Hollow is a dark fantasy Diablo-inspired ARPG built in Unity, set in the cursed town of Gravesend Hollow and the dungeon beneath it, the Black Reliquary. The current beta demo includes five replayable dungeon levels, loot-driven progression, classless character building, vendors, abilities, undead enemies, and old-school dungeon crawling. I’m sharing the project to get feedback from other Unity developers on gameplay feel, balance, UI, performance, and overall presentation.
HOLLOW - Major Demo Update Available June 24
Hello everyone,
I’ve been hard at work on HOLLOW, my dark fantasy action RPG inspired by the atmosphere and simplicity of classic ARPGs.
A major demo update is releasing on June 24, along with a brand-new trailer showcasing many of the improvements made over the last several weeks.
What’s New
- Combat has been streamlined and feels significantly more responsive.
- Graphics and environmental visuals have received a major overhaul.
- Added a new Recipe Skill System allowing players to combine abilities and discover entirely new powers.
- 27 new recipe abilities have been added.
- Character animations have been refined and smoothed.
- User interface has been extensively cleaned up with numerous quality-of-life improvements.
- The town hub has been expanded and populated with additional functionality.
- New visual effects and environmental improvements have been implemented throughout the game.
- Enemy encounters and combat balance continue to be refined.
- Dungeon content has been expanded through Level 12.
- Added a Body Recovery service through Mother Veyra, allowing players to reclaim lost equipment after death.
- Players can now bind valuable items to prevent them from being lost upon death.
Current State of Development
HOLLOW has evolved far beyond the original demo. While still in development, it is much closer to the classic old-school ARPG experience I set out to create.
The project currently features:
- 45 player abilities
- 27 recipe abilities
- Procedurally generated dungeon floors
- Multiple enemy families and bosses
- Equipment, affixes, durability, and loot systems
- Town NPCs, quests, lore, and progression systems
- Character persistence and extensive build customization
Existing characters will remain compatible with the new build.
I’m looking forward to hearing feedback from fellow Unity developers and ARPG fans as development continues.
Thanks for taking a look, and I hope you enjoy the new trailer and demo update.
Ded Hed Studios
It’s been a busy few weeks on Hollow, and I wanted to share another development update.
The biggest focus has been polishing the overall gameplay experience rather than simply adding more content. Combat has been streamlined to feel faster and more responsive, enemy behavior has been refined, and a lot of time has gone into improving the UI and overall game flow.
Some of the larger additions include:
- New dungeon tilesets for later levels, with earlier environments also receiving visual upgrades.
- Continued graphical improvements across the project.
- Additional enemy variations and balancing.
- Expanded town hub.
- Numerous quality-of-life improvements throughout the interface.
- Ongoing work on itemization and loot progression.
- Steam page is now under review while development continues.
I’m also preparing the game for Steam integration and will be tackling the multiplayer implementation once the single-player experience is where I want it. The goal is a simple two-player co-op experience similar to classic ARPGs.
This project started as an attempt to capture the atmosphere and pacing of old-school dungeon crawlers while still adding modern systems like skill recipes, deeper itemization, and procedural dungeons. It’s encouraging to finally see everything beginning to come together.
As always, feedback from fellow Unity developers has been incredibly valuable. Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to test the demo, report bugs, or simply offer suggestions. Every update gets Hollow a little closer to the game I’ve been imagining.