How to play › ADVENTURE
HOLLOWBROOK
The surveyor's map called it Hollowbrook: one well, one crate and more trees than sense. You have an axe, a strong back and a crate in the square. Hollowbrook is a relaxed gather-and-build game about turning that clearing into a town.
PLAY NOW ▶The goal
Gather wood, gold and stone and pour them into glowing build pads to raise buildings. Raise the Town Hall to level 5, light the Lantern Spire, and then found the next town.
How a town plays
Walk up to a tree, ore rock or boulder to gather from it; tap Z to gather faster. Logs stack up on your back, and you carry them to a glowing pad and stand on it to pour them in. When a pad is full, a building jumps out of the dirt. Spare loads can go into the crate in the square.
Buildings open up the valley. Cabins bring woodcutter helpers, and a whistle (C) sends them hustling home with their loads. The SAWMILL makes planks, the MARKET sells for coins, the WORKSHOP sells tools, and the BRIDGE and STONEYARD open the gold fields and the quarry. You can also trade with the rival town of Cindermoor.
From Town Hall level 2, hill bandits come on some nights for your crate. Bonk them with Z, build watchtowers on the roads to shoot them, and hold Z at the door of a wrecked building to repair it. A wrecked building stops working until repaired, but never loses a level.
The game saves as you play. Your helpers keep working while you are away, and a WELCOME BACK panel collects what they gathered.
Controls
| Keyboard | Pad | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Arrows | Stick / d-pad | Walk |
| Z | A | Tap to gather faster; hold on a pad to pay coins; bonk a bandit; hold at a door to repair |
| Space | START | Use a building, talk to a visitor or neighbour |
| X | B | Town ledger: goals, buildings, trade, map, stats, the valley |
| C | C | Whistle: helpers hustle and haul home |
| Q / E | L / R | Point the goal arrow at another pad; flip ledger pages |
On a phone or tablet, a see-through joystick and A, B, C, L, R and SPACE buttons appear over the game and do the same as the keys above.
Gamepad: the stick or d-pad moves and the buttons follow the Pad column (Start is START). Esc, P or Back pauses, and the HOW TO PLAY button over the game shows the basics any time.
Modes
Hollowbrook is one long game rather than a set of modes. Once the Town Hall reaches level 5 you can found a new town from the Hall: everything in the old town stays behind, but you keep your stars, and each star makes gathering and loads bigger in every town after it. There are four towns to found in all, each in its own valley. The DAILY COMMISSION is played in a separate throwaway town.
Mastery stars
Each star pays tickets the first time you earn it.
- Bronze: First Roof: raise the Town Hall.
- Silver: A Proper Town: raise the Town Hall to level 5.
- Gold: Light Over Four Valleys: complete the Lantern Spire.
Daily challenge
Yes. The DAILY COMMISSION is one building task against the clock, with a twist for the day, played in a throwaway town. It never touches your real town.
Beginner tips
- Follow the goal arrow. It points at the next useful pad, and Q / E can point it at a different one.
- Build cabins early. Helpers gather for you, even while you are away.
- Turn the sawmill off when you need raw wood for pads; it mills 2 wood into 1 plank.
- Sell at the market when prices are high: they drift all day.
- Before bandit nights get serious, put a watchtower on each road.