Hollow Knight | a Review
originally posted on 15/08/2020;
Hello everyone, I am the empty on the inside G.E.M.Simov, an insect that’s like a beetle - very nice and friendly, doesn’t do anything bad to anybody, and today I’m talking about the Wasp of a game, Hollow Knight.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it. Also, I am a gameplay designer and a writer so I got the credentials to talk shit.
Gameplay
Hollow Knight is a 2D platformer that has drawn inspiration from games like Metroid or Dark Souls, thus granting it the tags ‘soulslike’ and ‘metroidvania’. What do all of those things mean? Why am I bringing them up? Well, for starters, I am bringing these things up because of the nature of identification and the use of buzzwords.
These terms have become so popular to use that they’ve become annoying and mind numbingly repetitive. Our game’s a soulslike! It’s a metroidvania! Wonderful, thank you very much, so your game is emulating another person/team’s game because you were too inadequate at implementing mechanics of your own make, but you’re not proud enough to attempt to come up with an original way to market your game?
Games do borrow inspiration from other games. That’s just how it goes. But when the selling points of one’s game is that it’s really similar to those other games… Is that a selling point at all?
So, Hollow Knight is a 2D platformer with heavy emphasis on combat and a lower focus on platforming. There are multiple ways in which the player can move, which is good, and the mobility of the player is quite fluent and tends to work as instructed (the instructor is the player and the instructions and the button presses). Of course, there are hiccups, every now and then, but, overall, there isn’t that much to complain about the mobility of the character.
The metroidvania comes from that - the fact the game is a 2D platformer with heavy emphasis on combat. That kind of game features a large world, typically a dungeon, that has many secret rooms, many items that provide upgrades to the player’s perception (of the level) and ability to navigate (the level). There are semblances of puzzles, although they are very simple, and the platforming is set to the back-burner, meaning that there are sections that might require more precise movements to get through, but there are few of them.
The soulslike comes from the combat - it’s difficulty - and the repercussions of failing to handle it. Unlike normal metroidvanias, dying in Hollow Knight does not return the player and the game world to a previous state. Instead, it returns the player to a checkpoint, leaving behind something that contains currency (lost to the player until the ‘something’ is retrieved), in this case an enemy that is relatively weak, while the game world remains the same, with small things being returned back to a default state. That means that even though dead, the player still progresses, in some way.
The enemy left behind, when killed, returns the currency the player has lost. That is how progress is made, even if it is not substantial. The currency allows the player to make themselves stronger, and, as a result, be more likely to succeed on their next attempt, thus it is progression.
Both metroidvania games and soulslike games are relatively notorious for their difficulty. And, Hollow Knight, being a mixture of both, is fairly difficult… But in all the wrong ways. Instead of having a gradual difficulty curve, Hollow Knight has a set of curves. Initially, there is a tutorial area, where everything is very smooth and easy, introducing the player to the game and its most basic mechanics - that is good.
Then, the curve slowly starts ramping up. However, there are hiccups along the way - sudden spikes of difficulty that are simply instances of this game’s strange manner of implementing things. These spikes pop up, ruin the experience for an hour or two, and then disappear, never to be seen again. There were multiple instances of bosses that had a mechanic that was unique to them, and said mechanic was never observed anywhere else, but the player was quite thoroughly harassed by it.
The platforming, although secondary, does take part in this circus, of course. There are many areas which have ridiculously difficult terrain to navigate, but they are single things. There is no buildup to them, they just happen - and they are spikes in difficulty that catch the player off guard, and they remain there, and only there.
A good example would be a section of the game that is dedicated entirely to platforming - the issue here being that the platforming in question is the hardest in the entire game, and it is so much harder than anything that came before it that it had me feeling as if I was playing a different game, altogether, and I had missed the memo that I was struggling through some sadistic Crash Bandicoot level that came out of the imagination of a deranged fan of the SAW film franchise.
These spikes in difficulty that lose their relevance, when it comes to them being tools to teach the player, due to the fact that the mechanics needed to pass through them become obsolete, as they are unique to their own instances, are not good for the game, as they ruin the pacing. The game progresses as a steady, slow and calm rate, without counting these in. When one of those comes in, the pacing simply stops and the player needs to invest a lot of time and effort into dealing with the problem, and sometimes the reward is not even that great.
Combat has two forms - which contributes to the issue of pacing. The first form is the normal enemy combat, which goes as follows:
See enemy. Hit enemy until enemy dies. Dodge occasional attacks. Repeat
That, in and of itself, is not bad, at all. The fact that the enemies, which come in numbers and pose a threat through their numbers, are relatively easy to kill, makes the player feel as if they are achieving something while slowly clearing out a certain area. That works with the pacing. HOWEVER, then comes the other type of combat. Boss combat.
Boss combat goes in a different manner. When the boss appears, the player needs to spend a while dodging attacks. Learning the pattern. Getting hit and dying. The only time the player can actually attack is when they get the prompt from the boss itself - as in, an animation of the boss either channeling something or resting - and after but one or two hits, from the player, the boss goes back into attacking, and the player needs to dodge.
