Hollow Ruins has *atmosphere* man. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it made me feel something, which is for me personally one of the greatest possible achievements of a game.
A few specifics:
First, the music: From the Title track (which I've just left running since finishing the game lol), I loved every single tune...they all set the mood perfectly. My only critique would be that the default Victory ME momentarily snapped me out of the trance induced by the BGM every time.
Second, the maps: very beautiful, my favorite piece was the bioluminscent mushrooms.
Third, the writing: this was a lot of dialog to get right, and overall it was precise and meaningful. The characters and world both had nice depth for a short adventure.
Fourth: didn't see the later dramatic events coming at all, very nice.
Fifth: way to go incorporating those few handdrawn fullscreen panels later on.
Thanks for making this!