Original Publication Date: 7/1/2019

Re-published 09/06/2022

Hollow Knight

Few games captivated me last year like Hollow Knight did. It didn’t exactly come out of nowhere – I’d heard bits and pieces about the bug-based Metroidvania, but I avoided watching any real footage of the game to maintain a blind look at the game. But when I finally got my hands on it, I was consumed by the best game I played in 2018 – a perfect experience that is the perfect challenge, whilst never taking it too far if the player doesn’t want to take it further.

Surprisingly, I didn’t get into Hollow Knight the first time around – I picked it up the minute it was announced at the E3 Nintendo Conference, but due to classes, personal issues, and a holiday, I only reached the third area of the game before shelving it for a month or two. On a rainy afternoon, I picked it up again, and that was that – I was consumed by the Void known as Hollow Knight, and I think it’s accurate to say I barely played any other games during the time Hollow Knight captivated me.
The first moment I thought the game was special was the first time I entered the hub town of Dirtmouth – a sad, downbeat piece that spoke volumes about the world, and the characters that inhabited it. With how the town grows in population as the game passes on, seeing this sad little town almost empty stuck with me for much of the experience. I’m of the opinion that no single factor in my deep love for this game is more important than its art and music direction – the game looks and sounds incredible. The sound is always quite soft during normal gameplay, always complimenting the visuals, but it’s in the boss fights they truly shine, creating rousing tunes that push you to your limit against the toughest foes. Visually, I don’t even know how to describe the game – it looks stunning, unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a 2D platformer. I must direct praise to the pre-rendered cutscenes – whilst few and far between, every single one looks divine, feeling like they belong in a high-budget animated film then a crowd-funded video game.

Navigating Hallownest is nothing short of – for the most part – a joy. The game does not hold your hand and always tell you exactly where you need to go next. The perfect pace at which you obtain new abilities – being a MetroidVania, acquiring new abilities allows you to access new areas, and use paths in old areas that were unreachable prior – slowly opens the gigantic world map, whilst never making the player feel utterly lost with nowhere to go. I could see how some people wouldn’t love the game from the get-go, but with every ability I unlocked, moving through the world and the game overall became more and more fun. Wall-jumping, double-jump, and dashes changed the game’s dynamic intimately, and even to this day I’m finding new little tricks and moves combining the different abilities I’ve acquired. The game never asks too much of the average player just aiming to complete the game, but the true challenge lies in the distractions. Tough platforming sections can lead to rewards, or special encounters with unique NPCs. I think the game takes the difficulty a little too far in the true endgame, but it’s only an issue for the last two zones, and the feeling of conquering them is unparelled. Every zone in the game feels distinct and different from one another – The eerie colours of the Mines, to the calm and relaxing Greenpath, to the pitch-black and terrifying Deepnest, to finally the gorgeous and wonderfully atmospheric City of Tears, which I would place as among the greatest areas in gaming ever. Though, I could probably say something nice about every zone in the game – expect, perhaps for Fog Canyon.
Advertisements
REPORT THIS AD
On the note of art and design, I’m amazed at the amount of work put into the many, many characters The Knight can encounter on his quest in Hallownest – in a game where characters speak in a variety of intelligible noises, I was amazed how much I fell for pretty much all of them. They all feel completely unique in personality and ambition. I grinned like a madman every time I ran into Quirrel, felt myself relax every time I heard Cornifer’s reassuring hum, and jump a metre into the air when I met the Wet Nurse. For such a lonely, cold trek into the depths of the world, Team Cherry did a great job making the interludes from that isolating journey that much more important when you meet these other travellers. I loved following all their own, individual storylines, and every visit to Dirtmouth was a joy as there was usually some new character or piece of dialogue to hear in the rapidly growing town.

But, being who I am, I don’t anything pulled me into this game as much as the incredible bosses. In other skill, combat-oriented games like this (Such as Dark Souls, Nioh and such), generally it’s case of 25% great bosses, 50% good, and 25% bad. In Hollow Knight, the situation is so different – I can count the number of bad boss fights on one had. I was enthralled in seeking out and defeating every boss in the game, and none of them feel like flat clones of each other. Some designs are beautifully realized (such as The Mantis Lords, Hornet, The Hive Knight, and the final encounter), some are hilariously crazy and off-beat (The Collector, Nosk and The False Knight) and some bring a tear to the eye due to their weight and significance (Many of the ghost encounters, and The Traitor Lord). The sheer amount of work and love poured into every frame of the boss designs are incredible. Every encounter was unique and exciting, making you think in news way to defeat these new foes. Most importantly, they (almost) never feel unfair or overpowered, unless you’re entering an area out of sequence or much earlier than intended. I love fighting bosses in games, but one of the biggest downsides to this love is the fact that once a boss is gone, you’ll have to reset the game to fight them again. The DLC addition of being able to refight bosses is a literal godsend to me – I’ve lost count I’ve wandered off from whatever task I was doing in-game and fought the Mantis Lords over and repeatedly. There are a few bosses that are either a little too easy (Gruz Mother), or a little too hard for the wrong reasons (a certain Dream boss), but these encounters are few and far between.

Finally, I want to touch on the story of the game. It adopts a drip-feed on the main story of the game, never outright telling the player why the Knight has arrived in Hallownest, and why he is constantly obsessed with heading down, down into the depth of the ancient bug kingdom. But, as the game progresses, new titbits of lore are given to the player – plaques dedicated to a ‘higher being’, encounters with the mysterious warrior Hornet, the slow infection that seems to be spreading through every bug in the game… The story never really takes the front seat to the masterful gameplay, but it’s never hiding it. It’s there for players to piece together, and even as someone like me, who didn’t look up anything and just put it together on my own, I had a great understanding of the plot, with some googling filling in the gaps I needed. In addition, just about every boss, except for some throwaways, fits into the world in an organic way. They belong in the area they appear in and fit into the lore of the game without breaking the internal logic of the game, something that I feel is important in having a consistent and intriguing world design.

Before I played Hollow Knight, I was sure I wouldn’t find anything I enjoyed more in 2018 then my previous favourite. But Hollow Knight was different – I don’t think I played anything more, and I’m still not done. I can’t remember anything like it. When I was playing it, it was constantly on my mind, incessantly making me wonder about future boss designs and zone layouts. I might not ever get the vaunted 112% completion, but it’s not going to keep me from trying – Hollow Knight is one of the best games I’ve ever played, and has rekindled my love for an entire game genre, and I look with bated breath for whatever Team Cherry has planned for their future projects, because I’ll be first in line to pick it up, day zero.