Hollowbody fills the void left by PS2 survival horror video games

In Hollowbody, an early 2000s-style third-person survival horror sport by Nathan Hamley (the solo developer behind Headware Video games), the true terror comes not from its hideous monsters, however from inhabiting a world the place common individuals are failed by the system and left to die.

Hollowbody is an homage to the PlayStation 2-era classics that helped outline the style. It additionally provides a “tech-noir” spin; suppose the primary few Silent Hill video games, particularly Silent Hill 2, and a contact of Blade Runner. It goes heavy on ambiance, relying nearly solely on tension-building fairly than motion to create a way of palpable unease. And whereas the sport resurrects PS2 graphics, it does not topic you to tank controls (until you need them, then there’s a toggle for that, sickos).

It’s set within the not-too-distant future in a ruined metropolis someplace within the British Isles, many years after the area was struck by a supposed organic assault and later bombed whereas beneath quarantine. A short introduction alludes to corruption and conspiracy across the true occasions of the disaster. The preliminary assaults focused cities “tormented by financial hardship and depravity,” and the affected areas have been walled off to include the unfold of any contagions — however not earlier than individuals deemed to be “excessive worth” residents have been allowed to flee to a man-made island with a suspiciously utopic identify (Aeonis).

The sport opens with a bunch of researcher-activists who’ve convened at an entry web site to one of many exclusion zones, the place they plan to go in quest of solutions. After certainly one of them, Sasha, goes lacking, her companion Mica units out in a hover automobile to search out her at any price.

It’s on this early sequence that we actually see the tech-noir a part of Hollowbody’s description come via: Mica staring out the massive glass window of an house overlooking a densely packed metropolis à la Blade Runner 2049; zipping between skyscrapers in a flying passenger automobile; having a cheeky dialog with an clever navigation system. Naturally, Mica crashes on the trip in, loses contact with the one one that will help her and has to make her approach towards Sasha on foot.

From then on, the tech-noir bit slips largely out of focus till it swings again round on the finish of the sport, and Hollowbody takes on the extra conventional survival horror mildew of ‘science experiment turned native extinction occasion.’ There are some touches of that distinct tech-infused imaginative and prescient — at one level, Mica passes a broken-down mech the scale of an house constructing, and there’s a glowing youngsters’s toy in a single room that appears vaguely robotic — but it surely’s not precisely pervasive. Mica’s private gadgetry and the styling of the stock menu function the one actual reminders of that angle for many of the sport.

There are a variety of puzzles to unravel as you discover derelict buildings and town’s parks attempting to determine the right way to get the hell out of there. The options to most of those are pretty apparent when you’ve come throughout the clues sprinkled round every location, so the enjoyable is extra within the exploration.

There was an occasional head-scratcher that might ship me in circles although. It didn’t assist that the surfaces I used to be capable of work together with would typically proceed to show indicators like “Decide up” or “Search” even after I took every thing that might be used from them. In cluttered rooms, I discovered myself rechecking some spots time and again considering I’d missed one thing. These prompts may also seem in some locations only for the sake of getting Mica make inconsequential observations, like commenting on the soiled dishes or sheets which have gone years unwashed, and she or he’ll say the identical remarks repeatedly as she encounters the identical setups in numerous flats.

Fortunately, that doesn’t detract a lot from how unnerving the setting is. The music is haunting, and it combines with heightened environmental noises like rain, radio static and Mica’s echoing footsteps to create a extremely visceral soundscape. If ever Mica’s inside a constructing or underground construction, you will be positive it’ll be darkish and labyrinthine. It at all times felt like a monster was going to leap out at any second, regardless of that not often being the case. (It was typically, although.) Exterior, Mica is uncovered, and it doesn’t take lengthy for monsters to note her and begin congregating round her.

The monsters themselves are splendidly disgusting. There are bipedal abominations, some emaciated whereas others are top-heavy and headless, with gross tendrils flailing out from their higher halves. Hollowbody has some demon canines, too, plus a couple of scuttling insectoid creatures that seemingly pose no menace past creeping you out. Cat-sized worm critters will slither proper previous you, and their hilariously clunky animation simply is perhaps essentially the most PS2 factor about the complete sport.

It’s not very combat-oriented — typically, you may simply run previous the enemies — however there are weapons to return by, and some makeshift melee weapons. Utilizing the latter felt considerably stiff and sluggish at instances, notably when dealing with a bunch of beasts, however I used to be nonetheless capable of make do favoring bludgeoning instruments to preserve ammunition. And I delighted within the gushy thwack of my avenue signal ax connecting with monster flesh. I additionally beloved that Mica can seize an electrical guitar off the wall and use it as a weapon. It will not be essentially the most pragmatic method contemplating the heaviness, however the clang when it makes contact with its goal could be very satisfying.

There are our bodies in numerous states of decay at each flip, and Mica’s scanner provides you with an immediate learn on the deceased to get a way of who they have been and the way they died. In lots of situations, the trigger is nothing paranormal: dehydration, hunger, homicide, and so on. A backstory kinds via paperwork and audio flashbacks which are activated at sure websites, telling of monetary struggles and gentrification within the metropolis lengthy earlier than the organic catastrophe, and the eventual desolation endured by the individuals within the quarantined space afterward, who may solely survive so long as their dwindling assets allowed.

Mica finds a discover of impending lease hikes, a letter that mentions the disruption of development happening in any respect hours of the night time and a overdue discover for unpaid utilities payments displaying month-to-month costs had quadrupled. She comes throughout a be aware left behind by a dying man, wishing for a greater future for his household and humanity. In a single post-quarantine recording, ravenous civilians pleading to depart town are gunned down by armed forces. It’s all extremely bleak, and I didn’t must droop my disbelief very a lot to ascertain a actuality wherein issues would pan out like this.

However a proof as to why there are horrid, fleshy humanoid monsters roaming the streets by no means totally reveals itself in an easy approach. (At the very least, not with the ending I reached and all of the supplies I collected.) Essentially the most substantial trace on that entrance got here from a single newspaper clipping, the contents of which I’d fairly not spoil right here. The article vegetation the seed of an thought, but it surely’s largely as much as the participant to fill within the blanks past that.

There are touching snippets of Mica and Sasha’s story as nicely, however the duo’s connection to this place and obvious significance inside its current goings-on by no means fairly bought the neat wrap-up I hoped for. Whereas the ending was an exquisite, emotional scene that felt prefer it introduced the story full circle thematically, it additionally left me with the sensation of, Wait, what simply occurred? It looks as if there are different endings, although, which can show extra conclusive on subsequent playthroughs. Beating the sport additionally unlocks a tougher problem possibility and a first-person dungeon crawler mode, which instantly made every thing really feel scarier after I switched it on.

Even with its shortcomings, Hollowbody is a stable survival horror title that feels particularly spectacular whenever you keep in mind the truth that it was made by a solo indie developer. Vibes are a part of what made its predecessors unforgettable, and Hollowbody’s oppressive temper hits all the fitting notes.