Hollowbody Reviews

Played from beginning to end in about 6 hours. Its got that classic horror game feel by being inspired by Silent Hill and classic Resident Evil. Hollowbody even has a fixed camera mode to really bring that classic PS1 horror game feel to it. The music is chilling and the atmosphere is haunting. Very well made indie game for sure. Only thing i can slight against it is its controls can be a bit janky and its a bit buggy.

This game looks great and the controls feel pretty smooth I like it.

This game is really cool. The atmosphere, the set-up, the aesthetics. All of these things come together to make a very cool love letter to older survival horror games. I am not really into the retro style survival horror games and was kind of hoping this would change my mind about them. It unfortunately didn't, but I wanted to leave a positive review because I think anyone who is will absolutely love this game. Just don't expect this to change your mind about the genre if you don't already like them.

The prologue opens up with Sasha running in a glow worm suit on a beach who vows to find out the truth but after this the truth is not even important. After this you swap to the actual player character who goes Blade Runner hover craft outside of city bounds to look for her and the truth but even then the lore and whatever virus is never touched again. Feels like kickstarter setup alright, the game mechanics & puzzles were pretty orthodox and good homages to the genre's classics but clearly the people writing this and making the game weren't in the same room [spoiler]and decided to hid the meat of the lore behind backtracking for clue items and disconnect because the actual MC is only interested in saving Sasha[/spoiler]. If you get this game, consider your expectations as atmosphere is great, mechanics okay but everything else is 10~12e of worth at best.

The intended experience is with a controller. Played for an hour before realizing that the aim and attack buttons (despite being bound to LT & RT and calibrated within game) were overwritten with mouse inputs. I even unplugged my mouse and keyboard and attacking still didn't work because it wanted mouse inputs. I'll continue playing on mouse and keyboard, hoping for a good experience.

I'm giving this a thumbs up because I love classic-style horror games and I want to see more developers creating in this genre. That said, despite the effort put in, I feel this was a massive missed opportunity. Aside from the obvious technical issues, the biggest letdown is the poor level design and extremely simple, unengaging puzzles—they never go beyond basic objectives like turning on a generator. Visually, the game looks nice, but what the project really needed was someone with a solid understanding of game design.

Really fun. I like the style, there are so many places where you can make an awesome wallpaper. it's obviously heavily inspired by original silent hill. I haven't yet played on hard, but on normal mode it's pretty easy. The map could get improvements like difference between closed and oppenable doors and one which cant be open. But it's only a problem in the apartments. If you like silent hill you will like it.

First off, thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU for finally being a survival horror game with a sprint toggle. My left hand is very pleased to not have to hold shift for the whole game. On to the game itself, it does have some visual related issues. Approaching interactables often display incorrect prompts, like "Pick Up" for something that you can't actually pick up but makes you think you're missing something. I understand the old retro style graphics are intended, but there could definitely be a little bit better use of more modern visuals to point out things that are interactable. Thankfully quite a few key items are lit up or highlighted, but that is not always the case (Looking at you plastic explosives). Exploration feels very empty. I have not started new game plus, but I have a significant amount of items that I never even got to use, and a lot of interactable objects that I never even got to properly interact with. [spoiler]There's a key in the apartments that you can see from the second floor. I made a makeshift fishing rod near the end of the game that I can only assume is used to get this key, but why? Am I actually expected to try to run all the way back to the beginning of the game to see if the fishing rod even works, or do I wait to beat the game to see if a new game + even exists? not my favorite type of game design[/spoiler] There were also a lot of dead areas. I tended to lean more towards not exploring as opening rooms that led to nothing but my character talking about how gross yet another bathroom was did not feel satisfying at all. Combat also felt pretty pointless. I fought about two to three enemies with my first spiked club weapon, but enemies don't drop anything. They're also incredibly easy to avoid, so there's not really much incentive to risk any resources fighting enemies that both don't drop anything and are so easy to just run past. I think I finished my game with about 50 revolver bullets and 14 shotgun shells still in my inventory. Menu navigation I also understand is attempting to bring back the very very old school style menu, and while nostalgic, is not really used in more modern games for a reason. Give me an inventory box/grid/window, and let me just click or move a cursor over items to use, equip, and combine them. Scrolling all the way down a list is tedious. The story was intriguing, but the ending(s?) don't really seem to give you enough answers. [spoiler]The real estate company was obviously dirty, but who/what is the voice? How can it speak, how can it use the phones, how does it know who I am, what the hell was the final boss, was it taking form in the post credits scene, and how was it doing it, so many completely unanswered questions with no seemingly real trail[/spoiler] Again I haven't done new game+, but two playthroughs of a game really shouldn't be required to get the full story, and yes I hated this in the Nier games as well. One thing I will say that was absolutely phenomenal though was the sound design. Things didn't always look the best, but the voice acting, the very crystal clear crying sounds, all the sounds were very well implemented and did help quite a bit with the immersion. Overall, I don't really recommend this one. It's an average survival horror experience that may have a relatively deep lore hiding somewhere, but I think there are just a few too many things going against it. There are too many other games in the genre that just do it better, even indie.

