What is... Hollow Knight

Picture taken from wallpapercave.com

After hours of getting lost and finding my way back, and getting myself lost again, I think it is safe to describe Hollow Knight as painfully addicting. Initially released back in 2017 on the PC (Microsoft Windows), today the game is now available on Linux, and Mac OS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. Hollow Knight is a 2D metroidvania action-adventure game which emphasizes exploration, backtracking, and platforming. It is developed by an Australian indie game developer, Team Cherry, and Hollow Knight is probably one of the best games released in 2017. This is the second metroidvania game that I found myself addicted to since Ori and the Blind Forest and I believe there will be more to come.

The bug knight

Hollow Knight is set in a world full of insects and bugs where you are a nameless insectoid knight who is on an adventure to uncover a great ancient mystery of the long-forgotten insect kingdom of Hallownest which is buried deep beneath the ground. I do not want to describe Hollow Knight as your casual walk-in-the-park game, don’t let the artwork fool you, this game demands a great deal of concentration, patience, and unfortunately for some casual gamers out there, skill. However, don’t get intimidated yet, there is more than Hollow Knight’s difficult gameplay that you must know. Starting from this point onwards, I will take you on a quick trip down to the world of our bug knight here. There are four important aspects that I want to discuss, which I think is what makes this game a modern yet humble masterpiece. Those are, the plot setting, the graphic, the exploration system and the combat. 

The Lore of the Insect Kingdom

Alright, who else hates insects and constantly makes mental notes to remind yourself asking God why insects exist in this world when you make your prayer? Am I alone? I don’t understand why the creature dragonfly exists. Why can’t dragons exist? Why do we even have a dragon, compounded with a fly? I digress. Playing Hollow Knight takes me to the world full of creatures that I detest the most, let alone putting me behind the cape of our little bug knight here. But hold on, our bug knight has become one of my favorite video game characters. It is small, silent, and it is a bug. It quickly becomes lovable after several hours of playing this game.

The overview of Hallownest, there is more to be explored and discovered.

From the bigger picture of the lore, the story tells about the downfall of Hallownest Kingdom as it is plagued by The Infection caused by a higher being The Radiance, a moth creature. The Pale King, the ruler of Hallownest, tries his best to contain the infection by creating vessels which one of them eventually be chosen as the Hollow Knight to seal The Radiance in the Black Egg. However, things do not turn out good when The Radiance starts to break out from the shell and starts corrupting the kingdom again. We start off with our little bug knight traveling to the serene city of Dirthmouth on the surface of Hallownest. Little does it know what it is going to uncover from its journey towards the depth of the forgotten kingdom, the bug knight starts its perilous journey.

One of the interesting NPCs in the game.

Visually Captivating 

Hollow Knight takes a rather unique visual approach where it is presented to us in a cartoonish theme, with dark color tones, which my eyes immediately find amusing. The black and blue color tones of the world captures the sense of sorrow and emptiness that accompany the setting of the story. When looking at video games on Steam, I tend to judge them from its cover without even bothering to take a look at its gameplay, similar to how I discover Ori and the Blind Forest. The game also appears on my Steam recommended list and I have set my eyes on it several times because of its visual style that attracts me. 

The town Dirthmouth is where you can rest, shop, and meet various NPCs.

The graphic is very simple, it doesn’t require a high-end computer to run it. Despite being simple, it sure has its own unique visual presentation. Traveling through the abandoned kingdom filled with mindless and corrupted bugs, the dark and gothic art style, capture all the sense of sorrow that our little bug knight is facing. As you venture deeper down through Hallownest, you will discover the world full of emptiness. It somehow reflects its title, Hollow Knight. This is what I personally find unique, instead of being vast and showing off sophisticated video games graphic technology, Hollow Knight is rather modest yet still visually enticing. Being developed with Unity engine, the developer scanned the hand-drawn sketches using the game engine to deliver a rather immersive atmosphere.

 



The Deep Journey

The map will be very useful for you.

