#the hollow knight soundtrack is like speaking to your soul

[celestial-citrus]

ok so that sounds totally rad but unfortunately even though I love viddy games I am terrible at all of them and ive heard hk is SUPER hard so I'd probs die too much to get to the cool story 😂

ouuughh yea it's pretty hard. people who do no-hit or no death runs terrify me. i dont think im ever gonna try steel soul. (steel soul is like hardcore mode, one life permadeath deal)

well, any other lore i can think of is: before she went into her deep sleep, one of the three "dreamers" i mentioned before said she would only do it if he gave her a child, so PK and her had the one character hornet together. (she's the pointy one with the pinkish red cloak) so she's half sibs with ghost (the tiny dude you play as) and the hollow knight (the really tall pointy one).

there's another character you run into every so often named quirrel. he's very inquisitive and friendly, but he's still skilled with a nail. (nails are the weapons most of the bugs seem to use, you get to upgrade yours throughout the game.) he was the apprentice to one of the other dreamers monomon she was like a knowledge keeper of sorts. he wandered out of the kingdom and lost his memory (as all bugs do apparently when they leave hallownest) and he came back later and you meet him.

my favorite place in the whole game is the city of tears, the music and the whole vibe is so melancholy and sad? like that's a huge reason i love the game, the worlds already over and everything is empty and gone. you only see and hear echoes of what used to be. :\ the city is raining perpetually and it's a deep shade of blue, the architecture is pretty too.

i like to stand in front of the statue and listen. it's very peaceful. i have the top pic as my lock screen.

bro idk the game gets me so emotional, it like touches a specific part of my soul. it's beautiful. (id highly suggest listening to the whole soundtrack on spotify or whatever platform you use. ive joked w myself if my story ever got some sort of adaption id like christopher larkin to score it. lolol as if)

one part of the game i haven't really done is the pantheon of hallownest, it's like... you fight the bosses you already have again but... worse. and harder. also the path of pain, it's a really difficult platforming uh, puzzle/map i guess. you get a special cutscene when you complete it. i haven't gotten far at all in it. 🥲 i really want to complete it though.

the bosses are pretty difficult, but once you really get the pattern down pat and get a set of charms you like to work with, it's a lot more tolerable. speaking of that, you can acquire these things called charms which give/boost certiain abilities. you have a limited amount of "charm notches" to fill. i think the ones i like best are quickslash (well, makes your nail quicker), weaversong (gives you little weaver ((spider)) buddies who can damage enemies for you, and sharp shadow. (you gain the ability to dash through things, and equipping this charm makes it so you can damage them too.)

my first round playing HK was a disaster because i have never really played these kind of platform-y boss fight games before. just getting out of the first tiny area in the flipping game was a chore. but then i worked my way up and have beaten one of the hardest bosses twice, so thats... good. i suppose..

oh another thing i should mention if you have options in the game for different endings, depending on the things you pick up, enemies you defeat, and how you fight HK at the 'end' of the game. there's technically like, six endings in total? like you can either kill HK and absorb the infection yourself, enter HK's mind and kill the radiance, have hornet assist you in killing HK and getting you both sealed inside- etc etc.

one sad little part of the game is on one area, the crystal caverns, you meet this little miner bug myla. she sings to herself while she mines, but visiting her over time as the game goes you can see her getting taken over by the infection until eventually at one point she attacks you and you have to kill her :(

one challenge you can do is this pkace called the colosseum of fools. its has 3,,, uhh,, levels i guess you can do. i've only done the first 2, ive always gotten overwhelmed right before the end of the third one. you get geo (hallownest's currency) and some other rewards, like a piece of pale ore you need to upgrade your nail. it's basically wave of enemies and the terrain changes to make things difficult, like having you jump on platforms and putting spikes on the ground.

anywho, a really good person to watch on youtube is mossbag, he does a lot of lore videos, and there's a mod called hollow knight randomizer which is reallllyy funny to me. i'm probably forgetting a lot too lololol

thanks for asking me about stuff 🥺💗

#ask #hk

[unbloomingmoonflower]

wedded souls.

