Her dreams are haunted by monstrous figures lurching around a dark, unfamiliar setting with bloody cleavers. She awakes to find herself alone and in a cage, which is left open. As you explore, you'll immediately be comforted (or terrified, depending on your point of view) by the familiar perspectives and mechanics of the Resident Evil series. Your view of the surroundings, a mostly empty, old-school castle, is divided into connected sections, each with a stagnant perspective. The more you wander and interact with the quiet, oppressive moodiness of the expansive buildings and grounds, the more you learn about what's going on.

At it's heart, Haunting Ground is a ghost story. And it's a good ghost story – engaging, mysterious and emotional. It's also fairly violent and gory, with a healthy dose of dismemberment. It may drag a bit, particularly at the beginning when it takes a little too long to reveal anything of substance, but overall the characters and happenings are meaty and involved.

The biggest disappointment comes from actually playing the game. It's so much like Resident Evil that it looks, feels and plays like a knockoff, even though everything else about the game – characters and story – is very fresh. You'll collect herbs, you'll walk and run with the same limitations of the very first Resident Evil and you'll get annoyed by the drawbacks of those games even faster because you've dealt with them for so long.

The twist for Haunting Ground is that your tactics are less direct. You'll do a lot more hiding and sneaking than you will shooting zombies in the head. You'll also use your faithful supporting character, a white German shepherd named Hewie, to assist your efforts. Some of his uses will be painfully obvious, like fitting through holes you cannot, while others more refreshing, like warning you of traps.

Fiona is much less useful. Her responses to a dangerous foe include a half-hearted shove, a pathetic kick and a dainty step backward. Her two stats are stamina and panic, neither of which are displayed on screen. You'll know she's tired when she can no longer do certain things and you'll know she's scared when she starts running away and knocking herself out.

Hewie, however, is great. He's cute, of course, but he also has mannerisms realistic to dogs. He perks up at your attention, he follows you, and his tail wags at the right times. You'll have the opportunity to praise him, chastise him and even play a little. The motivation for doing so is clear – Hewie will be more helpful if you capitalize on his loyalty instead of abuse it.

But over time, the hiding and sneaking ceases to be worrisome, it's just time consuming to run away for long enough to lose the bad guy, hide, then wait for him to give up. And you never really know how you're doing with Hewie because he can be unresponsive at times for no apparent reason.

If you like ghost stories and the conventions of the old Resident Evil games are not fresh in your mind (or never bothered you in the first place), Haunting Ground will be a lot of fun. The story is interesting and the mood – from music to visuals and cut scenes – is consistent and well executed. If you're an RE veteran who's ready to move on, it'll feel like you're playing an old game with a new skin.