Topic: Hollow Knight

I'm a little late to the party here. Finally got to Hollow Knight in my backlog. I haven't finished it quite yet, but I have enjoyed it so far (about 35 hours). I'm just picking up some loose odds and ends I missed before going to what I presume is the final area/fight. Just finished upgrading my Nail as well.
I can see why this game is held in such high regard. It's a lot of content and playtime for an Indie game. Art is spectacular, gameplay is great (controls could use some slight tightening, but they're decent). It's a very good Metroidvania; the backtracking doesn't feel like too much a chore like it does in others. Some really cool looking characters and enemies and a neat story.

One thing I am so mixed on is Path of Pain. Wow. What a tough area. The precise platforming (even when there are no platforms) is crazy hard at times. I spent a lot of time trying to get through this. This part I was fine with (doubly so, as I understand it's completely optional for those of us who like this kind of extreme platforming). The part I'm mixed on is.....the end. After hours of trying, and finally making it and dropping down into the final room.....and then being destroyed. I think the very end is cheap, after all that platforming to throw that last bit at you when there was nothing else like it in this area.
After I died there and respawned at the beginning, I called it quits for Path of Pain and continued with the main game.

@Cotillion
Yea, I pretty much agree about the end.

It is a good game, but I found myself kind of rushing to get through it after awhile. The controls are "precise," but I wouldn't say they feel the best to me. The jump is a bit stiff even though you know exactly where the character is gonna go/land, but there's just very little feedback in my opinion. Swinging the nail and hitting enemies with it feels pretty good - I think they "nailed" that haha

But yea, after awhile I was just ready for it to be over. It was bit too bleak for me overall. There just wasn't that much variety in the environments overall, just different shades of dark.

@rallydefault For me, the environments are varied enough - the differences are subtle at times, but different enough for me. Where it suffers a bit is where most metroidvania games suffer: not enough gameplay variety. The near endless searching for the 'thing' that will unlock access to a new area that when you finally get to it will just launch you on a new search for the next 'thing', mixed in with a new boss fight or two, is tiring for me. While I'd still say Hollow Knight is my favourite metroidvania (not that I've finished it yet, mind), I think Guacamelee does a better job of keeping the gameplay interesting. Maybe that's just cos it's shorter, IDK. Maybe that's ultimately Hollow Knight's weakness, just too long.

@gcunit pretty much agree with everything you said. Guac keeps it fresh as every turn you're finding something new to do or see. The gameplay when using all the power ups( sometimes at once)makes it exciting. Its nearly a perfect game.

I've tried twice to finish my playthrough of HK and I just can't seem to finish it. Then again I wasn't AS into metroidvanias when I first played it. I promised myself i would eventually go back and replay it. But the endless searching and unforgiving nature of the game doesn't sound that convincing believe it not lol. I can admit its a good game and I'm actually excited to see how silksong turns out given the difficulty of HK.. But we'll see

Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games, but it's not exactly a "tight" experience. It's long and sprawling, and much of the DLC content is clearly oriented towards the hardcore crowd. Unlike Super Metroid, it's not such a replayable game. I can't imagine replaying Hollow Knight to get better times or sequence break, for example. It's more like an open-worlder, with oodles of content pushing the potential playtime into the triple digits.

I do believe it keeps things exciting throughout, but largely due to its worldbuilding, lore, and atmosphere. Though every area has its specific challenges, Hollow Knight tends to avoid gimmicks or one-time-and-you're-done mechanics — which, to me, is a positive, but it does mean you don't see new stuff at every turn. Outside of its occasional platforming challenges, however, much of the variety comes from enemy types and fight strategies. Unlike other Metroidvanias, Hollow Knight's battles are rather involved (beyond, you know, shooting stuff) and are a key element of its mechanics, perhaps more so than its platforming and exploration. Also, scenery is quite varied, but the tone and aesthetic are definitely consistent (or repetitive, depending on your taste).

However, I'd disagree it's a game about searching for a "thing" to unlock a new area and so on and so forth, mostly because Hollow Knight isn't such a linear experience and most "things" unlock two or three areas, which usually — and rather organically — lead to another "thing" you didn't even know was a "thing," and so you continue to explore in a fluid loop. The only time I got stuck, really, was my own fault, because I didn't notice an obvious path that had opened up in the eastern mines and spent hours searching elsewhere for new areas.

@gcunit
Yea I like Guaca more. It's a snappier experience for sure. Hollow Knight really drags sometimes. You could say it's all part of the aesthetic the game is going for: bleak, lonely, a bit tougher.

The gameplay and atmosphere of Hollow Knight seem to be interesting. Without spoilering much, can someone please tell me, if the journey will be rewarded with a happy end, or is the game bleak, depressing and nihilistic, throughout the whole journey?

@Jhena Having played through its entirety (aside from an optional boss-related challenge that was too much for me), I can say, without giving away spoilers, that that it doesn't really go to any extremes of nihilism or depression. There's an overall feeling of melancholy, some pretty scary parts, and a couple of particularly sad deaths, but there's also more than a few genuinely beautiful and hopeful moments. The True ending might upset you if you're not fond of a particular common trope, but it's still firmly bittersweet rather than a downer.
Short version: it's not a FUN story, but it won't make you all depressed either.

@Jhena This was honestly the most depressing game I have ever played. It's a good game and I beat it, but it took me forever because I could only ever play for like 30 minutes at a time before having to turn it off and go do something else. But it's not because of the story or anything, just the dark atmosphere. And this is coming from someone who does not suffer from depression and actually enjoys the shadowy aesthetic in games like Limbo or Lost in Shadow. There was just something about Hollow Knight that got to me. Maybe because I hate bugs. But if the atmosphere is interesting to you, then it likely won't be a problem.

@BrazillianCara @Xyphon22
Big thanks, to both of you. I think I will give this game a chance, when I find the time and feel like playing something with a gloomy atmosphere.