Hollow Knight Review: A Beautiful Indie

With nothing more than a vague warning and a nail for a sword, The Knight heads underground into the decaying kingdom of Hallownest. Under the surface is the most captivating Metroidvania in modern gaming. Released in 2017 by indie studio Team Cherry, Hollow Knight delivers an experience that is above and beyond anything else that can be found in the now-saturated Metroidvania market. With exceptional combat, world building and art design, Hollow Knight constantly impresses throughout its 30-50 hour adventure. Without further ado, here’s our Hollow Knight review!

The World of Hallownest

The once great insect kingdom of Hallownest is decaying, and overrun by its formerly sane inhabitants. Despite this bleak setting, Hallownest is a distinctly beautiful place to explore. A mining district awash with crystals, an overgrown forest, and a city-wide sky blue lake surround the crumbling architecture that the citizens once called home. 

Hollow Knight is a game that radiates a sense of cohesion throughout its world. Hallownest’s layout functions as a working kingdom. A mining district, a capital city, a transport hub, and many small villages which were home to different tribes of people (or rather, insects).

The attention to detail on display produces an aura that begs the player to ask questions. What happened here? Who or what is the Hollow Knight? Why are the remaining citizens fixated by dreams? 

Certainly, Hollow Knight wears its Metroidvania roots on its sleeve. Putting impassable obstacles in the player’s way to pique their interest, before granting the player a new ability to overcome them, as a reward for exploration. And whilst Hollow Knight shines in this aspect, upgrading The Knight with an extra jump, high-speed dashes and powerful blasts of Soul energy, there’s so much more to Hollow Knight that sets it apart. 

A Decaying Kingdom 

A stranger in a land that’s not their own, The Knight is the player’s mirror within Hallownest. Through exploration and perseverance, both our adorable protagonist and the player themselves will start to understand what led to the decaying kingdom they walk through.

The few sane NPCs tell vague stories about the glory days of the world around, before the disaster that led to its downfall. Lore tablets are scattered across the world, begging the player to piece together the jigsaw of Hollow Knight’s story.  

Ultimately, it’s up to the player whether or not they choose to engage with the story of the game, as it’s totally possible to complete your adventure experiencing nothing but the absolute basics of the story that Hollow Knight aims to tell. However, those who do speak to the NPCs and discover lore tablets have the kingdom’s rich history to discover. 

Creepy Crawlies

At the heart of Hollow Knight is its incredible melee combat. The Knight, armed with just his nail and his limited-use soul blasts, faces a whole kingdom worth of bugs. Furthermore, it’s 47 (yes 47!) bosses take full advantage of the game’s insect theming. Encounters with the Mantis Lords, the Hive Knight, and the Dung Defender are the shining examples of Hollow Knight’s boss design. Team Cherry channel Dark Souls’ fair but punishing difficulty and improve upon the formula with varied movesets and a twist on the typical Souls-like healing system. 

Those energy blasts I mentioned? They eat up the very same resource that heals you, giving battle a constant risk reward element. You must decide between getting that extra damage in and healing your dwindling health bar. The tension this system injects into boss battles is palpable, and only gets stronger as you progress to the insanely difficult endgame boss fights. 

Stumbling Blocks

Unfortunately, combat is marred slightly by one of Hollow Knight’s few but notable problems. Christopher Larkin’s gorgeous score ties the world of Hallownest together, and whenever you take damage it dips heavily in volume as if The Knight is reeling from the hit. At first this works excellently. Having said that, after the ten hour mark, this actually hurts the immersion as you’ll be getting hit so frequently that you get robbed of enjoying the soundtrack. 

However, the major problem in Hollow Knight is one area in particular. In a game of near flawless metroidvania world design, The Royal Waterways is a noticeable low point. Consisting of narrow corridors and near-unavoidable enemies, which barrel towards you, The Waterways stand in stark contrast to the expansive rooms and fair combat that the rest of the game so expertly executes. On top of this, the only way to access the excellent (and free!) Godmaster DLC is by travelling through this area. 

The Verdict

Hollow Knight has become the poster child for the modern Metroidvania. Merging exceptional world design with story and boss design that borrows from the best parts of the Souls series. Hallownest is a beautiful, cohesive kingdom that any fan of Metroidvanias or 2D melee combat should explore. 

Gaming Exploit’s Hollow Knight review final score – 9/10

Hollow Knight is available now on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC and Mac.  

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