Hollow Knight - In Review
I started playing games at just four years old, and I still remember the lightning-fast sensory overload at the time that was Sonic the Hedgehog (my first game) on Sega Mega Drive. Since then I’ve played quite possibly thousands of games on multiple platforms varying from home consoles, through to handhelds and into PC for the ultimate experience. As you can imagine then, there are a lot of games to compare, each with bright and bold ideas with varying levels of successful execution. However, each also had their fair share of problems, even in some of my favourite classics. Then I played through Hollow Knight.
Never before have I experienced a game I’ve felt compelled to write about previously in order to break down the reasons why I believe this to be a strong contender for the greatest game of all time, at least in terms of single-player experiences. The design, art, sound and story are so tightly executed that it is extremely difficult to find flaws. Let’s break this one down bit-by-bit, although I would argue this one would require a lengthy case study to outline all the reasons it is worth your time. It really is that good.
Enter Hallownest
The game begins by landing your character, a humble hero simply referred to as The Knight, into the sombre world of Hallownest, a world populated with bug-like creatures. Here you will eventually arrive at a small village called Dirtmouth. All houses are empty with no-one to be found, except for one lone inhabitant: the Elder. After chatting with him, you drop down into a nearby well and into the vast world below, starting in the Forgotten Crossroads. Here you see the usual starting methods a metroidvania will give you to practice to run, jump and strike enemies with your sword-like weapon referred to as a nail. The enemies will look like standard boilerplate enemies harking back to Metroid, such as wall crawlers, walkers that run towards you if you get too close and basic fliers. This will give you a feel for the highly mobile and controllable eponymous hero.
There are a few things here that are different however. Firstly, contrary to most metroidvanias (particularly those that are closer to Castlevania), you can swing your weapon in any direction - even downwards - to take out enemies. Second, life energy will not be gained from taking out enemies, instead the game utilises a system called soul. You will receive soul in the form of a metre and can use this to either recover health by focussing energy, or simply use this to send a forward blast towards enemies. This gives you a little bit of choice early on, although there will be much more to come later.
The map will also have areas that are currently unreachable from the Crossroads in true metroidvania style. You will have to explore every corner to discover the way forward. It’s recommended to take on enemies as you go, not just for practice but also because on top of soul you will also receive the in-game currency known as geo. Be sure to also find grubs about the place, you will be rewarded handsomely with geo and other goodies when you return to their neighbourhood (you can find that on your own!). The extra cash will come in very handy for times when you run into characters and machines that may require it for items and other conveniences.
The World is Alive
Speaking of in-game characters, the world of Hallownest is full of memorable characters that have their own traits and help add to the story and atmosphere. One of the first you’ll meet in the Crossroads will be the ever-cheerful Cartographer, habitually humming while scribbling away at his parchments. As soon as you hear this sound, you will feel strangely comforted in this sometimes hostile environment and try to locate the source, following the trail of parchment directly to him. Once found, he will offer a portion of your current area map for a small amount of geo (really handy to keep some of this around). This is a great starting point for an area of the map and encourages exploration around the edges.
Another vital character is the Last Stag. Following signs to various areas is how you’ll find useful points of interest such as benches (save points and for health recuperation), hot springs (regenerates soul) and stations which are accessible by this somewhat tragic character, who still shoulders his duty to assist travellers where possible. This is one of the primary ways to get around in the world and make this vast landscape that little bit more manageable.
It is also worth mentioning that returning to the Dirtmouth every now and again after meeting characters can bring new opportunities. A final, useful character can be found after meeting the Cartographer in his own shop; the Cartographer’s Wife. A somewhat bored character (possibly due to the sparse activity in dirtmouth), she will regardless assist in making the map easier to mark points of interest (for a price) as well as offer purchase options for lost parts of the map in case the cartographer was missed. She will also open up one of the most unique and versatile mechanics ever experienced in the genre at the time of release.
Charmed I’m Sure
The main mechanic that sets this game apart is the inclusion of charms. These are abilities that can be equipped according to the current limitations which are dictated by the number of charm notches available. Every charm has a different number of charm notches in its cost, which helps balance the game as more powerful and versatile abilities will cost more. These have the power to not only grant abilities (such as Steady Body, which allows the player to hit without their character recoiling back, handy if on a ledge) but also make abilities more powerful (Soul Catcher will give you more soul when slicing enemies with the nail).
These even stretch to things that have come to be automatically expected from the metroidvania genre. Chances are the charm given (for a price) by the Cartographer’s Wife will be the first you receive - Wayward Compass. This charm costs only one notch (out of three initially) and will allow the player to see their current position on the map. The game quite literally gives options to strip everything back if the player does not need the abilities.
But it doesn’t stop there. Later in the game, there are hidden synergies between charms which reward the player for experimenting with mixing and matching charm setups. As an example, one of these is between Spore Shroom (releases toxic spores when focussing) and Defender’s Crest (releases a ‘heroic’ odour that damages enemies). Pair these together and instead of spores being released on focus, a more potent stench will be released that is much more damaging. I’m still quite pleased that I found that one! You will be genuinely surprised at how much you can make the Knight your own hero, your own way.
A Sight to Behold
The world of Hallownest is a real audiovisual treat that feels alive like never before. While travelling around the map you will come across incredible sights giving each area its own distinct theme and feel. Although this varies widely, the visuals paired with the evolving sound design make this world come alive in the most immersive way that commands your attention. It also helps that the astonishing parallax scrolling give the background and foreground incredible depth, sometimes showing other areas as well. There are three areas that captured my attention most, however all areas are worth your admiration.
Let’s start with Fog Canyon. This is an area that can be quite dangerous if you decide to attack an enemy, possibly made more obvious by the fact that they are mostly floating jellyfish. But what makes this incredible is that the sound makes you feel as if you are underwater with swimming, bubbling sounds. Pair that with the twinkling soundtrack and it’s wondrous.
