Set within the close to future, amongst the city decay of a long-abandoned British metropolis, Hollowbody is a dystopian love letter to the survival horror of yesteryear. Its dirty, detailed environments exude an oppressive, cloying ambiance, whereas its tense story and gameplay evoke style classics of the PS1/PS2 period.
Are these qualities sufficient to make the sport a contemporary basic of its personal? Let’s discover out.
Story
The sport begins off with you trying to find your associate Sasha, who has gone lacking throughout a fact-finding mission inside the off-limits, quarantined space referred to as the exclusion zone. Gamers take management of Mica, an unlicensed black market shipper who will cease at nothing to search out Sasha. After her hover crashes deep inside the exclusion zone, she is left alone and stranded with restricted sources. Surrounded by darkness and dying, she should make her manner by means of the ruined stays of an deserted metropolis to search out Sasha and escape past its partitions.
It’s refreshing to play one thing with a transparent imaginative and prescient. The mixture of sci-fi and horror components works nicely collectively, ensuing in an expertise that is distinct from its elements. It’s akin to taking part in the online game equal of a science fiction quick story.
The sport encompasses a British forged, which is a pleasant change of tempo for a horror recreation, and provides a pleasant little bit of cultural taste you don’t usually see in horror titles. Performances are strong, which helps you to relate to and care about the characters.
Gameplay
After having performed the demo for Hollowbody, I used to be very a lot trying ahead to the total recreation. Upon taking part in it, I used to be pleasantly shocked to search out the sport was noticeably extra polished, each visually and the place gameplay was involved. Sasha’s actions have been smoother and extra refined, and the sport as a complete simply seemed and performed higher. Total, my time spent with the sport was very satisfying.
As you information Mica by means of the city wasteland of the tour zone, you need to make the most of your restricted sources to perform your mission. These embrace a pistol, flashlight, and lighter, and might decide up varied weapons and puzzle-related gadgets to assist her alongside her manner. There’s an excellent mixture of puzzles and enemy encounters. Ammo is scarce and the shambling husks referred to as “The Strays” take a number of punishment earlier than they lastly go down. Additionally, you will must defend your self in opposition to different monstrosities that lurk within the shadows, ready to pounce on you.
The sport has a extremely cool and spooky opening prologue that units the tone very nicely. It’s obtained a melancholy, dystopian vibe that evokes the likes of movies like Blade Runner, whereas additionally recalling the horror design aesthetic of PS1/PS2 video games. It conjures reminiscences of the ambiance of titles like Silent Hill 1 & 2, and Alone within the Darkish: The New Nightmare, and even borrows components from the likes of Useless House. The sport undoubtedly has shades of SH2, as you information Mica by means of the darkish and claustrophobic hallways of a decrepit residence advanced.
It can save you manually through designated telephones the place you may select a slot to save lots of. The sport additionally affords strategic autosaves, sometimes after you enter a brand new space or accomplish an goal.
Efficiency
I performed Hollowbody on my Steam Deck and it ran nice. The sport enables you to select between two troublesome modes, “Informal” and “Supposed.” Informal mode reduces enemies with weaker assaults, whereas Supposed is the mode you need to choose for the meant gameplay expertise.
The framerate was implausible, and I by no means had any issues with the sport skipping, crashing, or unusual animation errors. Nevertheless, I did discover a number of minor sound results have been lacking, like when Mica walks whereas aiming her pistol. However apart from a number of cases, the sport ran tremendous.
The sport swaps between mounted digicam angles and a restricted mobility digicam view, just like the digicam in video games like Resident Evil: Code Veronica. On this mode, you may barely nudge the digicam within the route you need, for barely higher visibility. You can also snap the digicam within the instructions you’re dealing with by urgent L3.
This mixture of digicam kinds works for essentially the most half nevertheless the digicam could be a bit disorienting. I continuously discovered myself attempting to reorient myself. This occurs largely within the cramped rooms of the residence, because the digicam snaps to a clumsy angle. This dynamic is without doubt one of the potential pitfalls of creating a “PS2-style” recreation, nevertheless it by no means will get too dangerous. I additionally encountered some clunky collision points with a number of enemies and environmental geometry, however that’s the extent of my quibbles with the sport. Total, it is a well-built, sturdy gameplay expertise that constantly delivers.
Graphics
The sport seems attractive, with crisp and clear graphics. The artwork design specifically may be very nicely executed. Hollowbody may simply go as a legit indie PS2 horror title. The post-apocalyptic ruins of the fallen western metropolis are suitably run down and rubble and particles litter the streets. Rain pours down as you search for clues, and lightning strikes briefly gentle up the night time sky.
The interiors of the buildings you discover additionally look superb. Filth and the damaged stays of the inhabitants are strewn all through the dwelling rooms, bedrooms, and hallways. On prime of the man-made particles, an odd, root-like mould stretches its sinewy tendrils all through the tour zone.
Sound Design
In addition to trying nice, the recreation has very efficient sound design. As you cautiously step right into a room, or across the subsequent nook, the soundscape retains up the ominous tone.
Footsteps, scratches, and the opening and closing of doorways can be heard in the distance, whereas the strays’ screeches echo down the deserted metropolis’s darkish hallways and alleys.
Conclusion
Hollowbody is an efficient throwback to the PS2 period of survival horror, that additionally efficiently establishes its personal distinctive id. The graphics and sound are of a really excessive normal, and the story is nuanced and compelling.
I’d suggest Hollowbody to anybody in search of a elegant indie horror title that delivers a top quality story and scares. It’s retro with out feeling overly nostalgic for its predecessors. Don’t depart this one at nighttime. That is one recreation that deserves to be illuminated.
Hollowbody is at the moment accessible on Steam for a reduction of 10%. This provide ends September nineteenth.
(8.5 / 10)
(8.5 / 10)Nice
Depend on Horror Overview Rating Information
A PC assessment code of the sport was offered by the developer.