The bosses have an incredibly high amount of health, and so they need to be hit a lot. A LOT. That takes a while, and, in addition, needing to dodge two or three times as many attacks before one can land a number of their own, leaves the likelihood of the player ending up dead before the boss. The boss’ health is, naturally, restored, and so the player needs to go through every area that leads up to the boss, without dying or they lose all their currency, also known as progress, and then they need to fight the boss again.
That really sets a damper on the pacing of the game, and it suddenly stops feeling as if any progress is being made, and instead it is just an endless slog through the boss. Though, truly, the reward from defeating the boss needs to be quite fitting to the difficulty of the encounter, it oftentimes is not that great. Sometimes, the only reward is passage to new areas.
Even though that is an issue, the sheer, basic fact that the player is fighting the enemies, is actually quite simple. And that simplicity, which extends to the mechanical complexity of the combat, is a strength, the opposite of an issue. Is it a solution to the problem of this halt to pacing? Alas, it is not, but the combat is relatively enjoyable, which enjoy-ability is provided to the player by the fluidity of movement and the responsive nature of the controls.
As mentioned before, there are upgrades for the character, which better their movement as well as open up new areas (as in, bettering the player’s perception), and also give them other bonuses. These upgrades are a large number, but the player can only have a set amount of them active at a time, thus creating the opportunity to create builds and specialize in certain fashions, which is pretty good, but did not appear necessary for this game.
Another flaw with it is that, unlike other soulslike games, this one has close to no replay value. Once played through to completion, the player will know everything there is to know and find in the game. There are no secrets that are unmarked, as there is a counter - a % value that goes up the more the player discovers. Thus, the game has no value in being replayed, other than to re experience the challenging boss fights in the state that the player was intended to.
Hollow Knight’s gameplay is fun, but it is not something incredible. The manner in which the mechanics are designed makes for an experience that promises hardship and some kind of reward, but the reward never truly comes from the game itself, and the player needs to find it within themselves. 2/3
Presentation
Hollow Knight, as a 2d platformer, is beautiful. The music of the game is sombre, but at the same time it can be harrowingly uplifting, in that ominous way that sad music can be applied to happy situations to act as a reminder of the troubled past and as a hopeful peek into the future.
The artwork that is present in this game is phenomenal. There is just nothing I can say and complain about when it comes to it - the backdrops are gorgeous, the characters are unique, given fascinating bits that make them stand out, the animations are smooth and somewhat minimalist, giving the characters that extra push towards appearing small and insignificant.
The sound effects are also good, although nothing really stuck out to me. The game is wonderful to behold, and to listen to, and to experience. 3/3
Story
Hollow Knight, as a soulslike and metroidvania, was bound to feature some kind of abandoned location. Soulslike games are prone to featuring not simple dungeons or mazes that offer labyrinthine corridors, sprawling endlessly, but also civilizations that are either falling to their ruin or have already been long gone.
It should come as no surprise to anybody that Hollow Knight features just that. A country that has fallen into ruin, its people succumbing to a mindlessness, to something that eats at their being and turns them mad. The player seems to be approaching from the outside - as they were a stranger to this place.
That sentiment is supported by most characters who meet the player - they treat them as a stranger, someone unknown, but also someone relatively close to them. The player character fits right in, appearing similar to some characters, be they friend or foe. The interesting thing is that the character does not talk - which is good, as it would have taken away from the magic of it all, from the strangeness of this little bug that came from the West and went down to business.
The story, as any soulslike, is about humanity, believe it or not, even if it features insects as the protagonists. It asks a few questions, albeit vaguely. What is God? What is the purpose of life? Why do we exist? What happens to us when we die? What would people do to keep what is dear to them safe?
The story is interesting, featuring multiple characters who have their own motivations and personalities, which is quite the achievement, considering many of them have very few lines of dialogue, but what little they have is quite well written. There are many examples of visual storytelling, showing, rather than telling, which is something sublime, if I must admit. The story is very, very good, but it leaves a sour taste in one’s mouth.
There are many questions that remain unanswered. Evidently, they are to be addressed in future expansions (ala DLC) or even spin offs. As interested as I am in those, I am reviewing Hollow Knight. The player character’s story is well told and complete. However, the game features many other stories which remain… Halted. Stunted in their development. Many questions the player has for the game, and the game ought to have the facilities to answer them, are not answered.
Alas, I must be critical. I was left wanting, and not for more, but for something I thought had to have been given to me already. The stories of the side characters remained shrouded in mystery, those which did not get resolutions, and many other things, which one would think ought to be uncovered, remained hidden. 2/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? I thought about this. Long and hard did I consider. I remember Hollow Knight with a mixture of both fondness and distaste. The gameplay left a sour taste in my mouth, and the unfinished feeling I got from the story added to it.
I’m afraid I can not give the Legendary point to Hollow Knight. It was a wonderful experience, but, alas, not one I would consider as touching. 0/1
Conclusion
7/10. Hollow Knight is a good game. A game that I would not dissuade anybody from playing, but only warn them that it might be a little hard. It could have been better, but it is what it is.
I tuck it under my belt, another achievement that I proudly display. Even though dotted by spots here and there, it is something wonderful.