Hollow Knight

[schneefink]

When I was first looking for more games to play, Hollow Knight was one I saw highly recommended very often, so it was one of the first I tried. However, after a bit over four hours I concluded that it wasn't for me. It's not very colorful, a story hadn't developed yet, and when I got stuck at Hornet I decided to stop.

But I couldn't quite get it out of my head, especially because I kept seeing people talk about how great a game it is and how much better it becomes after the slow start. So a few days ago I decided to give it another try, and after a few more attempts I finally defeated Hornet, and then right after the Gruz Mother. (The trick was to concentrate on not taking damage instead of dealing damage.) Exploring the Fungal Wastes was interesting, and I just found the Mantis Village.

I'm still not sure if I want to continue or not though. After more than seven hours there's still no clear plot, just some snippets of lore that I don't find particularly compelling, and the few characters are barely more than plot devices. The discovery and exploration of new areas is well done, and the combat is well designed in the sense that I can see how it's hard but totally doable with (a lot of) practice and very rewarding once mastered. And on the one hand I kind of want to continue to prove that I can do it; but on the other hand I don't need to prove it to anyone, and there are other challenging games that have an actual plot and characters I'm interested in.

…maybe I'll play something else for now and I can always come back to it later.

Comments

[rahirah]

I tried playing it a couple of years ago, and I liked it, but I have VERY poor reflexes, so the boss battles were nigh impossible for me, and I had to give it up. :(

[schneefink]

That's a shame! Maybe there are mods out there that make the battles easier? Though, the platforming sections likely need reflexes as well.

[writerkit]

I used to live with a close friend who was playing it, and I'd watch him sometimes... and after quite a bit of watching him towards the middle and end of the game, I still had no idea there was a plot until he told me there was.

[schneefink]

I heard that there's a vast amount of lore one can discover, but that's not the same as an actual story.

[nonesensed]

Ah, Hollow Knight, I have played soooo many hours of this game it's almost ridiculous 😅 It's definitely more gameplay that story driven. Or rather, you show up after the story is pretty much done and you need to dig through the ruins to figure out what the story was. It's very "Dark Souls/Bloodborne" in that way; a lot of vague story which you need to puzzle together for yourself and few definite explanations.

I'm a sucker for that kind of archeological story experience, where I get to sift through the shattered remains of a civilization and figure out how it all went to hell, but it's definitely not a story-focused game, so I think you have the right impression of what you'll get if you keep playing. Hope you find another game you'll have more fun with!

[schneefink]

The gameplay and exploration is just enough fun that I suspect that I'll give it another try eventually - but in the meantime fortunately there are plenty of other games to play :)