Being lost is something that is normal in Hollow Knight, simply because of the complex design of the map. The areas that you are exploring are often interconnected to one another, leading you to shortcuts after shortcuts once you explore more of the locations. Exploration will be never-ending, therefore, you are going to rely heavily on the bench, yes our little bug knight will sit down to rest itself. Bench is your checkpoint and your safe haven from any enemy. When you die, you will respawn here. Unfortunately, the bench is scarce and few is only located from one location far from another location. Thus, if you die halfway, you will have to go through the trouble of walking again. On the brightside, there is fast travel, and this is my favorite part, forget the horses, we’re riding a flea! A big giant old flea that will travel through tunnels to save your time walking.

Platforming is the main way to travel around Hallownest.

Now that we know we are going to have a lot of walking and exploring in Hollow Knight, let’s make things more difficult for your life shall we? Platforming. Yes, Hollow Knight implements platforming too and at a certain point your patience will be tested. Exploration will not be an easy job for you, remember what I say about a walk in the park? Hallownest is filled with platforms for you to jump, walls for you to climb, thorns to avoid, caves to explore and so many more. You will have to time your jump, your fall, and your dash. After all, it is a platforming game that you are playing, so this is one of the most essential features the game provides. Platforming in Hollow Knight is very simple compared to the one in Ori, there are fewer traversal abilities but the game is designed the way it is supposed to fit its own platforming style. High jumping and dashing will be your primary traversal tools. Two simple abilities which require your keen precision to avoid death, it won’t be easy but this is where your patience and determination is tested. 

Super Dash is another traversal ability to reach places you cannot reach before.

The Nail Wielder

Let’s move on to the next point shall we? Combat in Hollow Knight is calculative. Rushing and charging to your enemy will punish you. There is a need to learn the enemies’ pattern before striking them. Our bug knight is equipped with a short nail, a nail is the melee weapon equivalent to a sword in Hollow Knight’s universe. This is the weapon that you will wield throughout the game. Complex combo move is not present in Hollow Knight, you are to spam your strike button when you have the opportunity to deliver the blow to your vulnerable foe. After playing hours after hours venturing through the Kingdom of Hallownest, I am trying to figure out what the game rewards us from progressing through its painful combat. The answer is simple, upgrades. But, unfortunately, no matter how rewarding the game will be, it will never come before a tough battle with an unexpected horde of enemies. 

Upgrading your nail is essential to make combat less unforgiving.

Slashing is the most basic attack move and probably what you are going to use in every single combat situation. Slashing an enemy will gain you soul which you will need to heal yourself, or to use special abilities such as the Vengeful Spirit which will release a blast to your enemies. You can modify your abilities by equipping charms. Charms can be found or bought from NPCs and can be equipped as you rest on the bench. Combining your melee attack and your abilities you have to outsmart enemies as getting hit will immediately make you lose one health point. Health points can be upgraded but the journey to upgrade them is incredibly long so dodging attack is mandatory. 

Dying will take you back to the bench you last rested on.

Dying is something very very common in Hollow Knight. But you don’t just die in this game, when you are dead, little bug knight will release a Shade, the void of the knight. Shade carries all your Geo (the in-game money) and must be killed in order to take back what is rightfully yours. On top of that, your soul vessel will be broken, reducing the amount of soul you can collect until you defeat your shade.

Remember to find and defeat your Shade to earn back your Geo and restore your broken mask.

Conclusion

Who would've thought Hollow Knight can be rewarding.

Hollow Knight is yet another game that to me is highly addictive. Despite the punishing gameplay, I find myself being resilient, trying to jump off that seemingly impossible platform to get to the next area, or to fight that annoying boss that looks almost impossible to dodge its attack. Hollow Knight is definitely not for casual gamers since in-game tutorial is scarce, learning how to play the game depends entirely on players’ initiative and curiosity. You might discover something that is so basic when you are already halfway through the game. For instance, I found out that we could do a downward slash only when I Googled it as I needed to jump at this bouncy mushroom. 

I love the visual approach Team Cherry took when developing this game, especially with the setting of an insect world. There is something eerie that radiates from Hollow Knight, from the very surface area of the game or to the deepest part of Hallownest, as you journey further, the atmosphere changes accordingly. The vividity of the graphic has its own way to capture my eyes in its own way. Please do not be intimidated by Hollow Knight’s unforgiving reputation, give it a go! Team Cherry has succeeded in creating a masterpiece that derived from simplicity, but what is a masterpiece if not played? Be sure to grab your gamepad as you take control of our little bug knight!

The world of Hallownest keeps an ancient history that you are about to learn.