Featured Presentation
Hello, fellow Patrons! My name is Leon, and today I bring you all a review of the game Hollow Knight, a Metroidvania styled platformer developed and published by Team Cherry. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, in 2017, and for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2018.
Awakening on the outskirts of a largely abandoned town, the player, in control of a creature simply known as 'The Knight,' makes their journey onwards, discovering a mysterious infection that has largely wiped out the local population, turning the inhabitants into husks and breeding farms. Forced to travel downwards into the ruins of Hallownest, The Knight will be forced to contend against these husks in their journey to discover both their origin, and the origin of the infection, as well as creating uneasy alliances with other survivors.
Who is the Hollow Knight, and what relation does he have with the Pale King and his abyssal vessels?
- There are more enemy and boss variations than you can shake a stick at, with something new and exciting to fight around every corner.
- The story-telling is top-notch, forcing the player to really pay attention to dialogue and their surroundings in order to understand the greater story.
- The platforming is very fluid, with additional abilities making the experience a very fun one. There are some very challenging platforming puzzles, but these are just uncommon enough, and just forgiving enough to keep them fun instead of purely frustrating.
- Charms are an amazing mechanic, that allows the player to switch up their play-style, allowing an obstacle to be tackled differently until a successful method has been found. While some are generic, many charms can truly change the game up, and many charms will even synergize with each other, creating combo effects that can be devastating if used properly.
- The bosses are all challenging, but also very fair, making each boss fight an enjoyable fight, rather than a head-pounding moment of utter and complete frustration.
- While the NPCs and companions are certainly interesting, many of them are rather bland or cliche, offering little to nothing towards the player's experience. That being said, there are some truly intriguing characters offered up by the game that makes up for the other character shortcomings, although it's a shame that not every character could have been given the same development quality.
- It is undeniably clear that Hollow Knight is heavily inspired by the Dark Souls games; the problem, however, is that the game outright rips off content at times, with direct parallels being seen quite frequently. Examples to this are the leaking of sentience through an infection of sorts, rendering the populace as husks (hollows), a cycle of either sacrifice or embracing the abyss (dark), and even an interesting piece of dialogue referring to annals, and the stripping of names from history, a rather blatant reference to the Gods of Anor Londo, and the disgraced first son of Gwyn. While the game is brilliant in its own way as well, it would have been nice if they would have been a tad more original.
- The end-game DLC is incredibly difficult at times, being a test of endurance taken to an entirely new extreme. Only the most steadfast of players will be able to beat the Pantheon challenges, which normally isn't an issue, except they directly affect two endings for the game, making this a con in my eyes, instead of a fun bit of post-game content.
The game is a mix of platforming, melee techniques, and a form of magic derived from the power of souls, with abilities and upgrades being unlocked the further you get into the game, and the more bosses you have defeated. Like all other Souls-like games, Hollow Knight requires a great amount of patience and memorization in order to overcome most obstacles, and for a good part of the game, you will be traveling blind throughout the vast map and its various biomes.
The game also has perfected the art of taking the player out of their comfort zone, dumping them into challenges that will continually keep them on their toes, and wondering what's next, which is such an important aspect of a successful Metroidvania.
And while the story behind the game can be rather obscure, being almost completely missable for players that rush through, the thought and quality that went into it all is crystal clear, and is another good sign of more developers catering to players that wish for artistic depth in their gaming experiences.
As a whole, Hollow Knight was a unique and challenging experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys Souls-like and/or Metroidvania styled games. I would have to give Hollow Knight an 8 out of 10 stars.
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