i hope i can achieve 112% completion and the platinum trophy at some point but for now, i got my first ending today and wow! what an absolutely stunning and wonderful journey this game has been! although it can be extremely punishing at times (tbh i just suck at platformers lol), i enjoyed every single minute i spent with this game! the art style, music, gameplay and especially the world building are all top class! the only negative thing i can think of is that i had to do some extra digging and research in terms of the lore but it does not take away from the game at all. hollow knight has quickly become my new favorite game of all time and i appreciate the new skill sets it taught me, such as to be more patient/observant and memorize boss movesets instead of brute forcing my way through fights. hard to believe it was created by a small indie team because it stands on equal footing with triple-a titles! excited for silksong and to see what is in store for team cherry’s future! the knight is the cutest and best gaming protagonist btw! i love them so much!

edit: i really, really wanted to plat this game but i don’t know if i’ll be able to. i’m simply not good enough at it. i’ll keep trying but right now, it feels out of reach <\3

Por um tempo curto Metroidvania era o meu gênero favorito dos games, muito por conta de Castlevania SOTN. Eu amo as mecânicas de exploração e a recompensa delas, e além disso o combate se misturando com tudo isso. Por fim, o tempo foi curto, pelo fato de eu acabar enjoando muito rápido do genêro, e até pouco tempo o meu metroidvania supremo era o Aria of Sorrow. Hollow knight eu até tentei jogar na epóca, porém eu como tinha dito estava enjoado do gênero. Eu acabei dropando Hollow knight mais ou menos no ano novo de 2021, e de fato eu acho que precisava disso. Precisava amadurecer mais um pouco para simplesmente me agraciar com o mais novo supremo metroidvania que eu ja joguei.

Jogabilidade[5/5]: Simplesmente perfeita! Moldada da melhor forma possível. Entregando principalmente velocidade e muita mecânica. Acho que essa é a parte principal desse jogo! O fato de que não é necessário você desbloquear as habilidades que te permite alcançar novos lugares, e usar das próprias mecânicas do jogo, mostra como ele foi perfeitamente moldado e muito bem feito.

Dificuldade[4.5/5]: A maior parte do tempo o jogo é bem fácil, ficando mais difícil para o final do jogo. Eu até acabei passando mais dificuldade para o final por que não sabia que dava para melhorar o ferrão do personagem durante a gameplay, então de certa forma, joguei o jogo da forma mais difícil sem querer, e sinceramente não tive tantas dificuldades. Acho que a dificuldade é bem acertada nas DLCs, trazendo alguns bosses do jogo principal mais fortes e rápidos, e alguns bosses novos que são difíceis demais! E eu gosto dessa dificuldade do jogo, não é apelativa e principalmente te força a bolar estratégias e a se acostumar com os times dos bosses. Acho que se não fosse a facilidade que tive na maioria dos bosses o jogo teria sido mais marcante nesse fator.

Direção de arte[5/5]: Hollow knight é maravilhoso de lindo! Acho que nunca vi tanto amor pelos cenários de um jogo. Cenários vívidos, cheio de detalhes, muito bem desenhado, característicos e bastante memoráveis! Acho que nunca me apaixonei tanto pelo cenário de um jogo. Acho que esse é o ponto crucial de hollow knight, o designe dos personagens é marcante e você consegue distinguir cada um, com sua beleza e também o inseto no qual representa. Acho que hollow knight até o momento é o jogo que tem a arte mais linda que já vi até hoje.

História[5/5]: Hollow knight tenta fazer algo parecido com dark souls, porém em uma versão mais light, de dar poucos detalhes da história, que é contada muito das vezes observando o cenário, ou então lendo a descrição de itens, completando o diário do caçador ou as vezes em alguns dialógos de NPCs(os famosos sonhos também). A história as vezes é direta o que torna uma versão mais light de narrativa parecida com DS. E de fato eu curti bastante a história de Hollow knight, apesar de encararmos o boss final como um vilão, acredito que no fim não se tem um vilão ao certo, e sim uma consequência de ações tomadas que gera o estado final que se encontra Hallownest. E de fato, é muito bem escrito e rico em detalhes. Acho que só pelo fato da história se contada de várias formas e visões diferentes enriquece para mim a narrativa de hollow knight.

Trilha sonora[5/5]: As OSTs desse jogo são realmente maravilhosas! Eu amei cada OST principal de cada cenário e suas variantes, além de claro amar a OST de city of tears que na minha opinião é uma das melhores. Cada cenário tem sua OST marcante e muitas vezes a musica ainda fica rebobinando na sua cabeça mesmo com você não jogando o jogo. Que trilha sonora maravilhosa tem esse jogo sinceramente! Acho que as OSTs acabam até amplificando a mistura de sensações que esse jogo traz.

