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milesluna · 1 year ago

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My Favorite Games of 2023.

Hi. Hello. Thanks ever so much for clicking on this page. Happy to have you.

First thing's first: I'm a little freak when it comes to video games. I don't feel the need to beat most games I play. From Software is one of my favorite studios in the industry and I've never finished a single one of their games. This means, fortunately, that I get to play a LOT more games than the average bear.

I've written up some blurbs about my top ten favorite games from 2023, but before that here's the list of every game I remember playing this year that left any sort of lasting impact on me (in no particular order):

Dead Space Remake Resident Evil 4 Remake F-Zero 99 Humanity Dredge Metroid Prime Remastered Anemoiaplois Alan Wake 2 Baldur’s Gate 3 LoZ Tears of the Kingdom Counter Strike 2 Hunt Showdown El Paso Elsewhere Jusant Slay the Princess| Remnant II The Finals Street FIghter 6 Lethal Company BattleBit Remastered Don’t Scream Homebody The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog Pizza Tower World of Horror Super Mario Wonder Mr. Sun’s Hatbox Fifa 23 Sea of Stars (Demo) Half-Life (25th Anniversary Update)

And the games I played that were NOT released in 2023:

Unpacking Persona 4 Golden Picross 7 The Order 1886 Shovel Knight Dig Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Spider-Man: Miles Morales Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Project Zomboid Quake LoZ The Minish Cap Drill Dozer Wario Land 4 Pokemon Pinball Resident Evil Revelations Summer of ‘58 Trackmania TwinCop We Were Here Visage Cursed Halo CE Half-Life 2 (I probably play this once per year) Witch Hunt Red Dead Redemption 2 Cyberpunk 2077 Borderlands 3 Brutal Legend Cultic Slay the Spire PUBG Rez Infinite Batman Arkham City Alan Wake Alan Wake: American Nightmare Max Payne LoZ: Majora’s Mask 3DS Metroid Prime Metroid Prime 2 Tunic Everhood Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII Remake GOODBYE WORLD Yakuza: Like a Dragon Critters for Sale Dome Keeper Phasmophobia Hades Nintendo Switch Sports

Now that you understand the kind of freak you're dealing with…

Let's dive into my top ten favorite games from this objectively fucked up year.

10. El Paso Elsewhere Developed by Texas indie studio Strange Scaffold, El Paso Elsewhere is a Max Payne-clone with vampires, an opinionated narrator, and lots and lots of bullet time. As a small studio punching well above their weight class, Strange Scaffold leans into abstract, PlayStation 1 minimalism when it comes to visuals and pairs them with a soundtrack that will make your hands sweat. The vibes are here and they're ready for the end of the world. I'm personally also a big fan of everything this studio stands for.

9. Mr. Sun's Hatbox I want you to imagine Metal Gear Solid V. Now I want you to imagine that game as a 2D, level-based, slapstick platformer you can play with up to three friends. If you think that sounds stupid, you'd be right. And it's beautiful. As you build up a secret army of soldiers with various skills (and disorders), you'll start to develop *favorites*. This game constantly asks if you're willing to send those favorites on a harrowing mission and risk losing them forever… or if you'd rather send an idiot you recently captured who blinks constantly and can't kill anyone without fainting.

8. Dredge Every year I feel like I find one game that falls into the “just one more round” category, and baby… Dredge was it for 2023. As a weary fisherman in strange waters, you'll make the most out of your 12 measly hours of sunlight only for your daily voyages to inevitably pull you into the darkness of night, and night is when things get weird. Rocks emerge from the fog that you swear weren't there before, your equipment malfunctions, and you're pretty sure you just saw something in the water… something big. Despite only containing a small collection of islands, the world of Dredge manages to feel vast - perhaps vast enough to swallow you whole.

7. Resident Evil 4 Remake I was curious to see what sort of changes would be made to the timeless classic and father of modern 3rd person shooters, Resident Evil 4. I wasn't let down. RE4 Remake takes all the things that didn't age well about the original, tossed them out, and replaced them with only good things. And MORE things! It's campy, fun, and better than a game of bingo.

