Epic's Unreal Engine 4 is gradually turning into a modern standard, as the game using this technology will bring incredibly beautiful graphics almost all of the time. Recently, we've given you a list of top 8 most graphically beautiful of 2019 - and you can find that most of them used Unreal Engine 4. And now, 2020 welcomes the next one to potentially strike the list: The House In The Hollow.
It's a new project from the indie developer PSINE Studios, which follows you on a journey exploring the mysterious estate with the Art Nouveau esque of an English magician. Not only is it visually stunning, but the game also features an intriguing story with a magical and cultist theme in real life that you might not expect.
Below is the first trailer of The House In The Hollow, which you can have a look:
The story of The House In The Hollow
The House In The Hollow tells an imaginative story of a mysterious solitary English magician - Francis Barrett. Unlike other magicians blending themselves in the world of the ordinary, Francis opts for a hermitic life in his own estate deep behind the woods, away from the world. However, little knows that he has a hidden identity - he is the Celestial author of The Magus - a book compiling tons of magical information.
His secret life and magical masterpieces are the things that many are desperate to find after his disappearance. More and more people have made efforts to find his house and discover where he has gone, but none of them find their success. No one knows what experience the Intelligencer has encountered, and what was left after the incident in that house, since no one curious enough to sneak in his house returned.
Every secret needs a revealer, and it's time for you to take that responsibility. Travel deep into the forest, you'll be able to admire the fantastic house that the magician has lived at. But hiding inside its beauty is a wicked devil stopping you from getting out of the house. Only through exploring and learning what has happened to Francis will you be able to dispel it and get out.
Can you escape from the hollow and tell your story?
Gameplay features
As you can already see in the trailer, The House In The Hollow is a first-person exploration horror game, where you'll make your journey into the magician Francis Barrett's house in the mysterious location called the Hollow and the woods surrounding it.
There, you'll have to unveil the secret of the experiments that Francis has carried and caused his disappearance. Additionally, you'll also have to fight against the devil that haunted the house preventing every survivor from escaping by following the guide from Francis' book: The Magus. The game mainly rotates around solving puzzles while finding clues to unveil the secrets of the magician, while admiring the unreal beauty of his house.
The developer PSINE Studios has used Unreal Engine 4 to carefully make every detail in Francis' house. Not only they have to follow the Art Nouveau style to draw cloth patterns and other textures, but they also have to make the aesthetic landscape in the forest look and feel realistic as well. And from their words, we can say that they've done a great job with portraying the forest with the winds blowing through Speedtree foliage, as well as featuring materials that follow laws of physics tightly.
If the developer succeeds in fulfilling what they've said, The House In The Hollow can easily be a visual hit of 2020!
Supported platforms and release date
The House In The Hollow will come out in 2020, and even though we still don't have the specific release date yet, we know for sure that the game won't come out until Q4 2020.
It will support PC at launch via Steam. And considering how consoles have been behind PC in the capability of running highly detailed titles, the game won't be able to come to consoles soon.
Enjoy!