The Hollow Knight Rises
In my 2019 review, I made a promise - to myself, I suppose - that I would attempt Hollow Knight again.
That's why it's been sitting in my "Playing" section for the last 11 months.
The good news is that, when I finally did jump back into Hallownest, it didn't feel like I'd missed much. For all its ability unlocks and upgrades and technical nuance... for all the progression in Hollow Knight, its fundamentals stay pretty simple. Attack, jump, dodge. I fully expected my return trip to end in a quick death -- but I actually made progress, uncovered some new territory, and it wasn't long before I'd knocked off the Dreamers that'd been haunting my world map since last year.
Hollow Knight's literally-dark aesthetics and eldritch lore can make the thought of delving its depths intimidating. (Especially in Deepnest. With the low visibility and the crawling noises and the surprise spiders.) Hell, last time I said that I "lacked the courage" to keep going. So it was really ... comforting, I guess, that a little bravery was enough to get me back in the game.
And "when it works," which is most of the time, Hollow Knight delivers a sharply-focused take on the Metroidvania subgenre. The joy of discovering a new room, or of finally unlocking a door you've passed by, is even more poignant in the face of Hallownest's dark and mysterious hostility.
After I gathered some more upgrades, I even went back to the Hive to get revenge on those motherfuckin' bees! That felt pretty great.
But there is a, er, "dark" side to Hollow Knight that goes beyond its pitch-black environments and sometimes-evil challenges. Its sense of mystery is a double-edged sword: many of its opportunities for advancement or improvement are hidden so well that I'd never have found them without internet guidance. Even a significant chunk of late-game content is devilishly concealed.
It doesn't help that traversing the game's massive map, to scour it for missed secrets, is fairly inconvenient. While Hallownest does offer some fast travel options in its Stagways and Tram, big sections of it are still several lengthy rooms - and several annoying fights - removed from travel points.
Also, the sometimes-evil challenges are ... evil, sometimes. Many hazards or encounters seem to hit you out of nowhere. Most bosses are, just, complete assholes. The White Palace is some Super Meat Boy kinda shit. Checkpoint and save-bench placements aren't brutally unfair, but still feel more punishing than they need to be.
Ultimately I would say that my successes in Hollow Knight had less to do with my timing or reflexes, and more to do with my studious investments in health and damage upgrades.
Which isn't a bad thing, is it? I mean, I wanna be clear, that while I can complain about some frustrating encounters and not enough fast-travel nodes -- I had a lot of fun poking around the map, unlocking new abilities, and increasing the Knight's mastery over this dark fantasy world.
Its expertly-crafted content misses the mark just a bit for its hostility toward my desire for exploration, and the amount of back-tracking involved in routine travel.
Also, the story just didn't make sense. Even after reading a synopsis online, I've got no investment in the Pale King or the dreamscape or whatever the hell this plot was supposed to be about.
Better than: Headlander, Iconoclasts, Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition, Timespinner
Not as good as: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Knight, Indivisible
Anxiously optimistic for: Hollow Knight: Silksong
Progress: Defeated the Radiance, 101%