6. Jusant I really feel like this one didn't get the recognition it deserves. Jusant is a rock climbing game that combines the quiet contemplation of Journey with the mechanical specificity of Death Stranding. Unlike Death Standing, though, there is very little story to interrupt your flow. There are plenty of collectible bits to find for those curious to learn more about what happened before the events of the game, but the environmental storytelling does most of the heavy lifting. For me, the joy of the game comes from how it feels. Right trigger controls your right hand grip, and left trigger controls left hand grip. Plan your route, manage your stamina, and climb high above the clouds in search of answers.

5. F-Zero 99 This. Shit. Slaps. I've never been a big F-Zero guy, but this MADE me one. The “battle royale”, 99 player format is the perfect fit for the ruthless, high octane world of the game. Races last about three minutes, and friend, they are the most intense, white-knuckled three minutes of your life. The decision to make your boost meter the same as your health meter started in F-Zero 64 (I believe), and it is so much more HARROWING in this game when another player could side-swipe you mere meters from the finish line and blow you to bits. Sadly it's only playable via Switch Online, but it made me cheer, laugh, and scream enough this year to earn a spot in my top 5.

4. Alan Wake 2 Remedy makes weird games that also manage to exist in the AAA space and for that I will forever love them. Although Alan Wake 2 resembles a 3rd person shooter survival horror, I'd honestly say it's more of a narrative game than anything else. There's sidequests, there's puzzles, there's upgradeable skills, but at the end of the day the characters, world, and story are what kept me playing. If you haven't checked them out recently, you should definitely watch a story recap of the original games before diving into this sequel, but the wild swings for the fences this game takes are well worth that small price of admission. There's a god damn musical number, for Christ's sake.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom I've really got nothing to say about this game that most people don't already know. It's incredible. The fact that Nintendo made a game that redefined an entire genre and then made a SEQUEL to it that ups the ante is remarkable. To be honest, I've only cleared the Rito, Zora, and Goron cities. I got a bit tired of exploring the depths and guiding Koroks to their friends, but I can't deny the sheer level of complexity and polish on display here. I saw someone on TikTok build a functioning Mecha Godzilla in this game. Good God. I've heard that the ending of this game is one of the best in the franchise, and if I'd seen it this year then it may have wound up higher on my list, but for the time being I'll continue picking up this masterpiece from time to time, chipping away at it until the day comes that I can finally smack the tits off thicc Ganondorf.

2. Half-Life (25th Anniversary Update) I know I'm gonna get shit for this, but I don't care. This year was the 25th anniversary of Half-Life and Valve released an update that made playing it (and it's online Death Match) much more accessible. I threw it on my Steam Deck out of curiosity, expecting to play for 20 minutes. I could not put it down. It is unbelievable how modern this game still feels. I simply had so much fun sprinting through the corridors of Black Mesa with a dozen weapons strapped to my back, blasting aliens and military Spec-Op chumps as a 24(?!) year old theoretical physicist.

1. Baldur's Gate III This game is fucked up, man. The sheer amount of writing in this game scares me. We can all talk about how BIG this game is, it deserves it, but the thing BG3 does better than any other role playing game I have ever experienced is actually encourage roleplaying. I've played through Act I four times now, with four different groups of friends, and it has felt fresh every time. I have seen the same events play out in so many different ways that it boggles the mind, but in every one of those play sessions I see players asking themselves “What would my lil guy do here?” rather than "what is the best thing to do here?" The game rewards players constantly for just trying shit and the D&D 5e rule set means playing like the character you said you were from the start leads to frequent Points of Inspiration. Maybe one day I'll see the end of this story (probably not), but I don't have to in order to feel a connection with BG3's world, characters, and most impressively, the characters I made myself.

Honorable Mentions for 2023

5. Dave the Diver 4. Homebody 3. Sea of Stars 2. Humanity 1. Super Mario Wonder

Top 5 Favorites NOT from 2023

5. Metroid Prime 4. Final Fantasy VII Remake 3. Cursed Halo (Halo CE Mod) 2. Red Dead Redemption 2 1. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (3DS)

Games I didn't have a chance to play from 2023 but still want to when I find more time...

