For the last couple of weeks I’ve played almost nothing besides Hollow Knight and when
I wasn’t playing it I was thinking about it. Much like my first experiences with Undertale,
Life is Strange or Gunpoint it was a game that consumed me entirely while playing it
and didn’t quite let go even after I finished. If this was a review it would get a perfect
score, but it does feature one tiny misstep that I think is worth exploring. But, before we
get to that we’ve got to start with-
Part 1: Hollow Knight
Hollow Knight is absolutely amazing. It’s one of the best games I’ve come across,
and one of the biggest too. Alone both are surprising given the small team that made
it, but together, being one of the best and one of the biggest – that’s unbelievable.
The amount of polish in every element is shocking, especially so for the fact Hollow Knight is
the first major release from a new studio. The combat is tight – simple on the surface,
but with a surprising amount of depth underneath and the movement offers just as much complexity
for those willing to seek it out. Backtracking to find new areas is always satisfying too,
between the sumptuous art and gorgeous soundtrack every new discovery is a real joy and the
old ones remained interesting right up until the end of the game. I’ve spent hours aimlessly
wandering the dark caverns and Gothic architecture of Hallow Nest and I’m keen to get back
to doing just that after posting this video. Its map is so huge and so full of enemies
and secrets that it’s both easy and a pleasure to feel lost in the world of Hollow Knight.
This is what I’ve always wanted from a Metroidvania, a massive world with satisfying combat that
was presented in a visual and aural style that blew me away.
There was one element that took me by surprise though – reviews had left me certain I was
in for a huge map, beautiful visuals, lovely music and satisfying combat. What I hadn’t
expected was a surprisingly moving narrative. It was sparse and sporadic, but had some impressive
narrative arcs and I became far more attached to each of Hallow Nest’s anthropomorphised
bugs than I ever expected I would. In each bugs’ story there are some fantastic moments
and it’s in one of these moments that we come to one small problem. I'm going to talk
about the titular Hollow Knight.
Part 2: The Hollow Knight
The Hollow Knights story is vague, but more fleshed out than that of any other character.
Slowly we learn it had some major significance, played some major role and made some major
sacrifice. We have clues from the very beginning as to what role it played, but the player
lacks the full picture until very near the end of the journey to face the true final
boss, in a double reveal of your own origin and the origin of the Hollow Knight. It's
a beautifully realised reveal, a moment at once haunting and dramatic, subtle and devastating.
I loved this moment and what it meant, and then to hear the music that played in it again
in a slightly different form during the Hollow Knight fight as they begin to stab themselves
over and over - goddamn I love this game, and this moment, and how it made me feel.
If the game ended there or shortly afterwards it would have been basically perfect. Whether
the knight was trying to end its life or destroy the playable character using the infection
it contained is unclear, but the tragedy of the scene is surprisingly powerful and the
way it has been rendered quite stunning. The whole game was filled with tragedies and melancholy
obscured by time or distance and for the game to end on this particular small tragedy would
have been a great fit. But it doesn't end there. After a short stretch of gameplay in
which the Hollow Knight continues to stab itself and the music swells Hornet lends a
hand, holding the Hollow Knight down so you can fight the true Final Boss - The Radiance.
My issue isn't with The Radiance, nor the fight itself, but rather that there is no
check point between the fight with the Hollow Knight and the fight with The Radiance.
Now, I think I understand why Team Cherry chose not to have such a checkpoint. Fighting
the radiance is supposed to be a struggle, it isn't supposed to be easy, and making the
player fight one boss after the other is certainly a way of making that struggle felt by the
player.
So what's the problem? My issue lies in what was once one of my favourite boss fights.
After the first time I saw the Hollow Knight stab itself repeatedly, after the first time
seeing Hornet zip into the Temple to pin it down - I was excited yet again by a game that
had already provided plenty of incredible moments. The fight was already one of my favourites
in the game mechanically and it immediately became a favourite narratively as well, beaten
out only by the implied narrative of the first fight with Hornet and mechanically by the
fights with Hornet, the Mantis Lords and The Dung Defender. This sudden turn in the fight
was an amazing moment in an incredible game, but it was almost entirely ruined by putting
the Radiance fight after it. Now you don't see it once or twice, now you
see it every time you fight the Radiance. I found the Radiance to be particularly tough,
so for me that was a lot of times. Just seeing it again and again isn't the only issue though.
Because the Radiance was an extended battle that gave me no small amount of trouble I
naturally looked for ways to cheese the Hollow Knight fight, to finish it as quickly as possible.
I knew at the beginning of the Radiance fight I would be healed back to full health, but
would keep the soul I had collected, so my priority became dealing as much nail damage
as possible with no regard for health or using spells to mix things up. I was facetanking,
and it worked. I could take down the Hollow Knight reliably within a minute. Now what
was once a fantastic fight was a chore, what was once an exciting narrative became a mere
roadblock on the path to The Radiance. And look, I get it, I'm not great at Hollow Knight
so this took me a lot longer than it might have for you, my frustrations amplified by
my clumsy thumbs and fat fingers, but I know I'm not the only one to facetank the Hollow
Knight fight to get to the Radiance and the game seems to actively encourage it. Without
a checkpoint after the Hollow Knight fight it's only natural people would work through
the fight as quickly as possible to get to the next and in doing so it loses all of its
narrative weight, to say nothing of how it reduces the fight down to the simplest and
least interesting approach.
If it sounds like I'm criticising the game unfairly I make this video only because without
this small misstep it might have been my absolute favourite game. Its gameplay is tight but
simple, the boss fights wonderfully designed, the art stunning and the soundtrack absorbing.
Hollow Knight is one of only two games that I wish were more expensive, that I wish I
paid more for. I first picked it up on the Switch and loved it, so I bought it again
on PC partially to record the footage for this video, but mostly because I want Team
Cherry to have more of my money. Hollow Knight is an incredible game, but it was so close
to being perfect that I had to make this video. So it's not out of disappointment I make this
video, nor frustration, nor sadness, but out of love. The only reason this small problem
upset me at all was because I cared so much for the rest of the game. I love Hollow Knight,
a love that is in no way diminished by this small issue, and in a sense this small criticism
is the highest praise I can offer. That this is the only negative thing I can say about
the entire game, that I even had issue with it at all, is testament to the brilliance
of Hollow Knight and that's the note I want to end on.
If you've played Hollow Knight I'd love to hear your thoughts. Which fights gave you
the most trouble, or the least? Do you love it as much as I do?
Let me know in the comments below.
Cheers, have a good one.