Haunting Ground - My Review

    Year: 2005

    Platform: PlayStation 2

    Developer: CAPCOM

    Publisher: CAPCOM

    Genre: Survival horror

 

 

 

 

 

    There are these genres, which are not really in your wheel house, even if they fascinate you as a concept. Survival horror is definitely one of those for me. I didn't grow up playing games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, and my personal dislike for horror type stuff definitely steered me away from them even more.
    But sometimes there comes a game that looks so interesting or is recommended highly enough by the people you trust, you just have to give it a try. And one of those games is Haunting Ground.

    Developed internally fully by CAPCOM, Haunting Ground is considered by some to be a part of the Clock Tower series. It has some similarities with the main games, but definitely can be played and enjoyed without knowing anything about the them.
    Game has all the aspect you would expect from the survival horror. You have a fragile heroine, not able to fully defend herself from her oppressors. You have old castle with dungeons, hidden laboratories, sanctuaries, all the good stuff. You have a lot of puzzles, both environmental and more logic/text based. You have a big, interconnected map, that requires you to learn it well and discover it secrets to progress further. And of course, there are a lot moments of tension and suspense, with really creepy people that want to do really creepy things to protagonist.
    The thing is, albeit taking heavy inspirations from it's predecessors, Haunting Ground develops its own style and ideas, and does it all with such a quality and style, it really elevates it for me above other contemporaries of it.

    The story of the game is probably the thing I'm least jazzed about, which is rare for me in games I (spoiler) enjoyed so much. Typically, story in a game is one of the most important things for me. But here I wasn't enamoured by it, but I also didn't mind it being so passable. The game still has cool and atmospheric cutscenes, villains with interesting background to them and themes involving religion, rituals and family shenanigans.
    The story itself is also not told particularly explicit. There are some cutscenes with dialog, flashbacks and bits of lore, but most of the cutscenes are just our different pursuers telling us what will they do when then finally catch us. Some of them also don't even talk at all or have some esoteric gibberish to spit at us.

    Fiona, our young protagonist, for the most part is scared to death and trying to escape her unfortunate situation. Her parents just died in an car accident in which she was also involved. When she woke up, she found herself trapped in this ominous castle, with no one in sight. Trying to escape puts on her way new enemies, traps and other obstacles, fighting against which will push here deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole.
    She isn't particularly deep character at the beginning, with developed personality and goals. Most of her dialog involve telling others to leave her alone or talking with her companion (who is not really talkative himself). She screams and cries a lot, and seems pretty overwhelmed, which frankly, is quiet understandable given the circumstances. She also is much more capable during gameplay than she gives away during movie scenes.
    Despite being quiet one-note, Fiona is an enjoyable character to get to known and help on her journey. She has that charm to her, common for Japanese media, which allows to connect with her, even without much time and a lot of exposition. Have to give big props here to mo-cap actress and animators for really capturing a lot of details in her face expressions and conveying a lot of emotions that way, especially for a game on PS2.

    Gameplay loop is pretty straightforward, but designed and programmed in satisfying and fun to engage with way. You can interact with a lot of elements in the world, to at least get some comment about them from Fiona. You also have ability to kick things, perform a dodge and kneel/crouch. There are also special places that allow you to hide inside them and wait out your enemies. But don't feel too comfortable, they can sometimes still sniff you out of there!
    For most of the game, you traverse the environment, looking for switches and key items, which allows you to solve the riddles and progress further into the level. Enemies, in style of Resident Evil's Mr. X or Nemesis, roam the premises, and sometimes would end up coming in contact with you. You can try running away from them, hiding in previously mentioned hiding spots or even going into direct combat with them. Your kicks are pretty weak though, and if you want to try deal with the treat this way, you have to incorporate different tactics.
    Enemies themselves are easy to outmanoeuvre, as you always deal with one of them at a time. But they learn new tricks and become more engaging and agile as the game progresses, so you always have to be on your feet. They provide constant reminder of bad things that will befall our heroine if she doesn't escape her imprisonment fast enough.
    You collect a lot of different items throughout your adventure, with important stuff going into their own category, and consumables and the sort going into another. There a lot of different types of items to help you recover your health and sanity. You can also use various contraptions to hurt your enemies a bit or stop them in their tracks. A lot of those things you can craft in your little, mobile "base", hidden inside a ominous hole in the wall.