Viewfinder Venba Chants of Sennaar Thirsty Suitors Hi-Fi Rush Moonring Armored Core VI Laika Aged Through Blood Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

OKAY THANKS BYE!

#video games #2023 #GOTY

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uwuowotf2waslife · 2 years ago

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What does your husbando/waifu/nonbinary barbie-crotched S/O says about you?

TW: slight teasing,but oh well...., also nsfw themes and swearing ( sowwy)

TEAM FARTRESS 2

Scooter/weanie man: complete morosexual or the unhuman need to take care of Boston inhabitants with room temperature EQ ( en englais: you have the mommy/daddy/parent kink and you want to show that boi all the love he deserves)

Soldier: you are a human carpet ( sub) or so Dom my sibling in Christ I am terrified. You think his bravery/randomness is endearing or you got roped in by every tumblr/wattpad headcanon potraying him as the ultimate beefcake ( cant argue with you, mofo built like a brickhouse on steroids without the roids.)

Pybro: A. you are a nonbinary peep and any nb representation makes your ovaries/balls/reproductive parts COMBUst with excitment. B. intense latex/leather kink with slight burn/wax play on main. I am both afraid and faschinated by your ability to flesh out on a person we barely know the most basics of their personaility, Godspeed you allmighty bAstERD <3

eNGIe: cowboy appreciator, daddy seeker and parental figure creamer connesuer, you fell in love with the ( here ) so much you actively search and look out for the gruff, wrench handling and guitar-playing texas man of your dreams. No matter your gender or sexuality engie hits that hotspot only the daddiest of daddies hit !

Heavy: rare breed of bear enjoyer, probs an older sibling that wants to make the older sibling ( tired, unhydrated and slighty (( extremely)) in need of therapy) pair. Probably not a huge shipper since you view HeavyMedic as more of a platonic pairing, or you are of the rarest Medicx Reader x Heavy poly sandwich. Please dont hug him too tight, hell hug tired and make your eyes pop like a cheap pop eyed toy.

Demo: contrary to popular belief, you are not a bbc enjoyer/seeker, Demoman isnt just a sextoy to you. He is just the only level headed person you see in a team of morons ( for u) or manchildren with murder tendencies and well, JUST LOOK AT HIM, HE IS BUILT WITH ABBS LIKE A WASHBOARD AND LOVES HIS MOM, HE IS NOT HUSBAND MATERIAL. HE IS SOULMATE/LOVE TILL DEATH ( WONT DO YOU PART, HE KNOWS MAGIK TO RECITATE YOU) , PLEASE I SALUTE YOU YOU GLORIOUS TAVISH ENJOYER!

Medic: WE GET IT HE IS HANDSOME AND SOUNDS EITHER LIKE A CHICKEN WITH A TOP TIER DANTE DEMON OR HOT GERMAN GILF! Please dont canoodle him so hard, youll throw out his back or break his hip. Also very questionable kinks ( i see you blood kinksters). You unironically are the I cAn MakE HiM So MUch WorSE squad and you scare me.

Sniper: yes he is the ratman ofyour dreams and yes he is also really pretty, but please stop treating him like a man who aint also a hired killer. Yes he wont even think to correct his Macas orders, but he will and can make you swoon so hard you look redder than Pyros suit, mans gots that outdoors, unshowered , rugged swagg and he is rocking it harder than the fricking 80s <3 <3

Spah: yesh you have a french kink, yes you want him to whisper in your ear soft french while he btters your bagguet, probably into dilfs or gilfs in the distance because none is a dilf /suave/sensual enough for you. ( perfume isnt a shower, go to shower now, mon petit coucou

RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE ( or the bimbofied RE4)

Lady Alcina Dimitrescu: a cis male/ a sapphic soul/trans,enby vagabond who respectfully wants to drown while motorboating he absolute units of bazoongas. Perhaps slight size kink and perhaps a person who doesnt mind a good blood slurped by their F! S/O if their tumm had the ramblies. Please dont go overboard, or youll enter the unholy assemblange of vore/stuffing kink irl

Donna Bienevento: creepypasta kid, you unironically got spooked first time you read Jeff the Killer. Probably into some questionable types of literature, hardcore horror enjoyer who also has a sanrio addiction. You have tried some kinds of handcraftmanship and might even have some hobbies that involve handiwork. I applaud you, but please dont give the basement FEOTus monster your choccy milk, itll have the zoomies and knock of angies card-castle.

