Haunting Ground



"Haunting Ground" (aka "Demento") is a lesser-known adventure-horror game released by Capcom.

Fiona Belli is a young woman who was unfortunately involved in a car accident. However, she awakens in a castle and has no idea how she got there. Her main objective is to basically get the hell out of there, but the sinister residents of the castle have different plans for our heroine...

The gameplay revolves much more on evading enemies and hiding than combat, as Fiona's fighting abilities (she can kick opponents, but it's very weak) are extremely limited (mainly as a throwback to the Clock Tower games, of which this game was to be the 5th installment, but was changed during production). Her health is measured by how calm she is--checking the wrong object or prolonged chases by enemies can cause her to be overcome with fear and panic, becoming disoriented, which is displayed as a blurry, distorted screen and problems controlling her. She eventually runs into an ally in the form of a dog named Hewie, who can be commanded to attack enemies, fetch items, or follow Fiona. The game has an unseen friendship meter of sorts--Fiona can either protect the dog or literally Kick the Dog -- but abuse will make Hewie become distant from Fiona, causing him to ignore her commands or be slower to respond when Fiona becomes panicked.

Now has a CharacterSheet.

This game provides examples of:
"Fiona: Why in the world is there a chair here? *turns to camera* This is just a normal chair, right?"
 * Alchemy: One of the major themes of the game, and many of the trappings of alchemy show up (such as an elixir that grants life eternal, artificial life, the colored stages of purification, and so on).
 * And Call Him George: Debilitas, who thinks Fiona is a big doll for him to play with.
 * A Girl and Her Dog
 * And Your Reward Is Clothes: Patient outfit, normal outfit without shoes, Frog Mascot, Cowgirl, *ahem* dominatrix... Even Hewie gets a different fur color scheme as well as one that makes him look like a stuffed animal (which grants him invincibility).
 * Applied Phlebotinum: Azoth, which in alchemy is pretty much a cure-all and can restore youth, ensure long life, cure any injuries, and so on.
 * Artificial Human: Daniella. Some of the levels also have failed homunculi standing around in various places doing strange things.
 * Ax Crazy: Daniella and Riccardo, the latter which carries a gun and is very trigger-happy.
 * Babies Ever After:
 * Big No: Fiona, waking up from a nightmare/flashback to the car crash.
 * Fiona also does this during some of her terrible deaths, like the one involving.
 * Bishonen Line:
 * Bizarrchitecture: The Escher-esque stairwell room.
 * Break the Cutie: Poor Fiona is subjected to this a lot throughout the game.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall:

