I couldn’t enjoy Moonloop Games’ Hauntii until I let go of the idea of playing the game correctly. Chasing a mysterious ghost Hauntii‘s beautifully stylized afterlife, I kept asking myself: Am I doing this right? Moonloop games do start with an exploration of the buttons and their functions, but that’s about it. What you do next is up to you. Luckily, it didn’t take long before I started messing around with what’s possible and what’s not – and I started to appreciate it Hauntii‘s little expectations, a similar experience I had A short walkone of my favorite games of all time.
Everything inside Hauntii is light or dark; playing as an inky ghost – new in the afterlife – I follow an angelic figure through the darkened world. I navigate by following the light and creating it where there is none, through Hauntii‘s twin-stick mechanic. Using one stick to move and another to shoot, I can shoot at hostile creatures or I can inhabit objects to shake their light free, creating a path to where I go next. But where am I going? Am I going in the right direction? I’m not done yet Hauntiiso I really don’t know. And that’s okay.
Despite the melancholic nature of the game’s environment and themes, Hauntii feels aesthetically light and playful; that also extends to the mentality I had when I played it. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a challenge Hauntii: The afterlife is inhabited by a number of corrupt beings that must be fought – sometimes with the help of that two-stick shooting, elsewhere by ‘chasing’ other beings in the area. For example: There are certain instances where I encounter a creepy cat-eared monster carrying a blaster. Two actually. I can jump into one of these monsters and use it to fight the other. These action scenes start out quite easy, but become much more challenging as the game progresses, while still being forgiving enough not to disrupt the relaxed atmosphere of the game.
The joy I found in it Hauntii is not the hunt for this mysterious angelic figure, but, as cliché as it sounds, the exploration I get to do along the way. Hauntii has somewhat clear paths leading to the ‘end’ of a level, but if you choose them you’ll miss out on little surprises scattered throughout the world. These little surprises range from puzzles to interesting characters that develop further Hauntiithe world through small moments of storytelling. That, plus HauntiiThe incredible, melancholic soundtrack means it’s a world I enjoy wandering into.
There is a lot to collect Hauntiisome of which is required to progress to the different sections – mushroom-laden forests, a lively amusement park, a moody graveyard and more. What I collect leads to me unlocking cutscenes that display memories from my character’s past life and connect the current journey to the past. It’s all very sweet, sometimes crazy and very sad. For some, Hauntii will start to feel tedious as some environments linger too long, but I found those feelings of boredom dissipated as I let go of what I had to do and just soaked in the bittersweet feelings of the stories.
I’m in a unique position in the way I play games: the nature of this job requires me to play a lot of them. It often means thinking about the value of my time spent, playing and playing efficiently correct to ensure I can experience the entire game in a reasonable amount of time. It’s hard to let go of that feeling when there’s always something new to go on, and I’m glad for that Hauntii has reminded me that it’s nice to linger.
Hauntii was released on May 23 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X. The game was played on PC via a Steam Deck using the Moonloop Games download code. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.