5/5 ★ – bryceroniee's review of Hollow Knight.

You know it. You love it. It’s Hollow Knight. There’s so much good that’s rightfully been written about this game. So I think it’s more interesting to discuss some things that aren’t being discussed. To me, playing Hollow Knight evoked some fundamental questions about games and art: How do we define genre vs aesthetic? Where is the line between tropes and derivativeness? What exactly is “Soulslike?” These questions may seem a bit rich. But the puzzling catalyst to these questions is the acknowledgment that it is impossible to imagine Hollow Knight without the existence of Dark Souls. To put it another way, Hollow Knight feels a bit *too* reliant on the Soulslike genre. Hollow Knight, like Dark Souls and nearly every Soulslike game, is set in an esoteric “Kingdom” in a state of decay. It communicates through ghosts, dead warriors, and scraps of lore, which suggest a world of Lovecraftian horrors. You are a lonesome knight who must delve to the depths of this dreadful, labyrinthian, monochrome black-and-grey dungeon to kill monsters because....reasons. Details are light. The plot is mysterious. And throughout your adventure, you’ll engage in tight, difficult combat scenarios against nightmarish enemies. You will die. Is “Soulslike” merely an aesthetic? Or is it a subgenre, perhaps a genre in itself? What are its constraints? Is it too narrowly defined? Are we able to separate Soulslike gameplay from its aesthetic? I began to ponder these questions because Hollow Knight feels VERY much like a product of its genre. There is absolutely no better way to describe Hollow Knight than “Soulslike 2D Metroidvania.” There’s nothing wrong with this label. Again, Hollow Knight is excellent at what it does. But don’t expect more than exactly that description. It never reaches beyond the confines of that label. It knows what it does well, and simply gives you a lot of it. Often if a game is a masterpiece, critics call it “Greater than the sum of its parts.” Hollow Knight is not that. It is exactly its parts. It’s a huge, fun, and well polished game, but it’s also safe. If you love Souls games, you’re in luck. And even if you don’t, you’ll probably still find something to enjoy. Personally, I can vibe with Souls genre gameplay, but I get a little tired of its dark, vague narrative and its grey color palette. I also can wear myself out of these games after a while. Difficulty fatigue is real. So, in summary: Is Hollow Knight a good game? Yes. Is it excellent? I’d say so. Does it do anything egregiously wrong? Nope. Is it a jaw dropping masterpiece? I don’t think so. Would I still recommend it to friends? Absolutely.