Hollowbody
Developer: Headware Games (Nathan Hamley)
Publisher: Headware Games
Platforms: Xbox Series X (tested), PlayStation 5. Also available on PC (released 2024)
Release Date: 5th June
Hollowbody is not a new game, first appearing on PC back in 2024. We’ve been itching to give it a go, so its release on Xbox and PlayStation is just the excuse we needed to sample this unusual, brooding horror.
The player is Mica, a black-market shipper whose job presumably entails delivering illegal goods across a dystopian UK. Mica’s partner, Sasha, has gone missing while investigating the source of a mysterious virus that has left most of north-west England—including its cities—cordoned off inside a walled exclusion zone.
Arriving in a hover vehicle reminiscent of Blade Runner’s Spinners, Mica is suddenly trapped within the zone with little support and limited resources. On foot, and faced with a deadly contagion that’s warped the local population into shambling monsters, Mica searches the area for a way out and clues to Sasha’s whereabouts.
A good atmosphere is key in horror games, and Hollowbody has it in spades. Tower blocks loom out of the mists, and the rows of houses will be eerily familiar to anyone from the UK. Bodies litter the buildings, and focusing on them brings up an on-screen data readout detailing the poor unfortunate person’s cause of death and more. Somehow, discovering their date of birth (usually in the last few years, considering the game is set in the near future) and how they died adds an extra layer of spine-tingling morbidity to Hollowbody.
Useful items, such as health sprays and ammo, occasionally appear, and the constantly dark corridors and roads take some negotiating. There are few, if any, puzzles of note, but that’s ok; Hollowbody is a game of exploration, working your way around its grim environment as the lumbering residents doggedly pursue Mica. When you’ve finally made your way to the top of the tower block, you’ll encounter the game’s one human survivor. Here, Mica makes a decision that affects the rest of the game and its ending, and it’s a powerful choice considering the doom-laden circumstances.
Hollowbody is a meticulously crafted horror game. Every room and street appears to have been assembled with a high level of attention to detail, along with little nods and clues to the disaster that’s afflicted the region. The source is slowly teased out via notes and scraps of paper, cleverly combining Resident Evil-style antics with contemporary science, creating a quite plausible and chilling scenario.
If there’s one criticism, it’s the combat. Ammunition is rare, and the enemies soak up bullets, so we ended up using melee weaponry for the majority of the game. But with its superb sound design, full of dissonant intonations and sullen music, forbidding gloom, and intriguing plot, leading right up to its despondent conclusion, Hollowbody provides plenty of unsettling moments over its short 3-4 hour running time.
Note: Hollowbody offers two camera methods: a dynamic mode that’s mainly fixed, and a modern, standard third-person mode. Both work well, though we preferred the cinematic view that the fixed camera normally provides. Other options include being able to switch to tank controls.
Conclusion
Exceptional world-building and a tense, intimidating atmosphere conspire to overcome Hollowbody’s combat deficiencies. The result is an impressively thoughtful and absorbing experience for horror fans.
