Deep, difficult and challenging. Easily the best Metroidvania inspired indie game of this generation
Hollow Knight perfectly encapsulates the feeling of isolation and discovery in a metroidvania. It entreats players to wander deeper and deeper in an elaborate maze filled with boss fights and secrets. It tells its story with the environments, whether it’s the sparsely populated town of Dirtmouth, the luscious botanical gardens of Greenpath or the remnants of a great civilization in the City of Tears.
The game pulls no punches and requires players to master the art of combat, the platforming and even the navigation. Hollow Knight is one of the only metroidvania games that I know of, that does NOT fill in the map for you at the onset. In other games of its kind, it’s a given that even when you don’t have the map, when you visit a room, that room will be automatically filled out on your map, but not so with Hollow Knight.
In Hollow Knight, maps must be purchased either in Dirtmouth or encountering Cornifer the map scribe hidden somewhere in that specific region. These maps only highlight where the next ability can be found. Large sections of these purchased maps are still incomplete and must be manually explored. Exploring the world in Hollow Knight is thrilling because you never know what could be on the other side of the room. I often found myself unexpectedly venturing into new areas, completing platforming puzzles and fighting mini-bosses.
The platforming puzzles are challenging but fair. The early platforming sequences are fairly tame, but grow in complexity as you learn the ability to wall climb, dash and eventually double jump. The hardest platforming puzzles in Hollow Knight are almost reminiscent of Super Meat Boy, with an abundance of circular saw blades and spiked traps. Thankfully the most difficult platforming sequences are completely optional and only required to achieve the best ending.
Combat feels nice and weighty. When you strike an enemy or object, there is some recoil after each strike. It’s possible to deflect and parry attacks with proper timing, but otherwise it is often safer to dash or jump away. The hero eventually learns more complex abilities such as firing a Hadouken-like fireball and doing a Zelda inspired spin attack. Learning these abilities is one thing, but execution is a whole other story. Simple sword swipes and dodges are also completely viable, but I love how the game included these abilities whenever the case calls for them.
The boss fights are very Souls inspired especially in the latter half. In the beginning the boss fights are manageable. You’re allowed to make multiple mistakes, get hit multiple times and can still recover to put up a fight. However, once you’re about halfway into the game, the boss fights become episodes in pattern recognition that leave you little time to recover. If you don’t think you have the reflexes and combat chops required for a Souls-like game, Hollow Knight provides other ways to overcome bosses with clever use of charms.
Charms in Hollow Knight are slottable bonus perks for the hero. You can slot in a set number of charms and they can range from enhancing damage dealt with each strike, to granting you faster dashes or even allowing you to summon minions to fight alongside you. The game allows you to build your character how you want to play. Viable builds include a standard physical damage dealer with agile movement, spell caster builds and minion builds. Unfortunately this is where some parts of the game lost me.
While it is viable to have multiple charm builds to conquer Hollow Knight, many of the more useful charms are hidden away in secret passageways or available after difficult platforming puzzles. To truly take advantage of some of the aforementioned charm builds, it is often necessary to resort to a guide to locate these charms. This issue is especially accentuated in the end game where the right combination of charms can make a substantial difference in boss fights.
My journey with Hollow Knight began modestly. I expected to play a game that followed the typical metroidvania formula but was consistently surprised the longer I played. Yes, Hollow Knight still shares the metroidvania DNA of backtracking through the same areas over and over again, but it also features a substantially deep combat and movement system. There were few times that I felt the game was completely unfair (exception would be DLC boss fights like Nightmare King Grimm) and I always knew how to learn from my mistakes whether it was better pattern recognition or adjusting my charm build.
At the end, I am blown away with what Hollow Knight accomplishes. The game manages to mix metroidvania exploration, Souls-like combat and Super Meat Boy platforming without feeling impossible. Hollow Knight sets a new standard in what a metroidvania can accomplish. If I was ever in the mood to play yet another metroidvania, it better play like Hollow Knight.
