''Haunt'' is a horror-themed

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

developed by

NanaOn-Sha is a Japanese video game developer founded by Masaya Matsuura in 1993. History In 1993, Matsuura founded the Tokyo-based production company, NanaOn-Sha, which began the development of video games. He was mainly involved in the development of ...

and

Zoë Mode Zoë Mode was a subsidiary studio of Kuju Entertainment based in Brighton, England. Zoë Mode's games portfolio covered a variety of Genres of video games, genres and comprised big-brand entertainment, original Social-network game, social games ...

, and published by

Microsoft Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

. It was made available for download worldwide on the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

via

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...

on January 18, 2012. The game requires the

Kinect Kinect is a discontinued line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB color model, RGB cameras, and Thermographic camera, infrared projectors and detectors that map dep ...

peripheral.

Gameplay

''Haunt'' is played using the

peripheral. Players use their body to control gameplay. One hand is used to control the on-screen flashlight, while other motions do things such as opening

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...

and doors. Emphasis on the player's entire body is used. For example, the player must cover their ears to avoid the loud scream of a

banshee A banshee ( ; Irish language, Modern Irish , from , "woman of the Tumulus#Ireland, fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or kee ...

. Some sections of the game are automatically navigated, while in others players are free to roam the environment.

Development

''Haunt'' was conceived by

Masaya Matsuura (born June 16, 1961) is a Japanese musician and video game designer based in Tokyo, Japan. He was born in Osaka on June 16, 1961, and majored in Industrial Society at Ritsumeikan University. He has worked extensively with music production, sound ...

. It was revealed at the

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game trade fair and convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publication ...

2010. The game was designed to be child friendly rather than be a horror-focused title. British development team Zoë Mode created the majority of the game including programming, artwork and design with NanaOn-Sha overseeing the project. The game was originally planned for a 2011 release, but was delayed until 2012.

Tim Schafer Timothy John Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American video game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in July 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts. Schafer is best known as the designer of critically acclaimed games '' ...

is featured as the voice of Benjamin Muldoon, the mansion's owner and narrator in the game.

Reception

''Haunt'' received generally mixed reviews, resulting in the aggregate scores of 74% on

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

and 70 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

References

{{Reflist 2012 video games First-person adventure games 2010s horror video games Kinect games Microsoft games NanaOn-Sha games Single-player video games Video games about ghosts Video games developed in Japan Video games developed in the United Kingdom Xbox 360 games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Xbox 360-only games Zoë Mode games