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[J-Snake]

I haven't seen an entry (except the tiny one in townhall) for the game Hollow Knight yet. So I want to raise awareness since I think the game deserves it.

Hollow Knight is one of the rare games which delivers in both, art and gameplay. It is a metroidvania with a heavy focus on combat- and traversal skills. The combat/traversal patterns are simple but not flat, certainly enough to keep you engaged in a fun way.

My only main critic so far is that the system of acquiring maps is bad. It is ill-suited for efficient exploration.
But the game evokes a great sense of adventure. (Strangely, I also get disturbing short hiccups in framerate from time to time, but I am not sure if it is just me.)


WARNING: Don't watch the trailer if you want to go into the adventure completely unspoiled.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/367520/

[FrankieSmileShow]

Yes, Hollow Knight is really, really good. I've been playing it on twitch in these past few weeks, and I think it might be growing into one of my favorite metroidvania games so far.
It has great, thick atmosphere, solid animation, beautifully crafted parallax backgrounds that go way deep in your screen. The tone of the game is very gray and spooky, you are pretty much exploring the remains of a dead world and theres husks and corpses everywhere, but it also has really adorable little bug characters to encounter and a few glimpses of beauty amidst the gloom. It also has responsive and fluid controls/movement. The boss battles are great, they're the really aggressive kind of bosses that hunt you down and react to your movement and positioning, they feel hectic and intense, and it seems like the endgame might have some really hardcore optional fight challenges too.
Also, I've got 21 hours clocked in the game so far and I still dont feel like I'm at the end, still finding new areas. It seems like the game is way bigger than it might seem initially, and though its fairly linear for the first hour or so, it seems to open up real wide shortly after that. The feeling of being overwhelmed by all the places you have yet to explore doesn't come too early, but it grows very intense as you unlock new movement options.

Also of note, the games effect upon getting hit is REALLY intense. The game stops, the screen cracks and the sound goes deafened for a second, like your heart skipped a beat. I dont think Ive ever seen such an intense damage reaction in a game where you have more than 1 hit before. Its actually a pretty good idea, it makes the player character feel really fragile, and makes you very careful to avoid damage, kind of an interesting effect it has on your play.

[ｂ∀ ｋｋｕｓａ]

I like the health mecanic in this game.  You fill up a soulbar each time you hit and kill an enemy, and you use the pool to either heal yourself or cast magic.

It's an excellent metroidvania. Got some issues with the framerate also, but seems like a patch is one the way.

[J-Snake]

I like the health mecanic in this game. You fill up a soulbar each time you hit and kill an enemy, and you use the pool to either heal yourself or cast magic.

It's a neat system, adding a strategic touch to the patternized combat. I love it.

I probably should have mentioned that by "art" I mean all the means to create atmosphere, including visuals, music, setting, npcs etc. But FrankieSmileShow already elaborated on that without spoiling too much.

[Tumetsu]

This is a good gam.

[rj]

someone told me it's Objectively, (in other words, Empirically, scientifically true, no opinions involved) better than dark souls. that's a stupid and idiotic thing to say because obviously no matter what when levelling the difference between two completely incomparable things the only thing that wins out is one's opinion, but this seems very good.

i haven't played either one, but i really like the way this game presents itself from what i've seen and i plan fully on picking it up for ps4 when that version launches. it has a Nice Vibe.

[ThemsAllTook]

It is quite good. Keeps getting better as I play more.

[The Armorman]

Metr*coughing*oid*va*puking*ni*throwing up a bunch*a

[Bad_Dude 2017]

i vowed not to play a videogame that is in any form inspired by videogames

[Nillo]

I've never heard of "video games" but it sounds like a big bunch of shit to me

[rj]

i cant believe they're still making mario

[The Armorman]

[rj]

i dont get it. is it because it says 420

[Mark Mayers]

"DARK SOULS: PREPARE TO BUG EDITION"



---

Bought the game yesterday and I'm really enjoying it so far.

[Nillo]

Bug ahead therefore try courage

[freank]

:O
I discovered Hollow Knight only few weeks ago. It looks amazing O_O
And the reviews are very good!

[BorisTheBrave]

I've been playing this for a bit, and I don't really like the exploration aspect. It gives you very little indication of where to go, nor any in-story reason to explore, and yeah, the map mechanic is bad. The rest is super polished though.

For the third zone I encountered, I went right instead of left at one point, and end up having to complete basically the entire zone without a map or access to certain checkpoints. That was just annoying.

Why do people say it is like Dark Souls? Difficulty, narrative style, or...?

[s0]

Why do people say it is like Dark Souls? Difficulty, narrative style, or...?

rips off dark souls' narrative style to the point of outright copying certain npcs. also some enemy movesets are very familiar.

agreed about the exploration btw. exploration without a map is only fun with clear landmarks, which this game lacks.

[FrankieSmileShow]

I think the game has very clear landmarking. The rooms feel very distinct, especially with the detailed backgrounds. I never really had problems finding my way.

[J-Snake]

Why do people say it is like Dark Souls? Difficulty, narrative style, or...?

rips off dark souls' narrative style to the point of outright copying certain npcs. also some enemy movesets are very familiar.

It does everything better than Dark Souls though, including the combat (which is not hard to do btw).

Besides, I wouldn't say it "rips off". It is using the narrative style as a tool to establish atmosphere. If you are faced with a mathematical problem, there are typically plenty of "original" ways to come up with a solution. But you don't say you ripped off the insights of Pythagoras Euler etc to solve your problem because it came handy. It is actually effective to use the leg work others already did if it helps solving the problem. The same can apply to video games. Hollow Knight is an example for that (but I am not saying it is perfect).