Recent reviews by zushii

She can fix me...

very cool (*￣▽￣)b

After "The Pristine Cut"
Absolutely phenomenal, 10/10 game.

I still can't aim

too sleepy

I'm free

hat

gud gam

In 2014, a small indie game developer group called Team Cherry was created. Programmer William Pellen and artist Ari Gibson wanted to create their own worlds to explore and conquer. This is how the game Hollow Knight was born. Hollow Knight is a metroidvania published in 2017 by Team Cherry. In the world of Hollow Knight, the player plays as a small knight where they can explore caves, fight challenging creatures and escape unexpected traps. The game is highly inspired by popular games such as Metroid, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Mega Man X.

Hollow Knight is set in an empty desolate realm of insects that lies beneath the surface of the earth. The player arrives in a small town called Dirtmouth, located just above the kingdom of Hallownest. Hallownest was once a thriving kingdom, but became infected by a supernatural virus. More and more citizens became infected and the Emperor of Hallownest, the Pale King, tried his best to lock the virus away within the Temple of the Black Egg. However, through all the efforts, the virus still managed to escape the temple and Hallownest fell into ruin. It is up to the player to investigate the secrets hidden deep within the kingdom and try to stop the virus. The player must run around and explore every corner of Hallownest. Within the game, you learn the history of Hallownest through ancient runes and dialogue from the few remaining citizens. It's almost like reading between the lines of a book or putting together a puzzle to get the whole picture. On your travels, you'll find fun and unique NPCs to talk to and infected enemies to fight.

In Hollow Knight you run around as a small knight-like character. The player uses a sword-like weapon called a Nail and magical powers called Spells. You will be able to upgrade your Nail and get new Spells as you progress through the game. You can also use the game's Charms, which are used to provide additional buffs to the player. Most new players will find the game quite difficult at first. Hollow Knights is much like the Dark Souls games, you don't get to choose the difficulty level and it's pretty unforgiving to make mistakes in battle. But the game is still very fun.

Hollow Knight has a very unique art style. Hollow Knight is not a high resolution game with realistic graphics. It is relatively simple, but it is a style that is instantly recognisable. When the player first arrives at the Dirtmouth, you immediately get a sense of destiny. The artist achieves this effect with a clever use of colour combinations. Each character and background was created using traditional animation where each image was drawn by hand.

Hollow Knight has a phenomenal original soundtrack. The music is composed by Christopher Larkin, an award-winning composer. The music in Hollow Knight follows the orchestral genre where a lot of string instruments like the cello are used but also instruments like the grand piano. The music in Hollow Knight is not only catchy but the music itself helps to tell the story. The music evolves along with the game and connects locations and characters. Larkin is truly a master in his work, he is incredibly good at weaving emotions into melodies. You can immediately see what he is trying to make you feel when you listen to his music.

The story is split around the entire game which I think is a very clever way of telling stories in games. It adds an aspect of mystery and really gets the player interested and intrigued. Some people think that not having a guide for a big open-world game is bad. But I think it gives the player more freedom, as the game encourages the player to discover everything themselves and play how they want. One disadvantage I could see is that the game can be very frustrating for those who get easily frustrated, as you can't choose the difficulty level. However, when I played, I never felt that any of the bosses were unfair. Every time I beat a boss, I get a sense of fulfillment.

Hollow Knight is an amazing game but not a game for everyone. For those who are looking for a challenging game with an interesting story, Hollow Knight is a must try game. But if you don't like being challenged in games or get easily frustrated, you can also just read about the game's story which is very interesting. With all the amazing music and art, it's hard to believe the game is only made by four people who got only 43, 000 USD on their Kickstarter for the game. I would give Hollow Knight a 10/10. A 10/10 is not perfect, because nothing is. But this game is the closest thing to perfect when it comes to this genre.