Salvatore Moreau: the epitome of I can fix him! peeps, probably slight hurt/comfort enjoyer. You saw how dirty all the other treat him and you crave to make fish man happy. Both feet in monsterfuckening domain, unironically want to do the dirty while he is at monster form. Maybe you saw the Shape of Water and your brain did the thingy, but oh well, please continue on and make the lord of the reservoir the happiest fish in the sea!

Karl Heisenberg : you slimy, daddy kinked bAsterds, cant we have one game with a slight rat man with a good VA without yall flocking to him like lycans to his factory for french toast scraps??? slight bdsm enjoyer, or person who wants metal rat man happy and softened out like a soviet made breadcutter blade after a top tier professional restoration. Either way, please handle with care he may cry if you hug him the good way

The duke: an absolute chad who may or may not want to drown all your sorrows to a large, beautiful, suave man hug ( or man-thing, you never know.) You seriously deserve the world, because you be pumping fics faster than a heated political debate on Reddit. Also probably a slight hand kink, we all show those monsters at the Shadow of Rose DLC.

#tf2 fanfiction #tf2 headcanons #re8 headcanons #tw sex mention #tw bullies #tf2 fandom #tf2 facts #re8 facts #re8 shitpost #re8 lords #tf2 x reader #re8 x reader #lady alcina #donna beneviento #karl #salvatore moreau #tf2 #tf2 medic #tf2 scout

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crazylittlejester · 6 months ago

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back again with miscellaneous fun facts. 2day/nite (idk when ill finish editing) episode: GameCube ✨️

ok so funny little thing, part of the GameCube's failure can be partly blamed on 9/11. 'Bea what r u on about' ok so there's this game called Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, and this game was intended to be a launch title for the GameCube. Eternal Darkness was actually originally planned for the N64, which is actually pretty important because this game was more known about. A demo of the N64 version was shown at i believe the 1999 E3.

'ok great this was a game that switched consoles during development, why is this important to the GameCube?' youll never guess, my favorite little effect i lovingly call the Resident Evil effect. this was the era were so many games were trying to be darker and edgier to compete *cough* which is why Wind Waker was so controversial *cough* (theres more to Wind Waker but ill get to that in a bit).

back to Eternal Darkness, this game was for one: a third party title, being produced by a Canadian development studio called Silicon Knights. as i mentioned before, this was during the time were third party developer and publishers weren't working with Nintendo nearly as much and choosing to work on titles for Sony's PlayStation. and two: this would be Nintendo's first Nintendo published M rated game. yes other M rated games have been on Nintendo consoles, but none of those have been published by Nintendo.

now enough backstory on Eternal Darkness, how did 9/11 have any effect on this? so there was a character named Joseph De Molay who was a Templar knight. Templar knights were known for taking part in the Crusades (spreading Christianity to the Middle East). Joseph was removed from the game to avoid any controversies or appearing offensive and was replaced. officially it was said Joseph was removed as he was "just a demo character" but he was playable at E3 2001 and was known about all the way back during the N64 development, which is a lot of work for a character who was supposedly a demo character. especially so close from release, and at the same 2001 E3, two other characters were in that demo who were actually in the game proper. (keep in mind the GameCube released November 2001 in the US and September 2001 in Japan)

there was also all Arab writing in texture images removed. this is a lot of last minute reworking for game that was almost completely, which ended up with Eternal Darkness missing the GameCube's launch and came out roughly half a year later.

because of Eternal Darkness not being a launch titles, especially as such an anticipated title, the GameCube was left with pretty much just Luigi's Mansion. unfortunately, Luigi is yk Luigi. People liked Mario and weren't super interested in a Luigi focused title.

