Every frame is painted by hand
Our artists draw on tablets and in sketchbooks. Marren has 312 animation frames, and each of the eleven woods has its own palette, from the moss greens of Gladewick to the lantern oranges of the Hollow.
Indie game studio · Portland, Oregon
Hollow Lantern: a hand-drawn witch adventure for PC and Switch.
Play Marren, the last lamplighter of a drowned forest town. Brew potions, bargain with ghosts and light a path through eleven hand-painted woods. Thornwick Games is eleven people, three cats and no publisher, and every frame of the game is drawn by hand.
Coming to Steam and Nintendo Switch. About 14 hours to finish.
Hollow Lantern · character sheet, Marren v7
Hand-drawn in the studio, then animated frame by frame
A cosy adventure with teeth
Hollow Lantern borrows the warmth of a village sim and the nerve of a ghost story. Here is what you do with your hours.
Potion crafting that you can improvise
Forty ingredients, no recipe book. Mix mushrooms and moth wings and discover what the cauldron makes. Some mistakes become the best potions in the game.
Ghosts who want something
Twenty-six ghost neighbors each have a favour to ask and a secret to keep. Choices change who stays in town and who departs by the last chapter.
A map that grows as you light it
Your lantern reveals paths in the dark. Return to old woods later and discover doors that could not be seen before.
Hollow Lantern arrives in
Waitlist members receive the launch-day discount and a closed beta invitation two weeks before release.
Choose your edition
One price, no loot boxes and no battle pass. The Deluxe edition adds extras for people who want to support the studio.
Inside the studio
A glimpse of how Hollow Lantern is made, from the first face study to the final line of code.
Early players and press
“I started the demo at nine and looked up at one in the morning. The potion mixing is the most inventive thing I have played in years.”
“Hollow Lantern feels like a storybook that bites back. The hand-drawn animation is simply gorgeous.”
“My daughter and I played together on the couch. She picked the ghosts, I picked the potions, and we both cried at the end of chapter four.”
From the closed preview with 600 players and eleven journalists.
Join the Hollow Lantern waitlist
Get the launch-day discount, a beta key and the occasional development diary. Invite a friend to move closer to the front.
Questions from players
Which platforms will Hollow Lantern be on?
Windows, macOS and Linux through Steam, and Nintendo Switch. A PlayStation port is being discussed, but we will only announce it when we are sure.
How long is the game?
The main story takes around fourteen hours. Finishing every ghost's quest and brewing all forty potions can take closer to twenty-five.
Is there any combat?
No fighting. Danger comes from the dark, which your lantern pushes back, and from decisions that have consequences.
Will there be microtransactions?
Never. You pay once, you own the game and every update is free.
Can I play with a controller?
Yes. Hollow Lantern supports keyboard, mouse, touch on Switch and all major controllers, with fully remappable buttons.
I am a creator. Can I get a key?
Streamers and journalists can request a press key through the studio. Write to the team with a link to your channel.