facing_w0rlds
Haunting Ground 2005
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Completed
Playing
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Rating
Time Played
--
Platforms Played
Really, REALLY cool ideas, setting, and story that I unfortunately spent longer trying to beat than I wanted to.
You spend most of the game trying to solve puzzles while dealing with pursuers that can interrupt you at any time. The puzzles themselves aren't that difficult but will sometimes ask you to do something like remember the position of multiple identical machines that only have different names and have to be used in order. The castle is so well laid-out and varied that I rarely had to use a map, though unlike Silent Hill it doesn't fill in the map with helpful markers besides where you can save. This means you're spending huge amounts of time running back and forth between rooms, possibly running into your pursuer many times during this process.
Thankfully the pursuers make a strong first impression the first time you meet each one. They have different tactics, strengths and weaknesses, while still managing to be harder than the last. While I was scared at first, the amount of times I had to deal with them thanks to the irritating back-and-forth made them more of a nuisance than a genuine terror. It's a shame because they are really well-designed, especially the second one you have to deal with, and the mechanics for dealing with them aren't half bad (if a bit inconsistent), but once again I got tired of these after overexposure.
The ending chapters also suck a bit, they are a lot more linear and the pursuers are reduced to little more than gimmick bosses. It definitely felt like they were in a bit of a hurry to wrap things up which is bizarre when they spent so much time shrouding everything in mystery. There's only one really big reveal but it's way before the ending and I felt like they should have had at least one more moment like that closer to the finish line to at least keep the intrigue going.
There are things about this game that I LOVE to bits, though halfway through I just gave in and looked up a walkthrough. I would have loved to see them take another crack at this but alas this game is all but forgotten as is the Clock Tower franchise it's based off. Will definitely replay this sometime, maybe with printed-off maps that I can annotate as I play, seems like something Fiona would do considering how many desks with pens are floating about.
You spend most of the game trying to solve puzzles while dealing with pursuers that can interrupt you at any time. The puzzles themselves aren't that difficult but will sometimes ask you to do something like remember the position of multiple identical machines that only have different names and have to be used in order. The castle is so well laid-out and varied that I rarely had to use a map, though unlike Silent Hill it doesn't fill in the map with helpful markers besides where you can save. This means you're spending huge amounts of time running back and forth between rooms, possibly running into your pursuer many times during this process.
Thankfully the pursuers make a strong first impression the first time you meet each one. They have different tactics, strengths and weaknesses, while still managing to be harder than the last. While I was scared at first, the amount of times I had to deal with them thanks to the irritating back-and-forth made them more of a nuisance than a genuine terror. It's a shame because they are really well-designed, especially the second one you have to deal with, and the mechanics for dealing with them aren't half bad (if a bit inconsistent), but once again I got tired of these after overexposure.
The ending chapters also suck a bit, they are a lot more linear and the pursuers are reduced to little more than gimmick bosses. It definitely felt like they were in a bit of a hurry to wrap things up which is bizarre when they spent so much time shrouding everything in mystery. There's only one really big reveal but it's way before the ending and I felt like they should have had at least one more moment like that closer to the finish line to at least keep the intrigue going.
There are things about this game that I LOVE to bits, though halfway through I just gave in and looked up a walkthrough. I would have loved to see them take another crack at this but alas this game is all but forgotten as is the Clock Tower franchise it's based off. Will definitely replay this sometime, maybe with printed-off maps that I can annotate as I play, seems like something Fiona would do considering how many desks with pens are floating about.