Hollow Knight is the most overrated game I have ever played.
Its first area leaves the worst first impression for a video game I have seen in a long ass time. There are no story elements just "go in :)" nor any elements while you are in there, and your movement options are limited to a slow walk, a jump, and an attack. The enemies are dull and uninteresting and a boss is a bigger version of the enemies. The level layout and textures are just as equally dull and uninteresting and it just feels like "standard cave level" For a first impression it should have looked at Super Metroid or Symphony's first few minutes, as they do something very important this game fails to do: Build intrigue. Hollow Knight's curiosity gets better when you get out of there thanks to the introduction of Hornet, something to pique my curiosity, but I was never on the edge of my seat wondering what'd happen next.
The story takes a much more backseat approach which may work for some, but it never got me to care about anything that was happening in the world. Having some hidden lore is good, but you should still present something upfront to provide a reason for the player to care about why they are going to the next area. I had no clue my ending was just the standard ending until I looked it up after because the game really has no interest in telling you anything, just read it yourself. Problem is, if I don't care at the start, why would I use my own free time to read the lore in hopes I would suddenly care? Hollow Knight fails to give much reasons to care. It does from time to time, revisiting the first area near the end and seeing it infected is peak environmental storytelling, but that's the exception rather than the norm.
Speaking of how the bosses in the first area are bigger versions of regular enemies, that's about half the bosses in the entire game! Special Shoutouts to the Flukemarm which is the laziest boss I have seen in eons: All it does it spawn enemies and nothing else! The bosses that aren't lazy are very well done, and special shoutouts to the Mantis Lords which are absolute masters of Boss Design. Unfortunately those top tier bosses are again the exception rather than the norm.
The map system is atrocious: You can eventually have a map once you find the cartographer in each area, but until then it will only mark where you've been. This is like most Metroidvanias, but unlike most Metroidvanias this map is much less detailed and it won't tell you if there are any places you haven't been (IE doorways or hidden paths) and worst of all: It won't mark any landmarks! You have to do that yourself! Which is more exploring, which would be fine, but...
The death system. I've even seen hardcore Hollow Knight fans describe just how bad of an idea this is. When you die, you lose about half your money, kinda like Shovel Knight. Doesn't sound bad, right? Well you don't JUST lose half your money, you ALSO lose half your meter. Much worse. ON TOP OF THAT, Hollow Knight isn't a platformer, so you're not just gonna walk into these things naturally on your way. No you can't go and explore somewhere else because that area may be a bit too hard or something, the game is practically putting a gun to your head telling you to go to that area again to get your stuff back, since if you die again the money's gone forever. And without half your meter, you're gonna have a much harder time going in any other direction. Why you would discourage your players from exploring in a Metroidvania is absolutely baffling to me, and I hope a sequel removes the meter loss or the death penalty altogether.
They have a bank you can store your money in to lessen that penalty, but there are two problems with the bank: 1. There's only one bank in the entire game across this massive massive map and 2. The bank is a scam and will rob you after depositing past a certain amount, so it's pointless in the first place. Why.
I like the Charm system but wish it was a little less limited. Same goes for weapon upgrades, but in both instances there is only one location for these things on the entire map (and there's no library card-like item where you can warp there) which is absurd. Shops should be more spread out, or at least there should be one shop type at a warp point which makes a lot of sense for store owners to do.
And that's not getting into the big spacious maps themselves: Until you get the run function, you're slowly walking across that fucker. Running isn't much faster either, so it won't help too much. Landmarks/fast travel points are too far away from one another so even with fast travel you'll still be doing minutes worth of backtracking. And like I mentioned before, that also means doing the same areas over and over on death!
Getting the Dreamweaver in the second half is just go back and backtrack the map for three boss fights. Some are in new areas but others you're mostly just re-exploring old areas. Sure Castlevania does something like this with the Vlad parts, but you have abilities that you didn't have the first time when they come up and you can get those as soon as you have the power if you want rather than waiting for a questline to open up. That's not the worst criticism though, a minor one.
Sorry I had to tear this game apart but Hollow Knight is by no means a perfect game (I don't even think it's a good one, just alright with lots of highs and lows) and I wish people would stop treating it like it's the best game ever made.
I also hope Silksong improves on Hollow Knight, whenever that comes out. Hollow Knight has potential but runs into a lot of bumps in the road that keep it from reaching, but Silksong can learn from Hollow Knight and improve.