We go from there to the murky depths of the Royal Waterways, a sewage system underneath the City of Tears. Not only is the music more tense, but there are also atmospheric echoes of the highly unusual creatures lurking within, each very distinctive. The creatures are also quite unsightly aberrations more suited to a mutated sewage environment.
Then there is the lush, naturally built-up area known as Greenpath. This ecosystem is just bustling with life; out of a pile of leaves a creature may emerge for example, sometimes small, sometimes large and charging right at you. One very memorable time for myself is falling through a maze of tight corridors in one vertical room where you have moss creatures appearing from leaves, others that will spew spores if too close, and plants that are nearly invisible that snap shut like venus fly traps on you if you are not careful. These events happened so close to each other that you really had to watch your step. There is also one really rousing moment where you are charging through a horizontal corridor with a new ability and the music evolves into something more uplifting and adventurous.
Word of warning, any spider phobics out there will find one particular area that will make your skin crawl. Even the cartographer hates it. I always tried to get this out of the way as soon as possible!
What is That?!
We move to quite possibly the only downside that may put players off; the higher difficulty level. For the uninitiated, the world of Hallownest will seem brutal at times. It will mercilessly throw you into mini-boss and boss battles which can seem impossible when you first encounter them. However, it’s important to remember that you will always have the right tools to take on a boss when you encounter it, it’s just a case of reading their attacks and timing yours correctly. If there is one thing that I can credit this game for, it’s the fine-tuned difficulty curve throughout the game once you get over the initial step. The challenge will always push you a bit harder than you are used to while exploring, and you will come out better for it. On top of that, beating a boss successfully is one of the most satisfying feelings you will have in any game, as you made it happen because of your skill. As with any defeat.
Before moving on, we should probably get the defeat part out of the way. In this game, you will die. A lot. I will say however, as somebody who really didn’t gel with Dark Souls, that the game has great ways of encouraging you to carry on. When you die in this game, a ghost of your past life will appear, and all of your geo will stay with this ghost marked on the map. To get this back you will need to retrieve it from the ghost. But this ghost won’t give it up without a fight, and will get tougher with nail upgrades. Once you do defeat it, all your geo is retrieved and you can get back to battling that boss. If you do happen to die when this ghost is on the map however, it will be lost forever along with your geo.
It is worth mentioning at this point that every boss is fair and just. The Knight is incredibly mobile and there are ALWAYS opportunities to evade their attacks. It can at times be easy to forget this however, as every boss has a very well thought-out and unique attack pattern that also succeeds in making the boss actually feel like it is trying to kill you. Each attack can even have multiple steps to evade. I can think of many previous examples in games where bosses just feel like they are going through the motions and as a result are very easy to predict, even in my all-time favourites such as Sonic the Hedgehog 2. To this day, I do not believe I have seen better designed boss battles. And bosses there are a lot of. And they are never boring.
Let’s go through an example. The first enemy you are likely to have problems with will be a husk guard. This is a clear jump from all those crawlers in the Forgotten Crossroads and has two main attack patterns; he will furiously run at you while repeatedly trying to hit you with his club and occasionally slam causing a shockwave. The way to beat him is to slash in between hits, making sure to jump when he slams. This will be tricky the first few times, but will also ignite those lizard-like reflexes in preparation for what’s to come. And once you beat this mini-boss, you will feel invincible already.
Other honourable mentions in terms of difficulty are the sometimes tricky platforming (particularly in Queen’s Gardens) which will test your understanding of the movement of The Knight. As well as this, at one point the Forgotten Crossroads even become the Infected Crossroads, beefing up all enemies in the area and in a genius move resolving one of the main problematic tropes in metroidvanias - previous enemies becoming harmless and boring.
Wait……There’s More??
You may think I have covered most things at this point, but oh no. Not even close. The amount of what other games consider endgame content is quite frankly astonishing. And somehow, again, it never gets boring. To gain access to this, you will need to work at upgrading your dream nail. That’s right you have more than one nail, except this one is not designed for combat. Rather, it is primarily used to access the dreams and memories of fallen champions. You will find these lost souls around the map. There is also the option to fight them, they tend to have only one or two attack patterns but again they can be quite devious. The real fun starts when you hit the corpses of the fallen bosses. Once you do this, you will be transported to a dream land in the heavens where there will be a supercharged version of the fallen boss, which will require you to be a complete badass in order to beat them.
So how far should you go? I would recommend all regular players do the following; work to get all the charms, get all upgrades, complete your beast journal and beat the Colosseum of Fools (yes there is a colosseum, and it is glorious). This is where I was happy to leave it completed. For everyone else, there will still be more after this.
There may be what is considered spoilers here in this paragraph if you would rather discover the rest on your own, you have been warned. Still wish to know more? OK here goes - there will even be something for all the Super Meat Boy fans out there if you upgrade the dream nail enough! This also contributes to the game’s multiple endings. There is also a test for only the most masochistic known only as the Pantheon (I’ll leave you to discover that on the map on your own) - fighting bosses back-to-back. And if you are truly sadistic you can even have a crack at Steel Soul Mode (permadeath - for maniacs only).
In Summary
For all the reasons above, this is quite possibly the best game I have ever had the pleasure to explore and fight through. For every single ordeal you undergo, for every character you interact with, and every nook you explore you will be rewarded if not with a unique item then a memory that will stay with you for the rest of your gaming days. A hallmark of a great game is that you get out what you put in, and Hollow Knight delivers this in spades. This game will make an impression on you that will set the bar for future games and perhaps this along with an elevated difficulty curve will be the only downsides, but for me that is simply splitting hairs at this point.