i teased it easier, so Wind Waker, definitely a bit more of a known case. at a 2000 Space World exposition, when Nintendo announced the GameCube, there was a clip of Link fighting Ganondorf to show off the GameCube's capabilities (here). and people were excited at the idea of a realistic looking Zelda game only to get Wind Waker a few years later. Wind Waker's toon style, despite being what Eiji Aonuma was so passionate about, was not well liked by the public until years later. this actually directly caused Twilight Princess to turn out the way it did.

originally Twilight Princess was going to be Wind Waker 2, using the same toon style but was changed to try to recapture the Ocarina of Time's success and appeal to the trend of darker more realistic style games (thx Resident Evil effect).

Twilight Princess is commonly criticized now a days for being "just a OoT rip-off" or "dark and edgy" (i can go on a whole rant about that comment but i shall spare yall today) despite the fact that in 2006 that is what was wanted.

the GameCube was unfortunately doomed from the start, and attempts to boost sales/interest in the system ended up in vain.

sorry that was a lot. um. yeahh.

drink water yall :)

adding the failure of the game cube to the list of things caused by 9/11 right up there next to the downfall of Ellen and the Oppenheimer movie

#jes talks #jes ask

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3psil-0n · 5 months ago

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My love of Haunting Ground

Demento is the perfect horror experience.

Haunting Ground (or Demento in Japan) is the perfect horror experience in my opinion. It is a unique kind of horror that no games have done since, which is such a shame as the game is just... it's incredible; from the music and aesthetics to the story, it's just perfect in my opinion, so now I'm going to ramble about it for as long as it takes me to write this thing :3 (Spoilers ahead, if you can find a copy of this game (physical or emulated) I 100% recommend you play it!)

Its roots in Resident Evil.

A fun fact that people may not know is that Haunting Ground is very much linked to Resident Evil 4! People usually look at the dog that helps you in the El Gigante boss fight early in the game and joke that Hewie, the dog that accompanies you through Haunting Ground, is that same dog however there's more of a connection between the two games than just having the similar dogs.

A lot of people are aware that Devil May Cry uses some pieces of a scrapped plot for Resident Evil 4, but the same is actually true for Haunting Ground too! Specifically, it uses pieces from the RE demo which was dubbed Resident Evil 3.5: The Hookman Demo, which was obviously scrapped. The main plot of RE3.5 was a decent concept: "It was Spencer’s castle. Everything started from the castle owned by Spencer, when the ruin was found, and aristocrats started digging. They found the primal virus and Spencer began to have his ambitions. Leon infiltrates this castle seeking the truth, meanwhile deep in the catacombs of the castle, a young girl wakes up in a laboratory. She starts to ascend the castle, accompanied by a B.O.W. dog" (source :3) In this version Leon was also supposed to be infected, and the game would have two different stories to playthrough, similar to Resident Evil 1 and 2.

Although many pieces became part of the final product, a majority ended up being the main features of Haunting Ground, specifically the main location being a castle, the main character being accompanied by a dog, although the reasoning for the main character being accompanied by a dog is a little negative, as the developers were nervous about the game only having a female protagonist would hinder the games popularity and sales... which unfortunately happened anyway due to Capcom focusing its marketing on Resident Evil 4, likely making people who played that and hated Ashley (even though she is a perfectly fine character and I will DIE on this hill) compare her and Fiona without even playing Haunting Ground.

Horror and life.

This game is one of the best horror games as the story links so perfectly to Fiona and her womanhood, the way she's treated by the other characters in the game, the horrors she has to face... everything. Through the whole game, outside of some small craftable items, there are no weapons. You have no way to eliminate your stalker outside of their boss-fights, only stun them/hold them in place to give you enough time to run and hide. Those are your only real options, run and hide. You can't over-use the same hiding spot either, or the stalker will easily find you. I'm not kidding, the AI for this game is incredible and some of the best AI of the time, including the AI for Hewie! The thing that makes this game perfect is the fact that, well... the game could never work with a male protagonist, its themes work so perfectly with womanhood, as if the pair are woven together.

