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i have always really hated the recent trend of calling games "the best x you shouldnt why" bc its cheap and dismissive and diminutive of the value of something.... but in this one case i do think it's true, hungry ghosts is one of the coolest, most unique games of its generation and a one of a kind experiance but i can not reccomend actually playing it to anyone but the most hardcore first person dungeon crawler fans, this game is hard, obtuse and difficult to the point that you can get locked out of 90% of the game within the first few rooms (this happened to me on both of my first two playthroughs, it took me 3 just to get passed this), hell, you can be locked out of the games true ending from the starting room, that's just the kind of game this is. for most of you this will be enough to warn you off but for the people who think "wow that sounds great!" then this is a must play import.... with an asterisk

the game is in japanese only and not only that but it's on the more difficult side, this game is almost unplayable without at minimum an N3 knowledge of the langauge and even then the game uses a very old cadance to its words that made it difficult even for me, someone with an N2 degree and it's not a case where you can just feel your way aound it like you can many others, you need to know the words in notes and dialogue or you will ruin runs in one move, there is a translation out there but it's machine and unfinished, but for some it will be good enough, but for now, if you don't have that baseline knowledge i would advice for you to reconsider playing it unless you just want to wander around without any real intention to finish, which is something i do think still has value in this case, or you could watch a longplay, there's only one online but it's pretty comprehensive and has multiple endings so you'll see most of what the game has to offer and there's also a gameFAQ's walkthrough that i used that is very in depth, but hard to follow, it's about a 5-7 hour long time anyway, if you get one of the better endings, it can be over in 2 if you end up in a bad ending though.

the game itself plays very similar to the likes of a kings field, a puzzle heavy first person dungeon crawler with some occasional combat, which tends to be optional unless you mess up and anger an NPC, there's some boss fights here and there like the castlevania as heck grim reapers that throw spinning scythes at you, it has some more obtuse systems and a weird control scheme but that's the gist of it, gather items, talk to NPC's and solve riddles, sometimes find and use items and read lots and lots and lots of notes, it's one of the most writing heavy horror games i've played outside of VN's which does make it stand out well if you know the language, some of the game is very weird with its systems though. you have a kind-of morality meter that determines things like your ending, of which there are over a dozen and only one true one that is so hard to unlock you can just fully not get it in a perfect run if you pick up one too many items or pick a starting item other than the shinigami's trinket, heck if you miss too many quest items you lock yourself out of 90% of the game like i said earlier, it's obtuse to the point of being to me almost impossible without a guide, but this isn't wholley a negative, because for some of you this will be the selling point, so i won't give this aspect hate, but it wasn't an aspect i personally liked and i feel like it will scare a lot of people off. the controls are also a little weird but in a way i really like, you look up and down by holding L1 and using the sticks, but you also use the right stick wo use your weapons and items, thrusting it foreward for the spear or backward when you have bolts equipped and the crossbow to shoot, it's a pretty interesting control scheme and it works, holding back the spear for power up attacks was always really satisfying to do and it makes it feel more immersive, which is 100% what the game is going for, it's so complex and obtuse because it really wants to be a hell *simulator*, a hell immersive sim if you like and it's super immersive, what helps there is also the sound and visuals which are both easily some of the best on the console.

the games environments are super detailed,spooky and really atmospheric and there's some really good effects work going on with things like the rain and some of the enemies having a super cool looking transparency effect, being just a floating almost translucent pair of eyes in the distance until they get closer, which is really scary the first few times it happens. the environment's are also very interactable which the high level of detail helps and it really adds to just how real the world feels, it can honestly be very overwhelming. the sound is really good too, it has a ton of really well done soundscapes and the music, while not super standout on its own like something like silent hill, really fits the game and there's also a ton of voice acting to be found with some really solid performances, all the npc's are fully voiced, even the one-off skeletons and ghosts are and they all have a lot to say! it's a well told story in that respect, it's very non-linier with how its told with tons of missable dialogue and questlines and back-trackable areas where you can unlock more of them, one off notes that seem to spawn at random and choices that'll make you pick between one bit of story to read or another, it's more dialogue heavy than some RPG's at times and it's got as many choices and variations as even some of the best VN's with all its permutations of events and endings

one thing that does help is that vs a lot of ps2 horror games (and it has never been ported, sadly), this is actually very affordable and easy to find, i only paid £15 for my copy but you will probably need to import it, but even then this is still much cheaper than a lot of the systems horror games, so if you're on a budget this could be a great one to grab. after this game the developers. deep space, sadly shut down, their only other major game being extermination for PS2, a game which swery65 actually worked on, in addition to this games director: tokuro fujiwara, of tomba, resident evil, many megamans and the ghosts and goblins series. it's one hell of a last game though, atmospheric and spooky and really a one of a kind game, even among other first person dungeon crawlers and one i hesitantly reccomend, to it's audiance this is a masterpiece and one that's well worth putting the time in to learn, it's just up to you to figure out if you're part of that audiance.