First released on Steam, Hollowbody has crept its way onto consoles to deliver an homage to late-nineties horror aesthetics that laid the groundwork for some of today’s most beloved titles. Taking heavy inspiration from Team Silent’s “Silent Hill” series, with a dash of Danny Boyle’s “28 – Later” franchise, Hollowbody’s launching point should be a spook-filled success. Does it stick the landing is the real question.
God Save Our Country
Hollowbody explores an apocalyptic Great Britain that is frozen in time, 60 years prior to the present day the player takes control of. While the outside is a full-on Cyberpunk/Blade Runner neon city, the game takes place in working-class suburbia. From road signs to house fronts, if you’ve ever grown up in a council estate, you will recognise these streets immediately. Masked in darkness, only illuminated by your flashlight and pockets of moonlight, the game places you in a foreboding and tense environment.
Survival like it’s 1999
Gameplay is the bread and butter of survival horror, and Hollowbody takes huge inspiration from 1999’s Silent Hill. A combination of melee weapons and firearms aids you in your search through the eerie and monster-ridden city. Alongside fixed camera angles and optional tank controls, this plays into that retro (I’m officially old now) PlayStation One era of 3D horror.
The option to play with a 3rd person perspective is available, but it takes the carefully crafted camera placement away, and in my opinion, that is an essential ingredient to enjoying this experience. While the environment is frozen in time, your equipment is not.
A fully 3D map is at your disposal as well as your walkie-talkie, which, in certain areas, you can find through exploration, playback echoes of the past. Giving you an insight into what was happening to the residents leading up to the destruction of their lives. Additionally, any corpse you come across is scanned, and a short breakdown of that person appears in the corner of the screen, giving you some information about them and how they perished.
In my restless dreams, I see that game, Hollowbody.
Honestly, you can’t play this game if you’ve played Silent Hill and not make the comparison. Items floating in the middle of the screen when you pick them up, the horizontal item menu, a content warning as you boot up the game each time, the fixed camera angle of the Silent Hill “Alleyway” scene and the most blatant one being the screen flashing red when you save your game, just like Silent Hill 2.
It’s obvious, inspiration was taken as I previously mentioned, but it doesn’t hinder the game too much; it’s more of a love essay that should have been a shorter love letter instead.
Hollow words have been brought to you by Lewis Magee.
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