A/N: I keep watching the Great Gatsby and I had a brain worm because the soundtrack is fire. 

Inspired by Hotel Sayre instrumental.

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The pearls were a heavy collar around the slender column of her neck when they should be a treasured gift.

Yet the weight of them felt more like a curse.

The Xaela considered this, sitting in front of the ornate vanity mirror in the shared bedchamber of herself and her intended. The man who “swept her away” in Ishgard, the Lord Commander himself. 

Aymeric was a gentle man and anyone would be blessed to be his wife. Shuri should be happy, should be in love with such a devoted, soft-hearted man who took the mantle of Lord Commander to defend Ishgard and her people to his core.

And yet the Xaela couldn’t find herself to love him, despite his dedication to her, with how he courted her, lavished her with luxuries she could only ever dream of. Yet Shuri found no joy with the Borel manor, with its lavish decor and the retainers willing to wait on her when Aymeric had to leave her to attend to his duties. He always seemed so reluctant to leave her, sapphire blue irises shimmering apologetically at the very idea to leave her alone. 

Why couldn’t she muster the same feelings for a man so willing to be dedicated to her?

The answer came on the heels of that question. It came accompanied with the sensations of the rough fingers that traced her every curve; the lips that devoured hers belonging to a man starved; at how their bodies melded together until she didn’t know where they began and ended. 

The dragoon that Aymeric knew well, a man she met long before Aymeric whisked her away. 

Estinien Wyrmblood.  

Shuri remembered when they first met. It was within her first year of being Ishgard. Estinien was just returning from his mission, entering within the city walls and removing his helm. Quicksilver locks spilled from within the helm to reveal a sculpted face, worn from time and scars that lay within his soul. His demeanor was stoic, and yet something drew them inexplicably together.

At first, they merely circled one another, seeing without getting too close. Without touching. 

It wasn’t until they collided together, immeasurable infernos, with the dragoon’s arms around her and she was able to look up at him, hidden away in a study wthin her own ornate home. Estinien caressed a hand to her cheek with a gentleness one may have never seen him display, sharp, ice-blue eyes gazing into her own mismatched irises. 

“Such odd eyes you have. Like the very winter itself. How did you come by them?” he asked her all those seasons ago. 

“The Goddess gave them to me,” she answered him, leaning into his touch. There was a heartbeat of silence between them...

...before their lips met in a furious passion, Estinien gently easing her against one of the overstuffed chairs, his fingers loosening her gown for Shuri to blossom for him as though she were the rarest of winter roses. They indulged in their passions in the way lovers do, bare and honest to only one another, their souls wedded through such intimate acts that would be unbecoming for even the most hardened of Ishgardian maidens and knights. Yet they could think of nothing and no one but each other, their truths sealed between them with such acts. 

And yet when Estinien had to go away again, to fight the Dravanian horde, Shuri waited day after day, week after week, season after season for him. 

And it wasn’t too long after that her guardians had her swept away by Aymeric de Borel. The Lord Commander who rose above the ranks, despite the rumors of his lineage, who earnestly sought her hand. 

Shuri wondered if she loved Aymeric during his courtship of her. Of whether she felt something genuine for him. She must have, to be so pliant to accept his proposal, to let him kiss her, make love to her.

Yet the kisses were hollow. When they made love, it was hollow. 

The pearls that adorned Shuri’s neck became more of a noose every day, with no intention of Aymeric’s. Nay, it was a shackle of circumstances. Even Aymeric must have noticed, he was ever so attentive. He must have known Shuri’s heart was not his to claim, for he barely touched her after the first time they made love. 

Because every time they did, she thought of another. 

So lost in her musings, that Shuri barely registered that a maid was calling out to her. “M’lady, a visitor for you.”

