This review contains spoilers
Fully a camp masterpiece if you ignore the story to just focus on the vibe. Is it good? No. Am I obsessed? Yes! This is technically my first clocktower game but I still feel that it was by far one of the most unique gameplays I'd ever experienced. I had never scream laughed so much while playing a game before and honestly had the time of my life.
I feel like most official game reviews on haunting ground gives it wayyyyy too much credit as like a feminist game or something. But it's clear that the plot reads more as a sexploitation extended r@pe metaphor. Its crazy for me to see people say that it's progressive just for letting you experience what it's like to be a helpless woman, and then the game itself has the most ridiculous boob physics ever. If I had to put it simply: the story is like silent hill 3 if it was written bad and the game also wanted the viewer to be in on the female sexualization.
But with that being said, any attempts to make a serious story is just imbalanced by soooo much camp elements happening at all times that I literally could not give af if the story was stupid. I went into this game competely blind so imagine how i felt when I had just thought this was a serious gothic horror game, only to realize this was literally final girl: the dog training simulator. It's genuinely hard to tell what is intentionally supposed to be funny or serious in this game.
Even after me mocking this game so much I still thought the gameplay was really engaging and different from the usual horror games I'd played. It really does make you feel like the white final girl in a horror movie with how fully helpless fiona is, (ex. hiding is her only option, weak stamina etc.) especially if shes scared enough the screen blurs and shakes. Also very interesting to see a game replace the vital weapon against your enemies in the form of a dog. i honestly did not hate having hewie as your sole protector not only because its hilarious in retrospect, but because it actually is subversive in some kind of way as a horror game.
highlights of this game for me
- daniella and literally every scene with her
- hewie hand shake
- fiona making the funniest side comments throughout the game
- music!!!! industrial slay
- old man crawling like a cockroach and killing him in a wood chipper
I feel like most official game reviews on haunting ground gives it wayyyyy too much credit as like a feminist game or something. But it's clear that the plot reads more as a sexploitation extended r@pe metaphor. Its crazy for me to see people say that it's progressive just for letting you experience what it's like to be a helpless woman, and then the game itself has the most ridiculous boob physics ever. If I had to put it simply: the story is like silent hill 3 if it was written bad and the game also wanted the viewer to be in on the female sexualization.
But with that being said, any attempts to make a serious story is just imbalanced by soooo much camp elements happening at all times that I literally could not give af if the story was stupid. I went into this game competely blind so imagine how i felt when I had just thought this was a serious gothic horror game, only to realize this was literally final girl: the dog training simulator. It's genuinely hard to tell what is intentionally supposed to be funny or serious in this game.
Even after me mocking this game so much I still thought the gameplay was really engaging and different from the usual horror games I'd played. It really does make you feel like the white final girl in a horror movie with how fully helpless fiona is, (ex. hiding is her only option, weak stamina etc.) especially if shes scared enough the screen blurs and shakes. Also very interesting to see a game replace the vital weapon against your enemies in the form of a dog. i honestly did not hate having hewie as your sole protector not only because its hilarious in retrospect, but because it actually is subversive in some kind of way as a horror game.
highlights of this game for me
- daniella and literally every scene with her
- hewie hand shake
- fiona making the funniest side comments throughout the game
- music!!!! industrial slay
- old man crawling like a cockroach and killing him in a wood chipper