnancy. Silent Hill 3 and Rule of Rose did it far better.
A Few Final Thoughts
The graphics are gorgeous for a PS2 era game. It still holds up marvelously in 1080p. The cinematics are really well executed. I really enjoyed the first two levels as well. Their intricate level design and intuitive, but challenging puzzles were fun to tackle. I also thought it was cool how each of the villains has their own sort of mechanics to figure out and solve.
But the villains themselves are a pretty boring bunch. Especially the last two. The CGI cutscene of the car crash at the beginning made me want to vomit as Fiona's jaw unhinges like a fucking python when she screams as the car skids out of control. I had to watch that uncanny, horrific facial expression like four times throughout Haunting Ground and I really mean it when I say it was PHYSICALLY UPSETTING. The final stretch of the game is god awful. Just frustrating and seemingly luck-based. I was so glad I could save scum because dear god, there's a part where you have to keep a pillar from falling on you and if you don't random button mash perfectly, you get one-shotted by the big bad and go back to do the chase over from scratch (the rest of which is also a total nuisance). The "good" ending, despite containing a fun homage to Clock Tower, was also disappointing to say the least. I don't know what on earth they could have done more with the lack of building materials they had to begin with...but it did leave me with the lingering feeling of, "So...that just happened I guess."
All in all, I'm really glad a game like Haunting Ground exists. It executes enough unique and risky gameplay choices to make me wish there were more games like it today. But if I may be completely honest, I had to force myself to finish it. I came within a hair's width on three occasions of simply putting the game down and watching someone else speedrun through the "story" on YouTube.
Don't get me wrong...Hewie is a very good boy. But Brown is better.
stressful ass game
Really really good stuff going on here but I just don't know if this chaser format can hold up an entire game? Can't really think of any examples where the horror isn't completely neutered an hour or two in when the chasers just get in the way of increasingly tedious puzzles. The breast physics are so fucking distracting especially considering the themes. Insanely good looking game we should never have progressed past ps2 graphics. Hewie :)
literally the most misunderstood game ever
A must play for people who consider themselves fans of the horror genre, as creative in it’s approach to the gameplay as it is terrifying, its a real test of mettle and how much you can handle, it tosses away conventional regular enemies to instead focus on a posse of stalker enemies who chase you around as you try to desperately advance through various levels, speaking of those, it’s amazing the amount of interesting environment you can pack with such a simple setting, some later levels are just jaw-dropping in terms of atmosphere and detail. It’s a true spiritual successor to RE1, but you’re not playing a person capable of being able to shoot any threat that comes their away, quite the opposite in fact, Fiona can and will succumb to the stress placed upon her by enemies which leads to a variety of panicked states, she only has her wits and some piss poor attacks to maneuver or defend herself, the German Shepard she rescues, Hewie, does the real carrying but even then he can only temporarily stop enemies and not permanently incapacitate them, add to that the fact that the stalkers in this game don’t have a habit of giving up easily on chasing you and you have a great basis for some truly terrifying moment to moment gameplay.
Oh yeah, the story is also interesting and holds it’s own quite well, Fiona might not say much but her expressions show a sea of emotions, seriously the facial animations for the game are pretty fucking good and they add a lot to the cutscenes, one of the most terrific scenes is pretty dependent on em! As for other aspects I really like how an act of unwarranted kindness from Fiona, even in the depths of hell, is what ends up saving her, I think it’s a neat way to shine a light on an aspect of Fiona’s personality.
Oh yeah, the story is also interesting and holds it’s own quite well, Fiona might not say much but her expressions show a sea of emotions, seriously the facial animations for the game are pretty fucking good and they add a lot to the cutscenes, one of the most terrific scenes is pretty dependent on em! As for other aspects I really like how an act of unwarranted kindness from Fiona, even in the depths of hell, is what ends up saving her, I think it’s a neat way to shine a light on an aspect of Fiona’s personality.
This review contains spoilers
La historia está buena y engancha el mal rollo. Mi queja es la escena final, si no coordinás bien el timing del escape, se autoguarda en momentos donde no hay forma de salir vivo de esa caverna.
