The Hollow is a first-person shooter set in Zaslon, a secret Soviet installation in the Siberian taiga that the game calls the last GULAG on earth. It shipped on Steam on 24 April 2026 at $7.50, runs on Windows only, and leans on a deliberate choice: 2000s-style graphics, hand-built locations, five local weapons and a physics-breaking anomaly zone instead of a modern AAA presentation. This dossier is for players who own it and are stuck in the dark.
What this game actually is
You play Morok, the son of one of the scientists who built a secret weapon here out of a mineral that exists only in this region — the store page calls it tungsten, the October sale post calls it tungusium. Zaslon was emptied of its prisoners, then taken over by them: three nations of former inmates now hold the territory, one of them convinced it is better than the other two, and they rose under a former aviation engineer named Mnogogrishny. Beyond the fence, ordinary physics stops applying.
That combination is the whole design: a semi-open world crossed on foot, fog and thunderstorms rolling over stones that seem to whisper, and creatures local peoples knew only from legend. No radar clutter, no live-service loop, no shop.
Before you set off
- Expect no hand-holding on objectives. Quest markers can drop out; the first fix players report is simply restarting the game, which brings the pointers back.
- Save often. The game supports saving at any time, so use it before every push into a new location.
- Check every stranger. Night encounters hinge on whether the figure at your fire is still a person.
- Lower the refresh rate if the image stutters. The developer's own advice for judder on high-refresh monitors is to reduce the in-game refresh setting.
- Use the graphics options that exist now: Contrast, FSR and mouse sensitivity all arrived in June 2026.
- You will not be carrying scrap. The anomaly zone rejects metal in quantity, so Zaslon was built by hand.
Quick answers
How much is The Hollow? $7.50 on Steam, no discount at the time of writing.
Which platforms? Windows only — no macOS or Linux build is listed.
Does it have multiplayer? No. The store page lists single-player only.
What languages? Ukrainian with full voice acting, and English.
How many achievements? Five, one per main location.
Is it a horror game? An FPS with horror inside it: nightmares a local people knew only from legend, entities in the flesh, nights spent by a fire.
Suggested reading order
- Start with how the game plays — the loop, the controls, saving.
- Then the beginner guide for the first two hours and the missing-marker problem.
- Read Zaslon and its factions so the names in dialogue mean something.
- Take the anomaly and weather page before your first night outside.
- If you are already stuck, go straight to quest progression.
Every claim here comes from the Steam store page, the official announcement feed, the achievement list or the Steam discussion board.
