The Huntsman had a perfect life with a beautiful wife by his side and a darling little girl to make his heart warm. Then Fate became cruel and summoned death to take his wife away. Silently mourning, the small family tried to continue on, but Fate was not done with the Huntsman and one day his daughter does not return from playing. Searching for her, it becomes clear she has entered the woods, a feat that has been forbidden by the king... and for good reason. For the woods are ruled by the Hollow Queen and all those that enter never return. Help the Huntsman find his daughter in Tom-Olivier Martin's and David Fortin's free indie visual novel The Hollow, available as a download or in your browser with Unity. There are hard decision to be made and the wrong ones will have serious consequences for the Huntsman and his little girl. Choose wisely and perhaps you can find the happily ever after in the end.
The Hollow reads just like a fairytale, though a heavy feeling is kept throughout the piece with its haunting music and environment. This is no Disney story where the heroe is always smiling and the villains are always obvious. The choices you must pick between are not always easy, and with everything trying to trick you in these dark woods it can really mess with your natural instincts. Is it right to help someone in need? Or will it lead to your gruesome death? You'll have to accept your fate no matter what, because though this game is not lacking in beautiful artwork, it's missing a save button. And when you go back to play through, there isn't a skip button either like many visual novels implement to pass over previously seen text. Clicking will help speed the text along, but the transition screens take a longer pause then most would like. But this just makes your choices that much more meaningful. It's not "I'll just see how this goes". No, the decisions are much more final and have more concrete repercussions in the end that can't just be undone with a quick reload. Hopefully you can start and stay on the path with the ending you want and not the one your actions cause you to deserve. But you'll never know if you don't begin this tale of fatherly love versus The Hollow.
Windows:
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Mac OS X:
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