[h1]I wish I could say, "Buy this game". I truly do.[/h1] I’ve been waiting to purchase and play it for a long time. Now that I’ve finally finished it, I can’t say I’m happy about the experience. The game has issues... serious issues; like that goth chick you want to see more often but just can’t. [b]Technical Problems[/b] [list] [*] When you find a new weapon, your currently equipped one is unequipped automatically. [*] Interface prompts are often incorrect (e.g., showing "PICK UP" instead of "SEEK"), which gets confusing quickly. [*] Enemy AI is overly simplistic and easy to exploit, more of an annoyance than a real challenge. [*] Environments feel unfinished and poorly designed. Repetitive use of assets and textures makes it easy to get lost. [*] Fixed camera angles are often terribly placed. You can lose track of Mica for large portions of time before it switches to another camera. [*] The third-person view doesn’t let you invert the vertical axis (basically unplayable for me). [*] Performance is rough. Even with a GTX 2060 SC and Ryzen 5600X, the game runs poorly. It sometimes is able to reach the 75 fps limit I set and others it would get stuck on 45-50 fps (big areas, raining etc..). [/list] [b]Gameplay & Design Flaws[/b] [list] [*] There is a huge disconnect between what the files you find in the game say, and what the environment you walk through show. [*] The game lacks a coherent sense of direction. Objectives are often unclear, and it’s easy to wander aimlessly. [*] The game is extremely short even for a game of this genre (in which I consider myself a humble veteran). [*] Only 3 types of enemies, 2 humanoids 1 canine. [*] While the story may be interesting the way it is exposed to the player is subpar or insufficient. [*] Too many puzzles feel like a 12-year-old’s idea of what “cryptic” means.. more random than clever, with little to no clues and even less reward feeling when completed. Not puzzles to be deciphered -> "Chores to be bruteforced". [/list] [hr] [h1] What the Game Gets Right[/h1] Despite its flaws, there are aspects that genuinely shine: [list] [*] Most animations are solid and immersive, helping maintain suspension of disbelief. [*] The color palette is consistent and well-balanced. [*] The overall atmosphere is well-crafted and effective. [*] Voice acting is a standout -> arguably one of the game’s strongest elements. [*] Cinematics and camera work are impressive. There’s clear artistic intention behind certain scenes that makes them memorable. You can feel the love that went into creating those moments. [/list] [hr] [h1] Final Thoughts[/h1] There’s potential here. You can tell this was a passion project. But in its current state, I can’t recommend it in good conscience. Too many rough edges drag down what could’ve been a memorable experience. The universe the developer created is genuinely intriguing,retro-futuristic, corporate dystopia vibes, but it never gets fully explored. It’s the perfect setting for a game like this, yet much of it remains underdeveloped. Also the game leans too much on the "homage" theme copying stuff from Silent Hill [b]dancing a dangerous tune along the limit of "inspiration" and "plagiarism"[/b]. [h1] Verdict: A short and unpolished passion project. Wait for a sale.[/h1]

i get the critique about this game but i love the atmosphere its like a cheaper and less polished Tormented Souls (which i heavily recommend)