Haunting Ground
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| Haunting Ground | |
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| Developer(s) | Capcom Production Studio 1 |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Release date(s) |  2005 April 21 29 April 2005  May 10, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Third-person Adventure, Survival, Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature PEGI: 16+ CERO: 18+ OFLC: MA15+ |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Media | 1 DVD-ROM |
Haunting Ground (known in Japan as Demento) is a video game developed by Capcom Production Studio 1 and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2 games console in 2005. It was originally going to be part of the Clock Tower series of video games, but this was scrapped early into its development. The player character of Haunting Ground is Fiona Belli, a young woman who wakes up locked in a cage, somewhere inside an old castle. She has no idea where she is or how she got there, and starts exploring the castle in order to find a way out.
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[edit] Story
Fiona Belli has somehow found herself in a very creepy castle. She has just been in an automobile accident; her memories of this accident, however, are vague and incomplete. She meets the castle's maid, Daniella, who comes out of nowhere to give her a new set of clothes. (Fiona has until this point been running around in a bedsheet.) From there on Fiona, knowing nothing about the castle and how she got there, sets out on a journey about the estate to find the answers. Fiona is not alone, however, and along for the ride is a stray White german Shepard named Hewie, who helps her during the course of the game. Hewie is a brave four-year-old dog who, if treated right, puts his life on the line to save Fiona. Hewie can grow stronger and his attacking power will increase; this will help Fiona, as she needs the hound to attack her pursuers. If not treated well, Hewie will grow aggressive and attack Fiona instead.
During her stay, Fiona is attacked and pursued in turn by the castle's occupants. The girl is confounded as to why these strange and insane characters want to murder her; they all want something different from her.
[edit] Characters
Daniella grabs Fiona (1)
[edit] Fiona Belli
Fiona is the main character of the game. According to the game manual, she is 18-years old and only recently moved away from her parents to college and was visiting with them when the accident occurs. At the beginning, she wears a bedsheet but then moves onto a gothic style outfit which laters is discarded for a medical gown for reasons unknown. Although she is not very athletic, she makes this up with her quick mind. She rarely shows emotions and appears more mature than her actual age suggests. Though of strong character, she is easily disturbed by grisly images (which is one of the challenges in the game, as this puts her in Panic mode). Her fate is up to the player to decide. She can either die in various ways, escape the castle altogether or becomes a perminant resident should the player achieve certain conditions.
[edit] Hewie
A four year old German shepherd, Hewie becomes attached to Fiona after saving his life, in the early stages of the game. It is never revealed who his previous owner was and how or why he ended up in Belli Castle, but Fiona notices he seemed well cared for at some time. Throughout the game, the two must work as a team to solve various puzzles and to avoid/harm the stalkers within the game. Hewie acts pretty much as Fiona's bodyguard throughout this game. His attacks range from bites to the hand to the more aggressive neck biting if the move is performed properly. However, Hewie will only listen to commands when trained to do so, and he'll react to both praise and criticism like a real dog. If the relationship with Fiona is weak, he may even attack her. He can die from taking too many attacks from the stalkers causing the game to end.
[edit] Debilitas
Debilitas is the castle's gardener and handyman. Upon seeing Fiona for the first time, he is compelled to chase after her. Despite his hulking size and massive strength, he has the mental capacity of a young child. He can only seem to understand simple language and is only heard speaking short, garbled phrases. He also plays with dolls, and apparently thinks Fiona is one. He is easy to outsmart, but is a persistent chaser, and can seriously hurt Fiona with just a couple of blows. Eventually, the player must make a choice on whether to let Debilitas live or die depending on the boss battle between Debilitas and Fiona.
[edit] Daniella
Daniella cooks and does the household work around the castle. She appears to be around her late twenties and is stunningly beautiful, but her movements are machine-like. She is revealed to be a homunculus, a man-made human. Initially, Daniella seems unemotional, but to Fiona's despair, she notices that she's prone to erratic mood swings and maniacal laughter. Despite her beauty, she hates looking at herself in the mirror. Out of all the stalkers, she is the physically weakest and easiest to outrun, but is also the cruelest; she attacks Fiona with either a hot poker or a broken piece of glass, and if she can't find Fiona, she has a tendency to attack Hewie.
[edit] Riccardo
Riccardo is the castle's butler. A monk-like figure, he acts like a servant though it seems that he is the person in charge of the castle. And unlike the other stalkers, his intentions with Fiona are non-violent, but he is clever and persistent and will frighten her by firing his gun to the air. The real danger in dealing with Riccardo is that he can shoot and seriously injure Hewie, leaving Fiona to fend for herself.
[edit] Lorenzo
A shadowy figure in the background, Lorenzo does everything in his power to Fiona. But no one knows anything about him except that he is extremely old. The last chaser in the game, Lorenzo reveals the reason why Fiona is trapped in the castle should the player fulfill the requirements of the alternative ending.
