hollow knight review: ending
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@ -16,9 +16,9 @@ game_release_year: '2017'
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game_developer: 'Team Cherry'
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I hope they divorce very soon.
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I hope they get divorced.
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That's my review, condensed into a single sentence. As much as I loved my deep dive into the world of [Hallownest](https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Hallownest), as the end came near, I stopped playing. And I'm not alone. Here are a few fun Reddit threads:
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That's my review, condensed into a single sentence. As much as I loved my deep dive into the world of [Hallownest](https://hollowknight.fandom.com/wiki/Hallownest), as the end came near, I tried stopping playing three times. And I'm not alone. Here are a few fun Reddit threads:
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- [Is Hollow Knight too difficult?](https://www.reddit.com/r/HollowKnight/comments/jjdbc2/is_hollow_knight_too_difficult_for_a_beginner/)
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- [I love Hollow Knight, but it's too hard for me!](https://www.reddit.com/r/HollowKnight/comments/8i42ak/i_love_hollow_knight_but_its_too_hard_for_me/)
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@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Trolls love to answer these questions with the two words _"GIT GUD"_. They're co
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> Everything I keep reading and writing about whether games should have difficulty options anchors itself back to the question of Hollow Knight’s benches: if you’re going to make your game difficult, at least don’t make it discouraging for the player. Game design should continually nudge, “Keep playing.” All it would have taken is some encouraging benches and I would still be in Hallownest.
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Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
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Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Only, I just couldn't stop playing---it's that captivating.
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## So... Why waste your time with it?
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@ -48,11 +48,13 @@ Hollow Knight even includes (too) tricky platforming sections, in the same vein
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Insert ragequit gif here...
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The last part of the game, the White Palace, is one big platforming test, almost exactly like intermediate Celeste levels, where not only precise jumps are needed, but also needle "pogo jumps" and perfectly timed dashes. To be honest, at first, I was discouraged to continue---yet again. But in the end, after pressing on and successfully completing that part (it took me a good hour or so), I was not only proud but it also admittedly was quite a bit of fun.
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Have I talked about the punishing boss battles yet? Yes, everything is punishing in this game. But some boss battles... Well, they are borderline insane. After reading [the 10 hardest Hollow Knight bosses](https://www.thegamer.com/hollow-knight-hardest-boss-battles/), I was convinced that I would never ever finish the game with the true ending. To make matters worse, after a few patches, Team Cherry "rebalanced" the gameplay by making a few must-needed charms less usable and by making a few bosses even more insane by having them do two damage instead of one and up the attack frequency. Good job, guys. I had to dig through YouTube to find cheesy strategies to overcome most bosses. That's a bug, not a feature.
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For those who like to enjoy the game's immersiveness without having to go into a heart rate overdrive, you're out of luck. Yoshi's Crafted World includes a _"Mellow"_ difficulty option my wife likes to use to just wander around and enjoy the game. Yoshi's given wings; if you manage to fall off a cliff, no big deal. I'm not advocating for something like that to be enabled by default---it can be hidden away in a few submenu options---but at least give casual players a chance to explore your game. I don't even consider myself a casual player and had to really push myself to take on a boss for the nth time in order to progress. The Traitor Lord in Queen's Gardens (the one that got buffed up with the patch) was the reason I quit: simply reaching him from the nearest bench is a pain, and the two damage is ridiculous[^1].
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For those who like to enjoy the game's immersiveness without having to go into a heart rate overdrive, you're out of luck. Yoshi's Crafted World includes a _"Mellow"_ difficulty option my wife likes to use to just wander around and enjoy the game. Yoshi's given wings; if you manage to fall off a cliff, no big deal. I'm not advocating for something like that to be enabled by default---it can be hidden away in a few submenu options---but at least give casual players a chance to explore your game. I don't even consider myself a casual player and had to really push myself to take on a boss for the nth time in order to progress. The Traitor Lord in Queen's Gardens (the one that got buffed up with the patch) was the reason almost I quit again: simply reaching him from the nearest bench is a pain, and the two damage is ridiculous[^1].
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[^1]: Addendum, 2nd June: Great, I just [beat the Traitor Lord](https://brainbaking.com/notes/2021/06/01h20m17s58/) in "one last try". Now I have to press on...
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@ -64,14 +66,16 @@ Now that we know the biggest flaw of Hollow Knight, let's talk about the biggest
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Not only that, the NPCs are lovely too: they are funny and implicitly provide multiple subquests that are very naturally intertwined into the core gameplay, unlike the stark contrast made by Bloodstained' item fetch quests in the town, for instance. Furthermore, as you rescue people or come across new bugs to talk to, the town evolves. The world also changes as you make progress and I love that. It is truly a unique game, and a very long one, clocking in at about 30 hours, compared to the usual 12 for an average metroidvania game. Multiple hidden branches take you to loot, or more often than not, _lore_. I've read people on Reddit to be disappointed by this, but I personally loved that. Discovering a secret chamber to find a petrified version of an enemy with a line of background info---what's not to like? The effort Team Cherry put in to make Hallownest a living, but sometimes dark and creepy place, is astonishing. Not every nook and cranny has to be filled with items or double jump upgrades.
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That being said, sometimes the game does drag on a little bit. The map design is good, but not as great as classics such as [Aria of Sorrow](/articles/retrospectives/castlevania-aria-of-sorrow/): the game requires you to backtrack too often, possibly further increasing the death count. Later in the game, to be able to access the true ending, you have to redo a couple of boss battles and fetch "Essence" with your Dream Nail. To me, it felt like an arbitrary way to prolong the game and could easily be cut for the better.
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That being said, sometimes the game does drag on a little bit. The map design is good, but not as great as classics such as [Aria of Sorrow](/articles/retrospectives/castlevania-aria-of-sorrow/): the game requires you to backtrack too often, possibly further increasing the death count. Later in the game, to be able to access the true ending, you have to redo a couple of boss battles and fetch "Essence" with your Dream Nail. To me, it felt like an arbitrary way to prolong the game and could easily be cut for the better. Especially the beefed up rehashes of earlier bosses were more annoying to deal with than fun.
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Another reason to me the game does not _quite_ stack up to classic [GBA](/tags/gba) Metroidvania's is the musical score. It is excellent and very fitting, perfectly accompanying the atmosphere of each part of Hallownest. But it is not as memorable: when I turn my Switch off, I don't whistle Vampire Killer-esque notes all day.
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Another reason to me the game does not _quite_ stack up to classic [GBA](/tags/gba) Metroidvania's is the musical score. It is excellent and very fitting, perfectly accompanying the atmosphere of each part of Hallownest. But it is not as memorable: when I turn my Switch off, I don't whistle Vampire Killer-esque notes all day. As soon as I think about Aria of Sorrow, I hear _Castle Corridor_ and can't think of anything else all day. Hollow Knight hasn't had that kind of effect on me.
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## The best of all time?
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That is up for debate, although a lot of fanboys at [ResetERA](https://www.resetera.com/threads/what-are-the-absolute-top-tier-metroidvania-games.124260/) would love to see Hollow Knight as the best metroidvania of all time. To me, that's quite a stretch: it is pretending that Super Metroid, Castlevania Aria and Dawn of Sorrow, and Symphony of the Night do not exist. It is certainly one of the best _indie_ metroidvania's out there, and I would love to see its successor, Hollow Knight Silk Song, to include an adjustable difficulty setting (and benches next to boss battles, please). Is it better than [Bloodstained](/articles/reviews/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/)? Absolutely. Is it better than the classics? No.
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It's just too bad that because of this marriage with Demon Souls-style gameplay, I'd rather do another castle run than a Hallownest run.
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