The Hollowing Is Ace Combat Meets Iron Lung

Published Sep 21, 2026, 1:40 PM EDT Nazmul Roosevelt is a journalist who has spent years covering the video games industry with a focus on clarity, accessibility, and genuine curiosity. He works to help players understand the people, craft, and decisions behind the entertainment they love. From game developers, to the technical artists, and communities shaping modern gaming; if you have a story worth sharing, he’s always open to hearing it... And if you happen to know anything about that secret Twin Peaks game in development, he’d especially like to talk. Rubeki, the solo developer behind cult hit Lorn’s Lure, announced his next project during the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct: an atmospheric first‑person horror flight sim called The Hollowing. It takes flight later this year on Steam, and a free demo is already on the runway. The Hollowing takes place in the same universe as Lorn’s Lure, transposing the exact eerie sci‑fi world depicted in that hit into a new genre. Players take on a maintenance role inside a massive megastructure, tasked with flying between inter‑settlement communications towers at airports and outposts. Each job will involve taking off, navigating through dense mist, going through landing procedures, repairing equipment, and carefully plotting to move on to the next station. The premise is simple, but digging deeper, it's clear that something may be amiss when it comes to this world. The Hollowing stands apart from traditional flight sims that have come before. Microsoft Flight Simulator has a focus on realism and quiet traversal without narrative. Instead, The Hollowing is built around story, tension, and atmosphere, using flight-sim gameplay as a literary vehicle rather than a way to push your system's graphics to its limits. It also differs from Ace Combat’s hopeful, politically charged skies. Instead, Rubeki leans into the oppressive tone of Iron Lung, the cult submarine horror game whose narrative was strong enough to be adapted into a feature film. Using scale and isolation as core tools, the potential audience is certainly proven for Rubeki to come into their own with a new take on vehicular-based megalophobia. The Hollowing Brings Horror Flight Sim To Steam With a New Demo "Could there be something on the wings? Some... Thing!?" Lorn’s Lure provides important context for what players can expect. Released in late 2024, the game earned praise for its stark sci‑fi world-building, unsettling tone, and clever environmental storytelling. Critics highlighted its ability to create tension without relying on jump scares, and players responded strongly to its atmosphere, helping it sell more than 60,000 copies. When I finally checked it out, it required a massive amount of dexterity with the mouse in order to get a handle on its grappling and parkour mechanics. So I can echo that there really aren't any annoying jump scares to torment you in Lorn's Lure, but there are some really exciting scary jumps that test your vertigo. Publisher Future Friends Games, known for indie titles like Exo One, CloverPit, and Laysara: Summit Kingdom, is partnering with Rubeki for the release. The studio gassed up The Hollowing as "a mystery‑driven experience where players are guided only by the voice on the other end of a radio as they uncover what happened inside the Megastructure." Playing the short demo showcases the aforementioned core loop very well: mastering takeoff and landing, navigating through thick fog, and maintaining delicate equipment through a hostile environment that you never get a clear picture of. Yet some users have reported that "the more left unsaid/explained the better" when providing feedback on the opening narrative. The Hollowing is set to release later this year on Steam, and you can make up your own mind about the demo or wishlist the title from the official store page. Systems Released March 10, 2022 ESRB t Engine unity Genre(s) Indie Games, Adventure, Simulation Indie Games Microsoft Flight Simulator