    I was dancing around the topic for a while, but I think it's time to bring to the forefront the most innovative aspect of the game: our best boy companion, Hewie.
    We meet him at the beginning of the game and from that moment on, he follows us everywhere, helping us deal with our problems. Hewie is a German Shepherd, with beautiful white fur. We can give him commands, but he has a mind of his own, and sometimes can disobey them or just wander around. We can steer his behaviour by praising him for doing good or scolding him when he's ignoring us.
    He is helping us thought the game with all kinds of different tasks, like finding hidden items, reaching the spaces Fiona can't reach herself or damaging and scaring off enemies. All these interactions are really natural and animated particularly faithful, especially given the year the game came out. It's probably thanks to the usage of real dog motion actors (kudos to Rars and Dietgart!). You can see on the internet sessions with them, and comparisons of their movement to the in-game animations. It's really cool!
    Our brave friend can also get hurt, even by us(!), and for all the dogs' fans, it's a painful sight. Sustaining too much damage can even incapacitate him, in which case you have to help him with healing items and praises. Take care of your companion!
    Hewie's constant presence is comforting and reassuring in otherwise bleak and scary scenario, and it's the thing that changes the atmosphere of the game and makes it distinct from others in the genre. In moments when Hewie stalls somewhere or wanders off, leaving Fiona alone, you really feel the pressure creeping up upon you. Calling him constantly after that to come back to you or even going back to look for him becomes standard procedure to regain the feeling of safety.

The game in terms of visual and audio presentation is firing on all cylinders. Art style is strong, the levels are all distinct and build beautifully, with appropriate decorations, wear and atmospheric lightning. There is a map in the game, but most of the time you don't particularly need it; you get familiar with your small section of larger level available to you at given time pretty fast, and can navigate it pretty easy after just a few strolls. Variety of places you encounter always keep you entertained and further help distinct the locations from one another. There are some magical sights to behold here. In this department, game holds high through the whole experience.
    Same thing can be told about the UI and menus, which are beautifully stylised. They have this old-school, but also distinctly gothic-like feeling to them, conveying the setting of an old castle (which still have some modern technology inside it). I always appreciate this devotion to making the interface feel like natural part of the game, because it's becoming less and less of an priority these days, and was almost a given in games of PS2 and similar eras. We still have some strong contenders nowadays, for example Atlus with their Personas or Metaphor, but we need more!
    Music during normal gameplay in mostly ambient and in the background, but it conveys exactly the emotions appropriate for given situations, but not going into this uncanny territory you can find in a games like Silent Hill for example. And the places where music kicks in more, it's beautiful and fitting. It's not over the top, but a pleasure to listen to.
    Voice actors give great performances, our adversaries are creepy and intimidating, Fiona conveys the feeling of despair and fear really well. But the star of the show is obviously Hewie with his barks and scowls. All the sound effects feel fitting and are recorded and produced with care, elevating everything else.

    All the elements together create a game that is just a blast to play and experience. The puzzles are interesting and varied, requiring you to use different parts of your brain to solve them. There is not much moon logic to be found anywhere, sometimes just a lot of trial and error. But when you work the problem out, it make perfect sense. The game never seems unfair in that department and you probably won't need any solutions or walkthroughs to go through the whole game.
    Enemies are different kind of puzzle themselves. Developers decided to not include (almost) any fodder enemies. You don't kill tons of zombies going through. There are only specific, well established villains, who chase you around relentlessly, and dealing with them always culminates with bombastic boss fights, all related to the main story. This feature distinguishes it from other games of the genre, and brings it closer to the "mother" series of Clock Tower. At the time it was probably still fresh idea in survival horror games, which will later be found in a games like Alien: Isolation or Amnesia. The enemies in the game are not hard to deal with, but they sure can disrupt your plans in major way and set you back a bit each time you encounter them. Don't get caught!
    Star of the show is obviously Hewie, whose presence changes the game in mayor way and affects every aspect of it. He helps you with getting items, solving mysteries, fighting enemies, running away from them. He has a mind of his own and a lot of times he can surprise you with his actions. Having so well established and implemented companion in the game, especially the not-human kind, is so refreshing and stands out even in today's environment. Hewie is a joy to be and interact with, and the game would lose so much without him. His presence alone is the reason enough to at least get familiar with the game.
    The whole game just flows together exceptionally, doesn't give you time to be bored, looks great and atmospheric and is snappy and responsive to play. The full playthrough will net you around 12-13 hours of play, which is a perfect time for this kind of game. Later you can try Hard mode, different costumes for Fiona and Hewie which will change their characteristics and visuals, try unlocking all the alternative cutscenes (of which there is a decent amount) or beat a game in a specific way to unlock new Titles and associated "cheats". There is a lot of game to be had here outside one playthrough!
    It's frankly astounding how the game grips you from the get go with its unique ideas, and it doesn't really let go until you finish it. It just shows that even lesser known games of that time could really be little treasures and still should be played and talked about.
    Even if survival horror is not your cup of tea, this game goes beyond its genre and I think would be appreciated by anyone who enjoys a good video game in their life.

Haunting Ground gets my sincerest recommendation and a very happy bark from Hewie!