A good boy
Yeah, no, I don't get the hype. This game is awful, I'm sorry.
You want to know how scary this was? Play tester audiences had NIGHTMARES over one of the stalkers you encounter in the game. This shit is FIRE.
incredible game with a sort of confusing, disgusting, but still amazing story. i adore the spooky atmospheres in the mansion (especially the area where most of your encounters with the 2nd stalker take place) and the soundtrack is lovely. if you have ANY interest in survival horror and are ok with heavier topics i highly recommend you play it
In 2005 Capcom released two of the best survival horror gameplay experiences, but sadly only RE4 got the attention it deserved... This was a constant thrill. Its expansive interconnected castle still looks amazing and somehow has zero load times on PS2, meaning the stalkers can follow you room to room basically anywhere and you have to learn how to lose them. You can hide in designated spots like wardrobes or under beds, but also just in the shadows, behind doors.. Eventually your pursuers will learn how you're tricking them. Something this ambitious, with an AI dog partner no less, could have been a disaster but the mechanics are really functional. It just doesn't hold your hand at all. I can see why it probably won't get rereleased today due to its themes (and the most disturbing game over screens ever) but it's something more people should try out... on PCSX2. I'm lucky to have a copy
i loved it
true final girl game
true final girl game
butter dawg
the dawg wit da butter
the dawg wit da butter
Jiggle physics in 2005
One of the best of the genre
Very hard. Not only for the protagonist
This review contains spoilers
Me gustó muuucho el enfoque femenino del miedo a ser cosificada, con intenciones sexuales o reproductivas, siento que es algo en lo que los juegos de terror de esta época destacan (Heather Mason en SH3, Angela Orosco en SH2, Clara en Rule of Rose), pero me parecía un poco contradictorio que el propio juego sexualizaba bastante a Fiona en beneficio del espectador,,, siento que en un juego con este tono y encima con una protagonista que no deja de sufrir acoso sexual rompe un montón el mensaje.
Aparte de eso, es muy gracioso escuchar al actor de doblaje de Travis Touchdown hablar de alquimia, y amo a Hewie!!💖💖💖💖💖💖
Aparte de eso, es muy gracioso escuchar al actor de doblaje de Travis Touchdown hablar de alquimia, y amo a Hewie!!💖💖💖💖💖💖
QUE JOGO BOM NAMORAL!!! Um CLÁSSICO do survivor horror que eu nunca tinha jogado, agora dei uma chance e virou um dos meus jogos favoritos!
A gameplay é ótima, a mecânica de interação com o Hewie e como isso afeta a relação com ele (e até o final do jogo) é SUPER INTERESSANTE, mesmo sendo simples. Os puzzles são bons. Fiquei preso em algumas partes, mas era só botar meus dois neurônios pra funcionar que eu passava sem a menor dificuldade.
Os perseguidores são icônicos e meu favorito com certeza é a Daniella, apesar de ser uma CHATA INSISTENTE.
A história consegue ser bem confusa no início, mas com o tempo ela vai se completando e fazendo mais sentido!
Recomendo super <3
A gameplay é ótima, a mecânica de interação com o Hewie e como isso afeta a relação com ele (e até o final do jogo) é SUPER INTERESSANTE, mesmo sendo simples. Os puzzles são bons. Fiquei preso em algumas partes, mas era só botar meus dois neurônios pra funcionar que eu passava sem a menor dificuldade.
Os perseguidores são icônicos e meu favorito com certeza é a Daniella, apesar de ser uma CHATA INSISTENTE.
A história consegue ser bem confusa no início, mas com o tempo ela vai se completando e fazendo mais sentido!
