Last Updated on Jun 4, 2026 @ 15:47:27 PM.
Over the past few days, I have had the opportunity to try out Hollowbody during its console release on PlayStation 5, during which I was able to play through the entire game and explore its dark and twisted reality as I tried to piece together what was happening, why it was happening, and whether I would be able to talk to the same person as when I entered.
Throughout my time with Hollowbody, I was able to explore all that the game had to offer, including the various forms of combat that were accessible, solving the various puzzles that were hidden throughout the game, and especially completing the game’s unique story and receiving one of its 3 endings.
Hollowbody’s World, Along With the Fixed Camera Angles are Unique and Horrifying
While playing through Hollowbody, one of the key features within the game that caught my eye was the game’s overall world, which can only be described as a dark, gloomy, and overall claustrophobic feeling as you move through tight hallways, small buildings, and so much more while only using a small torch as a form of light and maybe the one-off flicking light bulb in the ceiling.
This, for me, was fantastic in terms of amplifying the horror aspects within Hollowbody, as for me personally, what makes a fantastic horror game is the atmosphere that is built up around you, whether it be the eerie sounds coming from the rooms you can’t access, the lack of light forcing you to carefully navigate the rooms, or the environmental storytelling that takes place around you.
Each of these features alone can sometimes make a good horror game, but when it comes to adding all of these features together, it can make a fantastic horror experience that keeps you wondering as to what is lurking around the next corner.
What made this even better was simply just how the actual game world was on show for the player, as it wasn’t just a destroyed city that you were walking through; it was the broken-down vehicles, the buildings in disrepair, or the unknown vines taking over the streets and buildings. Each of these details was interesting to see and helped to add to the game’s mysterious and horrifying atmosphere.
Because of this, I was genuinely interested in what locations I would be exploring next within my adventure, as there was a lot to see within Hollowbody, even for such a small game, but each location was full of detail and information. However, not all of this information was important and was just flavor text, which can be fun in a game such as this, but after checking the 10th bathtub and being told how gross it would be to use the water in a run-down building, it did lessen my interest and cause me to refrain from searching the areas in more depth.
Finally, the biggest advantage that Hollowbody used within its game world was how the camera interacted with such a world, with a large portion of the game having fixed camera angles similar to the original Resident Evil games, and some having a third-person following camera that allowed for a broader view in larger areas. Each of these camera techniques was really fun to play around with within the game, but there were times in which the camera did glitch and did become rather annoying, one example being in the final section of the game. I managed to clip the camera into a wall as I ran past too close, causing the camera to stay in the wall, leading me to have to restart from my previous save, which in this game is very limited.
The Gunplay is Fun Especially With New Weapons, Along With the Puzzles Being Simple Yet Annoying
Hollowbody‘s gameplay loop is a rather simplistic thing, as there are only two main things you will be doing: you will either be exploring the locations you are in looking for information or solutions to puzzles, or you will be fighting off the entities surrounding you with a plethora of guns, and both of these gameplay loops are very fun to play around with, but there are situations in which they can be annoying.
When it comes to the gunplay in Hollowbody, I had a lot of fun playing around with it, as there were numerous different options to play with. Now I won’t spoil the later weapons within the game, but there are some that are genuinely quite fun and interesting to see in such a world.
For example, when you start the game, you are only able to use a pistol that the main character brings with them, but after some time you begin to find new weapons throughout the game that will help you, such as melee weapons like the piece of wood with spikes in it or even a guitar, with others hidden later in the game. However, there are other ranged weapons within the game as well, one being a bow and arrow, which I was not expecting to find within the game world.
Although the combat within Hollowbody is pretty basic, as you need to generate space between the enemy and shoot with the game auto-aiming for you, it doesn’t just end there, as, like any survival game, there are limited bullets for you to use, and the enemies aren’t exactly going to die in one shot, so getting in close is a must.
The thing that made this interesting to me was the game’s lack of a HUD while exploring the game world, as you had no idea how many bullets you had unless you constantly went in and out of your inventory or you were counting them as you fired, which caused you to be very selective on who you fired against. This for me helped to add to the game’s horror as I was constantly trying to preserve ammo, especially towards the later portions of the game, but as the game progressed, more enemies began spawning that again weren’t exactly pushovers.
On the other side of the gameplay, however, were the puzzles. Now, I personally enjoy a good puzzle, and I will always enjoy the satisfaction of solving a puzzle within a game, and this was the case for a large portion of Hollowbody, as a lot of the puzzles were very sensible and made sense.
For example, one of these puzzles was finding a set of chopsticks and putting them inside a switch so that I could activate the power to an elevator; this was rather fun to discover, and yes, I will admit it took me a few moments to realize it rather than jumping straight to said conclusion. However, there were some puzzles that baffled me in terms of their solution and their lack of realism. Now, yes, we are talking about a game in the future in which there are flying cars, monsters, and so on, but bear with me.
