GAME REVIEW: Hollow Knight (Nintendo Switch)
(Wild Theme - Mark Knopfler)
When Metroid came out for the NES way back in 1986, there was probably no way that its creators were aware of the staggering and permanent impact that the game would have on the industry. If anyone had any doubt about that impact, it was put to rest eleven years later when Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night came out for the Sony Playstation. The 'Metroidvania' genre was cemented as a very real thing, and one of the most addicting, alluring game genres of all time.
There have been dozens of games in the Metroidvania genre since then. Some have been homages. Others have been legitimate attempts to innovate.
When Team Cherry released Hollow Knight in 2017, however, they promised something different: Utter refinement. Over 2,000 backers on Kickstarted believed their promise, and backed it up with their wallets.
I would do a 'Short Version' for this review, but if you've been watching me on Facebook prior to my exit at the beginning of 2019, you know very well how I feel about this game. Now, having beaten the game, I can honestly tell you that, yes, Hollow Knight delivers. In spades.
If you aren't familiar with the game, take a gander at the launch trailer.
Done? Alright then. Here's what you need to know:
- GENRE: Hollow Knight is a classic Metroidvania-style game where you explore, fight enemies, conquer bosses, and obtain items that allow you to explore even farther. There is a -lot- of back-tracking in this game, and a truly invested player could easily keep a notebook filled with interesting things that they've found in the game, but could not yet explore.
- GRAPHICS: This is a hand-drawn 2-D side scroller. It plays buttery smooth on the handheld or on the TV. It is jaw-droppingly, breath-catchingly, heart-stoppingly gorgeous.
- SOUND: Very nearly perfect. Each sound effect is robust without being cloying, telling without being obnoxious or long. The speech in the game is gibberish, but done in a way that makes you try to figure out what language they are actually speaking, because it...just sounds familiar. It makes you want to listen, even though the spoken words actually mean nothing. The soundtrack, composed by Christopher Larkin, is full of haunting, addicting ear worms that you'll find yourself yearning for long after you've put the game down. I wholeheartedly recommend buying it. It's all instrumental music, though that hardly does it justice. The soundtrack is easily one of the best parts of the game, and one of the best soundtracks that I've ever heard from a game.
- GAMEPLAY: The most important aspect of any platformer is the sharpness of the controls, and Hollow Knight does not disappoint. The Knight is extremely maneuverable, especially when you're playing the game in handheld mode. Detaching the JoyCons or using another bluetooth controller injects a barely-there amount of controller lag into the equation, and while you can absolutely still play the game once you adjust to the lag, you'll want to play it with the JoyCons docked to the Switch during really tense parts of the game where twitch mechanics really count. Even using an external controller, the game is razor sharp. Combat is fluid, and ranges from simple kills to brutally challenging boss fights.
- STORY: This...is the one area where Hollow Knight struggles. The game has an amazing story, and the game itself is rich with lore to discover about the world. And you'll absolutely want to discover this lore, because that's the primary vehicle for telling you just what, exactly, happened. And believe me, you're going to want to know. The game could have chosen any number of mechanics to delivery its story, but instead, you're left to wonder, struggling along with little snippets of story here and there to give you context for your journey. It's hard to penalize the game for this, as the grand-daddies of the genre also had very bare stories to them, but I did ultimately get frustrated with the lack of forward storytelling once I found out that there WAS a story, I was just being made to do a crap-ton of work to figure any of it out. The really tragic part of this is that some of you will inevitably find yourselves on the internet, trying to find out more about the story, and that'll put you square in the sights of spoilerdom, which would be a damn shame.
Hollow Knight is a staggering achievement. It's an indie game with AAA production values. At $15 on the Nintendo Switch -- with all four DLC packs as of January 2019 -- this isn't a steal. It's highway robbery. Team Cherry is practically giving this game away, and it's a -lot- of game. Hollow Knight is HUGE. How huge? Well, the OG Metroid could easily eat 10 hours of gameplay if you had a map to work with and were intent on finding everything. Super Metroid could eat closer to 15 hours. Symphony Of The Knight can easily eat 20 hours of gameplay if you get into the Reverse Castle (though it goes much faster if you somehow luck into finding the Crissaegrim in the Reverse Library). I can personally vouch for these playtimes, as I've played all three of these games.
I am over 50 hours into Hollow Knight. I am at 98% completion out of a possible 112%. I have still not touched The Godhome DLC, and I'm only about halfway through The Grimm Troupe DLC. I have only found one of the game's FIVE possible endings. This game is absolutely massive. And you'll be grateful for that, because you won't ever want to reach the end of things, especially once you get back the game's first stage, The Forgotten Crossroads.
