I wrote probably too much analysis of a few specific aspects of Haunting Ground below so before anyone sees that I just want to do a quick summation of my general thoughts on Haunting Ground. It's interesting but is often in conflict with itself! There's some really strong atmosphere moments and the relationship between Fiona and Hewie is interesting in the ways that it affects typical player agency in a survival horror game!

Anyways, onto what I originally wrote:

It really takes me out of a survival horror game when the breasts of my teenage character bounce with just about every movement. The character design and the game's cinematography is truly built by and for the male gaze. It's a shame because the way the fixed camera angles shift as you explore corridors and rooms are, at times, incredible, but more often than not it feels less like "how can we veil and disguise the spaces you inhabit through the camera?" and more like "yo, look at this new revealing angle to check out Fiona!"

While it may be easy to shrug this off as it being a product of its time, I think it extends deeper into the narrative itself. Fiona's ability to survive the terrors around her is mostly out of her hands and, by extension, the player's until the very end of the game. Time and time again, regardless of how well she does, she's rescued from near death or extreme violence by a man who only exists as a name on a piece of paper, Lorenzo. While there are narrative reasons for these "rescues", these moments emphasize the idea that Fiona isn't a full character; she exists for most of the story as Lorenzo's toy and for the entire game as the player's toy, in ways far more insidious than a typical player character in a game is reduced to.

I do think there's an interesting thread about feminine identity with Daniella's character. There are moments early on in the first chapter where Daniella appears to come to the aid of Fiona to protect her from male (sexual) violence. While fleeting, there's a sense that there could be a partnership between the two and an opportunity for both to escape the oppression of the manor. Of course, this partnership comes to fruition with Hewie, the dog, and not Daniella. Her fate becomes sealed when she seems to lose her mind when her interactions with another woman (well, another girl) allow her to see just how greatly her inability to sense (taste, smell, etc.) and feel impacts her. While the other boss fights end with something falling on the enemy or the enemy falling to their death, Daniella dies when a body-sized piece of glass penetrates her midsection or womb. The decision to have Daniella die in this way is in conversation with ending D and suggests that Daniella was previously in Fiona's shoes. As the game cuts to credits, it zooms out from Fiona's face as she laughs deliriously and appears to be cut off from her senses just like Daniella. This shifts the through line from feminine identity to biological essentialism and, in turn, prevents either character from developing to any real extent which hinders just about everything the game seeks to accomplish.