It seems recently that there has been a whole spate of Horror titles attempting to recreate the glory days of the PS2 generation Silent Hill games. All of which do so with varying success, the closest being perhaps Tormented Souls. Of these aforementioned titles Hollow Body falls somewhere close to the top, thank goodness. Drawing heavily on other such titles like Obscure and mixing it with the deep political depression of the 28 Days Later movie franchise; Hollowbody is a short though thoughtful revision on social decay and economic hardship as it is a thrilling piece of genre gaming. As protagonist Mica wanders through the empty streets and long forgotten locales of an undisclosed Northern English coastal city, one can not help but be reminded of the problems which afflicted much of the world during the Covid epidemic, but also the increasingly militaristic security measures taken to secure Britain's borders prior to that event. Children's playgrounds sit in the shadows of military blockades. Prestine parkland is tainted by the grostery of a mass grave. People's homes lie as dormant tombs to the countless lives lost within the sea of confusion, unethical commerce and red tape. And all the while Mica is guided onward by the tauntings of a phantom provocateur at the end of a phone line (the game's save points) and hollow thought threatening echos of the human stories now long lost among the rubble. As players, we are only given a vague description of how the world came to be in such a mess, and perhaps that lack of knowledge is symbolic of the dislocation and estrangement many people now feel toward their own lives and histories? Who's to say? What can definitely be said is that the game is not without it's flaws. The camera is awkward and janky, as is the melee combat. If you can forgive these aspects however, you are treated to a very timely piece of British storytelling. Verdict - 4/5
