Ukrainian Games Festival, an Updated Demo, and Where We Are

Hello everyone,

A lot has happened since the last update so we wanted to sit down and tell you about all of it properly.

Ukrainian Games Festival

The Ukrainian Games Festival started today. If you have not taken a look yet, we recommend doing so - there are a huge number of games to discover, significant discounts on games, major announcements and several big releases all happening as part of the festival. It is one of our favourite moments in the calendar and this year it feels particularly meaningful to us.

We are very proud to say that Hollow Home is participating, and to mark the occasion we have released the most substantial update to our demo since Next Fest.

What is new in the updated demo

This new, updated demo is a big step from the last playable version with significant changes - this is not a minor patch! This demo is meaningfully closer to the full version of Hollow Home that will be released later this year. Here is what has changed.

The biggest change - Action Points are gone.

This is the most significant design decision we have made in a long time. We have removed the Action Points mechanic entirely. Your primary resource to manage is now Maksym's daily Resolve. We thought carefully about this for a long time and we believe it makes the game feel more natural, more emotionally grounded, and more in keeping with the kind of experience we are trying to create. We are very curious to hear what you think about it.

Controller support

The updated demo now has full controller support. We are particularly keen to get your feedback on this one - how does it feel to play? Does it work the way you would want it to? Please let us know.

An improved save system

Saving is now significantly faster and save files are considerably smaller. This was something we knew needed work and we are glad to have it in a much better place. Again - please try it and tell us how it feels.

Real radio broadcasts from Ukrainian Radio

We mentioned this in a previous Kickstarter update, but we want to talk about it here too because it matters to us. We have partnered with Ukrainian Radio - Ukraine's public broadcaster since 1924 - to include real archive recordings in the game. When the invasion begins in Hollow Home, players will hear actual broadcasts from Ukrainian Radio as they were transmitted on the real days of the full-scale invasion. We are deeply grateful to Ukrainian Radio for making this collaboration possible.

Other changes & updates

There are also a number of smaller improvements, bug fixes and general polish updates throughout. We will not list all of them here - the best way to find them is to play.

Please download the updated demo on Steam, try all of it, and tell us what you think. Your feedback at this stage genuinely shapes what we do next.

Where we are with development

Hollow Home is in the final stage of development. We are closer to being finished than we have ever been, and we cannot wait to finally show you the full game.

Our Kickstarter campaign is still live and is now fully funded - something we are still a little amazed by. We are currently making progress toward our first stretch goal: two new in-game outfits for Maksym. If you have not yet backed the campaign or shared it with someone who might care about it, there is still time.

Thank you for reading, and for following this project. We will have more to share soon.

Twigames team