“A visitor?” At this hour? Shuri stood up, the pearls against her chest; the skirt of her nightgown billowed about her legs as she was led to the main foyer, bare feet barely making a sound against the marble floors. When the maid stepped aside...

A gasp left Shuri’s lips at the presence before her. The familiar form of Estinien Wyrmblood stood before her, without his armor and lance. He donned attire one may find on falconer’s. There was no need to pretend, not with them.  Shuri lifted a hand in a sign to dismiss the maid, waiting until she could no longer hear the clack of low-heels against the floor before she took one, shaking step toward Estinien, watching his movements. When the Elezen opened his arms just slightly, the Xaela dashed to him, throwing herself into his embrace. Her arms banded around him, keeping herself close and feeling his arms around her in turn, gripping her as if she were his only lifeline.

“Where have you been?” Shuri whispered, her voice trembling, teetering dangerously into a sob as tears began to prick at her eyes. She could feel Estinien’s fingers threading through her hair, could feel him burying into the locks to inhale her scent. He did that before, when they were ever so intimate.

Estinien was the portrait of coolness, his composure never cracking, even when his actions conveyed the desperation of holding her in his arms. “I’m sorry,” he murmured against her horn. “I should have returned to you sooner.”

Fingers tangling further into her snow-silver hair, Shuri could feel Estinien exhale a breath. “In my absence, your guardians offered you to Aymeric, I see. He’s treated you well; I know he has.”

“He’s not you.” The truth left Shuri instantly, confidently, that Estinien pulled back just enough to take in her features, gazing into her eyes. “He does treat me well. He is devoted, though not to one who can return his affections. He is not you.” 

It was as though the tether of control Estinien had over his emotions had snapped. It mattered not that this was the home of his longtime friend, that the woman he so loved was soon to be wedded to him. He crushed his lips against Shuri’s with ruthless passion, devouring her mouth hungrily, the fingers of his free hand finding the string of pearls that shackled her neck and pulled the string taut until it snapped. 

Millions of little pearls fell from the broken string and onto the floor, the collision ringing so hollow in the wake of the passion of lovers long reunited. Two wedded in their souls even in the wake of the circumstances that currently availed them, that threatened to split them raw from where they were forever joined.

The rest of those pearls fell around their feet when the kiss was broken and Estinien swept Shuri into his arms, carrying her as though a bride. There was no need to tact, no need for perception. If they were to take any instance to run away together, this was it.

And so they left. 

When Aymeric returned to see the remains of the pearls that once adorned Shuri’s neck, seeing his frantic maids trying to sweep them up, speaking so hurriedly of how the lady of the manor just left with the Azure Dragoon. It was though they expected him to be angry, to curse her in Halone’s name. 

Instead, they found their lord smiling in soft affection, his eyes reflecting just as much in the same light the pearls shimmered. “You’d never find two souls more entwined, more in love, than theirs,” he murmured. “Her heart was never mine to claim.”

He knew this. He knew his betrothed’s eyes were seeking someone else on the horizon, knew that her heart would never be free to claim when it was so tethered to another’s. The Lord Commander would never forgive himself for keeping the Xaela from the one she loved so desperately, the one she yearned even when gazing into his eyes.  

It was fitting to see the pearls scattered about. 

It meant that he made the right choice in telling Estinien to steal Shuri away, to free her from the circumstances she never truly wanted.      

#moonie writes #shuri x estinien #implied onesided shuri x aymeric

[farchanter]

Hollow Knight

Bear witness to the last and only civilisation, the eternal Kingdom. Hallownest

The experience of playing through Hollow Knight has taught me that I can't ever review games professionally. Because if I find a game I really enjoy I will spend forever with it, turning over every stone I can possibly find to fully soak in it.

Friends, I love Hollow Knight. That isn't to say it's perfect— and we'll get to that— but let none of my critcisms detract from how great this game is. I played some great games in 2020, but Hollow Knight has been the crown jewel of my quarantine. I cannot wait for its upcoming sequel, Silksong.

