Hollowbody

Developer: Headware Games
Publisher: Headware Games
Platforms: Windows
Release Date: 13 September 2024
Price: $16.99 USD – Available Here

Overview

Now that the Silent Hill 2 remake is just a few months off, it’s a good time to revisit the series in preparation. You can also make things even more interesting by trying some SH-inspired indie titles. Hollowbody is the latest horror game to pay homage to the classic, but does it do it justice?

Story

In the 21st century, a bioterrorist attack struck the western British Isles. Fearing widespread contagion, the authorities walled off contaminated zones, leaving common citizens to die while the rich were evacuated to secured areas. Six decades have passed, but people still demand answers and justice. You play as Mica, who has decided to risk everything to rescue her partner, who went missing during an investigation in the excluded zone.

The game’s biopunk setting is intriguing. Down in the walled zone, players can find notes and voice files that hint at how these people lived and died before being decimated by a missile strike. The game drip-feeds its story to keep players engaged. That said, the chunks of lore found provide players with brief and uninteresting bits that don’t add much to the overarching plot.

Gameplay

Hollowbody follows the same design structure found in the Silent Hill games. That means players get to explore the outdoors and indoors of a deserted city, solve puzzles, and deal with enemies. Players can expect a lot of running through the streets of the walled city. The map is big, with houses and other buildings visible in the distance. The game features classic urban locales like apartments, a subway, convenience stores, and a church—for extra spookiness—and more. Despite that, very little can be explored, and the alleys and yards that can be investigated often yield little of interest, if anything at all. Inside “dungeons,” players get to solve very simple and easy logic puzzles. Developers nowadays go the extra distance to avoid frustrating players, but an indie game in a niche genre should provide diverse difficulty options off the bat. Silent Hill 2 did it 23 years ago.

During my time with the game, I only encountered the same four enemies: an average humanoid, a big humanoid, a white spider thing that barely moved, and a dog that attacked by bumping into the player. They pose no threat since ammo and weapons are plentiful. It’s more reassuring to eliminate enemies blocking your path in tighter spaces, though it’s easy to bait an attack and move on. Later in the game, enemies appear in larger numbers outdoors, but they’re mostly just extra obstacles to avoid. There’s no incentive to engage, especially with clunky combat and camera mechanics.

Visuals

The graphics are mostly well put together and resemble visuals from early PlayStation 2 titles. However, the erratic camera and poorly implemented lighting detract from the game’s presentation. The colors are too washed out and dim, and points of interest blend too much with the backdrops, making it somewhat difficult to spot important elements. Lastly, the limited and awkwardly placed camera angles make Hollowbody a stressful experience but for all the wrong reasons.

Audio

The soundtrack is monotonous but offers a few tense moments. Frankly, the most disturbing sound you’ll hear is the wheezing baby cry made by some monsters. Ambient sounds could be more varied. Sound effects like wall-knocking and shattering glass provide the right kind of creepiness when exploring desolate buildings, but they should be used more creatively to catch players off guard.

Overall

Hollowbody could have been a good horror adventure, but its potential was ultimately squandered due to poor execution in key areas. Although the narrative is a central aspect of the game, it struggles to establish hooks that capture players’ attention. While a game in this genre doesn’t necessarily need intricate and polished combat, the ease with which enemies can be brushed off diminishes the tension that is crucial to the horror experience.

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