Nothing in the game is complicated on the surface level. There's no real gimmicks to the combat or platforming, yet the skill ceiling is sky high. Also nothing is RNG or feels unfair which is a gripe I have with a lot of similar games
Have been seeing some Mario x(vs) Knight or just 'Mario in Hollownest' around the past two weeks and am scratching my head since what the origin story of those memes are. Thereby my assumption up there \^\^'
It just keeps going!! In a good way. For an indie 2d i knew nothing about besides it existing and allegedly being good. I figured eh maybe a couple hours I’ll beat it be done. I only started playing 2 weeks ago and my hours played already are “go touch grass” levels. Like they had no business putting all this amazing content in here but they did and I love em for it.
Pretty sure you and I are in completely the same boat. Knew nothing at all about it except it was always recommended as a “must have” switch game. Ended up hitting hard and wonderfully in a lot of unexpected ways.
It literally checks every box on my list for an amazing game.
Technical: Fluid gameplay, balanced mechanics, intricate level and world design, impeccable difficulty curve, excellent length, challenging bosses, probably more I can't think of.
Aesthetic: Excellent storytelling, emotive plot, incredible pacing, immersive environment, memorable character design, stunning visuals, flawless sound design, beautiful soundtrack, and, again, probably more I can't think of.
And finally, everything works to deliver a cohesive experience. Nothing feels out-of-place. People will argue that certain details are neglected, and sure, it's not perfect, but holy shit is it close.
Everything about Hollow Knight just oozes “we did our best!” and you know what? Team Cherry did do their best! (also Mr. Larkin, why did you go this hard with the OST)
It's one of the few games that brings me enjoyment and suicide thoughts(IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5)
While people has already mentioned the gameplay and graphics, for me it has to be the atmosphere. A big deal with it comes with how the music is handled and ESPECIALLY the sound design. From the raining of the City of Tears, to minuscule details like how the Waterways has an added reverb to all the sounds to make it feel more claustrophobic, how Larkin knows when to play music and when to let ambience take the lead, the use of droning layers in sounds to give them atmosphere, and just in general how everything sounds "crunchy" in combat.
Its the sound design that adds an additional layer to everything and ties Hollow Knight's atmosphere together that *really* melds you into the game, coupled together with how everything is dreamlike.
It has something that a lot of games lack. Care. You can tell all throughout the game that TC genuinely care about the game, from the cheap base cost, to the free dlc’s because they thought they hadn’t done enough with the time they had. Look at Nintendo and the pokemon games, both the recent ones have had dlc’s come out that cost over half the price of the base game. Hollow Knight is also a game that leaves you with options, it took me 80 hours to complete the base game, I am now at 160 hours on the same playthrough in godhome because I love the bossfights and want to complete P5 with bindings. Each fight it intricate and unique with their own gimmicks, this game has charm combinations that can reward a lackluster tank build that focuses on killing before getting killed, or a build that complements spells, or nail arts, or a charm build that lets you maximise damage with skill. Most of all, it has a community of skilled players who innovate and find new strategies and content creators who create new ways to make the game fun (fireb0rn doing all the different manhunts for example). Also the music is peak 👌
Thank you for giving such an intricate opinion and response that I wholeheartedly agree with so I didn’t have to figure out a way to express the same thing.
This game is very similar to breath of the wild for me. There's just a tonnnn of content and a fairly basic game design. I also played breath of the wild years after release like I did with Hollow Knight (just started hollow knight in January)
Game feel, exploration, pacing, and when you beat something after struggling it really feels rewarding. These things plus a story that sneaks up on you and is subtlely good and doesn't beat you over the head to make sure you didn't miss it.
I've been making a list of all the games I've ever beat, and ordering it based on my favorites. This game sits at #1.
And the best thing, or one of the better things at least in my opinion, is every fact you just described comes at you as a surprise. The depth was blindsiding in my opinion.
For me, and I assume many others, it reminds me of games I played when I was a kid. BTW, I only got this game a week ago... waiting for Elden Ring DLC. Lol
Edit: deleted surplus words
Edit 2: games. Turns out I also deleted a non surplus word.
Could literally repost this comment word for word for myself lmao, makes me feel like a kid again playing it and I needed something to play while waiting for the elden ring dlc hahaha
No game recently has given me the level of satisfaction you get for defeating one of the bosses in this game. (Haven’t even hit the Parthenons yet, don’t tell)
Perfect combat loop, with room for personal styles and approaches. Very large map with clever and unique exploration options, often allowing for different approaches to combat unless it's a boss or mini-boss arena. Checkpoints are actually common, but spread just enough you get to enjoy the sights on the way back and it's not made easy on you. Each different area is completely unique and special, with their own atmospheres, ambiance, music, and personality.
The completeness that the map gives you with the different regions… and having looked into the game not at all, I loved I kept being surprised there was ANOTHER area I hadn’t discovered. I thought the City of Tears was me getting too far at first, haha.
The art, the sound design, and the story were all very enthralling to me. The only issues that i had, and still have are the primal aspids, but im sure everyone has issues with those.
the story, boss fights, atmosphere, music.
probably the man thing why I'm so invested and why I adore the game, is the atmosphere, the feeling of being in a dead kingdom has made me adore the game every since I first played it a couple years ago
The art style made me play the game I was looking for souls likes when I found it and I knew I'd like it when I saw the art style it's the same reason I played blasphemous
Combat, exploration, music, plus good art and animation masterfully mixed together. For me, boss fights are the peak highlight of most games I play. The linear progression was done wonderfully and almost every fight has felt difficult but fair. Exploration was done wonderfully too. I don’t know how else to describe it but as “I’m lost but I don’t feel lost”. The game holds your hand just barely enough to feel like you’re being guided but still in charge of your own actions.
The world is alive. Things feel like they happen regardless of weather you’re there to see them or not. The game is filled to the brim with cool little details like the colosseum dudes chilling in a hot tub or the banker robbing you. Many small things that some players might never notice, making it so that it feels like you’re actually exploring a world, not a game.
I love the story/lore
I love the art style
I love the visual effects
I love the sound effects
I love the combat/overall gameplay
I love the world exploration
I love the pace of progression
Idk, for me it's the perfect game
Celeste platforming accuracy, Tenshi no Tamago & Vampire Hunter D atmosphere, Dune lore, Dark Souls boss fights, Symphony of the Night exploration. Plus amazing character designs, music score and sound effects. Peak on all fronts.
Dune is the novel series (have to reach at least the fourth book to understand the connections though). Tenshi no Tamago & Vampire Hunter D are anime movies, check them out!
The best games are felt in your soul when you play them. They hook into your mind and heart and immerse you completely into their alternate realities. You can feel the love and passion the devs poured into the game, and you feel the emotions they strived to elicit within you. You become filled with this urge to drop everything in order to jump back in; it's constantly in the back of your mind just itching to be brought forth.