You are a wandering swordsman who comes across the rotting ruins of a once-mighty kingdom known as Hallownest. As you explore, you learn about what tragedy befell the kingdom and its inhabitants— and how your own destiny and choices play into its future.

Hollow Knight is a Soulslike Metroidvania, a sentence I didn't really enjoy typing out. You explore a 2D world, navigating the ruins and acquiring new powerups, abilities, and unquantifiable skill which allow you to plumb deeper into Hallownest's depths. It's hard— it's not quite kick-you-in-the-teeth-bury-your-controller-at-a-crossroads hard the same way a Dark Souls would be, but just about every boss fight will kill you several times before you "solve" it. It's a good balance: I've played games like this before that just leave you tired and cranky after finally finishing an encounter, but Hollow Knight hits a great sweet spot where you feel amazing after finally winning a boss battle. This creates an indelible experience— I'm going to remember beating the final boss with sweaty, shaking hands for a long, long time.

As an exploration game, or as a combat game, Hollow Knight feels really good. Movement is fluid, and fighting has the elusive "grimace when you're hit" quality that makes for a satisfying experience. There's enough depth to the system that you can really grow into it, and I found my growth from flailing around Dirtmouth to dancing through the Queen's Gardens to be a joy.

I also want to take a moment to specifically call out the soundtrack. Christopher Larkin does an amazing job creating pieces which are both atmospheric and intense. I bought the soundtrack, and I'm listening to it now as I write this.

Part of what makes Hollow Knight so enjoyable is that, despite its Metroidvania perspective, it is focused first-and-foremost on being an RPG rather than a platformer. I really disdain platformers, particularly the ultrahard ones that permeate the pantheon of indie darlings, so I would be remiss to not mention that there are some sections which are really annoying platforming parts. If you don't mind the spoilers in this video, the White Palace is by far the most egregious— and it was a mandatory section for the ending I wanted. In just about any other game, I would have rather quit. I'd much rather die 20 times in the same boss fight than die 20 times falling into the same spike pit. But, that's just my personal preference— and, like I said, people seem to really like games like this.

We live in a golden age of great environmental storytelling— the idea that you can find the story and deduce it for yourself rather than be explicitly told it. When done well, it's a really effective means of conveying a narrative which is both immersive and makes you feel clever. However, I do think that Hollow Knight swings its pendulum a little bit too far in that direction— there's a great story here, but the characters who do tell it speak in deliberately vague dialogue and the clues you find while exploring aren't adequate on their own to tell you the whole story. I don't know that it's possible to fully understand the plot of Hollow Knight without the Hollow Knight Fandom wiki as a constant companion while playing, and that's honestly kind of a bummer. I like the community, and the way that community has filled in the gaps the game won't, but I do feel like a game should be able to have its story stand on its own. Without this supplemental material, I fear that the game is so cryptic— and there's so much that's so easy to miss while trying to not be exploded by a jellyfish again god damn it— that a player without it would just wind up with a good action game devoid of plot. This is another one of those things that other people seem to enjoy, so your mileage here may again vary.

Despite their mysterious dialogue, I did really love these characters: they're the biggest reason I took such a leisurely pace to finish the game. I wanted to rescue Bretta, I wanted to restore the memory of the Last Stag, I wanted to find all of the missing children, I wanted to save Zote, and for the Hollow Knight...

One of my favorite parts of the narrative of this game is that you are asked to make a really powerful decision about who your character is, and what they want. I can't really explain that choice without spoiling essentially the entire game, so I'm putting it after the break here.

In short, the people of Hallownest came under psychic attack by a supernatural entity known as The Radiance. The Radiance haunted their dreams, and ultimately broke them to her will and turned them into— essentially— zombies. Faced with utter collapse of civilization, the King and his advisors devised a desperate plan: The Radiance's entire essence could be imprisoned within a single mind. However, that being would need to be both magically and physically imprisoned for all eternity for the sake of Hallownest. They would be under constant mental attack by a Radiance trying to break loose.

