Hollow Knight was on a number of rather prominent best of 2017 lists that I follow, so my interest was definitely piqued and so I finally wound up picking up a copy as I grabbed Sonic Mania and a Hat in Time.
And it’s lived up to that title and belongs in that list as long as you’re willing to accept a few caveats.
Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania, but more than that, it’s a true exploration game. In Metroidvania you often have one or two doors or hallways that need X weapon to get through, you get that weapon, and you are now able to explore a new area. That’s not how this works at all
Instead, skill tests all over the place. Some of them just are made easier by new abilities (a hard jump puzzle can be made easier with a double jump). But there are other moves that will allow players to explore new locations, the thing is, this doesn’t open a new area, but rather will usually open up entire new sections of old levels, new areas, and often new bosses. There are not just one or two doors that need double jump but rather vast and different areas of the game that was waiting for this move to open up and show you it’s secrets.
I love this feeling because this is a game that rewards exploration. It also can punish it, as in the time I accidentally went to a location too early and had to crawl out barely able to survive it, but overall the game continues to offer new locations and areas for players to explore and has a decent amount of hidden secrets. I used a map after a while and I kept finding a new location I didn’t know about before. That’s kind of great.
The graphics of the game are great, and the aesthetics of everything are a variety but pull together. Every so often you’ll see a new character, and each character has something to say. I was surprised at how many times I’d find someone and have very little to do with them. Just talk to them. There’s even this giant caterpillar that I found, he said nothing and just adds a bit to the story of the place.
Everything in this game really does work together, and give a specific experience. However the big divisive issue here is the bosses, and this is what finally ended up with the make or break part of the game. The Bosses in Hollow Knight are excellent, but at the same time, they are also very difficult at first. Every boss has three simple tactics to beat him. Pattern recognition, find a good opening, and survival.
There’s an old joke that to beat any enemy, you have to avoid getting hit, and hit them a lot, and that’s exactly what Hollow Knight believes. There are a few twists, every three attacks or so, hollow knight gets enough magic to heal one “life point” if they charge up their magic and don’t get hit at that time. They also can use that to cast a magical spell which is instantaneous. So successful attacks on an enemy can actually help hollow knight regain life if he can find the right timing for it. It’s an interesting tradeoff and adds to the risk vs reward system of the game.
Each boss and area is quite different and has unique enemies, and each fight is interesting. Much of the game boils down to pattern recognition, and that’s good. Yet the bosses are just a little more difficult than they really need to be at times, there’s a good number of bosses that are just a touch too hard.
I’ve tried to avoid saying Dark souls as I think that’s a reductive review tactic for almost any game. But there is some comparison to be had besides just hard bosses. The game uses a money system similar to dark souls. You get geos (similar to souls) for killing enemies and have to get your corpse back to get the money and restore your full magic bar which is reduced without corpse recovery.
However there’s no stat system, and only a few items are upgradable (mostly the main weapon, which upgrades but is not replaced). There’s also no multiplayer so a hard boss is not able to be learned by going to other people’s games, nor can you request help, and honestly that’s a bit of a shame, because there are a few bosses, I just don’t think I can pass, and I wouldn’t mind requesting some help. It’s the reason I finally put this game down because I didn’t think I had the skill to get past a few bosses, nor the desire to really spend the time to gain the skill. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game, It’s a good game because I put in 30 ish hours before hitting that wall and a good challenge is welcome. I just wish there was a way to get past some of the required fights if a player was unable to beat them, even if it puts an asterisk on my game because I’d love to see more of what this game has.
Yet the thing that kept me going is the exploration system, there was always a new room or area I hadn’t seen, there’s always another secret or a hidden wall to go through and so many optional bosses fights that I was having a blast even if I kept getting beat by the hardest of them. The joy I felt when I found a boss I could almost tackle as great because I kept going back to it. Yet without a life bar, I couldn’t be sure how far I got, however being able to play near flawless on some bosses made me feel like a boss.
Ultimately though the game is a challenging battle and is unapologetic for it, and that’s fine, I actually like it quite a bit, so I can recommend this, with the understanding that this is a brutally hard exploration game more than a story-driven game. Overall though it’s a fantastic game and does deserve to be on many best of 2017 lists.
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