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“Hollow Home’” on Steam Brings Players Into Besieged Mariupol Through the Eyes of a 14-Year-Old
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Ukrainian narrative-driven game Hollow Home is expected to be released on Steam in 2026, as reported by Ukrainian media outlet Village on May 19.
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German company Crunchy Leaf Games has partnered with Ukrainian studio Twigames, the developer of the project, to support its global launch. Crunchy Leaf Games will act as the game’s publisher and help bring it to a wider international audience, the company’s CEO Max Dome said, according to the outlet..
The game follows the story of 14-year-old Maksym, who is trying to survive the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion in the besieged city of Mariupol.
Players are tasked with exploring the city, searching for supplies, assisting other survivors, and making difficult moral choices. Hollow Home relies on dialogue-driven gameplay and branching quest lines to depict a city gradually collapsing under the pressure of war.
The game contains no combat mechanics, instead focusing on the civilian experience and the psychological impact of war.
Development of Hollow Home began in 2022. Since then, the project has received several industry recognitions, including Best Conference Game and Game Star at Games Gathering 2024, as well as the Critics’ Choice Award at Indie Cup Ukraine 2023, among other accolades, according to Village.
The release of Hollow Home comes amid a broader wave of Ukrainian games exploring historical memory and identity. Recently, a new Ukrainian video game titled The Hollow has been released on Steam, offering a narrative inspired by Ukrainian writer Ivan Bahrianyi’s novel Tyhrolovy (Tiger Trappers / The Hunters and the Hunted).
The game is set in an alternative version of the late 1960s, where, despite the official dismantling of the Gulag system, the Soviet Union continues to operate a secret facility known as “Zaslon” in the Tunguska meteorite crater in Siberia. The facility is used to detain political prisoners, scientists, and individuals deemed disloyal to the regime.
Players take on the role of Morok, the son of a scientist involved in the development of a classified weapon based on a fictional mineral called “tungusite.” The storyline centers on uncovering the nature of this weapon and determining who controls it.
The game combines fictional elements from the Tiger Trappers universe with historical figures, including the novel’s protagonist Hryhorii Mnohohrishnyi, writer Ivan Bahrianyi, human rights defender Mykhailo Soroka, aircraft engineer Yurii Kondratiuk, and dissident Levko Lukianenko.
It was previously reported that Charlotte Higgins, chief culture writer at The Guardian, is set to release a new book titled Ukrainian Lessons, which examines art, everyday life, and resistance in Ukraine during wartime.
According to Penguin Random House, the book explores “the profound connections between war, art and life,” highlighting how culture and creativity continue to shape Ukrainian society amid Russia’s ongoing invasion.
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