Headware Games reveals “tech-noir survival horror short story” Hollowbody

So here’s something altogether new, a “short story” video game? Yep, that’s just what Headware Games’ Hollowbody is.

Now this, we’re digging

For a while now we’ve thought that shorter games, that serve limited narratives, could have a considerable audience in the modern gaming space. We’re definitely not alone in that apparently, as Headware Games has apparently revealed just that with Hollowbody.

A love letter to genre games of the early-2000s, Hollowbody is a mashup of survival-horror and futuristic “tech-noir” themes, that’s set in a decaying and forgotten city in the UK’s “exclusion zone”. Players take the role of Mica, a black market shipper who’s looking for her lost partner in that same zone. Of course, what she finds is a whole mess of trouble.

Genre fans should look for lots of puzzles and resource management in this one, along with what looks to be limited action, and an emphasis on world building.

Set in the near-future, amongst the urban decay of a long abandoned British city, Hollowbody is a dystopian love letter to survival horror. Its grimy, detailed environments exude an oppressive, cloying atmosphere, while its tight, tense gameplay effortlessly evokes classics of the genre. A mysterious and disturbing tech-noir narrative complements the experience across the game’s 4-5 hour playtime.

Players take control of Mica, an unlicensed black market shipper who will stop at nothing to find her missing partner. After her hover crashes deep within the exclusion zone, she is left alone and stranded with limited resources at her disposal. She will have to push her way through the zone, solve environmental puzzles, manage resources and fight for her life as she tries to find a way to escape beyond the wall.

She needs to find a way out. Call for evac, scale the walls. Something. Anything. Survive.

Headware Games press release

Now, we did mention that Hollowbody is a short story, though we can’t say exactly how long its campaign will be. What we can say though, is that the game will respect its players’ time. According to the press release, the game will offer carefully “paced save points”.

Exclusive to the PC for now, Hollowbody will hit Steam on September 12th, and is up for pre-order now.