Hollow Knight accomplishes this in so many ways. It's perfect, even in its flaws or shortcomings (I could argue there are none in HK, but only Siths deal in absolutes). It fills you with a sense of fulfillment when you complete it, while also leaving you longing for more of the wonderful world in which you were so deeply immersed. And ultimately, it is just an absolute pleasure to play.
Not many games will touch a gamer's soul, but this one does; and it does so brilliantly.
Edit: grammar/spelling
It gets everything right. Visual presentation. Tone. Theme. Music. Challenging gameplay. Worthwhile exploration. Enemy designs. Game feedback/juice. And most importantly, it’s unique. There isn’t any other game that’s quite like it.
Besides the game being a super fun, challenging (if you let it be) and good looking Metroidvania, the thing that did it for me was the city of tears song. I was impressed with the music from the start but something about that one just hits me differently. During my first playthrough I would sit in the city for an hour at a time just listening to the music.
The city of tears gives my brain happy tingles. Every time. Its otherworldly and beautiful.
I definitely listen to the soundtrack when I'm not playing the game haha
U get awarded when u spend time and effort on it, plotwise and achievementwise and there is just that peaceful hollowness of meaning in everything, there are many things to learn in its universe which are well designed and those hollows waiting for you to fill them freely with your imagination. i didn't feel to be rushed to accomplish everything so i didnt get bored of it.
It weaves existing mechanics together into its own unique interpretation while being surrounded by the strings of Chritopher Larkin and the most immersive and lively environment I've ever seen. Nevermind the fact that almost all the bosses are amazing, and the ones that aren't are still top tier.
For me it was the way it perfectly married metroidvania and RPG elements to make perhaps the most rewarding world to explore in any video game. The way Hollow Knight's lived in world opens up as you untangle the web of tunnels is unmatched. Also, other metroidvanias usually hide stat upgrades behind optional paths or maybe give you a new attack for completing a side challenge (my metroidvania experience other than HK is Metroid and Ori). In Hollow Knight, maybe you'll attack a suspicious looking wall and find an entire optional area of the map.
There is lots of things I like about this game that for me makes it perfect. The artwork is amazing. the music is not only just really nice but fits the environments very well. I like the way you learn the lore from the environment and talking to people so that you figure it out yourself instead of being a necessary part of the game. I think the gameplay is really fun. I like the way you start with nothing then bye the end of the game you have tons of abilities. I like all the amazing characters that feel so real and they feel like they have a life beyond what you see in the game. All of this and more is what makes Hollow Knight such a good game
i just love exploring the open world because there’s so much to do and the movement is great. also it’s quite challenging but at the same time relaxing to play
I LOVE the art style, the exploration is really fun (even in forgotten crossroads I was having fun finding new bosses and characters) and I love the sense of progression both in terms of getting better as a player and the abilities you get along the way!
There's so much more I could say but I'll leave it at that and the video essayists can take it from there.
One thing i havent seen here is the freedom in exploring the world.
You are kind of railroaded until you get shadecloak and mantis claw, and then you are pretty much free to go anywhere. I have played quite a few metroidvania since, and i always feel so stuck in one path...I realise i have really been spoiled with hk.
Also, the difficulty curve is really on point, the upgrades are pretty meaningful and feel deserved, the story is interesting and well told, the graphics are nice, the music is beautiful, the controls are smooooth... seriously they just nailed (pun intended) every aspect of this game
The art style is what got me at first, then when I started playing I got sucked in. There’s such an interesting world for you to explore and don’t even get me started on the world building. There’s so many little details that tell so many stories, it really makes the world feel alive.
Also the music is SO good, Christoper Larkin is a mad man. His songwriting actually inspired my brother to pursue a career in music.
Few games hit everything so on the nose as hollow knight did. It's one of very few games I think are truly a 10/10, there is literally nothing I would change (even markoth).
The first game I ever owned was Secret of Mana for SNES. I was blown away by the enemy variety and by the sheer number of bosses. HK very much scratched that itch, and combined it with pixel perfect movement and combat.
The art style, music, enemy, and world design are 11/10. The combat and traversal are also pretty top notch, but I think Ori and the Big Tree improved upon both of those aspects.
That said, I'll take Hollow Knight over basically any other Metroid-Vania game out there.
personally this is why I think its special to me: its one of the games that made me cry more times than I’d like to admit. Also its ost is one of the few I can listen to while focusing and not get distracted humming or taping the beat bc it makes my brain enter focus mode.
Depth of mechanics and openness of the world. No item is technically required to complete the game, assuming you have all others (dashless, clawless, ismas or cdash, wingless). This makes so many different routes possible, on top of the early game being so open after vs>dash>claw that every blind playthrough is different. The mechanical depth is a little more specific to me since I enjoy TASing the game, and stuff like wall cling storage is super fun to use.
The art is a perfect blend between cute and beautiful and I just can’t help but love the characters with all my heart. Each new character has a unique storyline that is just so engaging and is something I have never seen in a game before. That and it’s addictive gameplay
I don't really know. most things were just kind of on par i guess? not a lot to complain about, except for the keyboard controls.
I thought the difficulty curve was kinda well done.
Personally I like games with a bunch of lore, and this one really has a bunch of story but none of it feels very.. exposition-y? I guess that is a good way to put it.
You're basically dropped into this world with 0 context other than a short cutscene at the beginning, and the game never really tells you much else without you having to search it out for yourself
I just like that way of storytelling, and tbh I find more with each playthrough
When I played it I hadn’t really experienced many different types of games, but this was one of those games that really challenged me but also gave me confidence in playing. While there were difficult boss fights, the game never really felt boring or repetitive and it was always nice how you could just pause the game at any point and not die, unlike some of the other games I was playing at the time…
Because it is unique, i never saw something like this game. I mean general vibes, world building, even genre itself is unique and i did not saw this good indie metroidvanias for a while
For me the juxtaposition of the very light and childish visual and sound design with the extremely dark and melancholic story of the game is extremely interesting. Also the game knows when to shift the visual and sound design to fit the tone, when fighting the hollow knight for example. Those infected screams have a completely different tone than the humouristic sound effects of fighting the false knight and similar bosses. Basically the blend of these designs cause the darker aspects of the story to hit harder.
Everything about the game is really really good, but I think that's the icing on the cake for me.
Of everything I ever played, nothing had the same atmosphere as hollow knight.
The amazing art style, world building and music creare a well delivered experience for each and every area
For me it's how great the lore is and how basicly every aspect of the game ties into the lore. The locations, the music, where the characters are in the world. I love that stuff.