They realize that their chosen vessel would need to lack a mind of its own— in addition to the cruelty of that fate for a sentient being, if The Radiance were to break the will of the prisoner, then it could begin its mental attacks all over again from within the body of the vessel. They developed a plan to breed a child who they thought would be devoid of mind and will— and after hundreds of attempts, they produced a child who met their criteria. They dubbed them the Hollow Knight, sealed The Radiance inside their mind, and entombed them for all time.

However, the Hollow Knight did have an independent will— and, after a long time, The Radiance broke it. From within the sealed crypt, it began to attack the people of Hallownest again— and this time succeeded in destroying the kingdom. At the time the game begins, with its enemies defeated, The Radiance is still attempting to break the physical restraints keeping the Hollow Knight in place and venture out into the world to rain destruction on the remaining survivors of Hallownest.

Your character is also a product of that program to produce a soulless vessel, and you have been supernaturally called back to Hallownest to usurp your sibling and take The Radiance into yourself instead. You, not they, will be sealed away for all time to allow the broken pieces of the kingdom to go on.

This is where the choice comes in. Over the course of the game, you discover that there may be another way: you can enter the Hollow Knight's mind yourself and destroy The Radiance. But this path is much more difficult.

What makes it such an interesting choice, to me, is that it asks you what you believe about your character. The game, true to fashion, never specifically says "hey, your character also has a will of their own!" (in fact, at least one character specifically says you don't— or, importantly, that your mind might be beyond her considerable power to understand. This might be kind of a satirical intepretation of the "silent protagonist player proxy" trope.) If you believe that your character is soulless, then the idea of taking the easy way and sealing yourself makes logical sense. No harm would be done, in that case.

But I could not stand that idea. A soulless being would not have saved the missing children, Bretta, Zote, the Last Stag— I did not want that for my character. And, so, since this is I am the one playing the role in this roleplaying game, I decided it wasn't so. I took the extra challenges, I took the harder route— and I defeated The Radiance.

For me, then, it wasn't just about beating a hard boss capping off 40+ hours of gameplay. It was about a personal vindication for my understanding of my character. That was a pretty powerful feeling.

#completion list #games #completed #todo #review #metroidvania #soulslike #hollow knight #team cherry #knight #the quarantine list

[beneaththetangles]

Josh’s Top Ten Video Games OF ALL TIME

These days I don’t have much time for video games, and I wonder at times if I’ll hold on to the hobby in the years to come. So I thought that now would be a good time to throw together a top ten list reminding myself of why I loved this medium in the first place.

My only rule was a simple, but painful one: to have only one entry per franchise. This was necessary in order to prevent it from getting gummed down by Final Fantasies. I also tried to put an emphasis on replayability: there are a lot of mindblowing games that I have no desire to return to, and that’s just a tad too ephemeral for this kind of list.

Anyway, throwing together this list has driven home how I’m increasingly a man of narrow tastes these days: I like my RPGs and my platformers.

-----

10. Sonic Mania (PagodaWest Games/Headcannon, 2017)

2017 may have been my favourite year in gaming yet. I don’t think there’s ever been a year where so many games that could easily make my top-ten list were just popping off the shelves.

A case in point: Sonic Mania is, as far as I am concerned the definitive 2D Sonic experience, the one that so eloquently sums up everything which made the little blue guy great in his Sega Genesis heyday while pushing ahead to even greater heights.

Which means that it’s a completely ludicrous, overstuffed and borderline incoherent platformer. But when I play Sonic, I’m not looking for eloquent perfection, I’m looking for a wild ride and a killer soundtrack. And Sonic Mania delivers just that; it is, as the kids these days say “extra.”