The fear you feel in Haunting Ground is so... familiar, it can be familiar to anyone; the feeling of dread, of not knowing if someone is coming after you, the paranoia; trying to figure out where to hide, trying to remember certain routes and area layouts.. that itch of fear when the area falls to total silence, making you freeze up and hold your breath until you hear footsteps and realise you have to RUN. That fear is so familiar, and I adore it in this game, I am so glad that you have no weapons, because that fear wouldn't exist anymore; you don't fear what you can fight against, after all.

An Innocent Freak and Objectification.

(Okay!! We're getting into spoiler territory here so if you wanna experience Demento go watch a playthrough or play it!! Dw I'll wait!)

The game starts with Fiona waking up in a cage with nothing but a sheet covering her. The cutscene shows a large ogre-looking guy reaching out to grab her, but he is scared off by thunder and leaves the room; Fiona then wakes up and looks around, leaving the cage once she finds it unlocked. The girl finds a dog collar with the name Hewie, gets startled by said dog, and then leaves the room she was trapped in. At the end of this cutscene we finally gain control of Fiona. Walking through the area, the only way we can go is up some stairs and into a castle, finding ourselves in the main suite of the castle. Soon we're introduced to the castles maid, get some actual clothes to wear, and can begin exploring the castle to try and find a map; the first main objective of the game. Walking down a hallway on the 2nd floor you can hear a dog panting, a cutscene starting when we get to the corner.

We are then introduced to Debilitas (yes, his name is literally Disability in Latin, I wish I was joking), the gardener of the castle and our first stalker. Debilitas is a play on the gentle giant trope, he doesn't truly mean Fiona any harm, he just doesn't realise how strong he is, or that Fiona is a living being; in his mind she is a new doll for him to play with. After the first interaction with Debilitas, where you learn about hiding spots, you're free to return down that hallway and continue in your search for a map. The search ending in the kitchen where you find it, then get some more cutscenes.

Throughout Debilitas section of the game, (which I'll just call the castle section for now) you get multiple interactions with the homunculus, showing his mounting frustration at the fact he cannot play with his "dolly". The fact he doesn't mean harm at first comes from his animations, all of which paint him in an innocent, childish light; swatting at Fiona, biting his nails and bouncing around while giggling, even picking her up in a bear-hug (something that can instant kill Fiona if you don't act fast enough.) He does slowly get angrier, the anger culminating in his boss-fight where he corners Fiona in the castle chapel. This boss-fight is the only one where you have a way to pacify the stalker without killing them, your choice dictating the ending you get, which I find to be a shame as I would have loved to be able to save the next stalker we're going to talk about.

If you defeat Debilitas peacefully, by tricking him into breaking the winches holding up one of the chandeliers (you can do it yourself, but it takes much longer than if you get Debilitas to do it) then the gardener will finally leave Fiona be, realising his mistake but still managing to objectify her, now viewing her as an object of worship instead of a mere doll. It means he leaves Fiona alone now, so perhaps it isn't all bad. Finding the homunculus in his shack, he gives you a key that unlocks a door in the bathroom and leads to an item that can help you through the game (or another ending if you've already beaten the game once :D)

Debilitas is no longer a threat, however we're given a new obstacle to face, it could never be that easy...

Womanhood and the thought of Something Lacking.

After the boss-fight with Debilitas, we obtain a key called the Saturnus key, which (obviously) unlocks the Saturnus door on the third floor. Before we can unlock the door, however, we are interrupted by Daniella who tells us that dinner is ready and leans a little too close for comfort (*cough cough* ambiguously gay moment- *cough*). Daniella tells us how she's meant to be the perfect woman, but is lacking the things that make her complete; the sensation of taste, the ability to feel pleasure and the ability to feel pain. While not said in that moment, there is also the fact that Daniella is also infertile, unable to bare children. This is what feeds her need to hunt down and eliminate Fiona, as she is a "real woman" in Daniellas eyes thanks to the fact that she, unlike the maid, has Azoth; the alchemical essence of life and, in Daniellas words, woman.

