Play the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4880310?utm_source=vdrrarcle1
Black Hollow is the kind of game that immediately caught my attention because of how it looks. It is a first-person fantasy roguelike survivor game, which is already a pretty interesting combination, but the aesthetic was what initially pulled me in. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect once I started playing, so I decided to jump into a standard run and see if there was actually something worthwhile underneath the presentation.
The game gives you several areas to choose from, along with different difficulty settings, and I decided to start with Black Hollow on standard difficulty. There is also a leaderboard, although there were only around ten people on it when I played. That meant I had a pretty good chance of immediately putting myself somewhere on the board, which seemed like a decent enough goal for my first run.
Once the game starts, the basic concept is pretty straightforward. You have light attacks, heavy attacks and various skills, while enemies spawn around you and drop resources that allow you to improve your character during the run. There are also permanent upgrades and research systems that carry beyond individual runs, along with a loadout system that lets you configure your abilities.
The basic gameplay loop is built around surviving the night.
You start each run at your house, and once night falls, you head outside and start fighting. The enemies initially seemed to be some kind of undead creatures, and they were coming from all directions. I could hear them before I could actually see them, which made the opening moments a little tense. Once I figured out what I was doing, though, I realized I could use the environment and my movement to kite groups of enemies around while picking them off.
Stamina is an important part of the combat. Your attacks consume it, so you cannot simply mash the attack button forever. You have to pay attention to how much stamina you have available, especially when you are surrounded and need to dodge.
That said, the combat is pretty easy to understand. The basic attacks feel responsive, enemies have recognizable attack patterns, and you can see some attacks coming before they happen. Certain enemies will telegraph a jump or projectile attack, giving you a chance to move out of the way if you actually pay attention.
Of course, I don’t always pay attention.
Black Hollow also has a progression system that starts becoming more interesting as you survive longer. Enemies drop resources that can be used to improve your character, and you get choices between different relics and upgrades throughout the run. Some increase your basic attack damage, while others improve abilities, stamina usage, cooldowns or area-of-effect attacks.
The upgrades are where things started getting surprisingly interesting.
At one point, I picked up an epic cursed ability that caused killing blows to damage other enemies nearby. The catch was that it also cost me health every time it killed an enemy.
Naturally, I took it anyway because it was an epic item.
That turned out to be a questionable decision.
I spent the rest of the run wondering why I was constantly losing health, only to eventually realize that I had essentially equipped an ability that was hurting me every time I killed something. It was exactly the kind of decision that makes these games interesting, though. You can build yourself into a much more powerful character, but some of the stronger upgrades come with drawbacks that can completely change the way you play.
I even started intentionally stacking cursed upgrades just to see how far I could take it.
Another upgrade made every seventh hit deal significantly more damage while reducing the damage of the other attacks and increasing the damage I received. Once again, I took it. At that point I had apparently decided that the best way to survive a roguelike was to make my character as dangerous to himself as possible.
It wasn’t necessarily the smartest strategy, but it was entertaining.
One of the abilities I particularly liked was the plague splash, which allowed me to hit groups of enemies at once. The game encourages you to gather enemies together and then use your abilities to clear them out, which makes movement extremely important.
Instead of standing in one place and fighting everything individually, I found myself constantly running around the map, gathering groups together and looking for the right moment to hit them with an area attack.
The same idea became especially useful when dealing with larger waves. I could get a huge group of enemies following me, wait until they were packed together and then hit them with a combination of abilities that would wipe out a large portion of the group.
Once I figured that out, the game started feeling much more manageable.
There are also additional systems that I hadn’t completely figured out during my first run. You can collect different relics, use research to unlock permanent improvements and interact with special events throughout the map. There are optional challenges that can give you rare rewards, although I wasn’t always interested in taking the extra risk.
One example was a grave bargain that required me to remain near a grave for twenty seconds while cleansing nearby enemies. The catch was that enemies would arrive faster while the event was active.
I decided I had enough problems already.
The run continued to get more chaotic as the night went on. More enemies appeared, larger groups started coming after me and I had to get increasingly comfortable with kiting them around the map. The game also throws in flying enemies and other creatures that force you to pay attention to more than just what is directly in front of you.
Then came the boss.
I was already fairly deep into my first run when the boss appeared, and at first I wasn’t particularly worried. The creature looked intimidating, but once I started fighting it, I realized its attacks were fairly predictable.
The problem was its health.
This thing had an absurd amount of health compared to everything I had been fighting up to that point. I could hit it, dodge its attacks and keep moving, but the fight became a test of whether I could maintain my focus long enough to actually finish it.
Eventually I figured out that I could mostly keep my distance and attack when it gave me an opening. The boss didn’t have much of a melee attack, which made things considerably easier, but I still had to manage my stamina and abilities carefully.
And then, with the boss almost dead, I died.
Of course I did.
I had survived the entire run, figured out the combat, built up a ridiculous collection of upgrades and managed to get the boss down to the final stretch, only to make a mistake at the worst possible moment.
That was frustrating, but it also gave me a pretty good idea of what Black Hollow is trying to accomplish.
The game has a solid foundation. The basic loop works, the combat is easy to understand without being completely mindless, and the upgrade system gives you enough choices to make each run feel a little different. I also like the idea of combining a first-person perspective with the survivor-style gameplay loop. It gives the familiar formula a different feel because you are actually moving around the world and aiming your attacks rather than simply watching your character automatically attack everything around them.
There is definitely some independent-game jank here, though.
Some of the animations and enemy movement can feel a little rough, and there are moments where the game doesn’t feel quite as polished as it could. The presentation and systems aren’t necessarily at the level of a larger production, but I don’t think that automatically makes it a bad thing.
After playing a lot of indie games over the past couple of years, I’ve actually grown to appreciate some of that jank. When you know a game is being made by a very small team, there is something endearing about seeing a project that clearly has good ideas even if every part of it isn’t completely polished yet.
That’s how I feel about Black Hollow.
I don’t think it is a bad game. I just think it needs a little more time to cook.
There is enough here that I would be interested in seeing where it goes. The combat works, the progression system has some good ideas and the combination of first-person combat with the survivor format gives it an identity of its own. The cursed upgrades in particular add some fun decision-making because you can make yourself significantly stronger while also creating problems that you have to deal with later.
My first run ended with me dying just before I could finish off the boss, but I still walked away feeling like I understood what Black Hollow was trying to do.
It isn’t quite there yet, but I don’t think it needs a complete overhaul either. It mostly needs more polish, maybe more content and some time for the systems that are already here to develop.
For an indie game in this state, I think Black Hollow is worth keeping an eye on.
And if you like first-person roguelikes, survivor games or just the idea of running around a dark fantasy world while getting progressively more ridiculous upgrades, there is enough here to make a run worth trying.
Just be careful when the game offers you a cursed epic item.
Unlike me, you should probably read what it actually does first.