I think some people go overboard calling it a masterpiece (it does have a few problems and its stabs at transcendence only partially succeed), but I really enjoyed it. It’s a cohesive, flowing experience that’s more than the sum of its parts (kind of the exact opposite of Blasphemous, since you just posted about it in the other thread). It’s original especially in its approach to map design, and also in its use of low-detail 3d artwork and lighting to produce an especially large and varied world.
The aesthetic is great, the level design is some of the best I’ve seen in a metroidvania in years, and the whole game oozes with a sense of place so often lacking in games.
The action and platformimg, if they click with you, are also far better than the general trends of the genre around it. The bounces and sword thrusts and limited magic blasts feels very good in the swing of things.
Basically, I dig it a lot but I will give a few caveats as well.
It’s not innovative in almost any way, but it is a remarkably well tuned and considered remixing of good ideas from all over action adventure gaming history.
The balance of difficulty while exploring is lovely, with just enough pressure and complexity to keep things feeling exciting. Unfortunately, the backtracking does get stale when you’re trying to mop up remaining sidequests at the end of the game.
I also have to say as much as I enjoyed it, I stalled out right at the end and kinda didn’t ever complete it because the final boss was just a little too much for me.
So, vastly better than so many similar games, but feeling ironically, a little hollow? I’d take it over Axiom Verge any day of the week, if that helps. Or the vast majority of mainstream gaming press indie darlings too.
Hollow Knight is excellent IMO. It does this @1995-2000 thing of having you earn the most basic videogame actions and objects (a map, a dash, etc) which some find annoying but I absolutely love that shit so I was onboard for the entire 30 hours game
Thanks guys!
It seems something I should check out.
And, Broco, I liked the anti-comparison with Blasphemous (which indeed doesn’t seem to have much flow)
I really dislike Hollow Knight – it doles out power-ups at a glacial pace, the areas are gigantic and circuitous and have almost nothing to propel me forward, and the physics remind me of mid 2000s GameMaker games. The character lacks momentum entirely. Even the pushbacks just manipulate your position; they add no velocity.
I think the comparison to Blasphemous is fruitful because they are polar opposites in many ways. I’m probably projecting but Blasphemous seems like a willful attempt to graft NES game design within an SNES framework?
For example, games like Crystalis, Faxanadu, Legacy of the Wizard came to mind when I was playing through the demo a few weeks ago. Like those games, Blasphemous doesn’t “flow” in a conventional sense; it sort of meanders like a fever dream; you don’t really know what you’ll get on a screen-by-screen basis.
I kinda miss this approach, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t appreciate Hollow Knight, just that I’ll almost always choose the messier game and I’ve
stayed away from Hollow Knight because it’s too flawless and sanded-down to perfection.
i’d be playing blasphemous right now if every time you ripped and tore something into giblets instead it was a little poof and they turned into a sonic animal that scurried away i’ll still play it though
My new apartment has terrible phone reception. Should I use the iOS option that lets me do calls over WiFi? Are there going to be any privacy or other consequences? Feels weird.
I have been playing Hollow Knight for a couple of hours and I like it. Presentation is charming. Controls are quite good too. It gives me motivation to go forward… It’s “nice to be there”.
I will read the dedicated thread in the upcoming days.
One thing I do like about it is there’s really not a “right” way to go through the game’s world in terms of there being, say, an order you need to pick up all the upgrades/abilities. Reading through a few threads about the game at times I got stuck made it very clear that other peoples’ paths had been quite different (and that this affected some of the encounters with other characters, as well!)
yeah Prey did that as well and it feels like a waste because I’m so underwhelmed by so much of the rest of it too! I don’t know why there’s this new trend where if you manage to achieve actual non linearity in a single player game that the rest has to be so flat
I believe achieving that level of non-linearity dramatically increases the level of effort to keep the entire experience dynamic and engaging. with both hollow knight and prey I was surprised with how much detail and texture they managed to provide despite the games being so open and non-linear. it feels like progress to me.