Its first area leaves the worst first impression for a video game I have seen in a long ass time. There are no story elements just "go in :)" nor any elements while you are in there, and your movement options are limited to a slow walk, a jump, and an attack. The enemies are dull and uninteresting and a boss is a bigger version of the enemies. The level layout and textures are just as equally dull and uninteresting and it just feels like "standard cave level" For a first impression it should have looked at Super Metroid or Symphony's first few minutes, as they do something very important this game fails to do: Build intrigue. Hollow Knight's curiosity gets better when you get out of there thanks to the introduction of Hornet, something to pique my curiosity, but I was never on the edge of my seat wondering what'd happen next.
The story takes a much more backseat approach which may work for some, but it never got me to care about anything that was happening in the world. Having some hidden lore is good, but you should still present something upfront to provide a reason for the player to care about why they are going to the next area. I had no clue my ending was just the standard ending until I looked it up after because the game really has no interest in telling you anything, just read it yourself. Problem is, if I don't care at the start, why would I use my own free time to read the lore in hopes I would suddenly care? Hollow Knight fails to give much reasons to care. It does from time to time, revisiting the first area near the end and seeing it infected is peak environmental storytelling, but that's the exception rather than the norm.
Speaking of how the bosses in the first area are bigger versions of regular enemies, that's about half the bosses in the entire game! Special Shoutouts to the Flukemarm which is the laziest boss I have seen in eons: All it does it spawn enemies and nothing else! The bosses that aren't lazy are very well done, and special shoutouts to the Mantis Lords which are absolute masters of Boss Design. Unfortunately those top tier bosses are again the exception rather than the norm.
The map system is atrocious: You can eventually have a map once you find the cartographer in each area, but until then it will only mark where you've been. This is like most Metroidvanias, but unlike most Metroidvanias this map is much less detailed and it won't tell you if there are any places you haven't been (IE doorways or hidden paths) and worst of all: It won't mark any landmarks! You have to do that yourself! Which is more exploring, which would be fine, but...
The death system. I've even seen hardcore Hollow Knight fans describe just how bad of an idea this is. When you die, you lose about half your money, kinda like Shovel Knight. Doesn't sound bad, right? Well you don't JUST lose half your money, you ALSO lose half your meter. Much worse. ON TOP OF THAT, Hollow Knight isn't a platformer, so you're not just gonna walk into these things naturally on your way. No you can't go and explore somewhere else because that area may be a bit too hard or something, the game is practically putting a gun to your head telling you to go to that area again to get your stuff back, since if you die again the money's gone forever. And without half your meter, you're gonna have a much harder time going in any other direction. Why you would discourage your players from exploring in a Metroidvania is absolutely baffling to me, and I hope a sequel removes the meter loss or the death penalty altogether.
They have a bank you can store your money in to lessen that penalty, but there are two problems with the bank: 1. There's only one bank in the entire game across this massive massive map and 2. The bank is a scam and will rob you after depositing past a certain amount, so it's pointless in the first place. Why.
I like the Charm system but wish it was a little less limited. Same goes for weapon upgrades, but in both instances there is only one location for these things on the entire map (and there's no library card-like item where you can warp there) which is absurd. Shops should be more spread out, or at least there should be one shop type at a warp point which makes a lot of sense for store owners to do.
And that's not getting into the big spacious maps themselves: Until you get the run function, you're slowly walking across that fucker. Running isn't much faster either, so it won't help too much. Landmarks/fast travel points are too far away from one another so even with fast travel you'll still be doing minutes worth of backtracking. And like I mentioned before, that also means doing the same areas over and over on death!
Getting the Dreamweaver in the second half is just go back and backtrack the map for three boss fights. Some are in new areas but others you're mostly just re-exploring old areas. Sure Castlevania does something like this with the Vlad parts, but you have abilities that you didn't have the first time when they come up and you can get those as soon as you have the power if you want rather than waiting for a questline to open up. That's not the worst criticism though, a minor one.
Sorry I had to tear this game apart but Hollow Knight is by no means a perfect game (I don't even think it's a good one, just alright with lots of highs and lows) and I wish people would stop treating it like it's the best game ever made.
I also hope Silksong improves on Hollow Knight, whenever that comes out. Hollow Knight has potential but runs into a lot of bumps in the road that keep it from reaching, but Silksong can learn from Hollow Knight and improve.
2 Comments
I loved this game but all these points are valid. To me, the high points are worth the frustrations since most games aren't capable of reaching them. I gotta take them wherever they can be found
TobeHoopDreams
2 years ago