Easily one of my favorite games, played it way too much. The soundtrack is amazing, the environment/art is beautiful, and the little sidequest (improving sword) don't feel like a hassle. 10/10 u/linuxgamingquestions
Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania style game where the focus is on combat with some precise platforming gameplay. While the game's combat is very fun, there are many flaws and quality-of-life issues that make it very annoying and tedious to explore. Despite the huge size of the world, there are no ways to display the locations of all items needed for 112% completion. This forces the player to constantly refer to 3rd party maps throughout the game. The result is a very polarizing experience where the game can be very fun one moment, and extremely tedious another. Fortunately, the vast majority of cons only apply on your first progression.
Pros:
- Fun and challenging combat. Some bosses are especially fun and hectic. Sisters of Battle and Pure Vessel are pure fast paced combat and my favorite bosses in the whole game.
- Controls are fast, fluid, and responsive, well suited for a fast paced action game.
- Huge world to explore.
- Graphics are cute.
- Creating builds with charms is fun.
Cons:
- Despite the huge world, the game does not do a good job of displaying everything needed for a full completion. This forces the player to constantly refer to 3rd party maps in order to see what is where.
- The map system is clunky. You start with no map, and the map doesn't dynamically update as you explore.
- Progression is too vague, even for a Metroidvania game.
- Level design is bad. Many zones are just mazes.
- Some zones are too dark, making it difficult to play.
- It can be frustrating trying to see enemies and projectiles due to visual clutter.
- If you die, you must get back to your corpse to retrieve your money. If you die on the way to your corpse, you lose all your money.
- Too much backtracking, even for a Metroidvania game.
Besides the Dark Souls games this is one of the games i mostly enjoyed in the last years. Wonderful artstyle and soundtrack. Challenging gameplay. And a very loveable main charakter :-)
For those of you who are not afraid of high difficulty and games which explain almost none of its mechanics. And those who like to explore and sink into the atmosphere of a game for many many hours. This is the right game for you. Don't hestitate. Buy and enjoy it.
I can't believe only 3 people made this game. Team Cherry manages to combine metroidvania and souls elements to create something truly special. The art style is unique and interesting, bosses are fun and challenging and the attention to detail is impressive. One of the best games i've played in recent years and a must have if you like metroidvanias at all.