I was initially not too fond of hollow knight as the gameplay looked rather simplistic and I am not a big fan of the art style in it. After a couple of years of pestering from freinds and family I begrudingly decided to give it a shot since I had a free copy due to playstation plus a couple of years ago.
The initial few hours I held my same opening opinion, I really didn't understand what people saw in this game at all. After a while though the craftsminship of the world and level design started to sink in. The world of Hollow Knight is huge and it is extremely easy to get lost in it.
Everytime I hit a new area I would open open another dozen routes to explore. At times I had one objective but seeminly I would get distracted and end up exploring somewhere else and several hours later still haven't completed that first objective. It's always like I gotta find the cartographer now, oh wait a new item shop, oh wait I only need a few more geo's to buy this, oh wait I know where this item goes, oh wait I found a secret path oh wait oh wait oh wait. I really grew to like the openendness of the level design. There are difned paths you need to take to get to the endgame but going straight there would be a fools erand. It's all about getting stronger and preparing yourself and perfecting your build. Then you get the completionist bug and try to max your health and magic, get all the charms and so forth. Exploration gives more rewards than anything else in the game.
The common fodder enemies scatered around the map are easy enough to dispatch for sure but they do make you stop and think what you are doing instead of mindlessly rushing through an area. Plus there are many reasons to fight them as well.
The bosses are a real stand out though. Most of them might not be OMG the best boss fights ever. However they are all very well constructed and thought out meticulously. Their is some good craft to their gameplay for the most part. Nightmare Grimm was a real highlight.
The story and lore aspect is really deep from what the internet has told me but honestly just playing through the game and 100%ing the game I feel like I got about 75% of it through random lore texts and optional speech bubbles. I'm at the very least interested now in going online and looking at a more deeper analisis, so take that for what you will.
The things I did not like are the artstyle. I know it's praised for it but if im being honest playing the game did not change my mind on it. A lot of the areas also feel real samey. The music to me while not bad is just kinda there. There are a couple of tracks that I can think of but like the save room theme or the grimm fight music but most didn't leave an impression on me. I really didn't care for the mechanic of hitting enemies pushing you back. I felt this was more annoying than anything, just makes the game feel sluggish. Also I would have liked a bit faster or longer dash. Getting around areas can take awhile especially if your running through them for the hundreth time. I know there are charms to get rid of these things but it's wasteful to use them on such minor things that should be there already. Speaking of travel I wish there were a few more fast travel spots in the world. There are times when you have to travel past three huge open areas to get to where your going and it feels needless. Or have them in better locations. Places like the battle colussium would have been real nice to have one near. I know you can create a custom fast travel in late game but I don't think it remove the issue as you can only make one at a time and you are kinda encouraged to not use them if you are trying to collect essence. The last thing that is complete and utter bullisht, maybe the most bullshit thing I've ever seen in a game is the pantheon's. I'm all for boss rushes but these are just a dumb long grind of fighting the same bosses over and over again, ones at by this time you have fought several times over already. Tieing this to trophies is dumb. Fight 10 bosses in a row while we throw a new one at you, that you can't possibly hope to win on the first several times then to top it all off go through all of the bosses. There's rewarding difficulty and then there's maschosism
In conclusion if you like metroidvania's that really encourage deep exploration and open ended gameplay with some well designed bosses I'd suggest giving Hollow Knight a try. Even if it takes a few years of convincing :)
Platinum #145
The initial few hours I held my same opening opinion, I really didn't understand what people saw in this game at all. After a while though the craftsminship of the world and level design started to sink in. The world of Hollow Knight is huge and it is extremely easy to get lost in it.
Everytime I hit a new area I would open open another dozen routes to explore. At times I had one objective but seeminly I would get distracted and end up exploring somewhere else and several hours later still haven't completed that first objective. It's always like I gotta find the cartographer now, oh wait a new item shop, oh wait I only need a few more geo's to buy this, oh wait I know where this item goes, oh wait I found a secret path oh wait oh wait oh wait. I really grew to like the openendness of the level design. There are difned paths you need to take to get to the endgame but going straight there would be a fools erand. It's all about getting stronger and preparing yourself and perfecting your build. Then you get the completionist bug and try to max your health and magic, get all the charms and so forth. Exploration gives more rewards than anything else in the game.
The common fodder enemies scatered around the map are easy enough to dispatch for sure but they do make you stop and think what you are doing instead of mindlessly rushing through an area. Plus there are many reasons to fight them as well.
The bosses are a real stand out though. Most of them might not be OMG the best boss fights ever. However they are all very well constructed and thought out meticulously. Their is some good craft to their gameplay for the most part. Nightmare Grimm was a real highlight.
The story and lore aspect is really deep from what the internet has told me but honestly just playing through the game and 100%ing the game I feel like I got about 75% of it through random lore texts and optional speech bubbles. I'm at the very least interested now in going online and looking at a more deeper analisis, so take that for what you will.
The things I did not like are the artstyle. I know it's praised for it but if im being honest playing the game did not change my mind on it. A lot of the areas also feel real samey. The music to me while not bad is just kinda there. There are a couple of tracks that I can think of but like the save room theme or the grimm fight music but most didn't leave an impression on me. I really didn't care for the mechanic of hitting enemies pushing you back. I felt this was more annoying than anything, just makes the game feel sluggish. Also I would have liked a bit faster or longer dash. Getting around areas can take awhile especially if your running through them for the hundreth time. I know there are charms to get rid of these things but it's wasteful to use them on such minor things that should be there already. Speaking of travel I wish there were a few more fast travel spots in the world. There are times when you have to travel past three huge open areas to get to where your going and it feels needless. Or have them in better locations. Places like the battle colussium would have been real nice to have one near. I know you can create a custom fast travel in late game but I don't think it remove the issue as you can only make one at a time and you are kinda encouraged to not use them if you are trying to collect essence. The last thing that is complete and utter bullisht, maybe the most bullshit thing I've ever seen in a game is the pantheon's. I'm all for boss rushes but these are just a dumb long grind of fighting the same bosses over and over again, ones at by this time you have fought several times over already. Tieing this to trophies is dumb. Fight 10 bosses in a row while we throw a new one at you, that you can't possibly hope to win on the first several times then to top it all off go through all of the bosses. There's rewarding difficulty and then there's maschosism
In conclusion if you like metroidvania's that really encourage deep exploration and open ended gameplay with some well designed bosses I'd suggest giving Hollow Knight a try. Even if it takes a few years of convincing :)
Platinum #145