Hollow Knight is one of those games that I have been waiting to play for quite a long while now. It has been waiting and waiting for its chance to shine and that time is finally now. The gameplay and style are both well known for being distinctive and I’d agree with that. It’s a lot of fun to play through the game and there is plenty to explore. I have no real complaints on the gameplay front with the only weak aspect being the lack of a real thorough story. There is enough lore for you to build something out of it though.

The game follows the little Hollow Knight as he seeks to destroy all the monsters in his way. He must wake up the souls of three sleeping guardians from around the world and then face his final trial. Along the way he meets Hornet, the heroine from the legendary game known as Silksong. She tests his might on several occasions before letting him go on to the next challenge. Hollow Knight will have to gain more and more strength if he wants to end this quest in victory.

You start out with your basic jumping ability and a short sword. As is the case with most Metroidvanias you will gain more abilities as you play through the game. For example you will get energy blasts, double jumps, wall jumps, etc. You will feel quite powerful by the end of it all and that sense of power progression is absolutely important in a game like this. That’s because you will be doing a lot of backtracking and going across the same areas 50 times. So by getting stronger, you can go through the rooms a lot quicker than you could before. You will also gradually create shortcuts.

The game is very well done on the quality of life front. Whether it be checkpoints or maps, you will consistently be able to make things easier on yourself. There is also a very in depth customization system which lets you choose what you want to power up. Sometimes you may want to amp up strength while other times you want to amp up your speed instead. You have to choose carefully because you don’t have many slots. You can buy more slots as you go through the game but will always have to settle for just a few badges.

My lineup was to use the shield, expanded map, and orb gatherer. I found those to be the most helpful and for the very end of the game I got to use my longer sword. The game will be difficult regardless, in many ways you could even say that’s the whole point of the game. It’s not meant to be the kind of title that you breeze through. I certainly lost to some bosses over and over again.

I’d say the best thing to do is take it slow and learn the attack patterns. Eventually you will be able to dodge pretty well. You could even go for parrying but I found the timing to be tight, even for me. So personally I would say to not bother with that unless you are feeling incredibly confident. Jumping and dodging is the best way to go. You can also heal health by staying in one place but the bosses are all programmed to attack even more intensely when you stop moving so you want to be careful about that.

The minions can also be tough at times due to the sheer numbers. Make sure you don’t let them surround you and skipping a minion is a bad idea if you aren’t by an exit because it will eventually catch up to you. Dispatch the enemies as soon as possible when going forward and only skip the ones that you are sure you can outrun. As long as you keep on doing that then you should be good. This also may be obvious but I highly recommend prioritizing buying the maps as soon as possible every time they appear. This will save you an incredible amount of time.

Like I mentioned the only weak point here is the story. It’s really complete lore with very few cutscenes. The dialogue we get from characters like Hornet is pretty good but these scenes are rare. It is possible to just have a game be so atmospheric that it works without a story but I dare say that it is nearly an impossible task. The atmosphere here was good for example and I liked the surroundings but I still missed my in depth plot. Ultimately I just really wanted to see that. The sound effects for the various characters you walk past could be a little extra loud too.

The soundtrack is good though. Several good boss themes in there and the music always helps to enhance the scene. The graphics are also really good. Everything is polished and so the game feels modern all the way through. There is also a ton of content crammed within the game. I was able to clear it after about 15 hours but my completion% was only in the 70s. There is plenty more content to be played through beyond that including a ton of boss fights and extra rooms. One day it would definitely be worth going through more of the game to get some trophies. The price point for Hollow Knight is incredibly considering how much content you get.

Overall, Hollow Knight is a game that I would definitely recommend. The content and replay value really speaks for itself. The gameplay style is also a lot of fun as it tests your abilities greatly. There is no RNG here at all. Whether you win or lose is completely based on your own merits. There are plenty of checkpoints everywhere so you don’t feel bad when you lose. It doesn’t take long to return to where you fell in battle. I personally would enjoy an instant rematch button but I understand how that might make things a bit too easy. The exploring is part of the fun after all and if you’re seriously stuck then you can always double back and try another route. I definitely look forward to trying out Silksong at some point and seeing how it stacks up to Hollow Knight. By playing the first game so late I got to avoid a whole lot of the wait that fans had to put up with.

Overall 7/10