Recomendo super <3
This review contains spoilers
everything i absolutely LOVE in a game; beautifully detailed & stylistic ps2 graphics, a strong fem protag, a puppy, actual terror, amazing ost, dark/deep topics handled with care, & not-so-sane villainous women.
some people describe this game in a not-so-kind way, using SA terms to latch onto it in a short blurp. i think the way they told the story telling of something so dark & horrible was really handled quite well, except the game over sounds. those are truly terrifying & uncomfortable. the commentary about being constantly sexualized is not something that players who didn't grow up fem can always immediately identify with, so it hurts to see people call this (pardon this, i saw someone say this & it stuck with me because of how gross it was) "bad touch simulator." when, yes, this game is running from stalker enemies who want you for just your body, i feel as though i could relate to it (on not such an extreme scale). to be a woman is to be often seen as an object, a lustful longing. the game encapsulated that very well. other's call this game "edgy" whereas it is, in my opinion, completely not. i don't think with the way the narrative was written that it would just be created solely for shock factor or gross out content. there's something here that i believe any woman/fem presenting person could relate to. much like sh3 (sorry. i try to not bring it up every 5 minutes but it took me 10 to write this review) you either "get it" & relate to it, or you don't.
sexuality, gender constructs, etc should be considered in more horror games. there's something truly terrifying about how human brains react when exposed to such raw emotions & feelings. i don't feel like many games can showcase stuff like this, whether they're afraid of talking about it (probably why this will never be remade/re-released), or just handled completely horribly; by using disgusting imagery. when imagination & left out details leave your mind to wander & fill in spots.. sometimes making it more impactful than if it was just shown as an image on screen. i love these now 'retro' games where they weren't afraid to tell a story without having to rely on forcing the player to watch gruesome acts of torture, much like many many many horror movies do. i love ps2 horror for that.
that being said.. playing it was very fun, hewie felt like he was actually being trained & responded better & better as the game went on. some puzzles were absolutely obtuse & i needed a guide, but i think if i didn't play this in one sitting (11 hours.. okay i really liked it & wanted to know the story) i could've figured out the puzzles by looking around longer/better.
i absolutely loved the 'comment' section in the menu. i am an absolute WHORE for flavor text in horror games & loved that you could see that throughout the game. i heard in hard mode you can read hewies!! definitely need to do a replay. honestly a con i had was that there was not enough flavor text in some parts. i read all the notes i was given & still wanted more information on some of the characters, especially daniella.
all in all, great game. terrible that it's impossible to play on original hardware. :(
some people describe this game in a not-so-kind way, using SA terms to latch onto it in a short blurp. i think the way they told the story telling of something so dark & horrible was really handled quite well, except the game over sounds. those are truly terrifying & uncomfortable. the commentary about being constantly sexualized is not something that players who didn't grow up fem can always immediately identify with, so it hurts to see people call this (pardon this, i saw someone say this & it stuck with me because of how gross it was) "bad touch simulator." when, yes, this game is running from stalker enemies who want you for just your body, i feel as though i could relate to it (on not such an extreme scale). to be a woman is to be often seen as an object, a lustful longing. the game encapsulated that very well. other's call this game "edgy" whereas it is, in my opinion, completely not. i don't think with the way the narrative was written that it would just be created solely for shock factor or gross out content. there's something here that i believe any woman/fem presenting person could relate to. much like sh3 (sorry. i try to not bring it up every 5 minutes but it took me 10 to write this review) you either "get it" & relate to it, or you don't.
sexuality, gender constructs, etc should be considered in more horror games. there's something truly terrifying about how human brains react when exposed to such raw emotions & feelings. i don't feel like many games can showcase stuff like this, whether they're afraid of talking about it (probably why this will never be remade/re-released), or just handled completely horribly; by using disgusting imagery. when imagination & left out details leave your mind to wander & fill in spots.. sometimes making it more impactful than if it was just shown as an image on screen. i love these now 'retro' games where they weren't afraid to tell a story without having to rely on forcing the player to watch gruesome acts of torture, much like many many many horror movies do. i love ps2 horror for that.
that being said.. playing it was very fun, hewie felt like he was actually being trained & responded better & better as the game went on. some puzzles were absolutely obtuse & i needed a guide, but i think if i didn't play this in one sitting (11 hours.. okay i really liked it & wanted to know the story) i could've figured out the puzzles by looking around longer/better.
