Cecil Hollow: Alien abductions and Appalachian influence meet in this spectatularly spooky indie horror game

When it comes to the concept of horror, I like to brag that I’m pretty desensitized to most things. Body horror, psychological mind-bends, and paranormal jump scares are things that I’ve become used to, having been watching horror games since I was about 12 years old.

However, Cecil Hollow is a horror game that had me on edge from the very beginning. 

If there is one thing that you can throw at me to give me that horror-induced anxiety, it’s Appalachia. That particular part of America is filled with so much creepy folklore and, more recently, popularized ‘rules’ that I can’t help but feel like it’s one place I would like to avoid, despite the area’s overwhelming beauty. 

Cecil Hollow throws you into the middle of Appalachia, with the added threat of alien abduction. 

Appalachian influence

If you spend a lot of time on the internet, particularly watching short-form videos or the YouTube algorithm tends to throw you onto the creepier side of content, then you’ve likely heard the ‘rules’ of Appalachia. The whole “if you hear your name, no you didn’t”, “don’t look into the trees”, and “don’t whistle in the forest”. All of these rules are based on folklore and superstition, but even for the most hardened of horror fans, they’re enough to make you feel like something is watching you. 

Cecil Hollow takes a huge amount of influence from this folklore and various true stories of experiences people have had in the area. The Steam page for Cecil Hollow states that the game is ‘based on true events’, so I reached out to the developer for some clarification on that point. Here’s what they said:

“Certain locations have supposedly been hotspots for paranormal and/or otherworldly activity for decades. Some reports go back farther than that. Places like Skinwalker Ranch, Bradshaw Ranch, Mt. Shasta, etc. And it isn’t a modern issue, as many native cultures experienced similar things. And why do these occurrences happen so often at ranches, of all things? 

We’re taking a bunch of these strange phenomena, placing them in one location, and allowing players to explore those questions, all while trying to bring awareness to the strangeness.”

A familiar story told incredibly well

The premise of Cecil Hollow is a fairly familiar one: You’re an investigator, sent into the wilds of rural Kentucky to investigate some weird goings on. You’re armed with hi-tech equipment and sensors, and you need to figure out where the owners of this ranch have disappeared to. 

Except, as with any horror of the type, things don’t go as planned. Equipment malfunctions are the least of your worries when you start hearing strange banging noises from inside the house. You’ll quickly find yourself trying to decide whether being inside the dark house with the satanic ritual on the floor is better than being outside in the fog next to the forest. The air itself seems to hum with strange apparitions that are as otherworldly as they are creepy. 

Once your equipment goes haywire and you only have your senses to rely on, it quickly becomes apparent that maybe you shouldn’t rely on them at all. Your peripheral vision plays tricks on you, or at least you hope it’s a trick, and you start to question what you’ve seen and whether any of it is relevant or even happened at all. 

I come in peace

I’ve never been particularly spooked by the thought that aliens exist and could come down to Earth. Frankly, I’d be the first in line holding a sign that says “take me with you”, and I’d wholeheartedly allow them to take me on an intergalactic adventure through the farthest reaches of space. But as it stands, I hardly think that any being of higher intelligence would ever deem Earth worth troubling themselves over, at least in its current sorry state. 

I digress, but my point is that aliens don’t generally scare me, but something about the ever-present but just out of reach sense of an imminent alien threat in Cecil Hollow makes me… Uncomfortable. Not scared, as such, but definitely not entirely happy about the situation, and being outside next to the corn fields is enough of an ick that I couldn’t help but constantly keep my finger on the sprint button. 

In the midst of things

Outside of the spooky happenings that make up the main plot, which is enough to fully drag you in without a shadow of a doubt, Cecil Hollow is also graphically gorgeous and realistic. Walking into the houses feels, weirdly, like you’re stepping into an actual home that you weren’t invited into, and everything looks so lived in. It truly manages to capture the essence of ‘someone was here recently, and we don’t know where they went’. 

The interiors are immersive, but the exterior landscape and setting are what really shine in Cecil Hollow. Even though you can only really see the first few rows of the corn field from ground level, you truly get the sense that those fields go on for miles. The shadows of the treeline seem to shift and move before your eyes, giving a sense that something is just out of reach, watching you intently. 

These visual elements, combined with the captivating story being woven, are enough to make you feel as though you’re truly in the middle of rural Kentucky with no sign of life for miles. You’ll find yourself looking to the skies frequently, avoiding making eye contact with anything that may or may not be in the trees, and moving as quickly as possible from point A to point B, just in case.

Cecil Hollow is currently in development by Immortal, Inc., and though there is no set release date for the full game just yet, there is an incredible demo available to download and play through Steam.