THE HOLLOW: UNLEASHED

I still don’t get it. Why Red?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad name—short, snappy, and easy to yell when you’re in trouble—but seriously, how hard is it to call me ■■■? I tell them every time. “Hey there, I’m ■■■! That’s ■-■-■.” And then two seconds later, it’s, “Thanks, Red!” Like, hellloooo I'm a person not a color!

It’s not just me, either. ■■■■ gets stuck with Hero (real subtle there), ■■■■ is Aqua, ■■■■■■■’s Violet , ■■■■■’s Levi, and ■■■■■... ■■■■■'s Bolt. Like I dunno what's up with these names. Like, Bolt? That's like, a name for a dog that's also a superhero, ha! At the very least why can't this stuff be a little more creative.? I could have a cooler name like... PYRONIUS THE GREAT or... MAXWELL. Okay, maybe not Maxwell..

Still, I guess it's not super bad, kind of funny. Makes me feel like we’re a team of mismatched action figures. “Coming soon to a toy store near you: The Hollow Squad! Collect all six!”

I guess the names don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. What does matter is what’s been happening since the players started showing up. Life here used to be quiet—peaceful, even. We had our little routines, our roles, and yeah, it got boring sometimes, but the worst thing you'd get to worry about is maybe Davis frying eggs and getting them a bit overcooked.

Now? Well, there's, uh, other stuff, for sure.

Every new player that spawns in brings a little more chaos with them. Puzzles get solved faster. Bosses get tougher. The game feels...alive in a way it didn’t before, and it's... exciting. ■■■■ gets all upset that he has new responsibilities, and ■■■■ all worried about one of us getting hurt. Which, I guess makes sense.. But come on! What haven't we faced before?! Aren't we the experts at The Hollow?

And besides— it doesn’t do anyone any good if we all start freaking out. I like helping the players. Seeing the way their eyes light up when they figure something out, or when they realize we’re not just generic NPCs, I keep thinking about how fun our first adventure here were.

He doesn't remember anymore. To... an extent.

His return has always been odd from the very start.

Once the Hollow gets you, you're done for – as in, out of game. That's for "normal" players. "Normal" NPCs come back with every restart, but put emphasis on the normal. Whatever category you'd put me and the rest after the glitch, that wouldn't be – normal.

What awaits us is a complete mystery, one that I wouldn't dare to risk... As there are some signs of where that would go. A certain friend of mine. A friend that I thought was lost to time. Only to be brought back. Brought back.. unchanged.

At first I was excited to see him once again, but as time passed, a sense of unease crept down my spine. The program has everything down to a t – the voice, the mannerism, even memories - but I can feel something is off. As time passes, I change, so does everyone else. But he – seems to stay static. Locked into the only data the remnants of his code posessed.

It got worse with every reset once these games started again. As we recall memories of every reset, he's been entertwined with the standard NPC code - a set character with a set role. The childhood best friend, but not... him.

Everytime, everytime I want to go back, help him recount and catch up with all that's gone on. But it feels helpless. Despite how much the program would want to convince me, I know it's not truly him. He has been lost long ago. As much as I'd hope a part of me can't believe that he's still somewhere in the software.

Sometimes I think about what he would say if he were really here. Would he call us crazy for trying to make this world better for the players coming in? Would he even care about what we’ve become? Or would he laugh it off, tell us to stop worrying so much, and just enjoy the time we have?

Wins are... concerning. Honestly, not something I'd ever admit before. But that's the circumstances of this place.

As much as a break from the mundane is amusing, it's also a pain in the neck. Things were very unclear at first. What happens if a team wins? If they lose.?

But it's not like you can keep track of every single pair of teams that come through. And oh boy, we tried.

Loses are more obvious, at least for us. Not that that is something we've observed first hand. But that's not a thing that can be risked. We have a certain someone to the example of that. Despite all the new chaos, we were fortunate enough not to lose anyone else.

But wins? Was also a concern. Though, inevitable. As much as we feared a game reset after winning the game would affect everything... We seem to constant, hometown being our 'spawn point'. Of course it resets the events, memories of certain others around us, those not part of the 'glitch', and it's dissapointing.. But at least our own memories keep intact. I can remember every argument I got in with these dorks. Nice.