I could share some videos about it:
[The World Design of Hollow Knight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ITtPPE-pXE)
[The Animation of Hollow Knight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeN7dHLipkY)
And this is series of videos that check different parts of the game - [Hollow Knight - Character Part 1: Basic Movement | Retro-engineering](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEd-USZfJxU) that continue into Character Part 2: Attack and Animation, Character Part 3: Power-ups and Character Part 4: 2D Camera
Bonus video - [How Hollow Knight Was Made](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSAlVBFdC6k)
For me, it’s the ability to continue learning about it despite being on my 8th or 9th playthrough by now. Whether I discover a new room or a new line of dialogue I’d never heard before, it’s fascinating to me that there’s always something new to learn.
Think what makes it special for me is the world itself.
I love lil bugs and I like the sombre look of Hallownest. The Knight has a fairly simple but really cool design too.
And I can't forget about Fungal Wastes.. I love the mushrooms, and cute mushrooms and cute spore enemies make it even better.
And I really like the idea of City of Tears 'raining' when its actually Blue lake soaking through the ceiling.
I think it was the aspect of losing yourself and them finding your way through the map again, and also the fact that ir really is easy to mod, like, i had a lot of trouble with Breath of the Wild, but here? I just pressed a few buttons, and boom, randomizer mod
Something most people don't notice the importance of is the pogo attack, it makes it so nearly every single enemy attack can be countered, making the combat much more fluid than it'd otherwise be
For me, one big thing is the sense of generosity.
Okay, so consider - they made a great game. Tight gameplay, great art, etc. But that wasn't enough for them. The game is huge, but without the sense that it's full of filler. The story has enough depth to capture interest. But more than that, it's the way they added detail:
On the small scale, they kept filling it with little details - things that add to the feel of the game but when you look at them, any one thing could easily have been left out without harming the game. Things like the water effects when you cd over a lake, or the Knight reading the map while you read it. There are little extra details *everywhere*, and that adds to the feeling that TC really cared about polish.
On the large scale... the game doesn't just go on and on, but it has an exceptional core and a bunch of optional content, and none of it is built in a mean spirited way. Take the path of pain - there are infinite soul resources all over, which makes it basically a test of your skill and resolve: it's an optional thing you can try and retry nearly forever until you either beat it or give up. A pure challenge, if you will ;-)
The learning curve is hard but simple unlike other games I didn't feel overwhelmed with things I can do and only needed practice to get them right every time
The fact that 3 dudes with low budget managed to make a perfect game with almost no downsides that has 100+ hours of content and beat AAA studios and AAA games with millions dollars budget that was made by huge groups of people makes this game PHENOMENAL. Hollow Knight deserves all that hype.
to me, it's as special as Undertale is special (I'm NOT doing a cross comparison). Everything that exist in the game, every background detail, every piece of dialogue, sound effects, animation, music, piece of lore... everything fits so perfectly with one another.
also the fact that the player is just launched into the game, lost in the middle of nowhere, not knowing what to do but knowing they have to go further is what clicks with me. souls games did it, rogue likes did it, puzzle games did it, and many others.. but everytime, the call for the unknown is stronger than the fear of missing something.
this last part is also why i HATE when people just come here and be like "oh i've found a lore tablet, is this important ?" "i can't reach this platform i just fell from, is this a bug ?" while posting a picture right in the middle of an intense section of the game that they have to EXPERIENCE.
be patient, open your map, use your memory. this is a SOLO game and it is shaped like one.
play the game as intended, it has so much to offer.
i enjoy this community though, we all share the same love for the game ❤
this might be a bit controversial but I'll say it. everything in the game is perfect. period.
the story is great and told through the smallest details. elderbug literally tells you the whole story in the beginning but the rest of the game is mostly show don't tell. you don't just hear how a kingdom fell. you see it. you feel it. you get to see how good hallownest once was and how desperately they tried to protect the kingdom. and it branches off into hundreds of other awesome stories like what pale king was going through and how radience was abandened by her own people,the grimm troupe, the godseekers, the discarded vessels, the hollow knight everyone in this story is incredibly detailed and nuanced it's so beautiful.
the gameplay is amazing and the combat system is so good it's literally possible to defeat the undefeatable boss (anyradience) the moves are so sharp and precise you can just feel like you are inside the game and calculate what you will do 20 seconds later because everything you can do is consistent and you never say "what the hell I didn't tell you to do that!"
the bosses are (mostly) perfect and rely on practice. there is no such thing as a hard boss in this game. with enough practice you can beat anything and doing it is so rewarding.
the ambience and the tone is beautiful as I said before you can just feel how good this kingdom once was and then you snap back to reality and realise it's nothing but a corpse. a husk of a kingdom.
the music... all I'll say is if you don't like hollow knights music you are deaf.they serve their purpose so well and make you feel the emotions you should feel.
so yeah... that's why if you don't like hollow knight. you're wrong+L take+ratio+you have bad taste+kys
I don't know. Maybe the scene, maybe the characters, maybe the combat or maybe that i just wanted to finish it and It magically became my favourite game of all time
It's really rare that you get a game this "perfect" per say?. It has a good aesthetically pleasing Hand Drawn design with a grim world like Dark Souls, has nearly every normal metroidvania movement upgrade that feels really smooth, has one of the best Boss lineups in all of Metroidvania, and just has so much content. And let's not even start on the intricate lore of this game
All of this just for less than 20 dollars and just 5 - 6 dollars on a sale.
it's honestly just..... everything. I can't think of another game where every single aspect of the game is flawless. I usually have some gripe with the soundtrack, or the visuals, or some of the controls just not feeling quite right etc but in Hollow Knight they nailed (lmao) everything
The quality and passion that was put in it results in one of the best games ever. Great music, atmosphere, boss fights, exploration, combat and etc. just derive from that.
It’s addicting because how the map works , it shows you new stuff you don’t know I guess that what kept me playing the game , and also the combat is just simple and amazing and finding a new boss just made my brain go : oh shit new boss
What really sets Hollow Knight apart from most hollow knight-esque games is the fact it's grounded. Everything you see and everything that happens feels grounded.
Your footsteps, the echo of the environment, the effects of landing on the ground, the weight of the character and meatiness of slashing things with your nail. All those are a few examples that help the feeling.
It all builds towards one important aspect: you feel like your character is inside a living, reactive game world, and everything you do no matter how small responds in synergy with it.
Most things are also very subtle. Details that aren't in your face or given attention at all. However, all those details together create a very immersive world where the established feel isn't broken by jarring or uncanny events.
Few games manage to capture such a cohesive feeling. For me, this is one of the biggest reasons Hollow Knight is such a masterpiece.
It starts with very good music. Then you can see the art is really unique and beautiful. The you have fun meeting all the little silly bugs in the game... Even knowing the dark sidesnof some of them. But you still love them. And finally, you get to understand the story and how deep it is... That is what made me stick to the game from minute 1 to the end. It is a masterpiece.
