GenericBadGuy
Member
I think that in general, but especially on GAF it is rare to get into a game with little prior knowledge about it these days. People like to follow a game's development or press for obvious reasons: they're excited, they want to make an informed decision, they want to talk about it beforehand, etc. We have an OT for everything here on GAF usually before it reaches your own hands. Wanting to go into a game "blind" is a common goal but not one that is easy to execute in a world where information is coming in whether you like it or not. It also can easily be a bad thing! It only takes one bamboozle and you tell yourself "Welp never doing that again," and when there are so many games out these days its easy to get that bad experience. However this post is about my experience with Hollow Knight and how going into a game blind can still be an incredible experience that I believe we should all try more often (and just to gush about Hollow Knight).
I purchased Hollow Knight on impulse. I am not a die-hard Metroidvania fan - I've actually never played a Castlevania game or some of Metroid's derivatives, but I did enjoy the Metroid games I played! I knew what the genre was and what I was getting into at least judging from its description on the Steam store page. I actually did not know this was a Kickstarter game until some time after I had purchased it, which makes going into the game blind all the more amazing. Kickstarters tend to drip-feed updates, progress, ideas, art, etc. constantly if they are doing it right, and I had managed to avoid all of that going in. Now that I have completed the game I looked back at the Kickstarter updates and the game's related media, and they gave all sorts of surprises away! I was blown away by some things in the game that would have had a great deal of their magic taken away if I had done as much as watch even a second trailer. Mechanics, number of bosses or areas, characters you meet - they all ended up as a bullet point somewhere. It makes me wonder how we can balance enjoying the adventure of a game, while still being able to make an informed decision on it. Below I'll list some examples of what surprised me about the game and gush about it for a bit in an effort to convince you to try it, while trying to leave out as much as possible in order to try and keep that experience for others.
The game's aesthetic is very interesting. I went into this thinking it was a game set in a world of bug-people, but they managed to do it without giving you that squick-y feeling a lot of people get around insects (except for one zone that is absolutely 100% that and is awful) due to an art style that is just charming and cartoony enough. I also didn't expect how well Team Cherry took that idea and created an entire setting that could surround such a thing. They didn't just make some lamps that are fireflies for instance, but also took into account why an area would look a certain way in given with the culture and history that they have created. Sure its a world of bugs, but no two given areas look the same if the bugs that lived there would lead different lives. Its also a very bleak world - its a cliche at this point to compare a game to Dark Souls but in this case it must be done because they were clearly heavily influenced by it with their art direction. The world is depicted as old and decaying, with heavy hints to things far more ancient than yourself or even the civilizations you see. There are a lot of blues and greys, black and white, and you think all you'll see is some rocky tunnels and spikes.
But before a skeptic can roll their eyes at yet another grimdark indie Dark Souls clone the world soon explodes into life and color in places that show how far the hand-drawn art style can go into detail. Even in a world that is supposed to be mostly underground you rarely feel claustrophobic (except for that one area), just like I felt the Metroid games accomplished.
I thought of a similar game in Salt and Sanctuary, but while the two are both 2D and influenced by Dark Souls, SnS is quite...ugly. Its ugly enough to turn me off more than a game about bugs would, and the difference in art between the two is vast. Its also important how well its animated considering the metroidvania aspect of it. Everything moves around the screen a great deal - your character, the enemies, the background, the foreground, projectiles, effects - and its all very smooth and well done. Lots of little touches make the world charm you that much more.
The biggest surprise to me however was the story, lore, and characters of the game. I mentioned the Dark Souls influence before, but I did not expect the story to be as deep and rich as that other series can be, almost as if simply taking the best aspects of it. Like Dark Souls, the plot of the game and the history of the world must be put together piecemeal from item descriptions, cryptic NPC dialogue, and environmental clues. Unlike Dark Souls, this one can actually be put together without writing a peer-reviewed journal, provides some actual closure to those who piece it all together, and it includes a very helpful bestiary to flesh out the world more. It is incredibly deep and evocative for a $15 cartoony indie title, with some heavy themes and a lot of mystery that leaves you wanting to explore for more. Keep in mind this is not an RPG, but I finished the game after feeling I got everything I wanted out of it purely story-wise in about 20 hours. I did not get 100% completion (that's more mechanic-collectey wise anyway). There is a key mechanic in the game that is mostly used for just lore, and its enjoyable to play around with it. The game gives a perfect feeling of adventure since around every corner you can find something new. Heading down a new tunnel you missed before doesn't simply reward you with an upgrade, but instead you'll often find a completely new zone, another encounter with a character, a new mystery, or you'll just panic in a "where am I NOW its been like an hour since the last save bench and found yet another entirely new zone." The game's world keeps expanding. This is actually one of the most liked pictures on the Hollow Knight artwork page:
This doesn't mean the game is without flaws. The first and largest is that if you want to get the most out of the game and see all the story it gets frustratingly hard. I don't just mean the combat either, since the game has a bizarre section that completely switches genres from metroidvania to Super Meat Boy/Dustforce so completely that its like it was running on an emulator within the game. I feel confident in saying that there has to be a large number of players, especially after the Switch release, that will buy this game and not be able to complete all of it. Is that fine? I'm not sure. While it in my opinion is also a breath of fresh air, for those who play a lot of metroid-vanias there is not a lot new mechanic-wise. You will get to a gap and instantly know you will get a double-jump ability to cross it since that's just what happens in metroidvanias and its true here, as well as other similar abilities. You can also expect a great deal of backtracking in the huge world, and even with all the mobility you can get it can be tedious.