9. Hollow Knight (Team Cherry, 2017)

Another case in point: Hollow Knight is the best Metroidvania I have played since Super Metroid. It’s also a Dark Souls homage that I like more than Dark Souls. It distilled everything I loved about those two titles and added cute, grotesque bugs on top. A real winner.

8. Star Fox 64 (Nintendo, 1997)

Not that this one needs much introduction, but I remember how revolutionary the idea of a rumbling controller seemed at the time to a kid like me – such verisimilitude!  Of course, there are many other games that more accurately simulate the experience of flying a plane, and there are shoot-em-ups which are a great deal more challenging and strategic, but are there any which are just this much……fun (I actually don’t know, given that I never played too many of these games)? And if we were to judge solely by replayability, Star Fox 64 would have to take the top slot: you can clear it in under an hour, but so much effort on Nintendo’s part went towards making it an increased pleasure to return to again and again.

And over two decades later, it still is.

7. Mega Man X (Capcom, 1993)

There are other Mega Man titles that could be here, but this is the one I’ve been playing since my childhood; this is the one which made me a connoisseur of angsty anime robots. And, honestly, I think it nails the classic Mega Man formula better than the original series did, though the X sequels failed to maintain the same consistency in quality that the original has always had.

6. Chrono Cross (Squaresoft, 1999)

This will probably be my most controversial decision. I picked Chrono Cross over its beloved predecessor, Chrono Trigger.

Now, I don’t deny that Trigger is the better game – it more or less brought the old-school JRPG approach to near perfection, whereas Cross has janky gameplay and a story which never really gels into a coherent narrative. But Cross is a game which is more interested in being experimental and ambitious than it is in being perfect, and what it achieves in that regard is something which is unlike any other RPG I’ve come across. It is a weird, mind-bending, atmospheric game where you have playable characters like an undead clown, a luchador priest and a space alien (to name a few), and something about that just speaks to me, y’know?

5. Bangai-O Spirits (Treasure, 2008)

Speaking of weird games, Bangai-O Spirits lets you play its levels in any order you like; the entirety of its story is contained within the tutorial; you pilot a giant robot, but wind up fighting things like ants and baseball players; framerate slowdown is a key gameplay mechanic; it has a level editor, and you can share your homebrewed levels with other players via soundwaves (no, really); there’s an ample amount of collectible fruit. 10/10.

4. Super Metroid (Nintendo, 1994)

There’s no accounting for nostalgia: Super Metroid was one of my earliest gaming experiences, and certainly the first complex one which I needed to sink my teeth into over a long period of time. It was the first game which gave me a sense of discovery and awe in playing it. The dang thing’s so well-known that I don’t know what else I could add.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 2017)

Truly, Breath of the Wild is an overhyped game. And like other overhyped games, I suspect its future will go something like this: as more and more people become aware of its flaws and become bored with its oversaturation in gaming culture, a backlash will form, declaring it to be “actually terrible” and some other entry to be the “best” Zelda game. Then, some time after that, people will come around and be like, “hey, it’ may not be perfect, but it’s still really great, guys.”

So let’s get the bad stuff out of the way: if you’ve done one Divine Beast dungeon, you’ve kinda done them all, a lot of those combat shrines are copy-paste design, and some of the sidequests are just busywork.

But still, but still: Breath of the Wild is a great summation of the entire 3D action-adventure thing that Zelda kicked off way back with Ocarina of Time. It may or may not be the best Zelda, but it’s my personal favourite.

(It does have the best soundtrack, though)

2. Cave Story (Studio Pixel, 2004)

Cave Story isn’t the best indie Metroidvania out these days – I mean, Hollow Knight is sitting right over there – but it has a certain…je ne sais quois which no other 2D platformer has for me. There’s something about its goofy, childlike world which touches my heart. A something which makes me want to rank it even higher than Super Metroid itself. I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Is it the jet-pack?

