Hollowbody Review

Every once in a while, we all get the urge to delve into the past and revisit some fond memories. Some people look at photos, and others go to memorable locations… However, gamers tend to look towards those iconic games that got us hooked in the first place. Now, Headware Games might have only been around since 2022, with their only releases being Guard Duty and Chasing Static. It seems that this developer has a particular fondness for the old horror genre.

With their latest release, Hollowbody, it’s almost like a love letter to PlayStation 2 horror games and we all know they were an absolute hit during their heyday. Though it’s not just any old horror game, Hollowbody took a lot of inspiration from Resident Evil 2 and even though that whole series is almost two decades old, Hollowbody released on 12 September. Think you’re ready for a little blast from the past in this ambient-driven nightmare?

The world of Hollowbody isn’t quite what you’d expect, a suspected bioterrorism attack took hold of the world and things went quite far South. Most of humanity was forced to flee into walled-off cities simply for the sake of survival, but the outside world went through massive changes. You initially get a brief introduction to the plot through Sasha, a bio researcher from the looks of it, who was sent to a beach. However, her colleague disappeared and shortly after that, so did she. This is probably the shortest introduction ever but it gets better once you’re introduced to her friend, Mica (or Meek).

Mica being the concerned friend that she is, sets out to find Sasha and bring her back with the help of Tax. Unfortunately, due to her hovercar crashing on the way out of the city, her adventure takes a wild turn and she’s never alone with the Unknown constantly watching her. You’ll have to use whatever you can find, possibly even befriend the very few who weren’t mutated, all for the sake of finding Sasha. However, nothing is quite as it seems in Hollowbody and you’ll need to think outside the box if you want to survive.

Hollowbody is, at its core, a horror survival, and while you do have a gun to start off with, ammo is far from infinite. The same can be said about Repair Spray (the generic but futuristic healing item); you really don’t want to be reckless and waste your resources before making any progress. However, some fights are unavoidable and you’ll have no choice but to fight. Luckily, you’re not just limited to spending ammo… You’ll also find the odd makeshift melee weapon; their damage is severely lacking but and they can cause a fight take longer than you’d like but you’ll need to weigh out your options.

The biggest driving force to survival in Hollowbody is being the loot goblin you know you can be; if it’s not nailed down, it’ll be useful later and should be taken. Every little bit of loot of helps, even if it seems a little stupid… The most random example would a simple pair of chopsticks, you’d never think they could be useful but they actually have a role to play in a puzzle. So, explore literally everywhere, you never know what you might find and it’ll make your life so much easier.

On the matter of puzzles, it’s only natural that you’d find a few in Hollowbody. Here’s the kicker, they’re actually not trivial. Some of the puzzles can be a little trivial or even silly but there are a few where you’d need to think outside the box, and it once again, boils down to picking up everything you find. On the other hand, in a metaphorical sense, the entirety of Hollowbody could also be considered a puzzle with how much back and forth there is. Be prepared to backtrack more than a politician on a bad day because you’ll spend a lot of time running up and down.

Diving a little deeper into the inner working of Hollowbody, you’ll need to keep track of a few things such as your health, ammo, the map and your current objective. This is where things take an interesting turn because none of these follow the usual conventional means of tracking. You don’t have a normal health, you’ll instead have an EKG that’ll display fine, danger, etc, and you’ll need to open your menu to see it. The same can be said about your map, since you won’t have a mini map either.

Where things really take a turn is with your current objective, there’s no quest tracking or way to keep track of what to do next. You are well and truly on your own for the most part, and this really puts the horror survival aspect into perspective since you’ll need to keep your wits about you to progress or you’ll wander around aimlessly. This isn’t as bad as it seems, you’ll usually have a rough direction of what to do next since Hollowbody does play semi-linear.

The only real direction you’d likely get is on your map but even then, it’s not quite as clear or direct as most would like it to be. However, when in doubt, it’s never a bad thing to revisit certain places to find your way forward again. The same can be said about the docs you’ll find throughout the world, some of them are just interesting pieces of lore or things left behind by the people, others can actually give you a clue as to what to do.

Now, where Hollowbody took some massive inspiration from Resident Evil 2 and several other horror survival games is with the inventory. The way it’s laid out in a carousel format with more detail was a nice touch for the overall theme, but it goes much deeper than that. Aside from equipping weapons or using items, you’ll also have the option to combine and inspect items.

This is where things take an odd turn and why thinking outside the box is so important, complex problems will sometimes require simple solutions. For example, making a fishing hook from a wire coat hanger and some string, it seems pointless at first but it comes in handy when you need to reach into an electrified bathtub.

To save the more concerning for last, with an unintended pun, saving also takes a page from the past. Aside from the usual autosave, you’ll be damned if you think can just quickly save and close Hollowbody. Your only hope for that is to look for a telephone, and those are rare unless you run back to one you already discovered. This would normally be a minor thing to bring up but there’s a valid reason for it…

Hollowbody doesn’t give any indication as to whether or not your actions can affect other things later on but it also has no shame in making it more difficult to quickly reload. You’ll have to decide between going back and forth on multiple saves or completing the story several times, either way, there’s no shortage of intrigue to around at least.

On the visual side of things, Hollowbody doesn’t aim to win any awards for detail but it does an amazing job at maintaining the horror atmosphere. Granted, the atmosphere also heavily relies on the horror tropes, making things a little predictable. It’s not all bad when you keep in that the lack of detail will cause a few people to underestimate it as a whole.

Where Hollowbody really shines is with sound engineering and voice acting, the ambient music builds the atmosphere but the voice acting and other sounds are what drive the nail through the horror coffin. You’ll usually hear something coming before you see it but you’ll never really know where it’s coming from.

Overall, Hollowbody is like a love letter to the old PS2 horror games and all of their many tropes. It’s a great change of pace that’ll keep you on your toes while getting a little blast from the past. The visuals might not be the greatest, but that’s what adds so much to the atmosphere. If you’re a fan of the old horror games, you’ll have a hell of a time with Hollowbody and it’s many tropes.