5/5 ★ – Pixelguy9's review of Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition.

Hollow Knight is a special game; my first true introduction into the indie game scene and a masterful showcase of how a small team with an idea and the passion to execute it can create a truely genre-defining title. I’d argue that one of the first major standout feature of Hollow Knight is the incredible art direction. Every environment is teaming with detail and it is obvious that so much effort went into each section of the world. The art direction also does wonders for the game’s characters, all of which are expressive and overflowing with charm. Many indie games opt for art styles that either serve a narrative purpose or are easier to create compared to AAA 3D environments, and Hollow Knight manages to use its art style for both purposes masterfully. The world of Hollow Knight is not only beautiful to look at, but fun to explore and is the part of the game I consider to be its best. Each area of the game is distinct, filled with life and uses environmental storytelling to a degree rarely seen outside of higher budget horror titles. From the gorgeous colours of the lush Greenpath to the somber City of Tears and the nightmarish Deepnest, Hollow Knight’s world is jam packed full of secrets, useful items, wonderful characters and fearsome foes, and every time I find myself coming back to the game, I’m blown away by the extent to which Team Cherry was able to make this world feel so real and lived in. Hollow Knight’s gameplay is fairly basic, borrowing many of its abilities and ideas from fellow metroidvanias, however, the flow of the general gameplay and combat is what makes the game so difficult to put down. Tight platforming sections such as the White Palace and the Path of Pain exist as culminations of your knowledge of the game’s mechanics. It feels so good to chain together double jumps, wall jumps, dashes, and pogos, and the game provides many opportunities for each to shine. Combat in Hollow Knight might not be as intricate as some of its contemporaries, but its simplicity allows for the player to quickly master an ability before being taught a new one. Combining simple melee strikes with powerful spells can mean the difference between winning and losing a battle, and this is encouraged in nearly every fight the game presents. All of the player’s abilities are tied to soul, a resource collected by attacking enemies, and can be spent to heal or cast spells. Additionally, the games large selection of charms can change the player experience completely, either through simple increases in attack power or soul collection, or more niche abilities like summoning small companions or gaining a shell while healing. Hollow Knight wouldn’t be the game that it is without its amazing roster of bosses, ranging from extremely easy, to so difficult I dread to even think about attempting them. The games leaves a great first impression with its initial bosses, each communicating new ideas to the player; the importance of positioning with False Knight, jumping to avoid attacks with Hornet, and managing multiple enemies with the Mantis Lords. Each lesson learnt from a boss is rarely set aside for the rest of the game, and each fight incorporates some sort of familiar element for the player to exploit as a weakness. These first few bosses are fun for their simplicity, but Hollow Knight’s difficulty will increase drastically by the endgame, with a handful of fights not only dealing double damage, but also incorporating much more challenging attack patterns and moves. Unlike some bosses in, say, certain FromSoftware games, there is no BS here, and thankfully, most of the game’s most challenging fights are optional, such as Radiance and Nightmare King Grimm. Hollow Knight is one of the few games among my favourites of all time that I will never beat 100% (or in this case, 112%), as I am simply not skilled enough to take on challenges such as the aforementioned Nightmare King Grimm, the Pantheon of Hallownest or the Path of Pain. The final main aspect that I believe Hollow Knight truely shines in is the music. Hollow Knight’s soundtrack has incredible range, and holds some of my favourite tracks from any game I’ve played to date. The soft piano and stings echoing through the streets of Dirtmouth as they slowly regain the life they once had, the harp accompanying the Last Stag as he arrives at the call of the Stag Station’s bell, and the distant organ haunting the rooms of the Soul Sanctum make up some of the game’s best ambient tracks. Even the White Palace, mentioned before for its ability to make me want to tear my hair out, has perhaps one of the game’s best melancholic tracks. However, the game’s musical glory is best seen in the boss tracks. The Mantis Lords frantic strings reflecting the chaotic battle unfolding, the surprisingly heroic brass heralding the fight with the Dung Defender hints at his origins and his role prior to the kingdom’s fall, and Nosk’s horror inspired track fitting his eerie buildup and introduction. But the best of the soundtrack has yet to come, as ‘The Grimm Troupe’ and ‘Nightmare King Grimm’ incorporate one of my favourite things that only a select few games impliment; that being mixing choir and the organ with rock, an odd combination on paper, but one that does wonders for these intense and visually incredible fights. The game’s final fight against The Hollow Knight is made even better thanks to the track ‘Sealed Vessel’ that accompanies it, beginning with the intensity you would expect from the final boss, before taking a note from the Dark Souls playbook and completely shifting in the second phase to the somber strings and vocals as the boss begins to stab at himself, hoping to drive out the infection inside him. The track closes with the true ending’s piece, a slow, wistful rendition of the main theme that never fails to hit me in the feels every time. There is no doubt in my mind that Hollow Knight is one of the greatest indie games of all time, but I believe it goes deeper than that. I think this game might just be the greatest metroidvania ever made, beating out the games of which the genres name is derived. This game showed me what sometime made by talented, passionate people could do, and I think it might have been the game that set me on the path of deeply exploring the themes and design in games, in addition to the career I hope to pursue. For that, Hollow Knight will always have my respect… But seriously, when’s Silksong coming out?