[edit] Explanation of the Plot
Lorenzo, the master of the Castle, is an ancient alchemist searching for the Azoth. Although the exact definition of "Azoth" is never explicitly stated, it appears to be the secret of Life and/or Immortality. It seems that Azoth was inspired by the use of anime as the use of the infailable remedy closely links to the anime, Full Metal Alchemist with the Philosopher's Stone.
To obtain "Azoth", Lorenzo created clones of himself. One of these clones is Riccardo. Another is Fiona's own father, Ugo. However, the clones rebelled. Riccardo locked up Lorenzo and took over the castle, while Ugo escaped into the world and started a normal life. He eventually married a woman named Ayla, and had a child, Fiona, who due to her unusual parentage has unknowingly been born with the Azoth inside her.
Coincidentally, Fiona's family is killed in a car crash near the castle, and she ends up inside. Almost everyone inside the castle wants to kill her to obtain the "Azoth" inside her... Daniella and Riccardo so they can become real humans, and Lorenzo so he can obtain eternal youth. The simple-minded Debilitas is the only exception; he simply believes Fiona is a doll for him to play with. He will even leave her alone if she can convince him otherwise.
[edit] Deaths
Of much comment in Haunting Ground (Demento) are the death scenes/game over scenes, as they leave the player to wonder what exactly the killer is doing to the protagonist's body when she's dead.
Debilitas: He attacks by swinging his arms at Fiona (jumping out at her to startle her) and giving Fiona a bear hug. He snaps Fiona's spine with the Bear Hug and much speculation has been cast on what he does to Fiona's body when she's dead. During the Game Over screen, you can hear Debilitas play with Fiona's body in a sexually suggestive manner as if she's a doll.
Daniella: She attacks by either using a hot fire poker or a sharp shard of glass. When Fiona lies on the ground, Daniella stabs at Fiona and at the Game Over screen you can hear Daniella laughing like a lunatic as she render Fiona's uterus from her body.
Riccardo: He attacks using his flintlock pistol or by punches and kicks should the player move Fiona too close to him. When Fiona lies on the ground, he seems punch her to unconsciousness. During the Game Over screen, you can hear Riccardo rip Fiona's clothes off before proceeding to rape her.
Lorenzo: Lorenzo has three differing types of attacks. In his old age form, he tends to grab Fiona's ankle and drag her towards him. If Fiona is down when this happens, during the Game Over scene, you can hear Lorenzo suck the Azoth dry from Fiona. In his young age form, when the Game Over screen plays, you can hear him rip Fiona apart limb by limb. During the escape from the house, should Fiona be touched by his flaming corpse, you only hear the flames consume Fiona as she dies.
[edit] Endings
[edit] Ending A - Fortes Fortuna Juvat
Fiona struggles to get the key into the lock. Hewie calms her fears and she manages to unlock the door. However, Hewie begins barking which catches Fiona's attention. From the double doors, Debilitas comes out with hedge clippers. The camera zooms into their eyes. Debilitas then bows to Fiona, indicating that he means no harm. With that, she and Hewie walk into the darkness of the forest. Debilitas looks at the overgrown trees in the garden and begins clipping the trees. Maybe he knows he's got the entire castle to himself. To obtain this ending, the player must defeat Debilitas using the chandelier and kill the rest of the stalkers.
[edit] Ending B - Ignis Aurum Probat
Same as Ending A except there is no scene where Debilitas comes out or the clipping of trees. As Fiona is opening the gate out to the forest, she stares at the castle for a few moments, perhaps remembering that, since Lorenzo, Riccardo, and her father Ugo are now dead, the castle is basically hers. But she decides to leave and continues her exit, following Hewie into the forest. To obtain this ending, the player must defeat Debilitas by killing him without using the chandelier and kill the other stalkers.
[edit] Ending C - Dona Nobis Pacem
Essentially the same as Ending A except there is no Debilitas and there is a special scene at the end. Lorenzo calls out to Fiona not to go. But he falls down the stairs, loathing the fact that she has left. To obtain this ending, the player must play the game a second time, and this time use the chandelier on Debilitas during the boss battle. Visiting him in his room will produce a key that opens a locked door in the restrooms. Behind this door is the Castle Key (during the first attempt, this door only contains Metal Boots). Using the key on the front door unlocks this ending.
[edit] Ending D - Tu Fui, Ego Eris
Fiona wakes up in a glass box where Riccardo taunts her and says she belongs to him. She screams her frustration at that. The scene cuts to her bedroom where Riccardo lovingly strokes Fiona's head and her bulging stomach. As he walks away, she wakes, gives a faint smile, and laughs (a laugh that is eerily similar to Daniella's). She's given up on going home, finally realizing that she is home. To obtain this ending, the player must either treat Hewie very badly (by kicking him and feeding him onions), or neglect to come to his aid after he gets shot by Riccardo in the Chaos Forest.