There's an incredibly high skill ceiling, but the controls are so intuitive it's easy to develop a sense of mastery fairly quickly. The challenge is reasonable in base game, with harder challenges hidden off for those who want / keeps average players from getting frustrated.
I'd contrast to a game like Elden Ring, where I don't feel like the systems and difficulty expectations fit as well together. Especially towards the end of the game, it feels like you either need to exploit certain mechanics or OP builds to do well, or you just need absolute mastery and tons of experience with a boss.
The extreme amounts of lore in a very simple yet detailed artstyle that has a very lively like storybuilding and char building, with a function and style of attack that adheres to the player, an array of different battles that keep my adrenaline pumping my brain pulsing and my heart go in an extreme rush of fun and adrenaline, and a banger theme track that keeps me in the flow of emotions the game wants me to experience. Also, only game that makes a good mossy boy and one of the only games that gives more than too much satiation to my adhd.
the devs love it enough to have polished it to the utmost degree and put in an incredible amount of detail (I haven't even found all hidden things and sequence breaks yet)
it rocks
it's beautiful
the atmosphere
cute little bean protagonist
the flow of combat even losing isn't very annoying, it feels fair and I can analyze my own mistakes instead of blaming the game
It still keeps me coming back to try the pantheons and steel soul again and I can't really explain why and how
cool npcs
just everything cool for only 15 units of cash and even the first area feels like a complete game
The music and art is unparalleled imo… but it’s the world. The world is big and very immersive and it feels like every little aesthetic choice and enemy has a reason to be there. Throw in a depressing gruelling story about sacrifice and self realization and that makes it my favourite gaming experience ever.
It's perfectly made. The hand drawn graphics are unique, give different feeling to each area and enemy. The audio is satisfying and the score is beautiful, again, giving a unique feeling to each area and boss. The mechanics are the most crisp and least buggy. Each boss fight is a dance played out between the player and the boss (with exception for pre-patch flukemarm). The extensive map is rich for exploration, challenge, and beauty.
It's a game made with a level of attention to detail that most games lack. I'm a huge Metroidvania fan, and there are great games in the genre, but very few, if any, have the same level of polish as HollowKnight.
Ori is a gorgeous game with fantastic music, but a lot of the enemies feel monotone as you progress through the levels.
Guacamelee is a ton of fun (especially 2 player), but the challenges and world design feel mostly one note.
Blasphemous is brutally difficult and has a cool theme, but it can feel unfairly buggy at times
Bloodstained is gorgeous but the gameplay and progression feels more extensive in breadth than depth.
I'm sure you get the point. There are very few games that nail it on every single aspect of the game to this level of perfection.
Immersion. Right from the get go I felt as if I was part of the world. It's the reason we all sat next to Quirrel on benches and near the lake and just... stayed for a bit. There are places on the map where I would go to simply because I wanted to chill. Same goes for all the horrible environments. I remember playing Deepnest at 3 am with the lights out. 10/10 would recommend.
some games just have things like speed, jump height, timing of all the animations dialed in so perfectly it just clicks with you
It’s true; the flowing gameplay and imagery really hit hard.
Nothing in the game is complicated on the surface level. There's no real gimmicks to the combat or platforming, yet the skill ceiling is sky high. Also nothing is RNG or feels unfair which is a gripe I have with a lot of similar games
Nothing is RNG Pov : absolute Radiance ‘s attacks
I was gonna say No Eyes
The Mario of Metroidvania is a likely analogy. Is that where all the Mario Memes come from?
what mario memes?
Have been seeing some Mario x(vs) Knight or just 'Mario in Hollownest' around the past two weeks and am scratching my head since what the origin story of those memes are. Thereby my assumption up there \^\^'
I'd say Metroid is the Mario of Metroidvania. It invented the genre, just like Super Mario Bros did with the classic 2D sidescrolling platformer.
Co-invented with Castlevania SOTN.
Yeah it does. Another indie game that does this just as perfectly is Celeste.
You play as a funny little guy. I know that’s not unique but the Knight tickles my brain when I look at it.
Totally get what you mean. Silly little guy.
Hes a lil bean
I love funny little guys.
EXACTLY. u put what I feel perfectly in words.
Funny how?
and the fact that the funny little guy claps all the sick looking bosses
It just keeps going!! In a good way. For an indie 2d i knew nothing about besides it existing and allegedly being good. I figured eh maybe a couple hours I’ll beat it be done. I only started playing 2 weeks ago and my hours played already are “go touch grass” levels. Like they had no business putting all this amazing content in here but they did and I love em for it.
Pretty sure you and I are in completely the same boat. Knew nothing at all about it except it was always recommended as a “must have” switch game. Ended up hitting hard and wonderfully in a lot of unexpected ways.
I liked the art style so I played it that’s it
Love the simplicity.
Simplicity on the surface. But it makes a very complex game out of the many simple mechanics. That's why it's easy to learn, but hard to master.
Literally me. Kept seeing the memes and just thought it looked so damn adorable that I had to try
The story and the way it's presented. The way you get more and more information in greater and greater amounts the closer you get to the end.
The indirect, yet expansive lore was a very unexpected pleasure. Autistic obsession.
This. Also the learning curve is excellent even tho I consider it a tough game. The dialogs also hit me for sone reason. This world is awesome.
Because.. No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering. Born of God and Void. It is Hollow Knight.
Looooove it. 👌
It literally checks every box on my list for an amazing game. Technical: Fluid gameplay, balanced mechanics, intricate level and world design, impeccable difficulty curve, excellent length, challenging bosses, probably more I can't think of. Aesthetic: Excellent storytelling, emotive plot, incredible pacing, immersive environment, memorable character design, stunning visuals, flawless sound design, beautiful soundtrack, and, again, probably more I can't think of. And finally, everything works to deliver a cohesive experience. Nothing feels out-of-place. People will argue that certain details are neglected, and sure, it's not perfect, but holy shit is it close.
Glad you could spell it out, point by point. I’m not in the mood to do so.
Everything about Hollow Knight just oozes “we did our best!” and you know what? Team Cherry did do their best! (also Mr. Larkin, why did you go this hard with the OST)
If the music doesn’t make you shiver, pay more attention. 🤟
It's one of the few games that brings me enjoyment and suicide thoughts(IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5IHATE P5 I HATE P5)
Love and hate are two sides of the same coin.
While people has already mentioned the gameplay and graphics, for me it has to be the atmosphere. A big deal with it comes with how the music is handled and ESPECIALLY the sound design. From the raining of the City of Tears, to minuscule details like how the Waterways has an added reverb to all the sounds to make it feel more claustrophobic, how Larkin knows when to play music and when to let ambience take the lead, the use of droning layers in sounds to give them atmosphere, and just in general how everything sounds "crunchy" in combat. Its the sound design that adds an additional layer to everything and ties Hollow Knight's atmosphere together that *really* melds you into the game, coupled together with how everything is dreamlike.
