Hollowbody Review (PC) – More Than A Shell
We’re soon approaching the 30 year anniversaries of seminal survival horror classics Resident Evil and Silent Hill. While Resident Evil continues to (mostly) be going strong, Silent Hill has suffered a significant void of quality entries in recent years. Thankfully, we have the Silent Hill 2 remake coming in just a month. If you’ve been yearning for that particular claustrophobic atmosphere and suffocating sense of tension, however, then Hollowbody may have beaten it to the punch. A PS2-era inspired 3rd-person psychological horror title, Headware Games’ game more than fills the time until James Sunderland lands on our screens again.
Not content to be a simple imitator, this tech-noir, post-apocalyptic examination of corporate interests gone rogue is thoroughly engaging in its own right. A missing partner, a mysterious abandoned city, a depressing and haunting abandoned zone to survive. Hollowbody has all the hallmarks of the classic survival horror staples we remember so (un)fondly. Are you ready to take the plunge into this disaster-riddled British city and uncover the terrors that lurk within? No, that’s not just the roadmen in trackies spitting at walls, though you’ll wish that was the worst of it.
Mica-n Do This
Hollowbody opens not with our protagonist, but rather her partner, Sasha. After a brief introduction to the desolate, hostile lands of this world, we begin as Mica, 12 days after Sasha’s disappearance. Leaving behind the safety and neon skies of the safe zone city, Mica ventures beyond into the Exclusion Zone, in hopes of finding her partner. From the off, Hollowbody’s story is full of intrigue and suspense. The Exclusion Zone is unwelcoming, immediately unnerving and the sinister voice on the other end of the frequent phone calls is relatively chilling.
Psychological deterioration and breakdown is a primary theme of Hollowbody, and this permeates through layers of its main narrative and snippets of exposition. All manner of intensive themes are explored, from suicide, abuse, forced removal of people from their homes, and the desperation of those facing impending death. Most of this is told through environmental detail, which is very in keeping with the Silent Hill approach to storytelling. Optional Codac calls and an occasional bit of dialogue flesh out the world and characters well without being overbearing or breaking up the pace, which I liked.
The culmination of Mica’s story will be a little confusing initially for some, myself included. It took me a couple of tries going through it to properly make sense of the core narrative beats, but that’s also part of the suspense of good survival horror. Some things end up making sense, some are left to interpretation, and that works for the most part. There are even a couple of dialogue choices to make and Hollowbody intertwines some thematic angles into the gameplay at a couple of junctures. My only criticism is that there weren’t more of these choices and moments, as their ambiguity makes the world that much more compelling.
While Mica’s story isn’t wholly original and clearly takes a lot of inspiration from the giants that have come before, it’s without doubt disturbing. Thankfully, it also doesn’t rely on cheap tricks or unnecessary plot twists that make no sense to make it interesting. This is a pitfall many a horror title falls into, and I couldn’t be more pleased the developer kept to what works here. I also appreciated the variety of British accents, even if some of the voice acting felt slightly off compared to the rest.
Don’t Let Me Go Hollow
Mica’s less-than-enticing trip to find her partner will have her navigate through half a dozen locations in this decayed and fraying city. From my demo playthrough, I’d assumed the entire game would be working through the locked doors and navigation puzzles of the apartment complex. Boy, was I in for a hellish treat. You’ll traverse the city streets, get lost in the panic-inducing underground tunnels and survive the rush hour of zombified monstrosities in a train station… and then the reanimated corpses.
Hollowbody’s gameplay is exactly how you remember Silent Hill 2 or the early Resident Evils, in the most complimentary way. Find the path forward, it’ll be blocked. Need a key, tool or item to move forward? Search it out in the rooms or areas in your vicinity. The apartment complex feels akin to the Spencer mansion, with a plethora of rooms begging to be explored, the means of access barred until you work your way through them piece by piece. Sometimes, it’s a keycard with a number on it, other times, it’s combining a coat hanger and a yo-yo to unplug a bath with a body in it to collect a key.
I wouldn’t even necessarily describe these as puzzles, but rather a focus on limited exploration to gather the right items to move the linear path forward. I found this approach to actually be a breath of fresh air. I was never stumped, wandering around like one of the ghouls trying to snap my neck at every turn. Nor was I ever bored. There’s a solid balance of making you work for your progress but without the obtuse and sometimes ridiculous nature of horror-based puzzling. If you thought gathering these items and moving forward would be a breeze, however, well you’d be very wrong. Unless that breeze was deadly poisonous and highly hazardous, in which case, you’d be very, very right.
Body of Decay
As mentioned before, this destroyed and grungy British town may not be plagued with scooter-adorned yobs, but it has its fair share of body horror terrors roaming its streets. There are three main varieties (four including one I won’t spoil), and their retching, jerking bodies of deformed disgustingness will soak up your comfort and your bullets with barely a flinch. I played on “Intended” difficulty (think normal) for my first playthrough, and even the basic mob type can take multiple revolver rounds and a couple of smacks to be killed off. Did I mention they kill you in about 3 hits? Yeah, Mica is not as durable as these abominations.