i absolutely loved the 'comment' section in the menu. i am an absolute WHORE for flavor text in horror games & loved that you could see that throughout the game. i heard in hard mode you can read hewies!! definitely need to do a replay. honestly a con i had was that there was not enough flavor text in some parts. i read all the notes i was given & still wanted more information on some of the characters, especially daniella.
all in all, great game. terrible that it's impossible to play on original hardware. :(
maldito resident evil 4 ofoscou o lançamento dessa obra prima
try not to get raped simulator
Si bien tiene un par de cosas que siento que podrían estar mejor sin lugar a dudas es uno de los mejores survival horror que jugué, podría decir que tiene uno de los mejores diseños de niveles que ví en cualquier juego de terror y el gameplay es exquisito, survival horror en su estado puro.
En fin, es un juego obligatorio para cualquier fan de los survival horror
En fin, es un juego obligatorio para cualquier fan de los survival horror
this was so conceptually cool. i need to return to this soon™
idk how to really word stuff well but this is legitimately the scariest game i have ever played and probably will ever play.. it's very rare to see womanhood related fears be explored in horror games aside from silent hill 3, but haunting ground does it masterfully
hewie you'll always be famous
A fascinating intersection between Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Lov that Dawg!! Compared to the rest of the story and tone, the unlockable outfits are just so tone deaf lol
the story was so weird 😭 but I loved the game and characters ily hewie
Shrek and Fiona true love VN, absolutely recommended.
Me encanta cuando un gordo retrasado interrumpe constantemente mi exploración y resolución de acertijos, obligándome a correr para esconderme. Y no sólo es el retrasado, todos los enemigos son una molestia durante el gameplay y sólo provocan risa en cinemáticas. La mecánica del perro está muy poco pulida y el rebote exagerado de las enormes tetas de Fiona distraen, pero al menos tiene buena dirección de arte y atmósfera (arruinada cada que aparecen enemigos nada aterradores).
This is another one of those rare and hard-to-find games that any physical copies are nearly impossible to get your hands on, much like Rule of Rose. It's safest to try and emulate than getting the physical copy.
The game starts out with a car crash where your character is captured and stripped, left in a cage until she manages to escape and exploring the mansion leads to your first chaser in the game, Debhilitas. A huge man-child that has decided to make you his new plaything.
After this, you soon come across Hewie, a beautiful white Alsatian who does his best to help you out and you can even actively train to do tricks to help with unlocking other puzzles later on to progress through the mansion.
Unlike Rule of Rose, there's no effective way to fight off the stalker as you could with monsters in Rule of Rose. Your main defence is to run away, hide or even use Hewie to distract them so that you can get about a room or two away from them and hide effectively.
The story is dark with what their intentions for this character are, however, the multiple endings gives the option for replay-ability, though, the bad ending is one you'd have to activly work at getting by abusing the poor dog.
There's also a fan theory going around that Hewie here is that white dog you rescue in RE4, then comes back to aid you fighting one of those El Gianti creatures you face.
Another gem of a retro game that I recommend you look up if you love horror games.
Gameplay + Stream
The game starts out with a car crash where your character is captured and stripped, left in a cage until she manages to escape and exploring the mansion leads to your first chaser in the game, Debhilitas. A huge man-child that has decided to make you his new plaything.
After this, you soon come across Hewie, a beautiful white Alsatian who does his best to help you out and you can even actively train to do tricks to help with unlocking other puzzles later on to progress through the mansion.
Unlike Rule of Rose, there's no effective way to fight off the stalker as you could with monsters in Rule of Rose. Your main defence is to run away, hide or even use Hewie to distract them so that you can get about a room or two away from them and hide effectively.
The story is dark with what their intentions for this character are, however, the multiple endings gives the option for replay-ability, though, the bad ending is one you'd have to activly work at getting by abusing the poor dog.
There's also a fan theory going around that Hewie here is that white dog you rescue in RE4, then comes back to aid you fighting one of those El Gianti creatures you face.
Another gem of a retro game that I recommend you look up if you love horror games.
Gameplay + Stream