I have very mixed feelings about Hollow Knight. I played just under 40 hours so there was definitely what to keep me going. I enjoyed it all. And yet I'm kinda pissed at the game. So let's talk about it I guess. See if I can figure out my feelings towards the game.
Let's start with what I liked.
1. Combat is really great. Every time you hit something, there's a small knock-back so you can't just wail on things; you have to be careful about positioning. There's also a small cooldown between hits so you can't just wail on things, each hit is a commitment. And there's a variety of ways of attacking from regular slashes to pogo jumping on enemies to swiping up at flying ones. Additionally, enemy design is really great so there's good patterns to learn and play around. And it's got the Dark Souls mode of thinking where even little enemies are still dangerous later in the game if you don't watch out because you don't have a lot of health and they still hit for like a sixth of your total health, it's just significantly easier to avoid their attacks or heal up.
2. Exploration is pretty great. There's definitely a game loop you learn pretty quickly of enter a new area, search around for notes to find the map dude, fill out your map, but it's a satisfying loop. And the game does mix it up occasionally. Additionally, it's fun to hit different walls to see where the broken walls are and it's fun to unlock different fast travel options and shortcuts and whatnot.
3. Atmosphere. This one is a bit of a mixed bag because I do kinda wish that the game was a bit more cheerful, but fuck that. The game commits to a unique term that's hard to describe and it does it well. It's dark, but also cutesy, it's... nostalgic? wistful? it's great. I did on occasion wish that there was more music, but on the occasions where there was music, usually near benches, the music was pretty decent and made for great atmosphere even if it's not something I'd listen to on its own
And now what I disliked:
1. The game is too goddamn long. I enjoyed every hour of the 40 hours I played, but that doesn't mean the game didn't overstay its welcome. It's not as bad as the Assassin's Creed series, but I definitely would have preferred a 6 hour version of this game. The gameplay doesn't change enough over the course of the game to support the long length and neither does the world. It remains fun, but playing a new game would have been more fun past around 6 hours. Another reason why the length of the game was a problem was...
2. The story, or lack thereof. I played this game for 40 hours and here's the full amount of story I got out of those 40 hours of gameplay. A king in the past (lore, not even story) sealed away The Hollow Knight with three dreamers. You play as an unnamed character who breaks the seal, defeats The Hollow Knight, and becomes the new Hollow Knight, being sealed away yourself. Those two sentences aren't even a summary, that's literally all I could piece together over 40 hours of gameplay. And I didn't even know my goal for the first 25-30 hours, I was just exploring because that's the only thing to do. Usually games try to appeal to a wide audience and even lore games will throw players like me a bone with a minimal amount of story besides for the lore. This game does not care about story players. Obviously that doesn't matter to lore people, but as a story person, it was frustrating.
3. Minor quibbles: ok these two are not a big deal, bu I figured I'd mention them. Firstly, there are a couple parts of the map that are annoying to get to because there aren't really fast travel points nearby. Not a big deal, but kinda annoying. Second, it takes too long to get off a bench. Again, not super annoying, but when I'm trying to beat a boss and it's taking a bunch of tries, I wish I'd be able to just get off the bench quickly so I could get back to the boss.
In summary, Hollow Knight is a good game, but I wish it was made with players like me in mind rather than just not caring at all about those with my preferences.
Let's start with what I liked.
1. Combat is really great. Every time you hit something, there's a small knock-back so you can't just wail on things; you have to be careful about positioning. There's also a small cooldown between hits so you can't just wail on things, each hit is a commitment. And there's a variety of ways of attacking from regular slashes to pogo jumping on enemies to swiping up at flying ones. Additionally, enemy design is really great so there's good patterns to learn and play around. And it's got the Dark Souls mode of thinking where even little enemies are still dangerous later in the game if you don't watch out because you don't have a lot of health and they still hit for like a sixth of your total health, it's just significantly easier to avoid their attacks or heal up.
2. Exploration is pretty great. There's definitely a game loop you learn pretty quickly of enter a new area, search around for notes to find the map dude, fill out your map, but it's a satisfying loop. And the game does mix it up occasionally. Additionally, it's fun to hit different walls to see where the broken walls are and it's fun to unlock different fast travel options and shortcuts and whatnot.
3. Atmosphere. This one is a bit of a mixed bag because I do kinda wish that the game was a bit more cheerful, but fuck that. The game commits to a unique term that's hard to describe and it does it well. It's dark, but also cutesy, it's... nostalgic? wistful? it's great. I did on occasion wish that there was more music, but on the occasions where there was music, usually near benches, the music was pretty decent and made for great atmosphere even if it's not something I'd listen to on its own
And now what I disliked:
1. The game is too goddamn long. I enjoyed every hour of the 40 hours I played, but that doesn't mean the game didn't overstay its welcome. It's not as bad as the Assassin's Creed series, but I definitely would have preferred a 6 hour version of this game. The gameplay doesn't change enough over the course of the game to support the long length and neither does the world. It remains fun, but playing a new game would have been more fun past around 6 hours. Another reason why the length of the game was a problem was...
2. The story, or lack thereof. I played this game for 40 hours and here's the full amount of story I got out of those 40 hours of gameplay. A king in the past (lore, not even story) sealed away The Hollow Knight with three dreamers. You play as an unnamed character who breaks the seal, defeats The Hollow Knight, and becomes the new Hollow Knight, being sealed away yourself. Those two sentences aren't even a summary, that's literally all I could piece together over 40 hours of gameplay. And I didn't even know my goal for the first 25-30 hours, I was just exploring because that's the only thing to do. Usually games try to appeal to a wide audience and even lore games will throw players like me a bone with a minimal amount of story besides for the lore. This game does not care about story players. Obviously that doesn't matter to lore people, but as a story person, it was frustrating.
3. Minor quibbles: ok these two are not a big deal, bu I figured I'd mention them. Firstly, there are a couple parts of the map that are annoying to get to because there aren't really fast travel points nearby. Not a big deal, but kinda annoying. Second, it takes too long to get off a bench. Again, not super annoying, but when I'm trying to beat a boss and it's taking a bunch of tries, I wish I'd be able to just get off the bench quickly so I could get back to the boss.
In summary, Hollow Knight is a good game, but I wish it was made with players like me in mind rather than just not caring at all about those with my preferences.