Hollow Knight

An extremely hard and—for those stubborn enough to persevere—an extremely long and satisfying platforming adventure. This game is not for everyone. There is no hand-holding: you will die a lot, be punished for dying a lot, will often not know what to do next, and consequently you may get frustrated a lot. But every little bit of progress will feel earned and rewarding.

There is an insane amount of content. I reached what I felt was the "endgame" but it was really just half of the game. There is so much to do and achieve, even when you think you've explored the entire huge map. This game sets a new standard for what's considered enough content. You can easily spend more than 80 hours and still have so much more to do.

The main reason it's hard is that it's an ultra-sensitive combat-oriented platformer. Controls require a high degree of precision and quick reflexes. The physics are compressed and linear, reminiscent of old classics, such as Metroid and Mario. There's bounce but no flow. Direction changes are sharp and sudden. But when you painstakingly master the controls they do feel quite wonderful. The bosses are many and challenging and mostly fun and fair, requiring you to not only master your controls but also learn how they use theirs.

But there is another reason this game is so hard. Its centerpiece is death, and death is very, very costly. After you die you reappear at a save point that is likely very far from where you died. You lose all your hard-earned coin. Your magic points become a bit restricted. And to top it off, an extra annoying enemy will be waiting for you when you return to that spot, and you must defeat this enemy in order to unlock your magic points. I personally think these costs are too high and wish there were a way to lower this "difficulty".

You will die a lot, because of how unforgiving the game is for even the tiniest mistakes. You might be full of health and ready for adventure when you encounter a weak enemy, and then you move at the wrong split second and it touches you and causes damage, then you get pushed back from the damage and touch another enemy, which throws you onto a spike, from which you bounce into a pool of acid, and suddenly you're dead and staring at the screen with your jaw dropped and grimly starting the long trek back. There's a fast travel mechanism, but it's quite limited, and some important areas don't have it. This is an intentionally demoralizing design feature, which admittedly makes your successes feel that much more precious.

As you progress there are upgrades that make combat and traversal easier, but progress is very slow and very incremental. Some crucial upgrades are quite hidden and the game does little to nothing to point you in the right direction. The game world is huge and crammed with secrets, and you can easily waste a lot of time just going through the same areas again and again. There were several moments where it seemed to me that I explored everything I could and there was nowhere else to go. It took a long time to find a new direction and start having fun again.

All the above is due to reasonable design choices about difficulty and reward, but it's worth pointing out that the game has glaring weak spots. My main disappointment is that there is inconsistent permanence. Leave an area and it resets: the enemies are back at their same locations, any environmental damage you caused is restored—but of course goodies you collected are gone. It makes no sense and breaks immersion. Sometimes it's quite ridiculous: you move to the right to the next screen, then back to the left to the previous screen, and it's like you were never there. Monsters have instanty regenerated! I think the designers could have, at least, programmed enemies to re-spawn over time.

Also, for how nice everything looks and how gorgeous the music is, there is a dismal lack of diversity in level design. It's all blocky floors and walls and corridors. The same basic design elements repeat again and again with little variation. The more you play the game, the more it becomes apparent that you're not going to encounter something new. Around mid-game it becomes less about the delight of exploration and more about finding the way to the next boss. Considering the world's size, this was a terribly missed opportunity. No platformer should have boring level design.

Final note about the game's story (what fans call "lore"). Honestly, it's quite threadbare. I appreciate it as background to the gameplay, but there's really not much meat to it. If you go to the games' wikis you will read a much more detailed story than you can get on your own.

If my quibbles didn't scare you and you're up for the challenge of a huge, hard-as-nails, no-hand-holding metroidvania, this game is outstanding and will give you many hours of play. Relish and enjoy!