Gameplay[5/5]: Até o momento eu acredita que Aria of Sorrow era o metroidvania supremo, mais pelo fato de que o jogo além de trazer a exploração e recompensa de SOTN, ele também nos a diversão de poder usar os poderes dos inimigos, além de incentivar você a obter a habilidade especial de todos, o que me fez amar esse jogo e não conseguir parar de jogar ele por horas, além de zerar ele diversas vezes. Porém, hollow knight hoje, apesar de não trazer grandes revoluções no gênero, ele traz até o momento, balanceia perfeitamente a recompensa por exploração e combate, fazendo com que toda Hallownest seja marcante, seja por conta do cenário, inimigos, bosses, musica ou a própria dificuldade de exploração com trechos plataformer. Por fim acho que toda essa combinação faz com que hollow knight tenha sido para mim até o momento o Metroidvania perfeito.

Conclusão[4,916/5]:Acho que Hollow knight se tornou para mim o meu jogo mais favorito atualmente. Eu nunca me senti tão apaixonado por metroidvanias e além disso, me marcou com seu universo rico em detalhes e beleza. Acho que por um bom tempo não terei um jogo tão divertido quando Hollow knight foi e ainda é para mim. No momento da review ainda estou fazendo o panteão para conseguir o 112%, então de certa forma, eu ainda não consegui largar hollow knight. O fato de eu estar fazendo tudo o que da pra fazer no jogo mostra o quanto me apaixonei por ele. O metroidvania perfeito, que me fez viciar em seu universo, algo que não sentia a muito tempo. Estou ansioso para Silksong, e espero que novamente possa sentir o quão maravilhoso é esse universo.

HOLLOW KNIGHT: VOIDHEART EDITION - MY NEW FAVOURITE GAME

On the surface, Hollow Knight's premise is simple. A Metroidvania souls-like set in the hauntingly beautiful world of Hallownest, one which the player character - an unnamed knight hailing from a distant land - is tasked with exploring. Yet when put into practice Hollow Knight becomes so much more than that, as the sprawling in-game world and its various mysteries gradually unfold before the player.

For me, this game has it all. Engaging - yet it must be said, challenging - combat, a great sense of exploration, intriguing lore, tightly-designed bosses, secrets absolutely everywhere, a timeless art style and an absolutely gorgeous soundtrack.

Weirdly, I picked up this game a couple of times previously, played a few hours and then just bounced off of it. But this time I stuck with it and I am so glad I did.

To say too much about this game would genuinely ruin the experience, seriously just pick it up and play, you won't regret it.

One of, if not the best, games I have ever played - and I've been gaming for 20+ years. And it was only made by an incredibly small studio to boot.

A masterpiece in every sense of the word.

Hey gamers


For the first 75% of this game, I has having a blast. The soundtrack is beautiful, perfectly capturing a haunting yet wonderous tone. The art direction and character design are amazing. Gaining new abilities and feeling more confident in my combat abilities was a satisfying progression. Some of the boss fights were really fun.


However, I started enjoying it less and less these past few hours. The game becomes very repetitive and predictable, it takes ages to get from point A to point B, and, much like Bloodborne, I don't like stories that are kept so vague that it gives me nothing to attach myself to or hardly any motivation to push myself into the world. I think all I have left is a few bosses, and I can't beat any of them, even after several attempts. I routinely get hit by no fault of my own (projectiles spawning offscreen, attacks blending into the background, the controls, etc.), and I don't have the energy to push through and get them done. Maybe someday, but not now.

Story and Characters
-The story of Hollow Knight is a difficult one to discuss because it is very much put on the backburner for most of the game. There is a story and the game is full of lore, but it can definitely be hard to follow what is going on unless you look up certain things outside of the game. While I do wish that a bit more of the story would have been more obvious, I also did like some of the mystery that the game creates where you are really discovering this new land filled with all of these interesting inhabitants. So having the story be less important than the gameplay did not bother me as much here as it perhaps would in another game because this is a Metroidvania and the gameplay will always be what is most important.
-Similarly, the characters are given very minimal characterization as the character you play as never speaks and most of the side characters are not given much to do other than tell you a few lines of dialogue.

