Welcome to our review of Hollow Knight, released on the same day as the Nintendo E3 presentation.
At E3, Nintendo announced the direct release of Hollow Knight, a visually stunning game. Right after the presentation, I spent my gold points to buy the game and immerse myself into the experience called Hollow Knight.
An epic action adventure through a vast ruined kingdom of insects and heroes. Explore twisting caverns, battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs, all in a classic, hand-drawn 2D style.
Classic side-scrolling action, with all the modern trimmings. Dodge, dash and slash your way through even the most deadly adversaries.
Includes all of the new items, areas, characters, and bosses from the currently released free content packs; Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, and Lifeblood. All players will also get access to the final free content pack, Gods and Glory, due later this year!
Explore a vast interconnected world of forgotten highways, overgrown wilds and ruined cities. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face and find your own way forward.
Evolve with powerful new skills and abilities! Gain spells, strength and speed. Leap to new heights on ethereal wings. Dash forward in a blazing flash. Blast foes with fiery Soul!
A haunting, intimate score accompanies the player on their journey, composed by Christopher Larkin. The score echoes the majesty and sadness of a civilisation brought to ruin
This game is a side-scrolling marvel, a platformer of sorts, but mostly an experience. When you start the game, you are immersed into the beautiful world of the game. Sporting mostly black and white, the few other colors used really stand out, making it more like a masterpiece, rather than a game. I hope my screenshots reflect this too.
The game itself can be best described as a Metroidvania. When you look into the controller options, you see options like dashing that are not available until after you reach certain parts in the game. Often forcing you to backtrack your steps to reach that new place. I love the aspect of having to buy a map and compass along the way.
At first, like all games of the genre, you know nothing, you own nothing and you are on your way. Down the well, literally. After reaching the first town, you go down the well to explore. You find and buy a map from the right guy, he tells you to go find his wife for the compass. You can now see where you are in the area. You collect currency and life from enemies slain in battle.
That is collected and can be used to revive lost hearts when you do not find your way back to a heal point. A very nice addition in this relatively hard game. But I guess most metroidvanias are on the harder spectrum of the easy vs hard rating.
Its sole issue might be the lack of save points or fast travel points throughout the game, but that can add to the difficulty of the game but also to the charm of the game.
In conclusion, Hollow Knight is a gorgeous metroidvania that might belong in a museum or an art show and if you can look past the difficulty, this might be a great game to add to your collection. My rating for this game is 80%
