Hollow Knights was first released early 2023 and on the Nintendo Switch in mid-2023. To this day, this game is considered one of the metroidvania And platforming the best of modern times. Meaning if you like genres that, you must have this game.
If you are still unsure, in this article we will explain what makes this game receive a lot of praise.
Welcome to Halloween
In Hollow Knights, you will play as a wandering knight without a name. He discovers a small town whose inhabitants have never returned after descending underground to explore Hallownest, a large empire that has fallen into disrepair. You decide to join in exploring Hallownest to uncover the mystery behind the collapse of the kingdom.
Halloween is a world with really cool visuals. Each area has its own theme and color and gives mood different. Crystal Peak, for example, is an industrial area full of crystals. This is seen by the bright color because the light is reflected by the crystal, plus the amount production line factory style. On the other hand, the Deepnest which was a restricted area had a very dark color and was full of cobwebs.
The themes in each area are also reinforced by the music. Beautiful areas like Green Path have some pretty relaxing music. Meanwhile, dark and mysterious areas like Deepnest are not accompanied by music at all to strengthen the eerie atmosphere that exists in these areas. This is not to mention the music when facing bosses that will increase your adrenaline.
This combination of graphics and music is undeniably one of the reasons why Hollow Knight provides a very evocative gaming experience. During the game you will feel as if you are in the Hallowest and exploring it.
Challenging Exploration and Combat
Although they are very good, the graphics and music are not the main highlights in Hollow Knight. What is really the main focus in this game is gameplayits very well executed.
Hollow Knight is a game metroidvania that emphasizes combat and exploration. You’ll start the game with limited powers, but as you go along you’ll find all kinds of them upgradesfrom mobility to new powers.
But to be able to find upgrades needed or even to gain progress in the game, you should be able to explore all corners of Hallowest. Several times you will be asked to do backtracking to find upgrades required to traverse an area.
Although it sounds troublesome, system mappings in this game makes exploration quite exciting. When entering a new area, you don’t have a map as a guide at all. To get the map, you must find a map maker in the area. But the map he gave was still incomplete. To complete it you have to pass through areas that are not yet listed on the map.
Completing the map and checking all the nooks and doors is sometimes enough to encourage some people to explore all areas. But you don’t just get a more complete map and possibly the next route. Sometimes you’ll find secret rooms or optional bosses that hold valuable items. In other words, in this game you will get a fair reward for every exploration you do.
Your exploration process is far from easy. The deeper you dig into the area in Hallownest, the more difficult the challenges you will get. These challenges are not only in the form of bosses, but also sessions platforming the hard one. This makes you have to master every movement you have, starting from jumping, dashuntil wall climb. If you’re not careful, you’ll be rewarded.
Exploration is only the secondary focus of Hollow Knights. Apart from exploration, this game really emphasizes its combat mechanics. This is achieved thanks to a combination of responsive movement and attack controls and the use of Souls as a resource.
You can only use one weapon, namely nails that function as swords. This sword you can swing up, side, and down (if in the air). An attack that hits the enemy will result damage and gives you the Soul which is at the top left of the screen.
Soul is energy that you can use to use spells. Majority spells this is offensive plus one healing spells that restores your lost blood. kindly defaulteach use spells spent 33 percent. You can also modify the distance and power of your attack by charm that you find along the way.
Your movement and attack controls are fast and responsive. As soon as pressing the attack button, jump, or dashyour character will do it on the spot. Spells aggressive is also more or less the same even though it has a slightly longer animation. Conversely, when doing healing you must stay in place for two to three seconds and use the same Soul to spells aggressive.
This makes every fight in Hollow Knights feels challenging because the enemies in this game have attacks with a very short and unforgiving square off. Not only that, enemies, especially bosses, also don’t give you many openings for you to attack.
This means that in each battle, you must be able to read your opponent’s movements and react quickly not only to dodge, but also to counterattack. Otherwise, you will be overwhelmed and swallowed up damage without having the chance to do so healing. Facing normal enemies, you might be able to escape. But facing the boss, you have to win or die.
With the difficulty of each enemy, your adventure is on Hollow Knights be more stressful. You have to always be prepared for all eventualities because you don’t know what will appear in the next room. There will be times when the room you just found contains a boss when you are not ready both mentally and compositionally charm what you brought.
More To Come
The character you control within Hollow Knights I never speak or make gestures that show emotion. But through interactions with various interesting NPCs, Hollow Knights able to tell his own story. One thing that maybe not everyone likes is that the story only makes sense if you collect all the pieces of information that you get along the way. Even today the mystery behind the collapse of Hallownest still seems to be a question mark.
Take it easy, because Team Cherry isn’t done with Hollow Knights.
Since its release in February 2023, Hollow Knights already released four expansions. You can get everything for free if you already have it Hollow Knights. Each expansion delivers new content, new enemies, new bosses, new story bits and upgrades new. Seeing the end of the latest expansion, we’re sure Team Cherry will have another new expansion in the future.
No expansion only Hollow Knights is games a must-have for you fans platforming and/or metroidvania. You will be given various challenging but fun trials, and all of them are packed with really cool graphics and music.
With a price of only US $ 15 (around Rp. 210,000, -) and expansions that are likely to continue to grow, this game seems to be permanently discounted. In other words the price you pay to buy Hollow Knights very cheap compared to the experience you get. Get this game, no matter what platform you play on. Anyway games it is available on all modern platforms.