The Hole

The Hole

c0d3_r · May 13, 2022 · Horror, Adventure, RPG, Dark Humor, Puzzle

The Hole is free to play — no purchase needed. We track it so you know if that ever changes.

PC
Mixed45% · 29
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →

The Hole price

The Hole is free to play — there is no purchase price, on Steam or anywhere else we track. We keep watching it, so if it ever stops being free the price history on this page will show when that happened and what it changed to.

About The Hole

✦ AI summary

The Hole has you waking up in a mysterious location with no memory, forced to solve puzzles, hack systems, and evade a sinister presence while uncovering the truth through a darkly comedic horror story. Switching between first and third-person perspectives, you'll run, hide, climb, and gather items across an original narrative that blends genuine scares with twisted humor.

You wake up with no knowledge of how you got where you are or what may have transpired. Play through a truly original story conjured up by the demented minds of Buffnerd Studios.

In this horror/dark comedy game you must use your wits to unlock doors, break into computer systems, complete tasks, solve puzzles, and escape...all while avoiding certain death from some strange presence.

Toggle between 1st or 3rd person game play.

Run, jump, roll, crouch, climb, hide, and interact with items or objects.

Discover and use items to restore stats and reveal clues.

The Hole — game info

Platforms
Windows
Steam Deck
Playable
Player modes
Single-player
PC Game Pass
Not included

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

✦ AI summary

The Hole commits hard to its minimalist concept of exploring a mysterious hole, earning praise for its environmental storytelling, minimalist horror aesthetic, and sound design that creates genuine unease despite the simple premise. However, players report frustrating technical issues like unresponsive doors and clunky mechanics, along with inconsistent difficulty spikes and checkpoint systems that can feel punishing, making the experience uneven.

Recommended Nov 26, 2025
The Hole is a game where the devs took one concept— > “What if there was a hole?” > and committed to it so hard it actually works. You: * See a hole * Investigate the hole * Make at least 7 bad decisions involving the hole That’s the plot. That’s the mechanic. That’s your life now. --- ### Pros * Peak horror minimalism: one house, one hole, 400 red flags you ignore because “what’s the worst that could happen?” * Environmental storytelling done right: * Notes: “Do **NOT** go near the hole.” * You: immediate hole enthusiast. * Sound design goes crazy for no reason. You’ll hear one *distant* thump and suddenly remember every mistake you’ve ever made. * Short enough to beat in a night, long enough that you’ll be side-eyeing any dark spot on your floor for the rest of the week. * 10/10 use of a flashlight as both a lighting tool and a portable anxiety amplifier. --- ### Cons * Your character has the survival instincts of a YouTube vlogger: “Is that an ominous abyss in my house? Let’s go check it out at 2 a.m.” * 90% of gameplay is walking toward things you would absolutely walk away from in real life. * No matter how carefully you approach, you *will* get jump-scared righ…
1 found this helpful
Recommended Aug 8, 2026
Hole-y moley!
Recommended Jul 3, 2026
This is a GREAT game. I can tell by the reviews it's not universally loved, and I totally get why. But for me, the game is perfect. I think I a lot of people may not give this game the proper chance. Though the location is just a single building, that building is penitentiary, with 4 cellblocks, and a ton of administrative offices and whatnot. Meaning, it's a pretty big map and so far I have bit run into any map, and I hope I don't. A lot of this game is going to be learning to get around the penitentiary. I've put in about 10 sessions so far and according to Steam, it's says I've played 3 hours, but I've surely played longer, or it seems that way anyways. To me there are two things that make the game great to me, the fact that it's free, and there's a whole lot of building to explore. I made some major movement in the game today and so stopped and saved the game. I've been playing the game off and on for the past few months and I just personally enjoy the process of exploring and memorizing large map/world layouts. Plus I need to figure out what's going on in this prison and why there's some murderous alien chasing me around and why it's ripping bodies in half.
Not recommended May 7, 2026
Didnt really enjoy it. Too many codes to remember. Interaction didnt always work and the guy runs like hes on ice
Not recommended Apr 1, 2026
I like the atmosphere, for the most part. The first time I played, I made it through undoing some generators/circuits/whatever, then was killed from behind by a creature I didn't know existed. Then I was booted back to the start of the section, losing what felt like a lot of progress. That was enough for me to abandon it, but the game stayed in my mind so I booted it up for a second time a few days later. I made a bit more progress. Then... the doors stopped responding to me. If they were shut, they wouldn't open. If they were open, they wouldn't shut. Rendering it impossible to progress. And no, grade school level joke names =/= comedy. It just draws you out of the immersion. It's too bad. I see potential. I might even try a third time, months or years from now when I forget how frustrated I was. But I wouldn't bother if I were you.
Not recommended Sep 16, 2025
Weak horror: cliched fears, bugs, empty levels, atmosphere doesn't grab you.

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