Haunting Ground

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Fiona, the player character and her dog companion, Hewie.

Haunting Ground (a.k.a. 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 Character Sheet.

Tropes used in Haunting Ground include:
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • Anti-Villain:
    • Debilitas is the most obvious example. He's mentally handicapped, and much like a young child, is only a threat to Fiona because he doesn't know any better.
    • Daniella has darker motives than Debilitas, but given her past and her condition (brainwashed into thinking she's some unnatural artificial human, no sense of taste or smell, unable to feel pain or pleasure) it's hard not to feel sorry for her. She just wants to be complete.
  • 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. Turns out Fiona's body is full of it, which is why everyone except Debilitas is hunting her.
  • 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: A terrible, terrible subversion in the worst ending.
  • 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 her hiding in an iron maiden from Daniella, who figures it out and calmly locks her inside before activating it, with Fiona pleading for her life right up to the end.
  • Bishonen Line: When Fiona first encounters Lorenzo, he's a creepy, shriveled up old man. However, once he gives himself a dose of Azoth, he reverts to his handsome young self, and is much more deadly now because he can hurl spells at Fiona. Then this is subverted when he falls into a lava pool and becomes a flaming skeleton armed with a Touch of Death.
  • Bizarrchitecture: The Escher-esque stairwell room. Not to mention the House of Truth, especially while you're being chased by young Lorenzo for the first time, during which there is a large corridor that goes in circles with seemingly no end.
  • A Boy and His X: The game features the adventures of a girl and her dog.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall:

Fiona: Why in the world is there a chair here? *turns to camera* This is just a normal chair, right?

    • 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.
  • Break the Cutie: Poor Fiona is subjected to this a lot throughout the game.
  • Captain Obvious: Fiona. "A woman with wings protruding out of her back. An angel, perhaps?"
  • Cloning Blues: Riccardo and Fiona's father, Ugo.
  • Creepy Housekeeper: Daniella.
  • Crossover: A white German Shepherd also appears in Resident Evil 4.
  • Cutscene Incompetence: An affliction everyone, but Hewie[1] suffers throughout the game.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: If you incapacitate rather than kill Debilitas during his boss fight, he sees Fiona as a sort of holy figure and will leave her alone, even allowing her to escape Belli Castle in one of the endings.
  • Difficult but Awesome: Beat the game once, and you unlock German Shepherd Hewie, a more realistic-looking German Shepherd. He's harder to control and not as obedient as regular Hewie, but his attacks are much stronger.
    • Using Stuffed Hewie (see below) counts too, for the opposite reason.
  • Everybody Lives In the Golden Ending Fiona escapes without killing any of the villains, even the ones who deserve it.
  • 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.
  • Ghost Lights: Luminescents are blue light orbs.
  • Giggling Villain: Daniella does TONS of giggling.
  • Girl with Psycho Weapon: Daniella. She chases you with a shard of glass or a hot fire poker.
  • 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: Fiona in the worst ending. Being raped most certainly didn't help.
  • 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'm a Humanitarian: It is somewhat implied that Daniella was cooking the remains of Fiona's mother, Ayla, in the first part of the game (the food is first identified as angel hair pasta, but a later inspection reveals that it is in fact human hair). She later serves it to Fiona.
  • Immodest Orgasm: Daniella if she manages to kill Fiona. See Laughing Mad below.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Daniella.
    • Also Fiona if Daniella catches her in the iron maiden.
  • 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.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: Lorenzo, who temporarily restores his youth.
  • Jiggle Physics: Fiona is... uh... really bouncy.
  • Joke Item: The "Illegal in Some States" costume (a dominatrix outfit), unlocked by beating the game once, and Texas Cowgirl costume, unlocked by finishing with Ending A. Exactly why Fiona would dress in BDSM gear while trying to escape this horrible place is a mystery, but aside from sex appeal, it gives no real gameplay benefit.
  • 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. In the worst ending though, he will actually die. This ending is achieved by having a bad relationship with Hewie, which includes abusing (and literally kicking) him.
  • Kill It with Fire: Fiona, with Hewie's help, drops Lorenzo into a pit of lava. He emerges as a flaming skeleton, but finally succumbs to the flames.
  • Lady of War: Daniella.
  • 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
  • Lethal Joke Item:
    • The Frog costume (unlocked by beating the game with Ending C) is downright silly, making it look like Fiona is wearing a child's Halloween costume that was resized for an adult. Still, if you overlook this, the costume is very useful, letting her run with no loss of stamina.
    • Stuffed Hewie is unlocked by beating the game on Hard mode. This replaces regular Hewie with a living toy version of Hewie. This version is invulnerable to damage, but his attacks are weaker.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: Beating Lorenzo causes the section of the castle you're in to collapse. There's no time limit while Fiona escapes; however, she still needs to be quick, because being touched by Lorenzo's fire form will kill her in one hit.
  • 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 defeat her pursuers and escape the castle. 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".
  • Mercy Rewarded: Fiona has two options in the Boss Battle with Debilitas; kill him (likely using Hewie and chemical explosives she finds) or using the Chandelier, which does not kill him. If the latter option is taken and you complete the game, you can access the Golden Ending on a second playthrough where he helps Fiona escape. Sadly, unless this ending is unlocked there is no way to defeat the other bosses without killing them - Daniella must die no matter how much you sympathize with her.
  • Multiple Endings: Usually depends on how well you treated Hewie for most of the game. Another major contributor is whether you kill Debilitas or let him live.
  • 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. This is actually an incredibly useful lifesaver, as the game will tell you it's safe to leave a hiding spot only for the stalker to decide to waltz back in, so the player will need to rely on the return of the ambient music to know the coast is clear.
  • Mysterious Informant: Some guy named Lorenzo keeps slipping Fiona various notes over the course of the game. He turns out to be the Big Bad who's only trying to help her get away from his insane lackeys so he can have her Azoth for himself.
  • 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.
    • Riccardo is one of the game's easiest boss battles because he is this.
  • One-Winged Angel: Lorenzo is fought as the final boss in many forms before he goes down.
  • 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: Belli Castle has some sweet interior design going on.
  • 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 she gets impaled by a shard of glass through the torso.
  • 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...

This time... you really are dead. You bastard.

  1. ↑ He has the opposing condition, himself.
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