Recent reviews by KUU

Hollowbody is objectively impressive as a solo developer project. The creator should be very proud of what they were able to achieve here.

.....However, as someone who plays a lot of horror games, both from the indie scene as well as big studios, I've been kinda mystified by the overwhelmingly positive responses to this title. I was quite excited to try this game and finished it in one sitting, but I just don't see what everyone else seems to see in it.

The gameplay in Hollowbody is serviceable. It got the job done, but didn't exactly impress me in any regard. Combat encounters are generally either easily avoidable due to some very large & open maps, or entirely required when the game decides that it's time for you to dump your ammo and places you in a thin hallway with 3 to 5 enemies that cannot be evaded in any way. Puzzles range from arbitrarily confusing to elementary levels of easy.

The story & writing was mostly /fine/, but just often uninteresting & wrote. At worst, there's scenes like one in which you encounter a suicidal person on a rooftop, which is used as pure shock value and allows you to try and talk that person off the ledge, but seems to imply that it was pointless to begin with. This felt like something straight out of a David Cage joint in the worst possible way.

Worst of all, if I had to nail it down to one thing, is that Hollowbody does not seem to know what kind of tone or even genre it wants to stick to. For example: the introductory cutscene of the game (which is modeled heavily after the Blade Runner films) would have you think that there will be a heavy sci-fi element to this game, but every single environment you navigate from that point on would fit right in with modern times, aside from some very slim sci-fi trimmings, such as the electronic keycard locks on the doors of otherwise normal apartments.

I'm an enormous fan of both Silent Hill & Resident Evil, which are clearly the 2 games that Hollowbody is drawing the biggest inspiration from, but all I can see in this game is pale imitation, seemingly without the understanding of why the things it borrows work so well in those games. The protagonist wearing an RE4 Leon jacket and your first discoverable melee weapon being nearly identical to the wooden plank wielded by James in SH2 should tell you all you need to know on that front.

Most reviewers seem to be more than happy to just be playing another game that /reminds/ them of those classics, and if that's enough for you, then hey, you'll probably have a great time with Hollowbody. To me, In our current horror game renaissance, it did not feel like enough for me to make this game stand out in any notable way.

one of the most textured and unique games i've ever played. unmatchable vibe. the sheer amount of art & craftsmanship on display here puts this leagues above most games you'll play in your lifetime, this game is an EASY recommendation to literally everyone i know.

holy ♥♥♥♥ dude