Hollowbody from developer and publisher Headway Games is their latest survival horror game. It is described on their page as “A tech-noir survival horror short story, set in the urban decay of a long abandoned British city. Solve environmental puzzles, manage limited resources and fight for a way to escape beyond the walls”. Sounds interesting, so let’s fire up the XBOX and see how it plays.

You are dropped into a post-apocalyptic world somewhere near the British Isles after an unknown bioterrorism attack occurred. Authorities and private security personnel for the wealthy rushed to evacuate high-value citizens to the neighbouring city of Aeonis. Aeonis is a man-made island floating in the North Atlantic Ocean. To prevent the contagious spread of disease, the world erected towering walls around all cities, sealing them off from the rest of civilization as orbital strikes began.

Sixty years later, some are still fighting for answers and justice. Initially, you begin the story as Sasha, who is looking for answers about her grandparents and joins a resistance to find these answers. After a brief scene, Sasha goes missing, and you are teleported to her friend, Mica, a black-market smuggler, who decides to leave the safety of the city to look for her. You are then flown across a futuristic city in a flying car called Beeb as you begin the search. Encountering storms and treacherous conditions outside the safety of your city, like any great technology, the vehicle shuts down, and you crash-land into a derelict city beyond the walls of safety.

Starting off, as a gaming parent, I am loving how developers are catering to us these days. There are two difficult options: Casual – Reduced enemies with weaker attacks, and Intended – the intended gameplay experience. You also have the option to choose between two camera angles, recommended – fixed and dynamic, or alternate – modern third-person control. I chose the recommendation, and it was quite janky when changing scenes, like a security camera where you are walking one way, then the angle changes, and you have to change the direction you are walking on the controller.

There is a basic inventory system that lets you view various information. The four major ones are items, Map, Docs, and Systems. In this main screen, you also have a basic 3D map showing your current location and a danger meter for what it is worth. It feels quite clunky, luckily, though the game has a quick access feature on the XBOX directional pads, so you can bypass the menu and save a lot of time when you need to heal or change weapons.

An example of the first storyline, the cut scene prompts you to look for the highest building in the city to try and get a signal to call your friend, Tax, who helped you escape the city walls. How you get there and what challenges you face is the unknown part of your adventure. This theme sticks throughout the game as you progress, prompting you on where to go, but how you get there is the adventure as you start piecing all the information together.

The city has some great details for the most part, although some areas are quite large and feel empty, or have buildings there to make up the numbers. You have numerous weapons to protect yourself as you navigate the city. You start with the handgun and healing spray you find as soon as you crash. You can also find a shotgun, flamethrower, spiked club, or even a bow and arrow throughout the game. This isn’t a first-person shooter, though, so don’t expect too much in the way of tactics from your enemies. There is a nice parry system in combat, but most interactions really do feel like a rinse and repeat, and you don’t find yourself in a lot of danger if you keep your distance.

The whole environment feels very tense as I wait for enemies to appear with my torch and handgun out. The developer has done a good job keeping this tension up as you progress, not knowing where your next threat is coming from. The initial scenes are very slow to get going, combat-wise, as you search for clues and are slowly drawn into the puzzle and search system. Inspecting sheds, rooms, sewers, and even dead bodies is how you piece together the clues to keep progressing.

For example, after a lot of frustration running around the tallest building trying to get in, I began just hitting the use key over and over, and all of a sudden the bin moved towards a window. Then I hit use again, and I suddenly climbed the bin and entered through the window, which was closed. So you really have to stop and think about your next move when you are exploring all areas of the map, making sure you don’t overlook the small details. This is what sets the title apart: you have to find your path, look for hidden compartments, keys, and listen to stories of the many dead citizens around the city.

The graphics are very apocalyptic, with a lot of death and destruction around the maps. They contribute brilliantly to the storyline and make you feel death could be awaiting around any corner. For an Indie game, you won’t be disappointed with the graphics; it’s all the small details in the environment that make it. Although, as mentioned above, the scenes are diluted in the open spaces or long corridors.

The sounds excel in this title, helping to create that tension and intrigue as you explore the area. The sounds are among the best I’ve encountered in many AAA titles I have reviewed. The environment sounds stunning, from the storms, wind, footsteps, and the creaks and groans; they really are top-notch. Even the sound and flash of the pistol and shotgun are nice and crisp.

Overall, Hollowbody continues the tradition of Headway games, a survival horror game that keeps you on the edge of your seat. You are given the direction of the story at the start, then it is up to you to write the remainder with minimal input or prompts from the developers. If survival horror is your genre, jump in and support this indie dev. While you won’t have days of enjoyment, there are still a good few hours you can sink into this title.

Written by: Mike Bridge