There is a LOT to love about this game, and i think it is held back by a few poor decisions and the game boy itself. The main heart mechanic in the game is the best they've ever done, the two castle mechanic blew my mind when they revealed it, although it needed some work, fast travel needs to be better, dashing feels great to do at all times, bosses are fun, but it felt a bit all over the place with items, like i never knew where to find them and always felt lost in a bad way. Still really fun, and if someone worked on these mechanics in a new metroidvania it could be fantastic. also i would fuck juste so hard you dont even know

GOD DAMN THE FINAL DUNGEON IS ASS!!! Maybe this is a rare opinion but this is for sure worse than the first game. While the two feel like one big game, there is so little talking in this game, simply going from dungeon to dungeon, killing things until you reach the end. The vibe it gives me story wise is like a post game DLC of another game, where you understand all the mechanics and world so it speeds up telling you them. Except we don't know this world. We explore such a little space with so few explainations for the world besides "sun bad" and I really wish there was more with that.

The gameplay is great, but the mantra system is annoying as all hell, if the mantras were free and all party members got exp inherently I would be fine, but I just get stuck with 3 main party members since I don't have the resources to be buying each and every mantra. Alongside that, the final dungeon is like straight up bad. Painful slog and multiple grinds because my characters are just not equipped to deal with these bosses they constantly throw at me.

I really really wish I liked this game more and it is still good, great even, but in the first game I felt like I was one of the embryon, struggling just to survive and make it out, and in this game I felt like I walked down a corridor for 30 hours so I could figure out how the story of these characters I love ended. Don't even get me started on how they treat the characters dear god

My personal favorite game of all time, Hollow Knight is an insanely enjoyable experience for all fans of the MetroidVania genre. There is so much to do, explore, and unearth in this game that even though I have beaten it eight times it still feels new each time. My one issue with the game is the Godmaster DLC. I just don't find it fun, its insanely repetitive and horrible to hide the true ending to the game inside a pushing 40 minute bosh rush. I cannot put this against my rating of the overall game though, since this was FREE DLC. thanks team cherry dad please feed me silksong like baby bird