Hollow Head: Director's Cut

[h1]Concievably written by somebody with a condition of the same name[/h1] Okay, that was probably uncalled for. But [i]Hollow Head[/i] certainly isn't the most narratively coherent of experiences. After just over half an hour of gameplay, you find yourself unceremoniously booted back to the main menu, supposedly having 'completed' the game. There's no credit roll to speak of, just an abrupt cut. At first, I thought I'd made a mistake, and reloaded the final chapter just to make sure I hadn't encountered a bug of some sort. Nope. Hollow Head is an experience that will last the average player 30-40 minutes of their time, and it doesn't leave the player with much more than a feeling of bewilderment. The initial build is intriguing, but nothing seems to have any particular payoff. Eerie events bear no narrative purpose, being little more than standalone creepy moments. The 'riddles' that the game throws at you can be solved within seconds, and the large body of gameplay involves running back and forth through dimly lit corridors, which - after 15 minutes of doing so - becomes monotonous rather than unnerving. There are upsides, namely: [olist] [*]The game is at least functional. [*]The graphics imitate an outdated style in a relatively tasteful fashion. [*]The sound design is passable. [/olist] Otherwise, it's way too short and doesn't do anything particularly interesting when it comes to gameplay. If the puzzles had been more thought out, they might have warranted a playthrough, but the retro stylings aren't enough to hold this game up by itself, and that's sadly pretty much all this game has. 3/10

It was a fun experience but I didn't get to beat it because it started giving me a headache. If you like these types of low-quality graphic horror games then you'll probably like this.

*****THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS***** The game takes it's graphical cues from the PS1 era. Some may find that endearing, others not so much. The core game play is basically a walking simulator. You walk around and gather clues to proceed. Even if you know you will need something ahead of time on a subsequent play through, you can not do it while out on another quest. It can only be completed in turn. You also do not physically fight anything. You are simply exploring until the last level and then running in the dark confused, turning cranks in puzzle fashion to escape. And you will spend the most time in that level, as it is the only level to feature something that can actually harm you. And you'll be so lost you wont know where to go until you memorize the layout or understand how to avoid the creature, if it's even possible to avoid. It might just be blind luck and randomness. If it's on sale for a $1, I'd say go for it. But I wouldn't pay more than that. There are a couple of endings, but the play through is exactly the same, just your very last final choice makes the difference and really not even a difference at that. Personally I really enjoyed the beginning and the creepy atmosphere of the "human" world. I wish we could have stayed longer or ventured more into that. The "lights of the city" having disappeared and the one security guard on the take, as it were, was more interesting to me, then the rest of the game combined.

got bored, ran in circles with nothing to do. Not scary

Really nice, creepy, atmospheric PS1 styled horror game that has very well placed jump scares and a nerve-wracking end sequence. The only crappy thing are the two endings. They don't make any sense and the game just ends. Totally worth playing considering the price and everything up until the end.

Best short horror games, has multiple endings