But the players? We don't know what happens to them exactly. If the game functions exactly like the Hollow did, if they win, they get out of the game, winners. If they lose, they're out, losers. But, that's not exactly what it looks like to us. There's not much of a difference of a real death and an in-game one when you are a part of the game. In the end, it all just looks like death. And it's not pretty.

They keep coming.

New faces, new "players".

At least that's what we believe they are. Their avatars flicker into existence with that same spark of curiosity and confusion we had when first stepping into the Hollow. I don’t know why this is happening. I don’t know how.

None of us do.

Weirdy would know. He always had the answers, even if they were buried in riddles and eccentric tangents. But Weirdy isn’t here. He hasn’t been here ever since we were left on the new server. Here back in the hometown, we've marked our second year or peaceful life within the Hollow. But as far as we know time moves faster in the program. I wonder how much time has passed out there.

But wondering doesn't really get you anywhere. We need to act. And, we do. With the limited knowledge of these encounters – where are they coming from, who these people are... Not like they can say. Classic Hollow, wiping minds. All we can do is try and keep these strangers safe.

Weirdy isn’t here, and no one else seems to be in charge. But that’s okay. We’ve taken on that role, whether we wanted to or not.

serveronium_: lets get this over with. I keep seeing a bunch of posts about a new hollow project?? so what's the deal with that? or is it just a bunch of made up stuff? any posts about it on the official hollow board get deleted immediately. and that thing been deaaaaad for a while.

litgamer2000: think it's some kind of hoax. or maybe a fan game? ARG thing? the hollow was kinda freaky after all xD

omniomniomni: It's kind of closed thing. Anyone who wants a link to more info can PM me.

NPCWatcher: wow.. hope anyone didn't get malware! LOL

Real1sonlY: Nah, omnis the real deal. This whole "Unleased" thing is kind of on the down low, but not too difficult to search up.

serveronium_: OK yeah i did kind of risk my computer blowing up into bits, buuut yup. This is a Thing. Will update on more stuff i find.

litgamer2000: Sooooo not some fan made hack??

Real1sonlY: If some bored 12 year old could program this whole thing - then sure, but i doubt it. Still, game appeared just as suddenly the original got shut down. Devs would wanna hype it up somehow i'd think

NPCWatcher: LOL - does it have something to do with that sitch with the weird guy that went crazy? Deleted the original server, dipped and now wants to make his own version?

litgamer2000: Ah yes! The legendary "weird guy"!

Real1sonlY: Yeahhh really love the guy - Now all those hours I put in to participate in the game that got suddenly wiped is now totally worth it! (sarcasm btw)

serveronium_: Finally read up on what omni sent, and also some more stuff. Unofficially the game's titled "The Hollow: Unleashed". It's a real thing, but participation seems to be invite only. Some super elite stuff ig

litgamer2000: That's crazy!!! And this info is just out there? Wouldn't ya think it'd be better hidden?? - How has Hollow games not sent a cease and desist already??

codenode12: Woww you guys are super active tonight. But I'll break it down for you guys. My uncle works at Hollow Games and it's not their's but they are monitoring the statistics and stuff!

Real1sonlY: Yeah, everyone's uncle works at Hollow games, dork.

litgamer2000: Soo anything else about this UNLEASHED thing?? Does the Hollow get into your room instead of u getting in the hollow??

Real1sonlY: Hopefully not. That sounds terrible. 👎👎👎

NPCWatcher: Nice!

serveronium_: Sorry im back. Guess who had a great chicken dinner

litgamer2000: Okay.. But the game?? Dying to know what you found out (not rlly dying)

serveronium_: Yeah sorry. So my guess of why it's "unleashed" is because the game's kinda more complex.

Real1sonlY: Even more than the OG?

serveronium_: I mean the OG kinda was cool and always updating - but the NPCs were kind of weak - the same few and always stuck to a script.

There are a couple additions, and these guys are like, super advanced.

NPCWatcher: A new advanced self-learning language model?

serveronium_: Maybe. Whatever that means. But people say these things are uber complex. Sentient kinda?

litgamer2000: ughh creepsville much?

Real1sonlY: whatevs, I'm hooked. I just hope another weird guy doesn’t shut it down like the original.