2.5/5 ★ – justimagine's review of Hollow Knight.

Every now and then, we get to witness a special indie game that changes the way people look at genres – potentially opening up new ones in the process. Those games tend to pull in a fanbase that is equally beautiful – to witness the love, the determination to find every secret, the fanfictions and the modding – as it is tragic when we experience the gatekeeping, the elimination of every critique and unaccepted view, and the eventual hype for the upcoming games/updates. Hollow Knight definitely is one of those games. It did refine the Metroidvania genre, managed to unite a huge fanbase, and is still in the spotlight – not at last thanks to the Silksong memes, but for sure thanks to the strong randomizer and general community. My personal story with the game starts off from a surprisingly blind spot. Even eight years after the original release, I still basically knew nothing about the game. Only recently had I heard of Silksong for the very first time, but my interest in Metroidvanias was simply non-existent. Thanks to a friend, I got to change my mind on the platformer genre. Right after that, I gave Metroidvanias a try. And let me spoiler you already: I should have played more Metroidvanias before jumping into Hollow Knight. While I was still struggling to figure out what was going on, who I was, why I was jumping into a well and fighting bugs... I also was trying to figure out what a Metroidvania was. Surprisingly enough, this game did not make a good first impression on the genre. I had way too many questions about the state of the world, the reason for my existence, my drive – everything. It now feels like that was the intended way to experience the start of the game, and it did in fact manage to captivate me enough to stay in the game – it just asked for too much. I knew that I'd get more movement, but the time it took to reach those – the pathing to places, the bosses that felt too hard or surprisingly easy so I never knew if I was too far or not far enough in, the new biomes that appear way too quickly until you understand how a Metroidvania map works... It was just so much the devs expected you to know and deal with because you already know that it's going to be worth it. For the first half of the game, getting lost meant exploring more, and it was really enjoyable. Seeing stuff you missed out on, accidentally backtracking and finding a new boss, a person that switched places and you can talk to – it felt rewarding to stumble around. The only thing that I was still missing was story. And that problem sadly would persist through the whole game. I still didn't understand what was going on. If I should be fighting everything, or should try to spare all I can. Am I the bad guy? Can I just be good if I stop playing? Is "forgetting everything" meant literally, and have I had so many iterations of myself that I have no knowledge of my original form and am fueling the curse? And where and when will I finally get a glimpse of an ACTUAL FACT instead of half-philosophical, half-rhetorical statements?! For the longest time, I blamed myself. I didn't backtrack enough, I wasn't patient enough, I wasn't quick enough, I didn't turn around when I should have. I hadn't understood the game enough. And then the second half set in. Namely, Deepnest and Crystal Peak. Places that are meant to be the way they are. While the idea and execution of Deepnest were exceptional – the claustrophobic feeling, the sounds, the danger and dread – it just worked so well. Too well, in fact. There was no way I could enjoy my stay in that area. No reward good enough to make it worth it. All I wanted was to leave when I was there. I do understand that fans will defend this, will mention the relief after – no light without shadows and all that stuff. But it doesn't deter from the fact that I was suffering through it. I see the vision, I see the implementation – and it deserves a 10/10 for the area. But I still am 100% against the area and never want to experience it again. It might be one of the main reasons I lost interest in playing the game a second time. The backtracking was way less interesting, since I avoided those areas and feared having to go there again. It started feeling like a chore, and in hindsight, I just should have used a guide. Pathing through areas got harder, and dying felt even less forgiving. I really lost the enjoyment and wanted to stop playing. If not for the Abyss – that tiny piece of clear story that I was hoping for – and the newfound persistence I learned from platforming earlier that year, I might have gone through with it. Way too late in the game did I get the Dream Nail – and I soon accidentally used it on a character I had not talked to prior, actively deleting them. So, I conditioned myself to use that sparingly, stripping me of one of the most consistent forms of lore and flavour text. The same is true for the later spells, which I never actively used in battles, because the incentives to use them were not natural or clear to me. But I still did play through the game once for the bad ending, and immediately went back in to go for the good one – getting up to 105% in the process. The dev team did such a great job with this game – way too good for the game's good. The ideas were incredible, and they really did such a good job in putting everything together. The story is hinted at just right to get you incredibly invested; they sprinkle just enough in so it just doesn't let you go. It is fascinating how well they did it – so well, in fact, that it felt like I had to suffer to get just a little bit more. And I hate every part of it. The gameplay, as soon as you unlock most of the movement, gets so incredibly satisfying. I was scared of the "hard boss fights", but actually enjoyed those the most out of the game. The fights oftentimes felt like a dance, alternatively like a riddle. Jumping on enemies’ heads was fun, figuring out how to space around them could really get your gears going. It was plain fun, and I can't wait to just play some boss gauntlets. The charms are a good idea to offer niche gameplay styles, and I like that they were practically not "needed" to be used. I do wish that there would’ve been more incentives to play around with them, and I think the dev team would have been able to create some fun challenges with that too. Path of Pain is one of the most cheese-inviting and still encouraging platforming sections the game has to offer – and I am sad that it was not a little longer. I think they actually had something going there and could have gone way more overboard. (Though I think the end of PoP is unneeded – basically a shocker, working exactly once. Which makes it feel like a laugh at the player's face instead of a fun experience. And yes, I think the name is not an excuse to do that.) I think my experience suffered strongly from the lack of prior Metroidvania experience – but I also expect that to not happen in a genre-defining game. While I want to love Hollow Knight, while I see all the great it does, all the incredible work that was put into it and the sheer amount of content and lore... I just can't bring myself to do it. I lost out on way too much story, had to push through too many unenjoyable moments and areas, was lost without a feeling of progress too often, went in too many circles, and had to see the idea instead of enjoy the experience too many times. I do think that Hollow Knight deserves the hype, the love, and all the attention for the sequel it gets. And I am happy that the perception of the game is generally more positive. My personal experience though can just not justify the same rating. I hope that everything Metroidvania I learned here will help me enjoy Silksong more once it releases.