Gameplay
-The gameplay is the main strength of the game as there is a big emphasis on platforming and combat, with both of them being rather challenging at certain times. The gameplay is very simple at first with a very basic jump and attack, but as you keep playing, you unlock new abilities and tools to help you on your quest through Hollownest. The gaining of abilities over time keeps the gameplay constantly engaging as you are then able to go back and explore areas that you couldn’t access before or gain the skills needed to beat a boss that was previously too difficult.
-There are a ton of different enemy types in every region that you go to which is great because it keeps the game constantly challenging and keeps the player from ever getting too comfortable. Some of the enemies can be quite difficult at first, but as you play more you realize how to beat them more easily. This makes every enemy and boss almost like a puzzle in their own way as finding the weaknesses of the enemies is like solving that puzzle.
-The game is very challenging and certain bosses will kill you a lot. The challenge could be frustrating but it was also satisfying to finally defeat an enemy that you had been struggling with. There were some of the bosses that I found particularly frustrating because the save point where you would respawn was far away from the boss. This meant you had to travel a ways to get back to where you died which was sometimes annoying when you were dying over and over again.

Side Content
-The game has a decent amount of side content although sometimes it can be hard to tell what is optional and what you need to do to progress the story. The side content usually consists of getting additional money from hidden areas or unlocking new spells or charms that will allow you to change the way you play the game. It was very fun to discover new areas and new helpful items as the exploration in the game is very good and the side content helped you get more powerful.
-You also have the option to replay many of the boss fights or different variants of the boss fights that are even more difficult. There is an arena which is another place where you can test your skills through waves of different enemies and that is also very challenging. I am glad they have so much optional content and tough bosses for people who want to fight them, but I am also glad that much of it is not required if the player does not want to.

World/Level Design
-The world of Hollow Knight is gorgeous and I was very impressed how every section of the map was unique and detailed. Even though the game is a 2D style Metroidvania, they managed to make a really cool world that was very fun to discover. Every region was unique and the level design allowed for all sorts of hidden pathways and shortcuts you could find.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The graphics are obviously very stylized and hard to compare to a traditional AAA game, but everything in the game looks great and holds up very well.
-The music in the game is fantastic and every region has its own themes that play while you are exploring them. The music really adds to the atmosphere and elevates the game.
-I did not encounter any glitches while I played the game.

Main Positives of the Game
-Addictive gameplay and level design made me want to keep playing and wanting to discover all the secrets that the game offered. The game really has a skill curve that keeps you wanting to play because you want to get better and you do improve as you play. Bosses that were hard at first can be easily beaten as you become far better at the game.
-The large number of enemy types kept the game feeling fresh and the combat was very fun, despite the fact it can also be very difficult.
-The map and the world in Hollow Knight are gorgeous and every part of the map was unique and amplified by the music. The levels were all designed very well and made traversal constantly fun and interesting.
-The game manages to stay consistently good and never has what feels like a weak moment. I played for over 30 hours and still had a lot more stuff I could do which is a long time for a game like this.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The story is not bad, but it is hard to follow at times and while I like the mystery of discovering what is going on in Hallow Nest, I also wish a bit more of the story would have been focused on.
-There were some annoying bench placement areas where you had to travel for a while to get back to a tough boss and that got frustrating after dying many times.
-This is a minor thing, but the game gives you a lot of charms as you play that give you abilities to help you in the game, but you only have very limited charm slots. This forces you to choose from your collection what you want to use which makes sense, but I wish you had more charm slots as I really only was able to use two or three at a time for most of my play through. When you have roughly 40 charms to pick from, I wish we could use a bit more at one time.

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Enfim, uma das maiores pendências da minha vida se esvai, deixando pra trás um sentimento de arrependimento por nunca ter mergulhado nesse universo antes.

Desde a ascensão do sub-gênero dos "metroidvania", acredito que nada se compara ao nível absoluto de Hollow Knight. Não se trata apenas de uma experiência definitiva, se trata de uma experiência incomparável a qualquer outro similar.

Hollow Knight está no panteão de colossos dentre os maiores e melhores jogos independentes da história.

Muito me fascina o quanto traços de Dark Souls estão presentes por aqui, e não falo da dificuldade, mesmo que seja um ponto muito abordado no jogo.

A forma como cada cenário conta uma história à sua maneira, de um modo sutil e extremamente imersivo, nos ambientando em um universo tomado pela melancolia, fadado a ceder a uma infecção que se alastra cada vez mais, mas que em contraponto nos apresenta pequenas fagulhas de esperança fixadas a personagens únicos e inesquecíveis.

Há muitas memórias que eu gostaria de apagar, apenas para poder reviver todas elas pela primeira vez. Como quando chegamos na Cidade das Lágrimas pela primeira vez, viajamos pelos túneis com o Velho Besouro ou até mesmo quando enfrentamos os Lordes Louva-a-Deus, uma das lutas mais satisfatórias que já experienciei.

Hollow Knight caminha para se tornar um confort game pessoal, e acredito que minha passagem por esse universo ainda esteja distante de um fim.