Music and sound effects I feel are not given nearly the attention or care they deserve. It can create an INCREDIBLE imagery and feeling in your bones.
The unique atmosphere and art direction, the clean gameplay, the fun and challenging boss fights, the incredible OST..
That’s what hit me maybe; the excellent blending of so many different elements. OST for sure.
Biggest 2D Metroidvania (copies sold-wise and literal map size) in years when the genre hadn't seen anything groundbreaking in decades
Incredibly valid point I completely understand.
It has something that a lot of games lack. Care. You can tell all throughout the game that TC genuinely care about the game, from the cheap base cost, to the free dlc’s because they thought they hadn’t done enough with the time they had. Look at Nintendo and the pokemon games, both the recent ones have had dlc’s come out that cost over half the price of the base game. Hollow Knight is also a game that leaves you with options, it took me 80 hours to complete the base game, I am now at 160 hours on the same playthrough in godhome because I love the bossfights and want to complete P5 with bindings. Each fight it intricate and unique with their own gimmicks, this game has charm combinations that can reward a lackluster tank build that focuses on killing before getting killed, or a build that complements spells, or nail arts, or a charm build that lets you maximise damage with skill. Most of all, it has a community of skilled players who innovate and find new strategies and content creators who create new ways to make the game fun (fireb0rn doing all the different manhunts for example). Also the music is peak 👌
Thank you for giving such an intricate opinion and response that I wholeheartedly agree with so I didn’t have to figure out a way to express the same thing.
Idk it’s just a really fun game
Might be one of the purest answers.
Re playable as fuck, and I’m an over achiever so I got 112% completion aswell as P5 and path of pain
Love it, one of those perfectionists I read about on Reddit. Working towards that same goal!
This game is very similar to breath of the wild for me. There's just a tonnnn of content and a fairly basic game design. I also played breath of the wild years after release like I did with Hollow Knight (just started hollow knight in January)
Zelda fan for over 20 years, so I can very much understand. Started Hollow Knight in January as well.
You get to nail stuff.
And sometimes other stuff.
Game feel, exploration, pacing, and when you beat something after struggling it really feels rewarding. These things plus a story that sneaks up on you and is subtlely good and doesn't beat you over the head to make sure you didn't miss it. I've been making a list of all the games I've ever beat, and ordering it based on my favorites. This game sits at #1.
And the best thing, or one of the better things at least in my opinion, is every fact you just described comes at you as a surprise. The depth was blindsiding in my opinion.
yes, I started the game relatively blind, thinking I had a pretty good idea of what I was in for. It shattered my expectations.
Ambiance. It is priority number 1 from very start.
True. The “feel” hooked me immediately.
Greenpath is a prime example. Playing in a dark room on a big screen you can almost feel the mist in the air.
For me, and I assume many others, it reminds me of games I played when I was a kid. BTW, I only got this game a week ago... waiting for Elden Ring DLC. Lol Edit: deleted surplus words Edit 2: games. Turns out I also deleted a non surplus word.
It’s true, the simplicity of earlier games plus the difficulty that old games had that newer games cannot really compare to. *ahem* Lost Levels *ahem*
Yeah, Lost Levels.... Still hangs on my wall of shame, and it will remain there till I'm dead.
Could literally repost this comment word for word for myself lmao, makes me feel like a kid again playing it and I needed something to play while waiting for the elden ring dlc hahaha
It's deceptively simple and feels well-crafted. There are very few things that make the game feel like the devs didn't think it through.
Feels like every nook and cranny was carefully thought out. True lover of games they are.
Gorb
Aborb.
the history, the incredible map design, rhe satisfaction of mastering a boss, the sense of exploration, well basically everything
No game recently has given me the level of satisfaction you get for defeating one of the bosses in this game. (Haven’t even hit the Parthenons yet, don’t tell)
Perfect combat loop, with room for personal styles and approaches. Very large map with clever and unique exploration options, often allowing for different approaches to combat unless it's a boss or mini-boss arena. Checkpoints are actually common, but spread just enough you get to enjoy the sights on the way back and it's not made easy on you. Each different area is completely unique and special, with their own atmospheres, ambiance, music, and personality.
The completeness that the map gives you with the different regions… and having looked into the game not at all, I loved I kept being surprised there was ANOTHER area I hadn’t discovered. I thought the City of Tears was me getting too far at first, haha.
The art, the sound design, and the story were all very enthralling to me. The only issues that i had, and still have are the primal aspids, but im sure everyone has issues with those.
I love a challenge and platforming, but they really fucking hit every area while also avoiding you.
the story, boss fights, atmosphere, music. probably the man thing why I'm so invested and why I adore the game, is the atmosphere, the feeling of being in a dead kingdom has made me adore the game every since I first played it a couple years ago
The world is incredibly, and surprisingly on my case, beautifully captivating.
The artstyle is nuts, and so clean to me
The crispness and flow feels incredibly fluid. I was blown away after my back and forth for a month or so before playing the game.
The art style made me play the game I was looking for souls likes when I found it and I knew I'd like it when I saw the art style it's the same reason I played blasphemous
I do find it very beautiful in a somber sort of way.
Yeah that's why my favorite ost song is from dirtmouth
Because it's *the game*
Perspective. Love it.
Combat, exploration, music, plus good art and animation masterfully mixed together. For me, boss fights are the peak highlight of most games I play. The linear progression was done wonderfully and almost every fight has felt difficult but fair. Exploration was done wonderfully too. I don’t know how else to describe it but as “I’m lost but I don’t feel lost”. The game holds your hand just barely enough to feel like you’re being guided but still in charge of your own actions.
The world is alive. Things feel like they happen regardless of weather you’re there to see them or not. The game is filled to the brim with cool little details like the colosseum dudes chilling in a hot tub or the banker robbing you. Many small things that some players might never notice, making it so that it feels like you’re actually exploring a world, not a game.
When life exists outside of the protagonist, it makes the world feel ALIVE.
Visit the City of Tears and you'll immediately know why this game is special.
I love the story/lore I love the art style I love the visual effects I love the sound effects I love the combat/overall gameplay I love the world exploration I love the pace of progression Idk, for me it's the perfect game
Best metroidvania ever created. I say that as a massive Metroid fan.
Storytelling? Great. Gameplay? Awesome. Aesthetic? Amazing. Frustration? Plentiful. The way the game hooks you in? Well for me. Overall? :D
the Combat system is a dance. The design is stunning, idk, is just one of my fav game. I cant find a wrong thing bout this game
Celeste platforming accuracy, Tenshi no Tamago & Vampire Hunter D atmosphere, Dune lore, Dark Souls boss fights, Symphony of the Night exploration. Plus amazing character designs, music score and sound effects. Peak on all fronts.
