Hollowbody feels like a miracle. Made entirely by one person and inspired by some of the greatest survival horror games of all time, Nathan Hamley has taken the potential of the genre and run with it. There is so much to appreciate about Hollowbody: its visual design, gameplay, story, and the way it uses the horror genre.
While some of these aspects are lacking compared to others, some manage to eclipse dozens of alternative entries in the genre. Hollowbody is still a triumph, even if it is sometimes a little bit rough around the edges.
Explore A Dark Future
Hollowbody begins at the edge of an urban exclusion zone, deep in the heart of the British Isles. You briefly play as Sasha, a woman who has joined a group of scavengers looking for answers. As she journeys into a mysterious cavern, someone or something finds her. Afterward, the true protagonist reveals herself: Mica, Sasha’s “partner.” Despite the danger, Mica must journey deep into the abandoned city where Sasha went missing to find her.
After a crash landing, Mica is left to her own devices as she is faced with an urban city ravaged by a mysterious plague. Initially, there are little details on how the city ended up like this. All you have is a mission: get to higher ground and figure out what’s going on.
Hollowbody‘s premise is not exactly revolutionary, as there are other indie horror games like Signalis that have implemented something similar, even down to the search for a missing partner. However, the concept is still intriguing all the same. While some horror games create horror out of a suburban neighborhood or a retro-futuristic dystopia, Hollowbody feels inspired by both. Before traveling to the exclusion zone, there’s a stunning visual of Mica looking out over a city that feels right out of Blade Runner.
On the flip side, exploring the exclusion zone feels eerily reminiscent of urban housing projects that have been abandoned and left to rot in the real world. Projects like Pruitt-Igoe in Missouri, Cabrini-Green in Chicago, and other decaying neighborhoods throughout England, where the developer is stationed, all come to mind. Apartments and homes are filled with a mysterious growth of something akin to mold, decomposed corpses, and scattered furniture.
Hollowbody has the atmosphere of an abandoned neighborhood amidst an apocalypse, and the story backs that up. You can find notes alluding to a mass evacuation after a widespread infection. There are other notes you can find too, containing children’s drawings, letters between lovers, and medical records. The world of Hollowbody is deeply unnerving, and I was constantly on edge even before the game started introducing zombie-like monsters lurking where I least expected them.
There’s a part of me that wishes there was a bit more world-building where you can sort of piece together how this abandoned neighborhood ended up the way it did, but there’s a chance I just missed some key piece of lore. Thankfully, there are several endings that allow for further replayability and story expansion. That said, replayability means nothing if the game isn’t fun to play. Thankfully, the gameplay basis of Hollowbody is fantastic.
Traditional Survival Horror Gameplay With Modern Touches
Hollowbody‘s gameplay style is heavily inspired by other horror games throughout history. This is by no means a bad thing, as it means that I was able to quickly pick up and play the game without too much exploration of its mechanics. At first you’re equipped with a flashlight and pistol, and as time goes on and you’re given more weapons and faced with more enemies, you must learn to conserve your ammo and pick your targets wisely.
When you shoot one of the game’s many monsters, you can stomp on them while they’re on the floor to kill them without wasting ammo. Additionally, thanks to a lighter you have as soon as you crash into the decayed neighborhood, you can burn bodies to make sure those monsters never get back up. While the formula isn’t new, the controls feel solid unlike a lot of other entries in the genre.
In contrast to a lot of other horror games that Hollowbody was inspired by, the game does not have tank controls. When you actually start playing Hollowbody, movement feels smooth and there were very few moments where I felt like a death was unfair. Plus, there is an autosave feature, as well as no set inventory limit. You can stash it filled with puzzle items, ammo, and more without any problems whatsoever. Sometimes the game felt too easy because of this, but I quickly realized that the game’s terror didn’t come from the difficulty. Instead, it comes from its incredible atmosphere.
It also goes back and forth between a third-person perspective and fixed-camera perspective. The variety works really well and allows players to appreciate more aspects of the game’s environment. There were a few moments were, as I played Hollowbody for this review, the perspective switches were a bit distracting. There would be moments where I was at a save station and the camera would switch back and forth between two perspectives rapidly.
