Hollow Knight is an indie 2D platformer game that is based around a small knight traversing a large insect-like kingdom called Hallownest. This kingdom features lots of different sub-areas with their own environmental challenges, enemies and characters which progress you through the game. The Kingdom fell after being taken over by the Infection, which infects those with free will and makes them insane and strong, there was an attempt to seal the infection within a vessel known as the Hollow Knight, however it had weakened the seals and leaked back into Hallownest. The player’s goal is to defeat the Hollow Knight to seal the infection again, however there are multiple endings possible.
Although I have not completed the game yet, it has already become one of my favourite games I have ever played. I think this is down to many aspects such as its detailed and partially choice based storyline, its beautiful original soundtrack which fits the environment of each area and its intricate art style throughout the game.
Here is some gameplay I recorded of traversing and fighting in one of my favourite areas, Greenpath
Here is some gameplay I recorded of traversing and fighting in one of my favourite areas, Greenpath
Hollow Knight has some unique game mechanics, although it looks to be quite simple, it is known to be quite tricky and the difficulty scales upwards as the player upgrades their weapon and learns more abilities. Each main boss has their own abilities which the player has to become familiar with to combat them, which is why it’s quite hard to beat most of the bosses first try. For example, The Mantis Lords, where you fight one mantis until it gives up and then you fight two more at the same time. A lot of the boss battles in the game require a quick reaction time and good timing to heal between dodging attacks and attacking the boss.
A video showing the Mantis Lords boss fight
A video showing the Mantis Lords boss fight
There is an in-game currency known as Geo, which can be collected by killing enemies and breaking geo clusters. These can be used to purchase charms, maps of the areas and notches, which allow you to equip more charms. The charms give the player different benefits, they improve attack, defence, world exploration and some even give the player a minion to help fight. However, some charms are more useful than others and take up more notches when equipped, which allows the player to create a charm build which benefits their play style the most. There are also some optional boss encounters which allow the Knight to collect more charms and other upgrades such as more health (mask shards) and more soul vessels to contain soul, which the player uses to heal. If the player dies, they get sent back to the last bench they went to (a save point) and they lose all their geo, they have to kill the ghost of themself to recover all of their geo again.
A screenshot of all of the charms that I have collected so far in my playthrough
If I were to change the game, I would consider making the game either easier in the beginning, or more forgiving for newer players such as a revive mechanic, as when I first started playing the game I found I got stuck at one of the first few boss battles as I could not beat it, but then I eventually went back to it and beat it a few months later and have progressed much closer to the end now, which is something that could deter newer players away from the game when it has a lot more to offer further into the game.
A map of Hallownest, where each colour represents the different sub-areas in the game
A memorial within the City of Tears which explains more of the storyline
Crystal Peak, another sub-area within Hallownest
A preview of the OST for Hollow Knight
A preview of the OST for Hollow Knight