A few weeks back I was looking for a gift for my 10-year-old nephew when I stumbled upon this title that I had forgotten about. It's a name I remember coming across during the beginning of the year back when I was playing Dead Cells. Hollow Knight, like Dead Cells, is lumped into a long list of popular Indie games.
Indie games don't have big bankrolls to work with so they often lack the flashy graphics and corporate polish of the bigger players, but they often make up for this potential shortcoming in various ways (usually gameplay). Hollow Knight has a certain style and satisfying difficulty to it that most devs wouldn't even attempt to make real at other labels.
The game itself is simple yet has a certain elegance to it that is quite impressive. Not bad considering the sticker price of $15. There's a really interesting balance between cute and artsy vs the dark undertones of the void.
Everything takes place within the kingdom of Hallownest, a ruined and forgotten place in the middle of nowhere. The art, ambiance, and creativity of it all is skillfully done. Not too shabby for a game created via a couple thousand Kickstarter donations. Passion projects have a tendency to outshine the corporate blobs, and this one has shockingly grossed over $200M in profits since its launch in 2017. I guess that makes this game as old as those of us that entered crypto during that time.
The storyline of the game is incredibly cryptic and I was actually surprised to find out a lot of the random quotes and Easter eggs littered throughout do trend toward a cohesive plotline. Of course I would have never figured it out myself and got most of the information from wiki pages when looking up other tidbits of information on Fandom and hollowknight.wiki. Bless those nerds for spending countless hours for no pay.
Hm that looks familiar...
The theme of light vs dark is absolutely overwhelming within Hollow Knight. Except we would normally consider the light to be the good guys and the dark to be the bad guys. Here we see the exact opposite. It's all very Yin Yang.
Radiance, a demigod of light, is the source of an infection that has plagued the entire kingdom. She invades the dreams of the denizens of Hallownest and can even reanimate the dead. This is the premise of the entire storyline. Even after playing the game it's still a bit unclear if "The Knight" is the hero of the story or an anti-hero. Much is left up to interpretation and there are multiple endings depending on progression.
So basically the Hollow Knight is a vessel born of the void whose purpose is to contain Radiance and stop the infection from spreading. However by the time the game starts everything has pretty much already gone to shit and your character's job is to pick up all the pieces.
Metroidvania is a sub-genre of action-adventure games and/or platformers focused on guided non-linearity and utility-gated exploration and progression.
Luckily a fantastic job is done when considering the ideology of "easy to learn but hard to master". Even though The Knight starts with nothing the game is very easy and enemies are torn asunder with ease. The point of the Metroidvania genre is to explore the world and find powerups. This often requires defeating a big boss, but sometimes it's as easy as finding a secret room.
Each one of these upgrades allows the player to find new areas that they couldn't get to before, creating that non-linear progression that defines the Metroidvania genre. In fact some of the later upgrades are optional and the game can technically be beaten without them.
HP is measured in 'masks'. Each time you get hit one mask is taken away. Masks can be regenerated by 'focusing' which removes the 'soul' resource in exchange for more hp. Mask and soul fragments are littered throughout the game which can increase the maximum to 9 masks and 6 soul.
In addition to allowing the player to heal, soul can also be used to cast spells. Soul is a pretty abundant resource most of the time and is acquired simply by hitting baddies with the nail. Still, it's an interesting mechanic that forces resource management. Will you heal or go for broke and deal more damage during that boss fight? Both valid strategies depending on the situation.
There are three abilities one can learn from 3 different Nailmasters throughout the world. One is a long range dashing slash. Another a large swipe, and the third a spinning attack. These abilities are a good representation of how well the game is balanced for console play. Nothing is left to waste, and each attack is performed by slight variations. Depending on what the player is doing at the time determines which ability is used. The same is true with spells.
Dying in the game is a relatively painless experience (unless playing hardcore mode). The game reloads at the last checkpoint and you have full life. Benches are scattered throughout the realm that allow a player to save and create said checkpoint.
The one caveat is that a player loses all their currency when they die (and one soul container) and if they want it back they have to go back to where they died and kill a ghost of themselves to retrieve it. If they die again all the money (GEO) is lost. Too bad so sad. To be fair that never happened to me (usually die at a boss fight) but checking the internets other people have complained about it. That being said there is a random vendor that trades rancid eggs (of all things) in exchange to teleport your shade directly to town so that the player doesn't have to risk it.
I was shocked to learn there was a hardcore mode in Hollow Knight. These guys don't mess around. If you die one time you're dead forever and the game immediately deletes your safe file and it can't be recovered. Brutal!
That being said I personally beat the game on Steel Soul very easily because every time you're about to die (2 masks left) you can just pause the game and quit to the main menu. When you reload the game you're back at a bench with full life. I almost want to try beating it without such a blatant gimmick but I probably won't.
The game takes around 30 hours to beat on the first playthrough. However some of these speedrunners are absolutely insane and they figured out how to beat it in just over 30 minutes. Crazy stuff. So many shortcuts, so little time.
Charms are a very cool way of providing combat customization. Need some more health for a tough boss? Want to extend your melee range? Want to heal faster? How about pets? Charms allow the player to experience the game in a way that fits their own playstyle.
Each charm requires a certain number of "notches" ranging from 1-4. In theory a charm that costs 3 or 4 notches is very good while 1 or 2 give a lesser benefit. You only start with 3 notches but they are pretty easy to find throughout your travels (and 4 of them are sold for GEO from a vendor). There are 11 maximum notches, but also you're allowed to 'overcharm' your loadout. This allows the player to exceed the maximum possible with a penalty of taking double damage (usually not worth it unfortunately, but can be fun).
My one gripe with the charm system is that Wayward Compass costs 1 notch, and all it does is show your character on the map. I feel like this is kind of lame and it's something they should just give to you for free.
Best $15 I ever spent. This game ticks all the boxes. Very challenging and rewarding experience. Cool dark spin combined with game mechanics that are tried and true within other iterations of the genre. Will my nephew like it? Ah well maybe I'm a glutton for punishment considering the unmitigated disaster that was Sonic the Hedgehog during Christmas 2022, but here's to hoping for the best.
