Haunting Ground is a tough one to review, it's a spiritual successor to Clock Tower 3 which is closer in tone to the first game in the series while also being a very fundamentally sound game in its own right. But even though I liked a lot of the game, it didn't really resonate with me at all.
The setup creates a lot of mystery and intrigue that kept me going through the early parts of the game but my interest really waned in the latter half since a lot of the revelations at that point lean too much on supernatural elements that betray the foreboding and gothic atmosphere that the game has. I also find the game to dip in quality when it came to the chasers, Debilitas and Daniella are both pretty freaky but in completely different ways and are really memorable compared to Riccardo who is just a hooded guy with a gun. I'd say the story as a whole is fine, it's got that PS2 survival horror vibe that I love, some memorable characters and a cool reveal near the end but nothing that really stood out to me.
The gameplay is the main highlight here with the main aspect of it being Hewie, your dog companion who can help with puzzles, fending off chasers and is just all around adorable. When you first get him though I was super worried, he was barely responding to my actions and making him follow you for just a few rooms was an extreme chore, but shortly after you pet him, feed him jerky and occasionally scold him, he becomes really obedient and his behavior becomes a non-issue. The puzzles which utilize Hewie are probably my favourite parts of the game, they range from basic stuff like having him crawl through holes to pick up items to having to pick up the scent of a plant that you need to other neat ways. Other puzzles are decent but some can be brute-forced and a lot of them boil down to writing down blatant words onto a plate and then inserting then into golems but it's still enjoyable.
The other key aspect of the game would be running away from chasers, it works pretty similarly to how it did in CT3 but slightly more refined I'd say. There is no bar that shows you how panicked Fiona and instead her panic state is indicated via visual effects with the screen becoming more blurry and desaturated as Fiona's panic state rises. I really like this since it does wonders in being stress-inducing and is also amplified by how difficult she is to control when in a state of panic. Another thing I like is how each chaser has a completely different theme, it helps them feel more distinct. But with that said, I don't find this game to be very scary, any encounter with a chaser can be solved by flicking up on the d-pad to have Hewie bite them and then running away into a hide spot. The game tries to make it a bit more interesting by having items that you can throw or plant on the ground that can stun the chasers but they're really janky and getting them is really awkward since you have to do this luck-based minigame that's just lame so I didn't bother. After a while these encounters start feeling really sterile, especially when you're trying to explore the castle but have to spend minutes getting away from the chasers first, it just ends up halting progression without accomplishing much else.
But even after saying all this I don't really have any strong emotions towards this game. The negatives are really minor (except the final boss, Fuck Him) and didn't impact my overall enjoyment too much and I like a good chunk of what's here, but I don't really love anything. It's a vague statement that I usually hate saying but Haunting Ground just didn't click with me.
The setup creates a lot of mystery and intrigue that kept me going through the early parts of the game but my interest really waned in the latter half since a lot of the revelations at that point lean too much on supernatural elements that betray the foreboding and gothic atmosphere that the game has. I also find the game to dip in quality when it came to the chasers, Debilitas and Daniella are both pretty freaky but in completely different ways and are really memorable compared to Riccardo who is just a hooded guy with a gun. I'd say the story as a whole is fine, it's got that PS2 survival horror vibe that I love, some memorable characters and a cool reveal near the end but nothing that really stood out to me.
The gameplay is the main highlight here with the main aspect of it being Hewie, your dog companion who can help with puzzles, fending off chasers and is just all around adorable. When you first get him though I was super worried, he was barely responding to my actions and making him follow you for just a few rooms was an extreme chore, but shortly after you pet him, feed him jerky and occasionally scold him, he becomes really obedient and his behavior becomes a non-issue. The puzzles which utilize Hewie are probably my favourite parts of the game, they range from basic stuff like having him crawl through holes to pick up items to having to pick up the scent of a plant that you need to other neat ways. Other puzzles are decent but some can be brute-forced and a lot of them boil down to writing down blatant words onto a plate and then inserting then into golems but it's still enjoyable.
The other key aspect of the game would be running away from chasers, it works pretty similarly to how it did in CT3 but slightly more refined I'd say. There is no bar that shows you how panicked Fiona and instead her panic state is indicated via visual effects with the screen becoming more blurry and desaturated as Fiona's panic state rises. I really like this since it does wonders in being stress-inducing and is also amplified by how difficult she is to control when in a state of panic. Another thing I like is how each chaser has a completely different theme, it helps them feel more distinct. But with that said, I don't find this game to be very scary, any encounter with a chaser can be solved by flicking up on the d-pad to have Hewie bite them and then running away into a hide spot. The game tries to make it a bit more interesting by having items that you can throw or plant on the ground that can stun the chasers but they're really janky and getting them is really awkward since you have to do this luck-based minigame that's just lame so I didn't bother. After a while these encounters start feeling really sterile, especially when you're trying to explore the castle but have to spend minutes getting away from the chasers first, it just ends up halting progression without accomplishing much else.
But even after saying all this I don't really have any strong emotions towards this game. The negatives are really minor (except the final boss, Fuck Him) and didn't impact my overall enjoyment too much and I like a good chunk of what's here, but I don't really love anything. It's a vague statement that I usually hate saying but Haunting Ground just didn't click with me.