Being the last plague doctor in town is already a pretty lousy situation. It’s even worse when the people you were supposed to save have transformed into violent, demon-like creatures and started coming for you every night. Fortunately, Aldren has moved beyond traditional medicine at this point. He’s got a staff, volatile potions, plague-powered attacks, and absolutely no problem using them.
Black Hollow is an upcoming first-person dark-fantasy horde-survival roguelite from solo developer PolyPixel Interactive. It’s currently heading toward an October 2026 release, and there’s already a free demo on Steam if you fancy finding out how long you’d last when the plague comes knocking.
Another Night in Black Hollow
Things aren’t going well in the town of Black Hollow. The Hollow Plague has ripped through the population, transforming its victims into violent, demon-like creatures. You play as Aldren, the last plague doctor still searching for a cure and someone whose approach to medicine has understandably become a little more aggressive.
That means heading into battle with a staff, ranged plague attacks, volatile potions, and alchemical abilities, while increasingly dangerous groups of infected try to bring Aldren’s research to a permanent end.
Infected peasants are only the beginning. Fallen guards, corrupted plague doctors, bloated victims, airborne Plague Crows, and bigger threats are all waiting, with things becoming increasingly unpleasant the longer you survive. Fortunately, every corpse is also potentially useful.
Dead Enemies Make Great Research Material
Killing infected enemies releases plague ichor, and grabbing as much of it as possible is an important part of each run. The more you collect before the bell tolls, the better your potential rewards become. Those rewards feed into a build that can combine relics, upgrades, alchemical attacks, runic powers, and plague-based abilities.
The current demo has already grown considerably since its first playable version. One of its largest updates added 43 run-altering relics, including cursed variants, alongside a temporary upgrade shop and an expanded permanent research system with 31 upgrades covering areas such as alchemy, survival, mana, ichor collection, and reward quality.
There’s a boss waiting at the end of Night Two as well, because apparently surviving hordes of plague-ridden villagers wasn’t enough to be getting on with. The result is a roguelite where killing the infected is only half the job. You also need to decide how to turn everything you’ve harvested from them into something capable of surviving whatever Black Hollow throws at you next.
One Developer, One Very Unhealthy Town
Behind all of this is PolyPixel Interactive, with Black Hollow being developed as a solo project. Its first public playable build arrived on itch.io before a Steam demo followed on August 4th. Rather than keeping the game hidden away until launch, development has continued with players able to try it, break it, offer feedback, and see new systems gradually make their way in.
Updates have introduced new enemies, bosses, relics, progression systems, combat improvements, accessibility options, performance work, and substantial balancing changes. Even systems such as hourly progression have been reworked, with players now returning to the runestone to claim a relic and prepare before the next hour begins.
It’s a good reminder of just how much can change during those final months of indie development.
The Plague Arrives This October
Black Hollow is currently scheduled to launch on Steam in October 2026, but you don’t have to wait until then to give it a try. There’s a free demo available now, and with development still underway, there’s time for plenty to change before the full game arrives.
For now, I’m curious to see just how far PolyPixel Interactive can take Black Hollow before October. There’s something wonderfully grim about playing a plague doctor whose attempts to find a cure involve spending his nights fighting off the very people he couldn’t save. Probably not the career Aldren had in mind when he went into medicine.
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