Combat then becomes that weighty guessing game that makes survival horror special. Do you choose to fell this group at the expense of the majority of your precious ammo, or attempt to sprint past them and cross everything they don’t make you use your last repair spray? Especially on the unlockable harder difficulty, Hollowbody is punishing if you’re frivolous with your approach, which creates a gameplay tension to match its atmosphere. On Intended, I felt I had enough to get by relatively comfortably, so I do recommend a playthrough on Punished for the “real” survival horror experience.
The mechanics are old-school tank controls, with L2 to aim, R2 to fire. You can move slowly while aiming, but you’ll quickly find yourself in a bad situation if you’re not aware or careful. Melee combat works the same, but the enemy animations do tend to be faster than Mica’s, which disincentivises using this too often. My strategy was to plug a few holes to hollow (not sorry) out their bodies, then finish them off with a quick couple of strikes or kicks. As it should be, in survival horror.
Enemy variety was a bit disappointing towards the end, where I’d hoped for something a bit more challenging. The zombie dogs are a nightmare however, both because they’re so small they’re impossible to see coming and because they sneak up on you out of seemingly nowhere. I felt that Intended could actually be tuned up a little more in terms of challenge and punishability, as by the end of my first playthrough, I’d only died once, and that was in the very last encounter. Otherwise, this was a nostalgic yet nightmarish return to PS2-era psychological horror gameplay, and I dug it a lot.
Silent Thrills
I mentioned it earlier, but I do want to labour the sense of atmosphere Hollowbody successfully imbues throughout its four hour runtime. One of its biggest draws, strangely, is its completely muted colour palette. The Exclusion Zone is downright unwelcoming and utterly miserable. The buildings are washed out, decaying, decrepit pits of grime and filth. The streets are desolate roads of ruined machinery, coupled with the most hostile-looking buildings. Don’t even get me started on the underground tunnels, with their claustrophobic, maze-like design.
The mix of sixth generation console era graphics with the fidelity and sharpness of modern technology makes Hollowbody oxymoronically shine with its washed out world. Gore adorns the walls, thick greyness blankets the corridors and rooms. If you want Silent Hill aesthetics without having to replay Silent Hill, this game is the one for you. If you’d shown this to someone none the wiser, they might even guess this is a Silent Hill game. I can’t think of higher praise for its visuals, to be perfectly honest.
Character models are ideally suited to the grungy aura of the game, while the environmental detail does a lot to sell the desperation and hopelessness of those who once inhabited this city gone to hell. Throughout most of my time with the game, I rarely thought I wanted to explore this suffocating location, moreso I reluctantly pushed through against my better judgment because it’s just that compelling, even when the world wants to rip you apart. It helps that mechanics like limited safe spots are worked into the environment via telephones, to keep up the immersion and sense of place. The inventory screen will also feel right at home for survival horror veterans.
These Hollowed Halls
I haven’t been much sold on the Silent Hill 2 remake personally. Thanks to Hollowbody, I can feel rather fulfilled for my survival horror needs. This was a hauntingly uneasy game that kept me tense and on edge throughout. Even despite the difficulty not quite pushing me enough on my first playthrough, I still felt unsettled and like I was just barely making it through. That’s the mark of a psychologically thrilling time – the combination of excitement and dread coalescing to spur you forward, but never too quickly mind, should you fall foul of the demons lurking around the corner.
The embodiment of Silent Hill’s atmosphere and sense of discomfort is what I think Headware Games has achieved most successfully here. Despite it being a relatively short runtime of about 4 hours (not including New Game + and the harder difficulty options), almost none of that time is wasted. Every building, room, corridor, street and tunnel is pitch black, with nothing but your personal flashlight to faintly guide your way. I wouldn’t have it any other way, even if I did jump when I rounded a corner only to illuminate a monstrous, blood-covered creature jerking its way towards my face.
Hollowbody is an old-school survival horror game for old-school survival horror fans. The psychological elements are engaging, the edge of your seat tension is ever-present, and the gaping darkness will feel like it’s always on the cusp of swallowing you whole. Headware Games understands what makes the genre tick, and as a result, they’ve crafted the ideal appetiser to serve up ahead of the return of James Sunderland’s cosy trip. Though, I reckon for some, Hollowbody might be enough on its own.
Hollowbody handles the core staples of a great survival horror experience with ease. Suffocating atmosphere, tense ammo management and punishing enemies make for a thrilling if unsettling experience. While it lacks depth in enemy variety and its engrossing stories feel slightly too brief, this a psychological thriller that’ll have you running for your life, yet coming back for more. Silent Hill 2 remake’s foggy town looms on the horizon, but Hollowbody’s tech-noir Exclusion Zone may be more competition than it bargained for.
Hollowbody is available now on PC via Steam (review platform), Epic Games Store and GOG.
Developer: Headware Games
Publisher: Headware Games
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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