During said puzzle, the player is required to open a locked gate that is sealed using expanding foam. Now for me, I was carrying a lot of resources at this time that I thought would make this an easy job, whether it be my lighter that could burn the foam away, a hammer to smash it, or even my gun, but what I wasn’t expecting was how I would have to use an industrial battery that was slightly damaged and pour its battery acid on the foam to burn it away.
If I only had the battery, that would be a rather sound solution, and I find it quite interesting to have taken that route to open said gate, but for me it just felt rather odd and out of place as a solution, especially since all the other puzzles in the game are rather realistic and don’t require such leaps to solve them, but this might have just been me hoarding too much equipment at the time, and it would have been simpler if I had used those items beforehand.
However, that being said, even with that one puzzle causing me some distress mentally, I did find the puzzles to be a lot of fun to discover and solve within Hollowbody, as they often weren’t hard or taxing while also being very satisfying to solve, allowing me to progress through the game in a rather timely manner.
Hollowbody’s Story Keeps You on Your Toes as You Question Reality and Your Choices
Finally, let’s talk about the story of Hollowbody. When it comes to the story of Hollowbody, it is a rather unique premise, as you are sent to search for your friend who has gone missing through mysterious circumstances within a destroyed city in the United Kingdom. This would seem like a rather simplistic concept on paper, but after you add in your mysterious car crash, the bizarre ooze throughout the buildings, the mysterious person you meet on your adventure, and so many other things you begin to question what is even happening.
As I played through Hollowbody, I often found myself unsure as to what I was seeing, as there were moments in which I felt that the game was playing tricks on me and that I would eventually be caught out by what was going on. One example of this would be that in the early sections of the game, you find a man on the roof of the game’s first explorable section who is ready to jump off, and you, as the player, have numerous chat options that you can use to try to persuade this person not to do so.
What made this interesting was how the choices you made during this encounter were able to completely affect how the rest of your game would play out, which, to me, felt like a huge burden to bear as I had absolutely no idea what was awaiting me in the next chapter of the game.
In terms of the overall story, you won’t see too much within the game until the later sections of the game, but you will instead find a lot more about the game’s story within the lore dotted around the game world, in regards to the notes you can find, and even small conversation cutscenes that act like flashbacks/memories of a time before.
This, to me, was a fun and unique way to showcase what the world was like before it became rubble and darkness, and civilization moved to a neon city miles away, while also explaining the descent of the world and the people who seemingly lived in it and, as we can see, died in it. Because of this information and the way the character reacts to the situations around them, it helps to cement a reason for doubt within the player as each situation is just as baffling as the last.
Whether it be the monsters that are lurking around the game world that again provide a lot of looking into the game’s hidden lore to find information about them or this mysterious person that has somehow survived in such a horrifying place for god knows how long, each piece of this information leaves the player with more questions as they progress through the game, with each question being answered in due time.
All in all, I often found the story to be rather fun to explore, even with most of it being obtainable through the notes within the game, but when it came to the voice acting and how this story was portrayed throughout the game, I found it to be very enjoyable, as it kept my attention throughout my time with it, while also helping to solidify what I should feel and whether or not I had done the right thing or not in my playthrough.
Hollowbody
Summary
While playing through Hollowbody, I found the game’s world to be quite interesting to explore, as the various locations that varied from small, cramped locations to large expanses with twisting and turning paths were very fun to explore and had me on edge constantly as I waited to see what area I could explore next.
In terms of the gameplay within Hollowbody, I enjoyed the combat very much, with it being very challenging, especially due to the various camera angles and the limited amount of ammo. However, there were occasions in which I found the combat to be rather glitchy, especially when the camera began to bug out.
Along with the combat, I also enjoyed the puzzles within the game, even with one puzzle causing me distress, as most of the puzzles were very intuitive and made sense, creating an easy path forward for me throughout the game.
The overall story of Hollowbody was very compelling, and I was constantly curious as to what had caused the world to decline into what it was, finding as many lore documents as I could so I could learn more about the game’s history, while also being rather curious about how the game would end, and especially what ending I would earn by the end of it.
HOURS PLAYED: 4
PLAYED ON: PS5
- Game world was fun to explore and full of detail and hidden secrets.
- Gunplay was fun with numerous weapons to try out.
- Puzzles were simple to solve while also being fun.
- Story was interesting and kept me gripped throughout my playthrough.
- Camera would often glitch out causing me to reload previous saves.
- Saving system was rather minimal with autosaves being very inconsistent.
For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out our review of Necrophosis: Full Consciousness, or check out our hands-on preview of Outward 2.
Liam is a Senior Editor, Writer, and Critic for Thumb Wars and has been working with the team since day one. Liam is a big fan of all things gaming, as you will catch him playing all of the new releases from every genre you can imagine. Whether you find Liam gaming just for fun or spending his free time streaming, you will always find a smile on his face when it comes to all things gaming.