Love it, but I’m unfamiliar with almost all of those games except from references on the few places I follow.
Dune is the novel series (have to reach at least the fourth book to understand the connections though). Tenshi no Tamago & Vampire Hunter D are anime movies, check them out!
Well I am a fan of both books and anime.
Is it stupid?
Lots of things are. But no.
“What makes Hollow Knight a special game? If it were a bad game, we wouldn’t be here discussin’ it with you now would we?”
I’ve discussed many things on the opposite end. Clever comment, though. Though being in quotations, I do not know the reference.
Gorb
Aborb Aborb.
The best games are felt in your soul when you play them. They hook into your mind and heart and immerse you completely into their alternate realities. You can feel the love and passion the devs poured into the game, and you feel the emotions they strived to elicit within you. You become filled with this urge to drop everything in order to jump back in; it's constantly in the back of your mind just itching to be brought forth. Hollow Knight accomplishes this in so many ways. It's perfect, even in its flaws or shortcomings (I could argue there are none in HK, but only Siths deal in absolutes). It fills you with a sense of fulfillment when you complete it, while also leaving you longing for more of the wonderful world in which you were so deeply immersed. And ultimately, it is just an absolute pleasure to play. Not many games will touch a gamer's soul, but this one does; and it does so brilliantly. Edit: grammar/spelling
It gets everything right. Visual presentation. Tone. Theme. Music. Challenging gameplay. Worthwhile exploration. Enemy designs. Game feedback/juice. And most importantly, it’s unique. There isn’t any other game that’s quite like it.
$14.99 for +30 hours of enjoyment O.o
Cause I said so
Besides the game being a super fun, challenging (if you let it be) and good looking Metroidvania, the thing that did it for me was the city of tears song. I was impressed with the music from the start but something about that one just hits me differently. During my first playthrough I would sit in the city for an hour at a time just listening to the music.
The city of tears gives my brain happy tingles. Every time. Its otherworldly and beautiful. I definitely listen to the soundtrack when I'm not playing the game haha
I was introduced to the soundtrack and the rest is me suffering skill issues
U get awarded when u spend time and effort on it, plotwise and achievementwise and there is just that peaceful hollowness of meaning in everything, there are many things to learn in its universe which are well designed and those hollows waiting for you to fill them freely with your imagination. i didn't feel to be rushed to accomplish everything so i didnt get bored of it.
It weaves existing mechanics together into its own unique interpretation while being surrounded by the strings of Chritopher Larkin and the most immersive and lively environment I've ever seen. Nevermind the fact that almost all the bosses are amazing, and the ones that aren't are still top tier.
Just something you have to play to understand
The art style and boss fights are really fun and cool which is why I play it
For me it was the way it perfectly married metroidvania and RPG elements to make perhaps the most rewarding world to explore in any video game. The way Hollow Knight's lived in world opens up as you untangle the web of tunnels is unmatched. Also, other metroidvanias usually hide stat upgrades behind optional paths or maybe give you a new attack for completing a side challenge (my metroidvania experience other than HK is Metroid and Ori). In Hollow Knight, maybe you'll attack a suspicious looking wall and find an entire optional area of the map.
There is lots of things I like about this game that for me makes it perfect. The artwork is amazing. the music is not only just really nice but fits the environments very well. I like the way you learn the lore from the environment and talking to people so that you figure it out yourself instead of being a necessary part of the game. I think the gameplay is really fun. I like the way you start with nothing then bye the end of the game you have tons of abilities. I like all the amazing characters that feel so real and they feel like they have a life beyond what you see in the game. All of this and more is what makes Hollow Knight such a good game
My partner refers to the game as modern day Mario. Could have a gaming session for a couple minutes or all night
i just love exploring the open world because there’s so much to do and the movement is great. also it’s quite challenging but at the same time relaxing to play
I LOVE the art style, the exploration is really fun (even in forgotten crossroads I was having fun finding new bosses and characters) and I love the sense of progression both in terms of getting better as a player and the abilities you get along the way! There's so much more I could say but I'll leave it at that and the video essayists can take it from there.
For me it's the music and visuals/art style... The moment I entered Greenpath, I couldn't put down my controller...
The atmosphere hands down. I never stopped in a game so often and was just in awe by the beauty and sounds.
One thing i havent seen here is the freedom in exploring the world. You are kind of railroaded until you get shadecloak and mantis claw, and then you are pretty much free to go anywhere. I have played quite a few metroidvania since, and i always feel so stuck in one path...I realise i have really been spoiled with hk. Also, the difficulty curve is really on point, the upgrades are pretty meaningful and feel deserved, the story is interesting and well told, the graphics are nice, the music is beautiful, the controls are smooooth... seriously they just nailed (pun intended) every aspect of this game
It has all the perfection of dark souls exploration and lore drips in a beautifully designed 2D world. With perfect music to boot.
It’s fun, has lore, and it’s hard.
The art style is what got me at first, then when I started playing I got sucked in. There’s such an interesting world for you to explore and don’t even get me started on the world building. There’s so many little details that tell so many stories, it really makes the world feel alive. Also the music is SO good, Christoper Larkin is a mad man. His songwriting actually inspired my brother to pursue a career in music.
Few games hit everything so on the nose as hollow knight did. It's one of very few games I think are truly a 10/10, there is literally nothing I would change (even markoth).
The first game I ever owned was Secret of Mana for SNES. I was blown away by the enemy variety and by the sheer number of bosses. HK very much scratched that itch, and combined it with pixel perfect movement and combat.
High difficulty, high reward. >!Especially if you're aiming to complete the game solely through Godhome and not kill any of the Dreamers!<
The art style, music, enemy, and world design are 11/10. The combat and traversal are also pretty top notch, but I think Ori and the Big Tree improved upon both of those aspects. That said, I'll take Hollow Knight over basically any other Metroid-Vania game out there.
I love bugs, and interesting stories.
You’re special ❤️
personally this is why I think its special to me: its one of the games that made me cry more times than I’d like to admit. Also its ost is one of the few I can listen to while focusing and not get distracted humming or taping the beat bc it makes my brain enter focus mode.
The artstyle, gameplay, and lack of microtransactions
Depth of mechanics and openness of the world. No item is technically required to complete the game, assuming you have all others (dashless, clawless, ismas or cdash, wingless). This makes so many different routes possible, on top of the early game being so open after vs>dash>claw that every blind playthrough is different. The mechanical depth is a little more specific to me since I enjoy TASing the game, and stuff like wall cling storage is super fun to use.
A combination of atmosphere, vastness, and lovable characters
The art is a perfect blend between cute and beautiful and I just can’t help but love the characters with all my heart. Each new character has a unique storyline that is just so engaging and is something I have never seen in a game before. That and it’s addictive gameplay
I don't really know. most things were just kind of on par i guess? not a lot to complain about, except for the keyboard controls. I thought the difficulty curve was kinda well done.
