Hollow Cocoon

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Hide from a pale, long-limbed ghost in a 1980s Japanese mansion.

Platforms: PC, Switch
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (92% of 934 reviews)
Length: about 4 to 5 hours
Players: 1
Made by: NAYUTA STUDIO
Released: 2023

What frightens In a remote Japanese mountain village in the 1980s, a student is trapped in an abandoned mansion with an unnaturally tall, pale creature with insect-like eyes and bloody lips; you cannot fight her, so you hide and sneak while she stalks the halls.
Content: violence, blood, suicide, jumpscares.

Hollow Cocoon is a first-person horror adventure set in 1980s Japan. A university student goes back to his mother's mountain village when his grandmother falls ill, and ends up hiding from a tall, ghostlike creature in an old mansion while he uncovers what the village has kept hidden.

About Hollow Cocoon

Hollow Cocoon is the second game of NAYUTA STUDIO, a small Japanese studio. It came out on Steam in December 2023 and on Nintendo Switch in July 2024, with full Japanese voice acting and text in English and many other languages.

You play Minato Jinba, a university student in the city in 198X. His father calls to say that his grandmother, who he has not seen in over a decade and has reason to resent, is in critical condition. He takes the bus deep into the mountains to Ichinose, the village where his mother was born, remembering the one thing his grandmother ever told him, about silkworms that cannot eat or fly once they leave the cocoon. The village is drawn in close detail: wooden shops, old vending machines, red post boxes and ten-yen pinball machines you can actually play.

The horror begins at the grandmother's house and grows into the maze of an abandoned mansion full of locked doors. There you are hunted by a creature inspired by the yurei of Japanese ghost stories: very tall, with long thin limbs and fingers, pale scarred skin and black insect-like eyes. Minato has no weapon. You move carefully, listen, and hide in closets and other spots; if she sees you go in, she will find you there. Glowing talismans let you save and can drive her off for a moment, and on normal difficulty their uses are limited.

Between chases you gather keys, solve puzzles and read documents that slowly explain the village's past, leading to one of four endings. Three difficulty levels let you choose between a story-led run and a harder hunt, and there are settings to reduce motion sickness. It suits players who like Japanese ghost stories and hide-and-seek horror with a mystery to piece together.

How to play Hollow Cocoon

Explore the village and the house in first person, reading notes and collecting keys and items.
Watch and listen for the creature, and get into a hiding spot before she sees you.
If she spots you, sprint away and break her line of sight before hiding again.
Use the glowing talismans to save, and remember they can hold her off for a moment.
Solve the mansion's puzzles and unlock its doors to move the story toward one of four endings.

Screenshots

Hollow Cocoon screenshot: an old wooden shop on a village street at dusk, with a red post box, vending machines and autumn trees

Hollow Cocoon screenshot: the shadow of a tall, long-haired figure falls across lit paper sliding doors in a dark tatami room

Hollow Cocoon screenshot: a young woman in a red floral kimono kneels on worn tatami mats beside a lacquered mirror stand

Hollow Cocoon screenshot: a woman in a white blouse holds a silkworm cocoon in her open hand, a key on a cord around her neck

Hollow Cocoon screenshot: a red ten-yen pinball machine with a U.F.O. space board, levers on each side and a GOAL at the bottom

Tips

Never enter a hiding spot while she can see you; that is how she finds you.
Learn the route between hiding spots before you need it.
Use talismans with care on normal difficulty, as their uses are limited.
You can lower the difficulty during play if the chases become too much, but you cannot raise it again.