REVIEW: PS2-era horror lives again in Hollowbody

There's a lot of buzz right now about PS1-inspired horror. We just spent a lot of time talking about it at PAX West. Every indie horror game coming out right now seems to be attempting to capture the glory days of that era, and in the cyclical nature of all media, that time period is definitively in.

And yet, Nathan Hamley (Nath for short) has decided to skip past all this PS1 nostalgia and take us right into the next generation of nostalgia with his biggest work to date, Hollowbody. This tech-noir horror uses all the same tactics from that era to spook you, whether it's those cinematic fixed camera angles or purposefully wonky combat. But it's the painful relatability of its world and narrative that'll really scare you in the end.

​Just the Facts

Developer: Headware Games

Publisher: Headware Games

​Platform(s): PC

​Price: $16.99

Release Date: September 12, 2024

Review key provided by developer via Strange Signals.

Tech-noir is a different kind of scary, y'all

As mentioned above, Hollowbody is an incredible solo developer achievement that embraces the best of PS2-era horror. It's honestly interesting to see how few have honored that era, considering how beloved those games are — arguably more than their counterparts on the PS1. Many series may have gotten their starts on the PS2's little brother, but it's on that strange black rectangle that many developers put out their best works yet. Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil 4, and the likes of Fatal Frame, Rule of Rose, and Siren are in a class of their own. And somehow that era feels underrated in comparison to the love the PS1 gets.

Hamley at Headware Games understands this and looked to this era to find inspiration for his first-ever work, an urban horror story that blends the worst of our modern-day society with some genuinely grotesque creepy crawlies.

In Hollowbody, you step into the tormented mind of Mica, a black market courier who has spent the last 12 days worrying about her missing partner, Sasha. In search of answers about her family, Sasha has decided to take an extremely dangerous trip into a walled-off and bombed-to-death city that now makes up a major exclusion zone along the western coast of the British Isles. What exactly happened within those walls is still in question, but there are murmurings about the corporation that moved in there just before it happened and of a "suspected bioterrorism attack."

Once Mica finally gets approval for access to the exclusion zone, she stops waiting to hear from Sasha and leaves the comfort of the floating megacity she lives in, drives her hovercar over the exclusion zone, and after a crash, finds herself stranded. Mica's main goal quickly shifts to finding a way out while finding Sasha, but the remains of the people left behind in the city may have other plans.

With a stalking voice on the phone following her every move and old transmissions and documents detailing exactly what happened to the people on the inside, Mica has to keep her sanity amidst the horrors that wait within these walls — both actual, with the incomprehensible beasts that populate the exclusion zone, and implied, as she and the player both realize how fucked the situation got inside.

Hollowbody's horror is deeply rooted in its painful relatability, in its portrayal of a future that feels all too real: a corporation exploiting a town for all it's worth, taking things a bit too far, and then retreating when it goes wrong; a government that walls off and bombs the town to erase the evidence; a population left helpless to wither and die. It's painful. It reflects the negligence and violence people have been subjected to by the world's governments over the last few years (and longer). It's a different kind of dread than I'm used to in horror games, and it caught me off guard.

Following the lead of all those amazing horror games I mentioned before, Hollowbody's atmosphere is unmatched. Whether it's the constantly droning electronic hum of the soundtrack or the disorienting and claustrophobic feeling of the world, with its tight-quarters interiors or the barrier-filled streets of this decayed town, Hollowbody never fails to make you feel uneasy. A good horror game makes its environment arguably the scariest thing, providing a space so demented and disgusting that your mind can only imagine what horrors await you, and that's exactly what Headware Games does here. Also similar to those games, though, particularly Silent Hill, Hollowbody's narrative pace is a little slow. I often found myself waiting for the big moment, the big explanation, the bigger reason to buy into Mica and her struggle. And I never really got it. I was invested in finding out what happened and finding out more about Mica and Sasha, but it served up so few details so sparingly across the 3-4 hours it took to beat it that I was left a little disappointed. I was uneasy, I bought into the world and felt my heart hurt for it, but I never really bought into Mica.

