The first game I played during Steam Next Fest earlier this month wasn't actually part of the event at all. I believe I found my way to Hollowbody by accident, having clicked through a series of similar storefronts in search of horror demos, and what a happy accident it was. Touted as a tech noir narrative, the Hollowbody demo sees players exploring a "long abandoned British city" and confronting the horrors within. The gameplay in all its fixed camera-angled glory harkens right back to early Resident Evil and Silent Hill, but the more futuristic touchstones – like a literal hovercraft – mean that none of it feels derivative. In short, it's awesome.
For Hollowbody solo developer Nathan Hamley of Headware Games, the creative process all starts with a feeling. "If I know how I want the player to feel I can craft a world and narrative around that feeling, designed to further reinforce this emotional seed rooted in the early design stages," he explains. "In Hollowbody's case I wanted the player to be feeling a sense of discovery and intrigue that is shared with the story's protagonist, with them both experiencing something a little familiar yet distanced from the world they know."
