Demo unearthed for Hollow Mire

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Psychological choice-driven horror adventure in post-war Britain coming to PC on Steam in late 2026

The horrors of war don't end when the peace treaty is signed, as the grief and trauma and despair can live on long after the battlefields are abandoned. Hopefully most of us never have to experience that first-hand, but we can do so virtually next year in Hollow Mire, a choice-driven narrative thriller by indie developer Mowlo Games.

It's 1952, and a "shattered, snow-swept Britain [is] still haunted by the echoes of war." John Rowe returned home from the front a hero, only to find no trace of his devoted wife and daughter following a bomb attack on their hometown. Years later, John still hasn't abandoned hope of finding them, having become a journalist who specializes in stories of the "strange and unexplained," focusing on tales of spirits and what lies beyond. His latest assignment may just be his most challenging yet, as he's sent to the secluded countryside Breken House, a place rumoured to be haunted with a consciousness of its own. Sure enough, soon after his arrival, the "long-buried memories of [John's] family and of the war claw their way to the surface, distorting reality around him." Meanwhile, Detective Gwen Porter investigates a "missing patient and a murdered orderly at the archaic and brutal Bordon Down Asylum," in the process "uncovering a chilling connection" that binds both past and present and John's story with her own.

Fully voiced with atmospheric cello accompaniment and presented in a gorgeous hand-painted art style, Hollow Mire is a third-person choice-driven narrative adventure that the developers describe as The Shining meets Disco Elysium. You'll guide the two playable protagonists through "bleak rural landscapes" with either a gamepad, keyboard or point-and-click via mouse, collecting items and solving the occasional linear objective-based task along the way. There will also be "investigative puzzles and memory reconstruction" to contend with as you try to piece together the protagonists' respective mysteries, as well as some "action-based flashback sequences" that take players back to John's harrowing experiences in the war.

The creepiness will surely get under your skin at times, but the focus here is less on jump scares and far more on "emotionally grounded psychological horror" exploring themes of "memory, loss, and a mind slipping between truth and madness." While John is "haunted by memories of D-Day, 1944, orders lost in smoke, and the friends who didn’t make it home," Gwen's path "uncovers a darker history, rooted in the brutal and experimental mental-health practices of the Victorian era." Player choice is integral to the experience, as the decisions you make will branch the story and ultimately lead to one of eight different endings. The sprawling manor, in particular – so large it needs both a minimap and pull-up map to navigate – offers numerous opportunities to shape the narrative. In both matters big and small, you're cautioned not to "disturb" anything inside because the house "remembers" any interference. Will you pay heed to the warning or... oh, who are we kidding? Of COURSE we're going to see what happens when we don't, though perhaps coming back to try again later for other "altering scenes and paths." 

The full version of Hollow Mire is likely still a year away, expected to launch on Steam sometime in late 2026. In the meantime, however, a playable demo is available now to download, featuring the prologue and first chapter of the complete game.