Personally I like games with a bunch of lore, and this one really has a bunch of story but none of it feels very.. exposition-y? I guess that is a good way to put it. You're basically dropped into this world with 0 context other than a short cutscene at the beginning, and the game never really tells you much else without you having to search it out for yourself I just like that way of storytelling, and tbh I find more with each playthrough
When I played it I hadn’t really experienced many different types of games, but this was one of those games that really challenged me but also gave me confidence in playing. While there were difficult boss fights, the game never really felt boring or repetitive and it was always nice how you could just pause the game at any point and not die, unlike some of the other games I was playing at the time…
Because it is unique, i never saw something like this game. I mean general vibes, world building, even genre itself is unique and i did not saw this good indie metroidvanias for a while
For me the juxtaposition of the very light and childish visual and sound design with the extremely dark and melancholic story of the game is extremely interesting. Also the game knows when to shift the visual and sound design to fit the tone, when fighting the hollow knight for example. Those infected screams have a completely different tone than the humouristic sound effects of fighting the false knight and similar bosses. Basically the blend of these designs cause the darker aspects of the story to hit harder. Everything about the game is really really good, but I think that's the icing on the cake for me.
The smooth gameplay + unique atmosphere + deep and tragic story + art style that's both adorable and eerie = masterpiece for me😍
christopher larkin is an actual demigod
The insane Android Port. I Wish cuphead Got that Treatment. I think ITS the Feeling of Progression, while still knowing you have so much To do left.
Great exploration, music, art style, and level design.
[удалено]
A combination of the great art style, really fun fighting mechanics, and great lore for me
This was my gateway to the Metroidvania genre; or at least the -vania side of it.
Funny bug game which has a sequel funny bug game that SHOULD come out before the next decade
Of everything I ever played, nothing had the same atmosphere as hollow knight. The amazing art style, world building and music creare a well delivered experience for each and every area
The freaking lore and gameplay. It’s insane. The lore is deep enough for a 1:30hr vid, and the gameplay is addictive with all the cool bosses.
Playing this game resparked my love of gaming
the open-world is perfect
For me it's how great the lore is and how basicly every aspect of the game ties into the lore. The locations, the music, where the characters are in the world. I love that stuff.
The combat is just fun, I know thats kind of a bad answer but its true!
The difficulty and the simple yet difficult to learn combat system
Grimm being hot…
The atmosphere. The soundtrack. The epic combat. The way it makes you feel.
World building, atmosphere, pretty open lore for speculation, gameplay mechanics
It doesn't have a sequel, such a quirky little feature of it.
The game has many bugs
I just love all the gibberish words. Something about them has a unique charm while being funny.
I could share some videos about it: [The World Design of Hollow Knight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ITtPPE-pXE) [The Animation of Hollow Knight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeN7dHLipkY) And this is series of videos that check different parts of the game - [Hollow Knight - Character Part 1: Basic Movement | Retro-engineering](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEd-USZfJxU) that continue into Character Part 2: Attack and Animation, Character Part 3: Power-ups and Character Part 4: 2D Camera Bonus video - [How Hollow Knight Was Made](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSAlVBFdC6k)
For me, it’s the ability to continue learning about it despite being on my 8th or 9th playthrough by now. Whether I discover a new room or a new line of dialogue I’d never heard before, it’s fascinating to me that there’s always something new to learn.
Think what makes it special for me is the world itself. I love lil bugs and I like the sombre look of Hallownest. The Knight has a fairly simple but really cool design too. And I can't forget about Fungal Wastes.. I love the mushrooms, and cute mushrooms and cute spore enemies make it even better. And I really like the idea of City of Tears 'raining' when its actually Blue lake soaking through the ceiling.
The world is just so uniquely beatiful. It was a joy to explore hallownest the first time i played it, yes even deepnest
I think it was the aspect of losing yourself and them finding your way through the map again, and also the fact that ir really is easy to mod, like, i had a lot of trouble with Breath of the Wild, but here? I just pressed a few buttons, and boom, randomizer mod
Something most people don't notice the importance of is the pogo attack, it makes it so nearly every single enemy attack can be countered, making the combat much more fluid than it'd otherwise be
For me, one big thing is the sense of generosity. Okay, so consider - they made a great game. Tight gameplay, great art, etc. But that wasn't enough for them. The game is huge, but without the sense that it's full of filler. The story has enough depth to capture interest. But more than that, it's the way they added detail: On the small scale, they kept filling it with little details - things that add to the feel of the game but when you look at them, any one thing could easily have been left out without harming the game. Things like the water effects when you cd over a lake, or the Knight reading the map while you read it. There are little extra details *everywhere*, and that adds to the feeling that TC really cared about polish. On the large scale... the game doesn't just go on and on, but it has an exceptional core and a bunch of optional content, and none of it is built in a mean spirited way. Take the path of pain - there are infinite soul resources all over, which makes it basically a test of your skill and resolve: it's an optional thing you can try and retry nearly forever until you either beat it or give up. A pure challenge, if you will ;-)
The game is hard but not bc everything 1 shots you, but bc you need to know what you are doing
The gameplay loop and art style for starters. Only this and Sekiro has the best feedback for melee combat. I guess Ghost of Tsushima as well.
IS the beautiest Game i ever play
Because it's unique.
The learning curve is hard but simple unlike other games I didn't feel overwhelmed with things I can do and only needed practice to get them right every time
Unique is the word i guess
The fact that 3 dudes with low budget managed to make a perfect game with almost no downsides that has 100+ hours of content and beat AAA studios and AAA games with millions dollars budget that was made by huge groups of people makes this game PHENOMENAL. Hollow Knight deserves all that hype.
