My Thoughts on Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight. 

It's a game that I've been playing for awhile now, and one that I can't seem to get enough of lately. I've been wanting to do a review on this for awhile now, but I wanted to give my thoughts on it, after I got a 100% completion and at least beat the game's first 3 endings (for those of you who don't know, Hollow Knight apparently has a total of 5 endings, 2 of which I have not had the pleasure of achieving yet).

In this review, I will divide my thoughts on the different aspects of the game in sections to better explain my experience.

Now that I've gotten that all out of the way, I'm rather eager to tell you my overall thoughts on the game. Without further ado...

First Impressions

In any situation, be it interviewing for a job, making new friends, or in this case, starting out in a new game, first impressions are essential to grabbing someone's attention and keeping them interested. 

The game starts out with a poem, which reads:

In wilds beyond they speak your name with reverence and regret,

For none could tame our savage souls yet you the challenge met,

Under palest watch, you taught, we changed, base instincts were redeemed,

A world you gave to bug and beast as they had never dreamed.

- From 'Elegy for Hallownest' by Monomon the Teacher

This is then followed by two cutscenes, after which you are put into the starting area. Altogether an unusual beginning, but a satisfying one at that. The game leaves a lot of the lore up into interpretation in the beginning, which adds a certain air of mystery to the game. 

The game's tutorial is not done through NPCs thankfully, (which has always been a pet peeve of mine, as it ruins immersion) but instead is done through a few lore tablets, which still ruins immersion, but thankfully it only really happens once. Afterwards, the game teaches you about your abilities through notices that appear whenever you get an item that gives you a new set of abilities and uses lore tablets for world building.

World Design

One of the things I think is most impressive in Hollow Knight is the world design. I don't just mean the world building and story, I mean the world itself. The amount of detail that was put into the environment itself is astounding, especially considering how large Hallownest really is (from a bug's perspective, anyway). Thanks to this detail, Hollow Knight doesn't suffer from the "Curse of the big environment" where areas feel barren or empty (kinda like Hyrule Field from Ocarina of Time). And if an area is barren in Hollow Knight, it usually feels rightfully so, as if the place is supposed to be abandoned for a reason.

Gameplay

The controls in Hollow Knight are fairly basic at first. You can walk, jump, hit things, and heal yourself at the pace of a turtle (the last one's the thing that's generally complained about the most, aside from difficulty). As the game progresses however, your arsenal will increase (as this is a metroidvania) and the game's mechanics will get more complex. Despite this complexity, the knight controls rather smoothly with and without all of his abilities, and the controls are pretty easy to get down.

Difficulty

This is the number one thing complained about in the 1 and 2 star reviews, as lots of people complain that it's too hard and that this game isn't for casual gamers (which is funny considering this game doesn't even have the casual tag on it). I will say this game is definitely challenging, but overall the difficulty is nothing to fuss about. Video games are, after all, a learning experience. You won't get good at the game if you don't try. I would recommend getting to the 4th area in the game before truly deciding whether or not this game is too hard. 

Overall, the game is difficult enough to the point where completing a challenge feels rewarding, but failing feels like a lesson learned. 

Story

This is the big section, since Hollow Knight has a LOT of lore. And by a lot, I mean a ton. I won't spoil any of the lore, but I will say that the game does a splendid job at world building. Each piece of lore is basically a piece of a gigantic puzzle that you're trying to solve. I would really recommend to anyone thinking of playing this game to really pay attention to the dialogue of characters, and to read every lore tablet that they can, as then they can get the full experience of the game's story.

The lore is so well done that practically the entire Hollow Knight community is dedicated to unveiling every piece of lore that they can, theorizing as much as possible. If you don't believe me, check out the Hollow Knight Discord server. I'm a part of this server, and I happen to occasionally talk in the lore section myself. The link is down below.

Flaws

Now onto what I think Hollow Knight could have improved on. 

Surprisingly enough, the list for this is rather small.

The Mapping System: Now don't get me wrong. I love how mapping works in Hollow Knight. It's the looks of the map really. Even if you have a good sense of direction, the map looks really weird and can be hard to understand. It's fine that there's no way of telling where you are without a compass, in fact, I like it how the map doesn't just automatically show you where you are. But the problem really only lies in the fact that the map is kinda hard to read on its own. I find myself having to check the map way more often than I should. Maybe it's because I'm bad at navigating, who knows.

...Told you it was small. I'm not calling the game perfect of course, but it is a great game overall.

I rate this game 10/10. There may be a flaw with the mapping system, but it's rather minor and easy to get over.

That's basically it for this post. I'll try to stay more active and post more often about various games I've played. There are a few I have in mind already, so stay tuned.

-Warriorbuilds3

P.S. Here's the invite link to the Official Hollow Knight Discord. See you there! Link: https://discord.gg/hollowknight