On the other hand, though, there were just as many moments where the camera perspectives added to the atmosphere. For example, at the beginning of the game where you’re exploring a cavern that a scavenger went missing in, the camera switches to a perspective where you can see the man’s mask on the ground before wandering into the darkness.
There were one or two gameplay features that I wish were explored a bit more. The main one is the ability to scan dead bodies and learn their name, how they died, their birthday, and other details. It’s a great world building feature but it would’ve been nice for that element to be used for some puzzles. Also, speaking of the puzzles, much like a lot of other horror games, there are quite a few complex ones. Some are very well done while some feel far too obtuse and near-impossible to figure out without over half an hour of searching.
I am freely willing to admit though that my struggles could just be because puzzles are not my specialty. Despite that, there are a few other problems to go over that, while fixable, hold back Hollowbody from being a truly perfect experience.
A Few Setbacks Away From Greatness
As I’ve mentioned, Hollowbody has a few problems here and there. The story feels too vague on a first playthrough, the camera perspectives switching constantly is often too obnoxious and distracting, the puzzles are sometimes way too difficult, and some gameplay features aren’t explored to their full potential. There are some other issues, too.
First, I noticed a few bugs here and there. The inventory screen has some odd visual fraying. I wasn’t sure if it was an intentional decision, but it looked too strange to have been done on purpose. The loading screens are also way too long, taking almost a minute in a best-case scenario. It is worth mentioning, though, that the long loading screens could be due to me playing the entire game on my Steam Deck, but it’s hard to tell. However, Hollowbody crashed so hard that even my Steam Deck shut down. I have heard that the developer is aware of this issue, so hopefully, it will be resolved around launch.
It’s also worth mentioning that some enemies feel poorly designed in the grand scheme. A prominent example is the dogs. There was one strip of road later in the game where there were countless enemies in your path. You could feasibly run past them, but the dogs ambush you out of the shadows and chip away at your health. Getting a lock on them with either your gun or your melee weapons is an immensely difficult task.
Speaking of melee weapons, throughout the game, you find handheld items that can be repurposed as weapons, such as a bat, a guitar, and a road sign. In theory, the idea is brilliant and a great deviation from the norm. The problem is they feel really clunky, and what should be a somewhat balanced alternative to the gun when you’re out of ammo is instead a borderline useless addition with how close you need to be in order to hit an opponent. Even then, sometimes a hit won’t connect. You’re better off sticking to guns since ammo is scattered everywhere.
The last problem is a minor one in theory, but something that bothered me as I reached the credits: Hollowbody is too short. At only five hours long on a first playthrough with only two deaths and four saves, the length combined with the relatively low difficulty felt like a missed opportunity. I wanted to play more and truly appreciate everything this world has to offer, but I felt like the game only scratched the surface of its potential.
These are minor issues in the long run, especially since the game was only developed by one person, and everything else feels masterfully executed. Despite any potential shortcomings, Hollowbody is still an incredible experience from beginning to end.
A Survival Horror Triumph
If you’re a fan of classic survival horror games, Hollowbody is the perfect experience for you. It builds off of the legacy of titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill and strives to create something new and exciting.
With a setting that mixes abandoned British urban development projects with a Cyberpunk dystopia, gameplay that modernizes the often dated cliches of other entries in the genre, and an atmosphere that kept me engaged the entire way through, Hollowbody is everything you’d want from a modern horror game.
While there are some problems here and there, such as a few glitches, some gameplay faults, and a short runtime, the entire experience is still a massive accomplishment, considering just one person created it through Kickstarter. Hollowbody manages to combine the best parts of the genre into one package that is appealing to both newcomers and long-time fans of survival horror.
As someone who falls into the latter, I can’t wait to dive back into Hollowbody, discover all the secrets I missed, and uncover the game’s other endings. I can’t wait to see where Nathan Hamley goes next and if he chooses to expand the universe established here.
Disclaimer: Headware Games provided Final Weapon with a PC copy of Hollowbody for review purposes.