It was a strange back and forth I felt from beginning to end, but there were just way too many narrative threads that fizzle out by the game's end, at least in my particular ending of the two possible in the game.

Masters the atmosphere, misfires on some mechanics

Hollowbody's interpretation of the PS2 era of horror is one that leverages the best hits of all the games that defined it, but with small tweaks that respect the modern gamer in both good and bad ways.

For one, Hollowbody's camerawork showcases some of the best and worst all at once. The fixed camera angle work constantly has you questioning where you're going next and what could be lurking nearby, and showcases the artistic eye of the developer all at once. Games have attempted to replicate the brilliance of this tactic over the years, but too often it feels like a hollow replication of what worked great in older games. Hollowbody understands the power of fixed camera angles and uses them masterfully here to turn the mundanity of a small British town into something horrifying.

On the other end though, whenever the game isn't using those fixed camera angles, you're instead given a strange sticky behind-the-back camera that slowly shifts to match your point of view. It's fine in most cases, but when you're narrowly working to dodge through a series of strange monsters, you find yourself constantly having to reset the camera to make it work in your favor.

Hollowbody's approach to the traditional survival horror game is way more narrative-focused, with the number of actual puzzles countable on one hand and the amount of forced combat scenarios countable on the other. It's more about sinking into this town, sinking into that dread, and finding every secret you possibly can as you do. And that'll only go so far regardless of your investment in horror games like it.

Another example of that plus-and-minus balance comes in Hollowbody's combat experience. In replicating the PS2 horror era, particularly Silent Hill's vibes, Hollowbody does feature lightly wonky combat. It's got weapons that feel inconsistent in their use, the ability to stunlock enemies and be stunlocked by them — which makes the game simultaneously so easy and difficult at once — and a few issues with targeting that make for some frustrating encounters. Without as many puzzles, combat's the one place to feel a little variety in Hollowbody's spooky exploration, and it's only fine when it works in your favor, frustrating when it doesn't.

But Hollowbody self-describes as a game focused on narrative and exploration, so it's hard to be too mad at these things. And none of the games it's inspired by feature brilliant gameplay, so, in the end, it's achieving its goals.

Hollowbody is anything but hollow

One aspect I truly respected when reading about this game was the way Hamley described the game's save points. "Carefully placed save points ensure tension is maintained whilst respecting the player's time." Too few games feel like they respect a player's time, as they desperately try to keep you in them for as long as they possibly can through any means. To see Headware Games work to maintain the core tension that horror games need while perfectly pacing them so that you're not facing annoying runbacks is a small thing I wanted to shout out before wrapping up.

I also appreciated the game's voice cast, who delivered some truly heartwrenching performances in as small a package as possible that helped to sell the desperation that lingers in this haunting city. As Mica wanders through the city, she's able to latch onto radio signals that play out some of this city's final moments in a series of audio logs. They're haunting, and the performances of the actors who bring them to life are a standout. Mica's actor, Kirsten Riaa, does solid work in selling her breathless anxiety in wandering the strange city, and Erika Sanderson's performance as the stalking voice on the phone is deeply unnerving.

And when tied with the dark and grimy visuals of the cityscape, with the horrifyingly skinny humanoid beasts that shamble toward you, and with the bulbous tendrils that make up whatever strange disease took this town apart, the audio visual experience certainly leaves an impression.

Hollowbody is a good game that feels even more impressive when you realize that one person pulled all the strings to bring it to life. Hamley is an incredible talent whose attempt at replicating the PS2 era of horror slots in near-perfectly with its inspirations. It's flawed, but some of the best horror games are, too, and the vibes are worth sinking into no matter what.

Video Games Are Good and Hollowbody is . . . GOOD. (7/10)

+ incredible grounded horror that's all too real, perfectly uses nostalgic tools to its benefit, pitch-perfect atmosphere constantly has you on edge

- slow pace leaves you wanting at times, combat is just fine at its absolute best, narrative doesn't quite match the quality of the horror

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