This is absolutely one of the greatest games I've ever played. Period.
When Metroid came out for the NES way back in 1986, there was probably no way that its creators were aware of the staggering and permanent impact that the game would have on the industry. If anyone had any doubt about that impact, it was put to rest eleven years later when Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night came out for the Sony Playstation. The 'Metroidvania' genre was cemented as a very real thing, and one of the most addicting, alluring game genres of all time.
There have been dozens of games in the Metroidvania genre since then. Some have been homages. Others have been legitimate attempts to innovate.
When Team Cherry released Hollow Knight in 2017, however, they promised something different: Utter refinement. Over 2,000 backers on Kickstarted believed their promise, and backed it up with their wallets.
I would do a 'Short Version' for this review, but if you've been watching me on Facebook prior to my exit at the beginning of 2019, you know very well how I feel about this game. Now, having beaten the game, I can honestly tell you that, yes, Hollow Knight delivers. In spades.
If you aren't familiar with the game, take a gander at the launch trailer.
Done? Alright then. Here's what you need to know:
- GENRE: Hollow Knight is a classic Metroidvania-style game where you explore, fight enemies, conquer bosses, and obtain items that allow you to explore even farther. There is a -lot- of back-tracking in this game, and a truly invested player could easily keep a notebook filled with interesting things that they've found in the game, but could not yet explore.
- GRAPHICS: This is a hand-drawn 2-D side scroller. It plays buttery smooth on the handheld or on the TV. It is jaw-droppingly, breath-catchingly, heart-stoppingly gorgeous.
- SOUND: Very nearly perfect. Each sound effect is robust without being cloying, telling without being obnoxious or long. The speech in the game is gibberish, but done in a way that makes you try to figure out what language they are actually speaking, because it...just sounds familiar. It makes you want to listen, even though the spoken words actually mean nothing. The soundtrack, composed by Christopher Larkin, is full of haunting, addicting ear worms that you'll find yourself yearning for long after you've put the game down. I wholeheartedly recommend buying it. It's all instrumental music, though that hardly does it justice. The soundtrack is easily one of the best parts of the game, and one of the best soundtracks that I've ever heard from a game.
- GAMEPLAY: The most important aspect of any platformer is the sharpness of the controls, and Hollow Knight does not disappoint. The Knight is extremely maneuverable, especially when you're playing the game in handheld mode. Detaching the JoyCons or using another bluetooth controller injects a barely-there amount of controller lag into the equation, and while you can absolutely still play the game once you adjust to the lag, you'll want to play it with the JoyCons docked to the Switch during really tense parts of the game where twitch mechanics really count. Even using an external controller, the game is razor sharp. Combat is fluid, and ranges from simple kills to brutally challenging boss fights.
- STORY: This...is the one area where Hollow Knight struggles. The game has an amazing story, and the game itself is rich with lore to discover about the world. And you'll absolutely want to discover this lore, because that's the primary vehicle for telling you just what, exactly, happened. And believe me, you're going to want to know. The game could have chosen any number of mechanics to delivery its story, but instead, you're left to wonder, struggling along with little snippets of story here and there to give you context for your journey. It's hard to penalize the game for this, as the grand-daddies of the genre also had very bare stories to them, but I did ultimately get frustrated with the lack of forward storytelling once I found out that there WAS a story, I was just being made to do a crap-ton of work to figure any of it out. The really tragic part of this is that some of you will inevitably find yourselves on the internet, trying to find out more about the story, and that'll put you square in the sights of spoilerdom, which would be a damn shame.
Hollow Knight is a staggering achievement. It's an indie game with AAA production values. At $15 on the Nintendo Switch -- with all four DLC packs as of January 2019 -- this isn't a steal. It's highway robbery. Team Cherry is practically giving this game away, and it's a -lot- of game. Hollow Knight is HUGE. How huge? Well, the OG Metroid could easily eat 10 hours of gameplay if you had a map to work with and were intent on finding everything. Super Metroid could eat closer to 15 hours. Symphony Of The Knight can easily eat 20 hours of gameplay if you get into the Reverse Castle (though it goes much faster if you somehow luck into finding the Crissaegrim in the Reverse Library). I can personally vouch for these playtimes, as I've played all three of these games.
I am over 50 hours into Hollow Knight. I am at 98% completion out of a possible 112%. I have still not touched The Godhome DLC, and I'm only about halfway through The Grimm Troupe DLC. I have only found one of the game's FIVE possible endings. This game is absolutely massive. And you'll be grateful for that, because you won't ever want to reach the end of things, especially once you get back the game's first stage, The Forgotten Crossroads.
This is absolutely one of the greatest games I've ever played. Period.
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