It's obvious Daniella hates herself and envies Fiona, as not only does Fiona have what she wants, but she is also treated much better than the maid is. There is a scene in the Castle section of the game, after we are warned about Riccardo by a man on the phone, where we can see Daniella getting interrogated and beaten by the groundskeeper; Daniellas model also has cuts on her hands, likely given to her by Riccardo.

Fiona and Daniella are the only two women in the whole game too, every other character is male, which honestly makes them two halves of one whole, both of them are objectified in different ways. Daniella was likely mistreated for years, as she's only a couple years older than Fiona, and it only adds to how damn crushing it is. Daniella is also the best stalker of everyone in the game, likely the one players will die to most of all (although I'm biased because she's the one who killed me most-) unlike with the others, you can't hide behind doors as Daniella closes every door she walks through, and she is much better at looking through hiding spots; there's also two hiding spots Daniella can hide in, both of which being closets (Capcom what are you tryin' to say/j).

Something that I think is disappointing is the fact that Daniella can't be saved. You cannot pacify her, your only option leads to her death. The worst part about it is the fact that originally you were supposed to be able to save her, but it was likely scrapped to save development time. Daniellas death is, ironically, incredibly gut-wrenching to me, as she is one of my favourite characters, and her death is the only time we see her truly smile, smiling as she finally feels pain... or finally realises that what she felt, while negative, was still a feeling. To be totally honest, I literally cried at Daniellas death. I'm not kidding. I was stood, petting Hewie while crying as I felt so guilty for killing Daniella, as in my eyes she is the most tragic character in the game. Just with Debilitas though, the safety cannot last forever.

We take the Mars key that Daniella dropped, say our (tearful) goodbyes (and apologies bc god I felt so guilty) and unlock the door that leads deeper into the mansion to try and find our escape.

Weakness and a Sly Hunter.

Once we find a room with a homunculus floating in green liquid, we're chased by the castle keeper, Riccardo. Riccardo is pissed that Fiona wants to go home, despite being the heir of the castle. He is awful, but he is pretty easy to evade if you pace yourself well. The problem comes once you leave the mansion, finding yourself outside of the mansion you get separated from Hewie (which can lead to the worst ending of the game if you abused the poor boy). Wandering through the chaos forest, once you find Hewie and bandage his wound, Riccardo chases you, but unlike every other time, you don't have Hewie to hold him off. Eventually Fiona gets cornered and we find out the truth; Riccardo and our father were clones, and Fiona holds the Azoth of Aureolus Belli an alchemist who cloned himself as a form of immortality as he attempted to learn the great truth. This ended with Ugo (Riccardo's brother and Fiona's father) as he ran away with Fiona's mother; leaving the clone before him to hope that Riccardo was the one who inherited the azoth instead.

Riccardo wants to use Fiona's azoth to create a new line of clones... the worst part being the way that the clones would be created, (I'm sure you can put two and two together). Riccardo is just foul, making a serum to turn himself invisible just to torment Fiona once she escapes her cell in the water tower; the only way to really hold him of being Hewie as he can see through the serum.

Riccardo's focus is on tormenting Fiona, scaring her into submission (shooting at her, turning invisible and mocking her) he is just awful, and it's clear he sees Fiona as just an object, similar to how he saw Daniella. If she didn't have azoth, he likely would treat her just as he treated the stalker before him. His boss-fight is the easiest, but that is likely because of just how hellish he is on the way toward the fight. There are no hiding spots, and he chases after you on nearly every floor of the water tower, excluding the planetarium at the top floor as that is a puzzle room and stalkers are unable to enter puzzle rooms until they've been completed. The worst thing about the boss-fight is just the line "let me into your womb" which is just... *barfs*

Once defeated, and the bridge to the final area of the game is raised, we can finally leave this hellish area, right?

...

right?

A Warped Obsession and the eventuality of death.

Ha, NO :D! We have one final enemy, remember that man on the phone who warned us about Riccardo? Well, he's an enemy too! The mastermind behind everything... the clone that created Ugo and Riccardo, Lorenzo Belli. The stinky rotten gross corpse eww eww he it so gross I hate him so much.

