Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is a game that I've noticed often has the issue that it doesn't immediately hook one. I've seen so many stories of people picking it up, getting 3-4 areas in, and then dropping it all of a sudden, only to come back months or even years later, loving it. This was the case for me as well, and just like many others, I'm wondering what the hell was wrong with me. This game rules. [h2] Incredible exploration [/h2] For a Metroidvania, I truly think that Hollow Knight is incredible at offering tons of exploration right from the start. It puts you in this vast kingdom put in stasis, and you just go deeper and deeper, finding more stuff each hour you spend. There are so many paths, and I rarely had this typical Metroidvania issue of going forward a few meters and then realizing I literally cannot access that area and repeating that several times. With your base skills, you can find so much, meaning exploration really feels rewarding and not restricting, as you rarely run into the "I just focus on the main quest to get all my abilities" mindset. [h2] A world full of soul [/h2] This is also strengthened by the art direction. Most of the areas look quite unique, but you rarely run into the typical environments you'd expect from games with multiple biomes. Be it the City of Tears, or the Queens' Gardens, every single place may be full of death but is also full of soul thanks to the talent on display here. I'm especially impressed by how three-dimensional the environments feel. While it is a 2D game, many structures play with the background and foreground layers, making the world feel more tangible. However, a world cannot feel real without a story, and this is where Hollow Knight really shines. As the story progresses, you sort of feel like you start getting a grasp on what happened. I usually criticize nonlinear games for a very linear story structure, and that only by the time you do all your tasks does the story progress, but Hollow Knight doesn't do that. Each time you finish a quest, it feels like getting closer to finishing the picture puzzle. Individually the pieces say little, but combined they tell a story. Although the story is simple, the phenomenal worldbuilding makes this game truly memorable. All these different insects and areas have a story to tell. The backgrounds, spirits, and the very forces that drive this adventure ensure that you can spin countless theories, only to be proven wrong by a YouTube video, because for every question it asks, there may be more than one answer. [h2] Simple combat, great enemies [/h2] But enough of that, what about the general gameplay? Well, the Knight's main focus is to carve a path through Hallownest by fighting these vile creatures. These creatures come in all shapes, sizes, and levels of being annoying. The enemy and boss variety is quite strong, and this is especially impressive for such a small team. The combat itself is satisfying enough. You simply swing your nail and get a little bit of knockback each time you hit something. This can be used to pogo on enemies; however, there is no big focus on long combat combos; instead, it's always just a quick swing. Obviously, as you progress, you learn abilities that are stronger and slow or add range, but for the most part, the combat is rather simple, held together by strong boss design. [h2] Generic abilities for generic platforming [/h2] Sadly, I cannot say the same for the platforming. Hollow Knight is at a disadvantage for me, since I prefer more platforming in my Metroidvanias, and Hallownest does not offer that. It very obviously tries to, but it's never more than a "fine". There are always some nice areas where platforming is possible; Queens Gardens and the White Palace stand out for that, but even with the harder challenges, I never quite felt like the game was testing me. The pogo jump is a great addition for platforming, but it never felt hard to pull off, so I often used it out of boredom, not because the jumping entertained me. Two other issues that bothered me were the hit knockback and dashing while on a wall. Hitting an enemy can be detrimental during platforming, since the knockback messes with your trajectory. I may be bad, but I never figured out how much the knockback messes with my movement; it felt pretty inconsistent to me. The dash is also a little annoying, cause every time you even touch a wall, the dash will automatically push you away from it. Often I dash a little too late, and as a result I get pushed into another direction, which I don't get why it's programmed that way. Disappointingly, while the game does exploration well, it fails at one of the most important things a Metroidvania offers: Abilities. Pretty much every single ability is something you have already seen before. There are no surprises, and no, I'm not counting the longer dash as one, since it's basically just a dash with more automation. [h2] Overall...[/h2] ...Hollow Knight is impressive, and I cannot wait to get into Silksong, but I wouldn't really call this a masterpiece, as its platforming and abilities feel a little too generic compared to the rest of the game. 8/10.

Okay this game has completely blown me away! I was never a fan of 2D Metroidvania games and this one has definitely made me change my mind and more. This game has one of the best environmental story telling I have ever seen in video games or even other forms of media. With the interconnected maps of the Kingdom of Hallownest, to the differences in architecture, to the concealed dark underground labyrinths to the characters and the [spoiler] dream spirit fights and dialogues [/spoiler] all over the Kingdom, everything is telling the story. Amazing world-building, absolutely no lore dumps or expositions but for someone who reads through the journals and observes the dialogues (trained by multiple Fromsoft games) I had an amazing time in the world of Hollow Knight. The gameplay and movement was really amazing and crisp, there are some hard platforming and traversal sections but the controls were really tight making it feel good instead of it being a chore. There are no dead end regions, there is no way to get stuck or soft-locked, they really thought everything through when they designed the world. And the music, my God, it was perfect! The area OSTs were amazing, I need to hear the boss OSTs again because I was too busy getting my ass kicked. This is definitely a souls-like game with how difficult and simply tricky the bosses and mini-bosses were. No complicated movesets but boy do they kick ass. After almost 32 hours in game I was able to finish the basic ending with a 87% completion. Cannot wait to get back for the DLCs and other optional stuff left. A definite 10/10, buy it, there's really no equivalent to this game in this genre! Update after 52 hours: I returned after the basic ending and went through much of the optional and DLC content, all the way to the true ending route and man was it worth every second! The way the game slowly reveals the history of Hallownest, [spoiler] the nature of the Vessels, the Pale King, the Abyss, and the source of the infection [/spoiler] is truly remarkable. The optional bosses and late game challenges are brutal, making me even more scared of the Riddler iykwim. I am stopping at 100% for now, which is short of full 112%, not because I am tired of the game, but because I want to leave with the magic intact and return later. This is easily one of the greatest games I have played.

If you enjoy Souls-like games, this game is definitely for you. It's increadibly satisfying as you aquire new skills that allow you to traverse location that you previously couldn't. Overall a very pleasant experience.