Game Review: Hollow Knight

Aaargh our house has been taken over by a 6 1/2 year old boy who is COMPLETELY OBSESSED by Hollow Knight (PEGI-7)!  This game's been around for a while on PC (since last year) but was released on Switch in June.  The Switch release has given the game a lot of press - it's a great format for it; it works brilliantly on the Switch's small screen.  The game's only £10.99 on the Switch, which pretty much makes it a must buy (if you own a Switch you'll know that most Switch games are a bit on the expensive side...).

Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania game.  I have to admit I didn't know what that meant, so I looked it up. According to Wikipedia:
"Metroidvania is a subgenre of the action-adventure genre of video games. The term is a portmanteau of the game series Metroid and Castlevania...  Metroidvania games generally feature a large interconnected world map the player can explore, though access to parts of the world is often limited by doors or other obstacles that can only be passed once the player has acquired special items, tools, weapons or abilities within the game. Acquiring such improvements can also aid the player in defeating more difficult enemies and locating shortcuts and secret areas, and often includes retracing one's steps across the map..."

That's how the game works, then -  it's a big world where you gradually unlock areas, having found items and/or defeated bosses. (Thankfully you can travel by Stag Beetle to get around a bit quicker.)  But the story and the way it has been put together really set it apart from a lot of other similar games.

The Kingdom of Hallownest

You are a bug Knight, equipped with his trusty 'nail' weapon, who for some reason arrives in the town of Dirtmouth.  Having talked to a chap there, you learn that there are mysterious ruins under the town.  So what do you do?  Jump down the well to explore them, of course!  The kingdom under the town is known as Hallownest, and some terrible tragedy has befallen it.  A lot of the bugs there have been tainted by an infection, and they're not very pleased to see you.  There are some friendly NPC's you can talk to, however, who reveal bits of the story.  If you obtain an item called the Dream Nail you can access further bits of lore from the dreams of the NPC's.

When you kill enemies you get currency called 'Geo', which can be spent on various items.  To begin with you'll want to spend them on a map, compass and other navigational aids (which you don't have when you start).  After that you can get other things like upgrades to your 'nail', items that give you abilities (such as wall jumping) and numerous charms.  The charms can be equipped in 'notches', and different charms take up different amounts of notches.  You'll have to be clever about which ones you equip in different situations.  You have to rest at a bench to swap charms around, so you have to plan ahead.

Charms!

Resting at benches sets a save point that you'll return to if you die.  If you die, you have to go back to where you were killed and defeat your 'shade' to get your Geo back.  If you die before you get to your 'shade', you lose your Geo.  But not your other stuff.  So it's annoying, but it could be worse...

As well as getting Geo when you kill things, when you hit enemies you gain 'soul', which you can use to recharge your health when you have a spare moment.  (Not something you get a lot of in boss fights, unfortunately!)  As you progress you can also unlock some offensive spells that consume 'soul', as well.

There is an interesting variety of normal enemies, in differently themed areas, but also some cool bosses.  Seb's good at most things but finds the bosses a bit hard.  (He's very good at the extremely tricky parkour in some of the areas!)  The style of the game is reminiscent of Anime - both the art style and the orchestral score.  (The made-up language that the NPC's speak also sounds kind of Japanese...)

The base game comes with all the content packs that have been released - Team Cherry have been making the game bigger and better.  The content packs are Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe and Godmaster.  Hidden Dreams added two new bosses, a new fast-travel system (Dreamgate) and a new Stag Station.  The Grimm Troupe added loads of stuff including the Nightmare King and Grimm, the Master of the Grimm Troupe, as well as  new quests, new charms and new enemies.  Godmaster added lots of bosses and other enemies, quests, secrets, two new endings and an area (Godhome) where you can do lots of boss fights.  (Seb really likes this...)

In conclusion, it's a great game, and since it's only £10.99 (on both Switch and PC) you have no reason not to buy it.  Though I'd probably like it more if Seb wasn't obsessed by it.  We're having to draw Hollow Knight maps and make books of the characters and models and play 'Hollow Knight in real life' (which he calls 'The Tiring Version' since that's what his Dad called it).  I suppose the fact that I do still like it, despite this all encompassing obsession that we're living with, must mean it's good!!!