A homage paid to the greatest love story of all time, Hollowbody rewinds time for Silent Hill 2 fans, with its offering of multiple endings for this macabre tale.
Before we head into this, it’s important to note the serious endings all begin the same. This can, of course, be rather confusing, but you need to watch the final cutscene and credits to then view any new endings (and corresponding achievements).
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How to unlock all endings in Hollowbody
Hollowbody has three endings. You shouldn’t complicate your playthrough assuming Hollowbody has strict Silent Hill-esque ending rules. Thankfully, Hollowbody has a simple way to adjust which ending you get.
The downside to this is you’ll have to play through three times to get all endings instead of using the manual save system to revisit a specific point in the narrative. The earliest point you can revisit on a previous playthrough is your save at the Apartments (before you get to the roof).
Two out of three endings are achievable in either Casual or Intended difficulty, but the secret ending’s locked behind Punished mode. It’s best to aim for all endings by first playing on Intended to immediately unlock Punished mode for New Game Plus.
Here’s our rundown on each Hollowbody ending.
Good ending: Riven achievement
The Riven ending is achieved by saving the Wounded Man on the Apartment rooftop. I’m not sure whether a specific set of dialogue lines saves him, but this is what I chose and it saved his life:
- “Excuse me?“
- “Doing bad things doesn’t make you a bad person.”
- “Maybe we should talk inside?“
- “I’m looking for someone.”
- Ignore radio.
Talking the Wounded Man down from the edge restores hope in this lost soul. He joins you for the remainder of the story (at least until the final boss). There are now two of you in the exclusion zone, surrounded by the wasteland of mindless abominations that have lost everything that made them human.
Riven ending concludes with the usual ending, but Mica and Sasha are saved by the Wounded Stranger, who rowed them to safety (the same beach where we started). Later, Mica’s seen being interrogated. The interrogator’s identity is unknown; their voice is as distorted as Mother (main antagonist). Perhaps it’s Sherwood (Hollowbody‘s version of Umbrella Corporation), as they seem to be the cause of the outbreak and are the reason many lives tragically ended in Barnsdon.
Bad ending: Reunion achievement
The bad ending, Reunion, is unlocked by failing to save the Wounded Stranger. You’re given multiple dialogue choices to make, but the main one that sadly results in the man leaping off the roof is your decision to answer Tax’s call. If you did this in your first playthrough, the Wounded Stranger won’t be with you for the majority of the game, making your journey a lonelier experience.
While the ending of Hollowbody initially feels dark as Mica and Sasha are absorbed into Mother (the assumed deity behind this parasitic creature that has quarantined cities and caused mass evacuations), it isn’t until we time jump 24 years into the future where we see Mother is now free to consume everything she desires. A gigantic silhouette of a humanoid figure rising in the distance, the exclusion zone is permanently lost to the void, leaving civilization behind, and consuming all organic life that wanders inside.
Secret ending: Woof achievement
The Woof ending’s the hardest to achieve as you must beat Punished mode. This mode’s unlocked by beating the game on Intended. Another layer to this ending is you can’t heal more than three times. This includes when the game prompts you to heal at the start of your journey.
Many monsters can be dodged due to the labyrinthy layout of the maps. This gives you a lot of breathing space to avoid taking unnecessary damage. However, difficulty rises inside small rooms and narrow corridors. Complete your last playthrough with the Flamethrower in hand (use the last autosave to head back into the final boss). This way you’ll head into the Punished mode with this equipped, giving you infinite firepower to use against all enemies.
Crawl through the hole underneath Mark’s body after completing the final boss fight on Punished (surely it’s Mark from the beginning). This’ll take you to a doghouse, a very different location to the canon ending. Sasha isn’t around for this one. Instead, Doggo knows what you need to do to escape. Following man’s best friend, you’re led outside without the help of Tax, and this comedic ending plays.
An obvious reference to the Shiba Inu ending in Silent Hill 2, this is the nicest ending in Hollowbody. Mica and Sasha are saved as they sail home with their new canine companion.
