We are all just time capsules, filled with memories, triumphs, and regrets that we hold onto until our inevitable expiration date. Moonloop Games’ debut title Hauntii explores these moments in the sublime afterlife world of Eternity.
Hauntii is a charming, artistic experience. The game left me in awe of its visual style and mesmerizing original score, consistently pulling my heartstrings. It isn’t a perfect twin-stick shooter, but the game is well worth the eight-hour adventure through its hand-drawn afterlife.
Puzzling Afterlife
In Hauntii, players take on the role of a ghost seeking answers. The game’s opening hour leaves the new spirit a series of questions to answer: Who were they when they were alive? Who is their new angel friend? And how do they climb the tower at the center of Eternity without being forced back down?
Most of the game tasks the ghost with exploring levels to collect various colorful items, which stand out against a two-tone background. Each of the game’s areas is beautifully crafted and well-designed. For all narrative intents and purposes, Hauntii is linear; however, I still found joy (and more secrets) when I returned to areas that I had previously completed.
Moonloop Games fills Eternity with puzzles to be solved. Completion of these puzzles and some exploration provide the ghost with stars. Here, the gameplay is a little reminiscent of 3D Mario experiences. Each area has a certain amount of stars to collect, each with its own useful label to remind the player which ones have already been found.
The ghost then uses these stars to fill constellations. The purpose of these star collections is twofold. First, constellations can upgrade the ghost’s number of hearts for health, dashes for moving quickly, or essence for shooting.
Additionally, these constellations tell the beautifully personal—and at times tragic—story of this ghost’s life. These play out like a living sketchbook, hand-drawn line art that reveals brief episodes from a pretty common life. I found that stories mirrored familiar experiences, reflecting moments of life shared by me, my friends, and loved ones across these vignettes. In this way, Hauntii feels both incredibly personal and impressively universal.
Haunting Everything
Hauntii combines two genres rather well: It balances being a twin-stick shooter and a puzzle game. At times, the game masquerades as a clever platformer that makes interesting use of the other two generic elements. It walks this tightrope routine through a feature called haunting. To haunt a non-combative entity or object, the player simply uses the right stick to fire at them. By firing at them long enough and filling up a gauge, the ghost effectively possesses them.
Nearly everything can be haunted in Hauntii, and the game actively encourages experimenting with this ability early on. Everything that is hauntable also has different abilities. Depending on the area, the ghost might haunt a tree that can be shaken to find the game’s blue triangle currency to buy fun hats or haunt a bomb-wielding being to destroy obstacles.
The effect is only fun temporarily if the player hasn’t been collecting purple flames. This colorful currency allows the ghost to use the special ability of the object being haunted, like lifting roller coaster rails or flying through the air. The purple flames visually litter Hauntii’s two-tone backdrop, but I found myself running out quickly during certain segments of the game which led to some frustration in completing areas. Nearing the endgame, I found that I could collect an excess amount, which made returning to these areas to complete puzzles more efficient and fun.
When done right, the haunting ability presents novel perspectives on the world. The game’s reliance on the ability, however, does occasionally lead to recurring activities and tasks. Luckily, the puzzles are pretty brief, but there are enough of them that the repetitive ones stand out.
Shooting for the Stars
Beyond using the right stick to haunt, players will also use the right joystick in combat scenarios. After all, the afterlife isn’t always a peaceful place. Early fights are simple affairs, while the latter areas experiment with this mechanic in interesting ways.
Hauntii’s fights can be fun, but when the combat separates from the puzzles in Hauntii, it almost feels misplaced. Dying during these fights frustrates and distracts from the game’s thoughtfully designed areas. Every death restarts the ghost with two hearts, regardless of how many hearts the player has unlocked which adds a steep difficulty curve to required conflicts. These combative moments broke me out of what is otherwise a contemplative experience. Enemies often serve as mere obstacles between collecting stars and building constellations.
The one place where the combat does work brilliantly is during boss fights or larger-scale conflicts with puzzle elements. Hauntii’s boss fights conclude each area in Eternity. They are brilliantly constructed, often building on the theme as an extension of the challenge. For example, the Wickland area—a ghostly amusement park—ends with a boss fight that cleverly takes advantage of haunting roller coasters.
There’s no denying that Hauntii is first and foremost a twin-stick shooter. Yet the game’s more peaceful gameplay shines brighter than its combat in this traditionally violent genre.
Final Thoughts
Hauntii is a beautiful game that often gets in the way of its own contemplated brilliance. It is the game’s quieter moments that will stick with me long after the credits have rolled. At its best, the game presents an interesting, meditative alternative to the usually chaotic twin-stick shooter and challenging puzzle genres.
Collecting stars and building constellations are rewarding experiences. Not every star or constellation is necessary to see the end. With that being said, I never regretted completing puzzles to collect extra stars or spending time in Hauntii’s world.
Moonloop has crafted a phenomenal first game. I look forward to exploring their future titles, which, if they are anything like Hauntii, promise to marry careful design, genre, and a beautifully handcrafted world.
Score: 8.0/10
Hauntii is out now from Moonloop Games on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Mac, and PC. MRSP: $19.99
Disclaimer: A review code was provided by the publisher.
