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Hollow Knight impressions
6 years ago
General
When life gives you lemons, burn life's house down. Preferrably with life still inside.
Alright, since I only recently got my hands on Hollow Knight and finished it few days ago, I need to ramble on a bit about the game. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible but some details miiight slip in so if you still haven't played the game, be mindful of it!!
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Alright, so, where to begin? It's hard for me to find proper words to describe this unique experience of a game. To say I absolutely love it would be an understatement because it quickly grabbed number one spot on my "favorite games" list. That's right, something managed to overthrow Super Metroid and Axiom Verge!! And it has earned that top spot for very good reason.
Major companies keep touting how high resolution, realistic graphics are the future of gaming and what everyone should follow, but this game completely shits all over that mindset with it's mind-blowingly gorgeous visuals. Everything, from character sprites to background elements is hand-drawn and beautifully animated, and at times I'd find myself just stopping and observing my surroundings in awe. If I had to pick favorite areas in terms of aesthetic, it would be:
-City of Tears: a hauntingly beautiful city that seems to derive it's design from baroque architecture (which is also present in varying amounts in other areas)
-Greenpath and Queen's Garden: lush, verdant areas overgrown with vegetation which gives them a very cozy, comfortable atmosphere.
-Crystal Peak: given my gemstone collection hobby, it's obvious why :P
-White Palace: platforming hell aside, the area's heavenly appearance combined with the beautiful, serene music really adds to the majesty of that place.
Character designs are quite interesting and cute; something that actually helps with establishing how serious things are story-wise at some points. If I had to pick favorite characters in terms of appearance and personality, it would be Elderbug, Last Stag, White Lady and Dung Defender (who's a big bundle of fun, goddamn)
Christopher Larkin absolutely fucking *nailed it* (get it???) with the spectacular, atmospheric soundtrack that further helps set up the mood of the game. It would be hard for me to pick ONE favorite track because each one is mind-blowing on their own.
As for gameplay, it presents the right kind of challenge that, while it *can* be incredibly frustrating at times, is still fair and makes you stay on your toes in the heat of battle; going dick-first into boss fights will only get you killed, so you need to strategize and adapt since each boss has a pattern that might be a bit difficult to master but once you get the hang of it, it's much easier to deal with them. As for White Palace.....*pleasegodhelpme*
And don't get me started on how well the game's lore and story are executed. Instead of basically dropping everything on your lap in huge expositions, the game instead peppers the details in via occasional log within the game or even with visual cues, and the player is left to piece everything together on their own. The way it pulls off the "show, don't tell" mechanic shows massive respect for the player and adds to the sense of exploration of this massive world. The tragedy of Hallownest and how it all fell apart is all up to you to discover on your own, and players have been making many different, but each well-sounding theories regarding the events and characters.
All in all, a game that is well-deserving all of it's praise and acclaim, and something that you can't just play once and drop. The story, the characters, the magic of Hallownest just keeps calling you back...
10/10, I am eagerly awaiting the sequel, Silksong...now excuse me gottamakeaHollowKnightcharacter~
----
Alright, so, where to begin? It's hard for me to find proper words to describe this unique experience of a game. To say I absolutely love it would be an understatement because it quickly grabbed number one spot on my "favorite games" list. That's right, something managed to overthrow Super Metroid and Axiom Verge!! And it has earned that top spot for very good reason.
Major companies keep touting how high resolution, realistic graphics are the future of gaming and what everyone should follow, but this game completely shits all over that mindset with it's mind-blowingly gorgeous visuals. Everything, from character sprites to background elements is hand-drawn and beautifully animated, and at times I'd find myself just stopping and observing my surroundings in awe. If I had to pick favorite areas in terms of aesthetic, it would be:
-City of Tears: a hauntingly beautiful city that seems to derive it's design from baroque architecture (which is also present in varying amounts in other areas)
-Greenpath and Queen's Garden: lush, verdant areas overgrown with vegetation which gives them a very cozy, comfortable atmosphere.
-Crystal Peak: given my gemstone collection hobby, it's obvious why :P
-White Palace: platforming hell aside, the area's heavenly appearance combined with the beautiful, serene music really adds to the majesty of that place.
Character designs are quite interesting and cute; something that actually helps with establishing how serious things are story-wise at some points. If I had to pick favorite characters in terms of appearance and personality, it would be Elderbug, Last Stag, White Lady and Dung Defender (who's a big bundle of fun, goddamn)
Christopher Larkin absolutely fucking *nailed it* (get it???) with the spectacular, atmospheric soundtrack that further helps set up the mood of the game. It would be hard for me to pick ONE favorite track because each one is mind-blowing on their own.
As for gameplay, it presents the right kind of challenge that, while it *can* be incredibly frustrating at times, is still fair and makes you stay on your toes in the heat of battle; going dick-first into boss fights will only get you killed, so you need to strategize and adapt since each boss has a pattern that might be a bit difficult to master but once you get the hang of it, it's much easier to deal with them. As for White Palace.....*pleasegodhelpme*
And don't get me started on how well the game's lore and story are executed. Instead of basically dropping everything on your lap in huge expositions, the game instead peppers the details in via occasional log within the game or even with visual cues, and the player is left to piece everything together on their own. The way it pulls off the "show, don't tell" mechanic shows massive respect for the player and adds to the sense of exploration of this massive world. The tragedy of Hallownest and how it all fell apart is all up to you to discover on your own, and players have been making many different, but each well-sounding theories regarding the events and characters.
All in all, a game that is well-deserving all of it's praise and acclaim, and something that you can't just play once and drop. The story, the characters, the magic of Hallownest just keeps calling you back...
10/10, I am eagerly awaiting the sequel, Silksong...now excuse me gottamakeaHollowKnightcharacter~
I made a mantis/Lunar moth hybrid. You gonna post yours?
I ended up jumping to the next game on my list, Guacamelee, a somewhat similar game which was nowhere near as story heavy and didn't take itself as seriously, but I found it to have a great balance of difficulty to the point where I never felt like the game was being unfair. I had so much control over my character that it always felt like every death was my fault and I knew it. I was never left questioning "How the hell do I do this? Am I missing some arbitrary power up? Do I need to rearrange my entire charm set?". That game made me feel like I was always progressing and getting stronger, not constantly having to overcome my character's innate weakness. Like, imagine a Metroid game where Samus had to choose between using missiles or the morph ball.
I don't want to bring up the whole Dark Souls reference thing, but Hollow Knight really did feel like a 2D version of that...and it's a series I've never wanted anything to do with. Having experienced like 80% of Hollow Knight, I just feel annoyed by it and irritated that I ever got involved with it in the first place. I'm at least glad I played it before the sequel came out, otherwise I might have accidentally bought that too. The most frustrating part about all of it is that I'll never be pixel perfect, speed runner god tier good enough to do what the devs expect of me and all the "git gud" assholes can just laugh and mock me for it. All things considered, I had an awful time with this game and the few bright spots really can't make up for everything else that makes me hate Hollow Knight.