Hollow Knight, a video game released by three-man developer Team Cherry in 2017, is having it's final free DLC expansion released later on this month, so I figured it was about time I talk about what I believe is one of the best games I've ever played.
Oh, I'm sorry, did you miss that? Yes, that three-man team made ONE OF THE BEST GAMES I'VE EVER PLAYED.
And I've played a few.
Allow me to explain what I mean in further detail.
Hollow Knight is a metroidvania, which, for those of you who may not know, is a game about platforming through a world over and over again, finding secrets and upgrades, and eventually progressing due to those upgrades. Hollow Knight follows and refines this formula, as well as adds on it's own, somewhat Dark Souls-like elements, mostly pertaining to the canonizing of you character's death and you needing to return to that spot to gain back your money and part of your "soul" meter, soul being a resource that you gain from hitting enemies with your nail.
Soul allows you to heal damage, among other things, which is necessary with your inherent fragility. Of course, you can only gain soul back by being offensive, which wraps together, alongside tight maneuverability and platforming, to form satisfying and spectacular combat. Spectacularly, face-plantingly, wake-up-your-mother-with-swearing levels of hard, hard combat. You will (if you're anything like me) die many times over, meaning you will have to go back to get your things many times over, in which something quite eerie(which will not be covered here, go play the game you cheapskate) becomes commonplace.
You see, the tight combat and platforming makes exploration itself fun, fluid, and challenging, but its the world, the aesthetic, the beautiful visual style, the tone, that makes exploration worth it. The world you explore is an ancient and dying kingdom of bugs known as Hallownest. Yes, you play as a little bug man. But this is no It's a Bug's Life. An ancient infection is poisoning the underground kingdom, turning bugs into empty husk zombies. As you explore this land, you discover various areas, such as overgrown gardens, crystalline caverns, and HORROR INFESTED SPIDER CAVERNS OH GOD. They're all beautiful(even the horror caverns) and filled with lore to find and secrets to uncover. But the world as a whole is dangerous, and somewhat somber. In fact, it would be depressing if it didn't have one thing: charming characters.
Every single character glows with charm(except Zote), and they, alongside other things, balance out this bleak and somber tone with brief moments of pure joy(except Zote). It makes the world twice as fun to explore. Every area, you can meet Cornifer, a skittish map maker, and the vendors each have character and story related to this kingdom and the infection running through it. They all give the world enough light to keep it alive(except Zote).
That's the real genius. In a metroidvania, you have to explore a world multiple times. So the developers decided to make the world and the methods of which you explore it satisfying. They took the formula and perfected it into something entirely unique and brilliant. If you've been waiting for the next big indie metroidvania, here you go. If you've just been waiting for a brilliant game to play, go pick this up, it's only $20. It's truly one of the best experiences I've ever had, and will always be the first game I point to when asked "What makes you think a game is art." Hell, I didn't even get to the charms, which change up your combat style in order to ensure combat remains fresh, nor the unique and lore filled bosses which crushed me many times over. The genuine experience that this game gives is exceptional. You would be hard pressed to find something bad about this game.
(Except Zote. Screw Zote.)
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