Hollowbody is a British horror triumph, but blurs the line between homage and rip-off

Hollowbody’s acquainted magic would not lie in otherworldly locations. It lies within the rubble of the unusual.

Hollowbody

Developer: Headware Video games
Writer: Headware Video games
Performed on: PC by way of Steam
Availability: Out now

Although ostensibly set in a way forward for flying vehicles and holographic IDs, Hollowbody’s world is one that almost all of us would recognise – and I do not simply imply its damp, darkish British climate. I might exit my entrance door proper now and take you to half dozen housing estates in my rapid neighborhood that boast the identical identikit 60s semis seen in Hollowbody. The identical block of flats you discover right here sits on the skyline of each metropolis within the nation.

Is that why Hollowbody unsettles me greater than I would prefer to admit? Is that why poking round deserted flats and canvassing empty streets leaves me so on edge? I’ve all the time had a penchant for horror set towards the humdrum. Put me in an H.R. Giger-inspired world, and I am grossed out, certain, however it’s a setting so, ahem, alien to me, it is exhausting to really feel actual worry as a result of I simply cannot think about ever being there.

Drop me right into a haunted semi-detached, although? Make me paw via a kitchen the place the plates from final night time’s meal are nonetheless stacked up within the sink, or power me to rummage via somebody’s bed room the place a physique melts into the bedsheets and the e book they had been studying sits precisely the place it was left, mouldering on the bedside desk? That stuff terrifies me.

The entire Britishness of Hollowbody’s set items ratchets this up even additional, too. It is a world bruised and damaged by anguish and agony, tiny vignettes sharing voyeuristic peeks into folks’s final moments. How folks converse and the accents they’ve should not make a distinction. I do know that. And but, listening to two sisters focus on their suicide pact in a regional accent so, so near the place I am sitting right here, typing these phrases, completely does make it distinction.

It makes it a lot worse.

The extra you discover, the bleaker it will get, too. Choosing via the detritus of another person’s life is desperately unhappy sufficient, however often you will bump into their stays, too. Some persons are alone. Some folks lie aspect by aspect. Some died slowly and painfully. Some hurried loss of life alongside. Others bought collectively and sought refuge at church, however loss of life got here for them anyway. They nonetheless sit on the pews they died on, their faces obscured by soiled sheets.

In fact, world-building like this is not novel in gaming. Loads of video games of all sizes and scope have carried out it earlier than. And this brings us to Hollowbody’s predominant situation. Put apart that extra distinctive layer of British-ness and also you’re left with a sport doing many issues have been carried out many occasions elsewhere earlier than. Its mounted digicam angles and darkish rating and polygon-tastic graphics are a dead-ringer for the survival horror video games we grew up with, and particularly Silent Hill.

As a result of with out Silent Hill, I do not assume we might ever have Hollowbody.

In its defence, Hollowbody on no account tries to emulate Silent Hill 2’s much-aped story, and for that, we will solely be grateful. It does, nonetheless, undertake most of the collection’ seminal options, and depend on now-established style tropes. Followers will discover a lot acquainted – from Hollowbody’s similar-sounding soundtrack, use of a pocket flashlight, and its stock display – right here, even right down to the sounds of you shifting via your objects.

Some story moments are faintly paying homage to ones which have come earlier than it; others really feel instantly impressed. One significantly stunning phase seems to have been pulled instantly from (the sadly much-maligned) Silent Hill 4. It made me query the place the road between inspiration ends and imitation begins.

It won’t be authentic, however I’m very, very glad Hollowbody exists. Regardless of magpie-ing from notable horror video games that got here earlier than it, Headware has created one thing that, regardless of its familiarity, nonetheless stands by itself. It is a deliciously atmospheric, slow-burn horror and one which in the end does sufficient to sculpt its personal story and sit amongst different entries within the style it has clearly been impressed by.