"This time...you really are dead. "
 * This example could just be Fiona looking to see what the chair may be facing, as the chair also happens to be facing towards the camera.
 * Captain Obvious: Fiona. "A woman with wings protruding out of her back. An angel, perhaps?"
 * Cloning Blues:
 * Creepy Housekeeper: Daniella
 * Crossover: A white German Shepherd also appears in Resident Evil 4.
 * Cutscene Incompetence: An affliction everyone but Hewieopposing condition, himself suffers throughout the game.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: If you
 * Everyone Is Related
 * Everything Trying to Kill You: Springing traps usually means instant (and gruesome) death for Fiona.
 * Fainting: Fiona, of the emotional variety. She's really a little too susceptible to them for her own good at times.
 * Fan Service: The sheet from the beginning of the game is quite modest compared to some of Fiona's outfits, not to mention her miniskirt and how "bouncy" she is.
 * Friendly Enemy: Even after she's decided to tear out your Azoth, Daniella is such a dutiful maid that she'll be too busy cleaning to bother you from time to time. You even get a useful item for talking to her during one such break from chasing Fiona.
 * Girl With Psycho Weapon: Daniella. She chases you with a shard of glass or a hot fire poker.
 * Ghost Lights: Luminescents are blue light orbs.
 * Giggling Villain: Daniella does TONS of giggling.
 * Golem: Fiona comes across a couple of them during her journey in the castle. One of them is blocking a door and requires you to insert a keyplate inscribed with "emeth" to move it out of the way. As an added Genius Bonus for those familiar with the golem myth, you can use the word "METH" to make it crumble instead -- and get an item as a reward.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation:
 * Gorn
 * Gory Discretion Shot: A lot of the death traps don't directly show Fiona's death...which just makes it all worse.
 * Holler Button: From "Hewie," to "HEWIE!!" and "Help!!"
 * I Have You Now My Pretty: Riccardo invokes this multiple times on Fiona.
 * I Was Quite a Looker: Lorenzo, who.
 * Immodest Orgasm: Daniella if she manages to kill Fiona. See Laughing Mad.
 * Impaled With Extreme Prejudice:
 * Also
 * Inconveniently Placed Conveyor Belt: In one of the final boss fights, which doubles as both a Death Trap, and as the only means to kill the boss.
 * Indecipherable Lyrics: Endless Zero has barely audible, whisper-y vocals which may or may not be just random gibberish.
 * Interface Screw: Panic Mode
 * Item Crafting: The alchemist's quarters has a machine in which Fiona can refine medallions into items for her and for Hewie, but some items can actually hurt them when used.
 * Jiggle Physics: Fiona is...uh...really bouncy.
 * Kick the Dog: All of the stalkers are more than willing to harm or kill Hewie. In the Chaos Forest, he is shot by Riccardo, but Fiona fortunately comes to his aid.
 * Kill It With Fire:
 * Laughing Mad: Daniella, in spades.
 * Leitmotif: Each stalker has a distinctive chase music which goes through tempo and volume shifts depending on how far behind you they are. It also gets remixed for their boss battle. In cutscenes, Hewie gets a theme of his own in the form of a soft, music box-like tune. Fiona is the only character without one, except maybe Endless Zero.
 * Licking the Blade: Daniella does this with a big shard of glass (or a fire poker, if she's optionally traded in the glass shard).
 * Light and Mirrors Puzzle
 * Load Bearing Boss:
 * Locking MacGyver in The Store Cupboard: The entire game can be seen as an extended version of this, as Fiona can easily find or make everything she needs to One has to wonder why they even left her alone in the first place...
 * Mad Scientist: Well, two mad alchemists. Close enough.
 * Meaningful Name:
 * "Debilitas" is Latin for "weakness" or "illness".
 * Fiona means "white, fair".
 * Hewie and Ugo (Fiona's father) are the diminutive and the Italian variant, respectively, of "Hugh", meaning "heart, mind, spirit".
 * Multiple Endings: Usually depends on how well you treated Hewie for most of the game. Another major contributor is whether you.
 * Musical Spoiler: The music becomes chaotic when Fiona runs into enemies. When she successfully evades an enemy (usually by hiding), the music returns to normal.
 * When a stalker is in an area adjacent to the player, the ambient noise is replaced with dead silence.
 * Mysterious Informant: Some guy named Lorenzo keeps slipping Fiona various notes over the course of the game.
 * Non Human Sidekick: Hewie, who doubles as a Pet Interface.
 * Offscreen Teleportation: Most of the stalkers are guilty of this, but Daniella pops into existence in certain rooms. There's one room she'll always appear in, no matter where you saw her last. Fortunately, for some reason, her kill switch is set to "off" if you encounter her here; she's too busy cleaning to do anything else.
 * One Hit Point Wonder: Getting caught by enemies while under full Panic Mode usually reduces Fiona to this.
 * One Winged Angel:
 * Pet the Dog: Fiona does this to Hewie when praising him, as well as in certain cutscenes. If Hewie is badly injured, Fiona can go over and stroke him comfortingly to get him back on his feet.
 * Pinocchio Syndrome: Daniella
 * Pretentious Latin Motto:
 * All the endings are titled in Latin, and also the game over screen -- "Acta est Fabula" -- meaning "The drama is over" or "The drama has been acted out".
 * The title of the game in Japan is "Demento".
 * Psychopathic Manchild: Debilitas
 * Puzzle Boss: Most, if not all, of the bosses are like this, seeing as how your only "weapons" are stun bombs and Hewie's attacks.
 * Rage Against the Reflection: The otherwise eerily collected (if murderous) Daniella goes berserk whenever she sees her own reflection. The player can use mirrors to distract and evade her when being chased.
 * Rainbow Speak: The game uses different colors to create hints when Fiona examines objects.
 * Relationship Values: Fiona can praise or scold Hewie, and too much abuse can cause the dog to be totally apathetic toward Fiona. He may even attack her. On Hard difficulty, Hewie can be killed off completely, giving you a Game Over.
 * Scenery Porn
 * Screw This I'm Outta Here: One of the endings. It's extremely satisfying after beating the game once.
 * Shout Out: The tower in the middle of the lake is a direct shout out to the Clock Tower series, which this game was originally intended as a successor to.
 * Shown Their Work: Quite a bit of alchemy lore appears in this game, in addition to the myth about the golem (complete with "METH" making it crumble) and other things show that there was more than a passing interest in referring to it here.
 * Soft Glass: Daniella smashes a window with her forehead pretty effortlessly; later on averted in a spectacularly over-the-top fashion when
 * Solve the Soup Cans
 * Spiritual Successor: The game initially started development as a continuation to Clock Tower, and even though it ended up becoming its own independent title, it still shares similar gameplay mechanics and Dario Argento influences with the series that inspired it.
 * Stalker With a Test Tube: Riccardo towards Fiona.
 * Stripperific: Fiona's "Illegal In Some States" alternate costume.
 * Tears of Blood: Daniella cries them.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Fiona is scared in pretty much every cutsene in the game (except the ones where she pets Hewie) and looks like she'll start crying every moment. But at the end of the game...
 * Tears of Blood: Daniella cries them.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Fiona is scared in pretty much every cutsene in the game (except the ones where she pets Hewie) and looks like she'll start crying every moment. But at the end of the game...


 * Videogame Caring Potential: Hewie serves as your main weapon rather than an escort that needs your constant protection, but you still need to take good care of him. He can get hurt, and those whimpers will break your heart.
 * Violation of Common Sense: One of your hiding places during the second portion of the game is a fully function iron maiden.
 * White Haired Pretty Girl: Fiona