Highlights
- Hollowbody is a unique sci-fi horror game with a cyberpunk setting and retro PS2-era survival horror gameplay.
- The game explores a dystopian world where urban decay and soft-totalitarianism create a hostile and oppressive atmosphere.
- With nods to Silent Hill, Ghost in the Shell, and other beloved titles, Hollowbody's demo shows promise with its atmosphere and storytelling.
It’s a curious thing that there are so few horror games set in England. The dreary ‘New-Brutalism’ of the latter half of the 20th century littered the outskirts of most modern British cities with an oppressive web of faceless concrete obelisks. Within these stone boxes is a coiled network of tight, claustrophobic corridors, painted with graffiti and littered with years-old bags of rubbish. It’s easy to think that the horror of the high rises’ exteriors might also be reflected inside their apartments, and Hollowbody, an upcoming sci-fi horror adventure from one-man developer Headware Games, looks poised to take full advantage of that idea.
Hollowbody’s demo is one of the highlights of this year’s Steam Next Fest. Moody, atmospheric, and occasionally angry, Hollowbody is a retro-styled survival-horror adventure that pays homage to PS2-era horror without getting lost in nostalgia and references. With core gameplay that should be immediately familiar to anyone acquainted with the PS2 Silent Hill games, Hollowbody’s cyberpunk setting, story, and unique atmosphere help it stand out both from its inspirations and its contemporaries.
Hollowbody ’s final release is set to include a number of post-game unlocks, including a first-person mode inspired by rail shooters and classic dungeon crawlers . Offering a completely new perspective, the first-person mode will give players an up-close look at the Exclusion Zone's urban decay.
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Why Hollowbody is Like a Cyberpunk Silent Hill
The opening of Hollowbody’s demo should be immediately familiar to fans of classic survival-horror: emerging from a crashed vehicle, the wounded player-character limps forward, taking their first steps into a mysteriously abandoned town. But, while Hollowbody’s combat focused survival-horror, missing family member, and gradually unravelling mystery are all part of a long horror games tradition, the game is far from derivative. Being sci-fi as much as it is horror, Hollowbody’s impressive writing, worldbuilding, and atmosphere all work to make the game stand out as unique.
Hollowbody’s Horror is More than Just Monsters
Rather than being murdered by monsters, many of the corpses in Hollowbody's demo met more mundane, and far more disturbing ends. In one apartment, the player finds the body of a dead ‘addict’ (though whether that addiction is to drugs or VR is never explained), rotting but still wearing its VR headset. In another apartment, a dead body is found near a utility bill which shows a four times increase in prices. The ‘Exclusion Zone’ where the game takes place is a city where the residents were locked down and left to rot.
In less delicate hands, overt allusions to real-world anxieties might risk coming across as tacky or trite, but Headware Game manages to fold them into its very British dystopia in a way that feels organic. It all just makes sense. Rather than simply being social commentary, the dead-end economy and soft-totalitarianism make the game’s world feel hostile and oppressive—a world which would be nightmarish to live in, even without its monsters and abusive disembodied voices.
There’s a Reason People Are Noticing Hollowbody
Hollowbody has a lot to live up to. Taking inspiration from Silent Hill 3, Ghost in the Shell, Escape From New York, and Blade Runner—and incorporating the DNA of a number of other titles, from Metal Gear Solid to the first few Resident Evil and Armored Core games—Headware Games is drawing direct comparisons to some of film and gaming’s most beloved titles. If Hollowbody’s demo is anything to go by, the game is certainly on the right track.
With beautifully directed static camera angles, satisfying combat, and logical, intelligent puzzles, Hollowbody’s demo has the fundamentals locked down. Combine that with the demo’s thick atmosphere, intriguing world, and strong writing and voice acting, and the game definitely looks like one to watch. Hollowbody’s release date has not yet been announced, but the game's demo is available now.
Hollowbody
Hollowbody is a survival horror game in the vein of 90s classics. You play a black martketeer named Mica, who sets off to the exclusion zone to find her missing partner.
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Developer(s)
- Headware Games
- Publisher(s)
- Headware Games
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror , Psychological
- Engine
- Unity
