[Opinion] Hollow Knight

[Bm4n]

Hello everyone, today I wanted to talk to you about a small great game that has been my bargain find of the sales. It's a humble project at a very reduced price, €14.99 (€9.89 now), for that price we would expect to find another short game, with simple graphics or little depth in the gameplay. But the reality is very different.

Hollow Knight is a 2.5D metroidvania type game that was born from a Kickstarter a couple of years ago and went on sale in February of this 2017 for PC, Mac, Linux and consoles, which has achieved a metascore of 86, professional critics praise it and users also like it except for the odd one or another who finds it difficult... And it is that this game is a classic but made now and that's why if you are fans of the games of yesteryear that were not as easy as the ones now you will surely like it.

Story. In the game we are a small insect that arrives at a seemingly abandoned city but as we delve into the subsoil we discover what was once a great insect city, with its taxi services, metro, banks, shops, pools, etc. but now it is in complete decadence and most of the creatures that wander are not friendly. We have to discover the history and treasures it holds but only some of the insects will help us and want to explain something about their history, although it doesn't have a lot of notes with pages full of text scattered around the corners, fortunately, both what it tells and what it leaves us wanting to discover more gives the appearance of having a great story in every corner.

Characters. Regarding this, there are many different enemies, many intermediate bosses of different difficulties, their versions with extra difficulty, NPCs to interact with, help, trade or share experiences as explorers. Also, many of the bosses are optional so if any gets stuck or we simply don't want to risk losing our geos (money) we can move on. Because when we die we return to the last resting point, yes, we can't save or update the map at any time which by the way will have to be bought in each area. So when we wake up from death we will have lost the money earned having to return to the point where we died to recover it and if we die before we lose everything.

Combat. The combat is very simple, with normal or charged hit and energy hit which we refill with hits and which we can also use to heal ourselves. We will discover abilities and different amulets that when we equip them will give us improvements or special modifications. Also, we can increase the lives and energy we carry and improve the power of our sword with the materials we find. But in general, it will be about hitting and dodging.

Duration. It's a game that will give us about 30-40h of play, many different enemies, a huge map full of secrets, many paths to choose from and many treasures to collect. It will remind us of the good times when we will want to explore every inch in search of surprises.

Aesthetics. Despite being 2D, it superimposes many layers of hand-painted art that move in 3D creating a very beautiful effect, all characters have a somewhat endearing aesthetic and voices for being insects. Although it tends to be monochromatic with somewhat faded colors, it works very well with the story and the aesthetics are very well cared for, personally I find it more beautiful than more recognized and picturesque games like Ori. Also, as a cherry on top, the soundtrack that accompanies it is at the level as you can notice in the trailer.

In short, a classic metroidvania game very complete and 100% recommended.

[Fassou]

Great post!