Hollow Knight

This game is absolutely phenomenal. So much so that even after pirating it and playing about 10 hours, I decided to buy it. This game is absolutely worth the $15 asking price, and I couldn't in good conscience not support the creators of such a great game. First off, it is gorgeous. If you ever wanted to know what a steampunk-esque Victorian style city designed by sentient insects would look like... you're probably the only one... but once you see it, it is awe inspiring. This is a Metroidvania through and through, but it also carries a definite Dark Souls vibe. A once great civilization stood here, but all that remains of the inhabitants are the husks of the dead, and a smattering of intrepid explorers. Speaking of exploring, you'll be doing a LOT of it. This is another area where the game borrows from Dark Souls 1. There are lots of twisting passages that loop back to previous areas, opening shortcuts. Fortunately, the scenery is worth it. Even when said scenery screams "You do NOT want to be here!" You may have read about some technical shortcomings, such as frame stuttering. This has almost entirely been rectified as of version 1.0.1.4. I know it's still early in 2017, but so far this is the best game I've played this year.

For a cutesy indie title that costed me less than 15 bucks, about the last thing I expected to say was that 12 hours in I don't think I'm anywhere near the finish line, and I love that. I'm still organically encountering new areas that look and feel very disctinct from one another, new enemy types, new skills, new roaming NPCs... This game has so much content to uncover I'm more than happy to lose myself in it and stumble my way through everything it has to offer—and that's pretty much the only way you are gonna get through it! After an introductory animated cutscene, you are off on your merry way and it's up to you where to go next from there on out. If you are a fan of linear storytelling and progression, this is not the game for you. If, however, you enjoy setting your own path; figuring out the way things work through experimentation; and piecing together the misteries behind a world and how it came to be the way it currently is; welcome home, my friend. Don't let the the adorable artstyle fool you though, this is not gonna be a cakewalk. This a 2D Metroidvania through and through, and with that comes the challenge and free-form pacing that characterizes the genre. You will encounter dozen and dozens of enemy types with their own particular behaviors; tons upgrades and skills to help you in combat or to traverse the enviroment; blocked doors and unrecheable passageways you will have to take mental note of, to come back to when you have the required key or skill; Bosses, and even some regular enemies, that can be brutal, but with a solid and rewarding gameplay, beating the toughest foes never fails to feel satisfying. As far as downsides go, the game has some abrupt framerate drops, I wish the soundtrack was more melodic than ambient, and savepoints could be more evenly distributed. It is a testament to how good the game is that despite these issues (the perfomance one being the biggest) I can still call this one of my favorites. Bravo, Team Cherry.

I find it odd - one almost can't throw a stone without hitting a criticism about this game. Bad performance, bugs, bad map system and so on. Yet... I feel that is possibly the best Metroidvania I have ever played (and I'm always desperately searching out any that is released because on average, there is only like one good one per year) and thus find that the game deserves much more praise than it gets. Why? For one thing, no other Metroidvania has ever made me observe enemy attack patterns and adjust my own THIS much. If you blindly strike at enemies, chances are you won't get very far. Which is in fact also something that people have complained about. Probably because they simply don't realize that with this game, you need to take your time in most battles. And learn to dodge. Which is probably why there is the dash move instead of a double jump (which does exist but you get only very late in the game). For another, it is gorgeous AND really well-designed. Yes, those two are separate things. By the latter I mean the way things work in the game. It's not just the combat system that has obviously been thought about a lot and that is REALLY unique (the person at Rock Paper Shotgun who wrote that review IMO has no clue what they're talking about). Also the many details and mechanics in the world, such as the many characters one can find and interact with. Also like being e.g. able to achieve piece with a faction in the game which not only affects the bosses but also the surrounding environments. Widespread change in behavior that I don't think I've seen in a Metroidvania before. It is also HUGE! I've been playing for over 25 hours now and I'm still on my first playthrough! And it's not just that the world is big but there are over 100 different of those hand-animated enemies. The amount of work gone into that must've been insane! Now... I must admit that probably because of that, the animation quality varies. Some elements were obviously drawn with less frames per second than others and thus stutter a bit. But still... for a game priced this low, it's mind-boggling and I already feel like I've gotten my money's worth and then some. All of that said, Hollow Knight definitely has the flaws mentioned in the beginning. While I have not encountered bad performance myself (and I'm running this on a 4 year old midrange graphics card), nor any bugs, I doubt that people would make this up. (While it may be up to optimization in this case, I actually feel that it's great if a 2D game has so much going on visually that it requires an at least somewhat beefy graphics card.) And I do find the map system bad and also don't appreciate the relatively infrequent save points. Once the map is uncovered and you have some abilities unlocked and you can plan a reasonable route, it's not so bad but getting there does feel annoying at times, since one can't just play the game at one's own pace but has to look for the next save point if one wants to take a break. Plus, it always seems like a cheap way of making games seem longer than they are - having you repeat areas leading up to a boss over and over. And the game world is so huge that it wouldn't be needed - so I really don't get why they decided to do this. In the end, in my opinion the many original aspects of the game make the negative aspects lose almost all importance. Of course I hope that the sequel (there simply has GOT to be a sequel. Or at least a spiritual successor) will not suffer from these issues. But I'm still having one hell of a time with this game and thus feel that it deserves 5/5.

For me this game is simply amazing. I have been playing games for over two decades now and consider myself to be quite jaded sometimes, but Hollow Knight's world and atmosphere pulled me in so hard I honestly feel like a kid again playing it, eager to explore the secrets of Hallownest. Exploration here is really addicting and you will often find yourself lost pushing forward, in a dark place without a map :). I, for one, love this aspect of the game, even the backtracking is fun as it makes you more comfortable navigating Hallownest. Art design is breathtaking at times, the game has a cartoony feel to it mixed with an underlying sense of dread and sadness in the world, I would compare it to the first dark souls in terms of the feelings it brings up when playing. Music is also superb and matches the environments well. Occassionally the game will stutter or skip a frame but it is definitely not game breaking, just annoying at times. Progression system has a nice twist to it with the various charms you can collect and mix to suit your playstyle, with major skills being found throughout the game in a typical metroidvania fashion. To sum up Hollow Knight is a wonderful experience that no fan of metroidvania games should miss, definitely more than the sum of its parts. Its world is worth exploring and you will be hard pressed to leave it behind.