So while all of this was mostly to gush about my positive experience with Hollow Knight, I also hope that others can find their own positive experiences going into a game without knowing much about it. I was recently unpleasantly surprised by ME: Andromeda and we could all use a little pick me up from time to time.
I purchased Hollow Knight on impulse. I am not a die-hard Metroidvania fan - I've actually never played a Castlevania game or some of Metroid's derivatives, but I did enjoy the Metroid games I played! I knew what the genre was and what I was getting into at least judging from its description on the Steam store page. I actually did not know this was a Kickstarter game until some time after I had purchased it, which makes going into the game blind all the more amazing. Kickstarters tend to drip-feed updates, progress, ideas, art, etc. constantly if they are doing it right, and I had managed to avoid all of that going in. Now that I have completed the game I looked back at the Kickstarter updates and the game's related media, and they gave all sorts of surprises away! I was blown away by some things in the game that would have had a great deal of their magic taken away if I had done as much as watch even a second trailer. Mechanics, number of bosses or areas, characters you meet - they all ended up as a bullet point somewhere. It makes me wonder how we can balance enjoying the adventure of a game, while still being able to make an informed decision on it. Below I'll list some examples of what surprised me about the game and gush about it for a bit in an effort to convince you to try it, while trying to leave out as much as possible in order to try and keep that experience for others.
The game's aesthetic is very interesting. I went into this thinking it was a game set in a world of bug-people, but they managed to do it without giving you that squick-y feeling a lot of people get around insects (except for one zone that is absolutely 100% that and is awful) due to an art style that is just charming and cartoony enough. I also didn't expect how well Team Cherry took that idea and created an entire setting that could surround such a thing. They didn't just make some lamps that are fireflies for instance, but also took into account why an area would look a certain way in given with the culture and history that they have created. Sure its a world of bugs, but no two given areas look the same if the bugs that lived there would lead different lives. Its also a very bleak world - its a cliche at this point to compare a game to Dark Souls but in this case it must be done because they were clearly heavily influenced by it with their art direction. The world is depicted as old and decaying, with heavy hints to things far more ancient than yourself or even the civilizations you see. There are a lot of blues and greys, black and white, and you think all you'll see is some rocky tunnels and spikes.
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[IMG]http://teamcherry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/kingspass_new.jpg[/IMG]
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[IMG]http://orig00.deviantart.net/e828/f/2017/056/3/4/hollow_knight_grub_by_digi_matrix-db0bbna.gif[/IMG]This doesn't mean the game is without flaws. The first and largest is that if you want to get the most out of the game and see all the story it gets frustratingly hard. I don't just mean the combat either, since the game has a bizarre section that completely switches genres from metroidvania to Super Meat Boy/Dustforce so completely that its like it was running on an emulator within the game. I feel confident in saying that there has to be a large number of players, especially after the Switch release, that will buy this game and not be able to complete all of it. Is that fine? I'm not sure. While it in my opinion is also a breath of fresh air, for those who play a lot of metroid-vanias there is not a lot new mechanic-wise. You will get to a gap and instantly know you will get a double-jump ability to cross it since that's just what happens in metroidvanias and its true here, as well as other similar abilities. You can also expect a great deal of backtracking in the huge world, and even with all the mobility you can get it can be tedious.
So while all of this was mostly to gush about my positive experience with Hollow Knight, I also hope that others can find their own positive experiences going into a game without knowing much about it. I was recently unpleasantly surprised by ME: Andromeda and we could all use a little pick me up from time to time.
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