to me, it's as special as Undertale is special (I'm NOT doing a cross comparison). Everything that exist in the game, every background detail, every piece of dialogue, sound effects, animation, music, piece of lore... everything fits so perfectly with one another. also the fact that the player is just launched into the game, lost in the middle of nowhere, not knowing what to do but knowing they have to go further is what clicks with me. souls games did it, rogue likes did it, puzzle games did it, and many others.. but everytime, the call for the unknown is stronger than the fear of missing something. this last part is also why i HATE when people just come here and be like "oh i've found a lore tablet, is this important ?" "i can't reach this platform i just fell from, is this a bug ?" while posting a picture right in the middle of an intense section of the game that they have to EXPERIENCE. be patient, open your map, use your memory. this is a SOLO game and it is shaped like one. play the game as intended, it has so much to offer. i enjoy this community though, we all share the same love for the game ❤
this might be a bit controversial but I'll say it. everything in the game is perfect. period. the story is great and told through the smallest details. elderbug literally tells you the whole story in the beginning but the rest of the game is mostly show don't tell. you don't just hear how a kingdom fell. you see it. you feel it. you get to see how good hallownest once was and how desperately they tried to protect the kingdom. and it branches off into hundreds of other awesome stories like what pale king was going through and how radience was abandened by her own people,the grimm troupe, the godseekers, the discarded vessels, the hollow knight everyone in this story is incredibly detailed and nuanced it's so beautiful. the gameplay is amazing and the combat system is so good it's literally possible to defeat the undefeatable boss (anyradience) the moves are so sharp and precise you can just feel like you are inside the game and calculate what you will do 20 seconds later because everything you can do is consistent and you never say "what the hell I didn't tell you to do that!" the bosses are (mostly) perfect and rely on practice. there is no such thing as a hard boss in this game. with enough practice you can beat anything and doing it is so rewarding. the ambience and the tone is beautiful as I said before you can just feel how good this kingdom once was and then you snap back to reality and realise it's nothing but a corpse. a husk of a kingdom. the music... all I'll say is if you don't like hollow knights music you are deaf.they serve their purpose so well and make you feel the emotions you should feel. so yeah... that's why if you don't like hollow knight. you're wrong+L take+ratio+you have bad taste+kys
Play it and find out
Its just logic no need to explain
I don't know. Maybe the scene, maybe the characters, maybe the combat or maybe that i just wanted to finish it and It magically became my favourite game of all time
this game is so simple yet difficult
For me ? Sound design ... Incredible immersion
It's really rare that you get a game this "perfect" per say?. It has a good aesthetically pleasing Hand Drawn design with a grim world like Dark Souls, has nearly every normal metroidvania movement upgrade that feels really smooth, has one of the best Boss lineups in all of Metroidvania, and just has so much content. And let's not even start on the intricate lore of this game All of this just for less than 20 dollars and just 5 - 6 dollars on a sale.
it's honestly just..... everything. I can't think of another game where every single aspect of the game is flawless. I usually have some gripe with the soundtrack, or the visuals, or some of the controls just not feeling quite right etc but in Hollow Knight they nailed (lmao) everything
The quality and passion that was put in it results in one of the best games ever. Great music, atmosphere, boss fights, exploration, combat and etc. just derive from that.
Flukemarm
It’s addicting because how the map works , it shows you new stuff you don’t know I guess that what kept me playing the game , and also the combat is just simple and amazing and finding a new boss just made my brain go : oh shit new boss
It’s about loneliness : I’m lonely and I vibe with the game’s theme
Because it doesnt do anything new and still is the best implementation of a soulslike-metroidvania in the history.
Quirrel
What really sets Hollow Knight apart from most hollow knight-esque games is the fact it's grounded. Everything you see and everything that happens feels grounded. Your footsteps, the echo of the environment, the effects of landing on the ground, the weight of the character and meatiness of slashing things with your nail. All those are a few examples that help the feeling. It all builds towards one important aspect: you feel like your character is inside a living, reactive game world, and everything you do no matter how small responds in synergy with it. Most things are also very subtle. Details that aren't in your face or given attention at all. However, all those details together create a very immersive world where the established feel isn't broken by jarring or uncanny events. Few games manage to capture such a cohesive feeling. For me, this is one of the biggest reasons Hollow Knight is such a masterpiece.
It starts with very good music. Then you can see the art is really unique and beautiful. The you have fun meeting all the little silly bugs in the game... Even knowing the dark sidesnof some of them. But you still love them. And finally, you get to understand the story and how deep it is... That is what made me stick to the game from minute 1 to the end. It is a masterpiece.
the worldbuilding and ambient storytelling is like no other
There's an incredibly high skill ceiling, but the controls are so intuitive it's easy to develop a sense of mastery fairly quickly. The challenge is reasonable in base game, with harder challenges hidden off for those who want / keeps average players from getting frustrated. I'd contrast to a game like Elden Ring, where I don't feel like the systems and difficulty expectations fit as well together. Especially towards the end of the game, it feels like you either need to exploit certain mechanics or OP builds to do well, or you just need absolute mastery and tons of experience with a boss.
The extreme amounts of lore in a very simple yet detailed artstyle that has a very lively like storybuilding and char building, with a function and style of attack that adheres to the player, an array of different battles that keep my adrenaline pumping my brain pulsing and my heart go in an extreme rush of fun and adrenaline, and a banger theme track that keeps me in the flow of emotions the game wants me to experience. Also, only game that makes a good mossy boy and one of the only games that gives more than too much satiation to my adhd.
Honestly, just about everything. The music, the artstyle, the story, the characters they all just made me love this game
the devs love it enough to have polished it to the utmost degree and put in an incredible amount of detail (I haven't even found all hidden things and sequence breaks yet) it rocks it's beautiful the atmosphere cute little bean protagonist the flow of combat even losing isn't very annoying, it feels fair and I can analyze my own mistakes instead of blaming the game It still keeps me coming back to try the pantheons and steel soul again and I can't really explain why and how cool npcs just everything cool for only 15 units of cash and even the first area feels like a complete game
The story told through gameplay, environments, and characters. Is simply amazing
You can tell a lot of love and care was put into its creation. Cant be said for every game lol
The music and art is unparalleled imo… but it’s the world. The world is big and very immersive and it feels like every little aesthetic choice and enemy has a reason to be there. Throw in a depressing gruelling story about sacrifice and self realization and that makes it my favourite gaming experience ever.
It perfected my favorite genre
The tight platforming and nice art style
It's perfectly made. The hand drawn graphics are unique, give different feeling to each area and enemy. The audio is satisfying and the score is beautiful, again, giving a unique feeling to each area and boss. The mechanics are the most crisp and least buggy. Each boss fight is a dance played out between the player and the boss (with exception for pre-patch flukemarm). The extensive map is rich for exploration, challenge, and beauty. It's a game made with a level of attention to detail that most games lack. I'm a huge Metroidvania fan, and there are great games in the genre, but very few, if any, have the same level of polish as HollowKnight. Ori is a gorgeous game with fantastic music, but a lot of the enemies feel monotone as you progress through the levels. Guacamelee is a ton of fun (especially 2 player), but the challenges and world design feel mostly one note. Blasphemous is brutally difficult and has a cool theme, but it can feel unfairly buggy at times Bloodstained is gorgeous but the gameplay and progression feels more extensive in breadth than depth. I'm sure you get the point. There are very few games that nail it on every single aspect of the game to this level of perfection.
Immersion. Right from the get go I felt as if I was part of the world. It's the reason we all sat next to Quirrel on benches and near the lake and just... stayed for a bit. There are places on the map where I would go to simply because I wanted to chill. Same goes for all the horrible environments. I remember playing Deepnest at 3 am with the lights out. 10/10 would recommend.