Lorenzo is the only one who actually wants to kill Fiona (well.. I guess Daniella did too but shh she is allowed to have a mental breakdown after everything she went through) He is awful, vile, and just as disgusting as Riccardo. He is the most frustrating stalker as the House Of Truth, his area, is a maze that is very easy to get lost in, and it's even easier to not grab the map for the area (which makes the area harder to traverse) the area is the most draining to Fiona, as Lorenzo intentionally makes himself younger to mess with Fiona. He should get killed *multiple* times, but he so damn stubborn; even chasing after Fiona as a flaming skeleton (and not the cool kind of skeleton either) as the House Of Truth suffers earthquakes and crumbles around him and Fiona. He is an instant kill like this too, and it's just AWFUL trying to get through this final section of the game.

The relentless chasing of Fiona is common between all the stalkers, but this corpse takes it to the next level, refusing to let up even when should have died. The irony of him and Riccardo is perfect however, especially in Lorenzo's case... His obsession with immortality lead to his death.

He is the most off-putting character however, as Lorenzo is watching from the very beginning; watching Fiona get dressed at the very start of the game, at one point at the start of the game you can hear him call Fiona while walking past an area in the gardens, a cutscene occurring if you walk over to where he calls for her. He's there from the beginning and he doesn't care how Fiona feels; making his death all the sweeter.

Acta Est Fabula, Fortes Fortuna Juvat.

Finally... at the morning of a new game, Fiona and Hewie can finally escape this hellish place. While trying to unlock the door, the weight of Fiona's experience catches up with her, making her hands tremble and her breaths shaky, but before she breaks down, Hewie barks and brings her back to reality, reminding her its all over now, and she doesn't need to be scared anymore. As she calms down, she unlocks the castle gate and pushes it open, turning back to look over the castle one last time. Debilitas opens the front door to begin his tasks in the front garden, looking at Fiona he bows to her; showing his respect to her and sending her off. Fiona turns back, calls for Hewie, and they finally leave the castle.

However this only ending 1 of 4.

Some consider this the best ending, me being one of them, as Fiona was able to overcoming everything and escape the hell she was forced into. Ending b, Ignis Aurum Probat, is identical to ending A, only Debilitas does not appear as this ending requires him to be killed.

Ending C it another ending which is considered the best, which I also agree with, as Fiona goes through the least trauma in this ending. Yeah she has to deal with Debilitas but hey, at least she doesn't have to kill best girl Daniella (in my head she goes back with Hewie to save Daniella later). Unfortunately Riccardo and Lorenzo are still alive in this ending, however it's unlikely they would live much longer with the girl gone. This ending is the only one you can't get unless you play through the came once already, as it is the quickest ending and doesn't let you experience the full story (Think of it like the joke endings/items in Silent Hill, you have to properly experience the story first before you get the silly stuff.)

Tu Fui, Ego Eris.

"Huh... weird writing..."

Ending D is the worst ending, where Riccardo gets what he wants. The only way you can get that ending is by treating Hewie awfully and I'm sorry but if you do that then you DESERVE this ending. Every ending unlocks something if you get it, other than this one. You don't deserve nice things if you hurt Hewie.

Dona Nobis Pacem.

Haunting Ground is an incredible horror game to me. In an era where most horror games are just action games with horror aesthetics, this game is gorgeous, it's horrifying and I adore it to no end. If you can play through it, I thoroughly recommend that you do. It's a breath of fresh air in a genre that is starting to grow stale, and I can only hope Capcom will remake/remaster it so that it's more available for everyone that would like to play it.

Thank you for reading all the way through this, its taken me *checks clock* FOUR HOURS?! oh jeez- well, I hope you all enjoy reading my incessant rambling about a 19 year old game that Capcom is probably never gonna remake, feel free to comment or share, bai!!!

#haunting ground #demento #ps2 horror essay?#is this an essay?#idk i spent so long writing this #but hey its haunting ground #survival horror #00s survival horror #capcom drop a haunting ground remaster and my life is yours #k bye

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