1. Final Fantasy VI (Squaresoft, 1994)

This probably isn’t a surprise. Final Fantasy is my favourite video game franchise. The difficulty, though, is that a lot of the entries could easily vie for the number 1 slot. So I had to think hard about which one could truly be the most representative and special for me. I-IV were a little before my time, while X-XV are all a little too different and flawed to be definitive. V-IX all fall in that nostalgic, Goldilocks zone.

From then on, I whittled it further. IX is lovely, but the combat is just a tad too creaky. VIII is deeply innovative, but never succeeds in selling the epic love story at its core. V may be the most consistent FF of them all, but I’ve played it the least out of the V-IX crew.

That leaves us with VI and VII, which I’ve always thought of as siblings: they do share a lot of ideas in common, and have a similar feel to the rhythms of their gameplay. What it then boils down to is this: Terra, Locke, Celes & co. have, over the years, been a more fun cast of characters to return to than Cloud, Tifa and whathaveyou.

But from the opening sting on its soundtrack to its spectacular final boss fight, Final Fantasy VI is just such a complete adventure. Its individual ingredients have all been done better elsewhere, but never have they been cooked together just so.

So if I can only have one Final Fantasy here, then I’m sorry, VII but I have some Espers to collect.

#Video Games #Sonic Mania #Bangai O Spirits #Breath of the Wild #Cave Story #Chrono Cross #Final Fantasy VI #Hollow Knight #Mega Man X #Star Fox 64 #Super Metroid #The Legend of Zelda #Zelda no Densetsu #Dokutsu no Monogatari #Final Fantasy #Mega Man #Rockman #Articles #Author: Josh W

[provvidence]

.

#when u get a lil stoned and suddenly #the hollow knight soundtrack is like speaking to your soul #like the song for nosk #it SOUNDS like you're fighting a giant nasty spider #its so fucking creepy and well done #this music is blowing my mind rn #also whats happening to me #this game has stolen my heart id like it back pls

[bonerhitler]

So I’ve been playing Hollow Knight.

So, in lieu of anything interesting to say I've been playing Hollow Knight. I do love the metroidvania genre and people have been telling me it's fun, charming and “like Dark Souls”. So far, I can kind of see it I suppose but not necessarily in the best ways. That's not to say it's a bad game, no I'm enjoying it a lot. It's just got some problems I'll go over in a bit. And before I start talking about the good bits I've got a bigger thing to blather on about; Metroidvania games and why I love them.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night was an excellent game, and personally speaking it is the pinnacle of the genre and the holy grail I compare all other metroidvania games to. Progressing through the castle and earning more abilities to progress deeper actually felt like progression. Even if half of your abilities, like the dog and mist forms, weren't especially useful beyond their specific one-off implimentations. Bat form, double jump and less flashy survival skills like the one that let you not take damage in water were amazing to uncover because they let you dig through the gameworld with more ease. But at the same time it was very rare that the game would straight up block you. Outside of a few very specific doorways, very little in Symphony was made so you absolutely had to follow a strict path through the game and you never really had to play according to how the game wanted you to, you were free to do whatever you wanted and abuse the game's mechanics however you saw fit. This was something it inherited from the Metroid line of games which were infamous for their sequence breaks and tricks to simply skip huge portions of the game. Symphony of the Night made exploring one big area an absolute treat, you gained more and more ways to make backtracking easy and bearable while uncovering new paths and areas that utilized those same abilities to traverse them. Then, just as you finished it all you uncovered an entire second map! Even if it was just the first map flipped upside down, it introduced new challenges to just getting around without having to wall off segments of the game behind glorified keys.

I could keep going on about Symphony, I really could. But this is about Hollow Knight! So lets get this party started right. This game looks great. The art is nice and the level design sets up a really nice world that flows fairly well, for the most part. The character and enemy design is awesome as well. I especially love that they went with a bug theme for everything, it makes the game stand out a bit from the rest of the crowd. I also enjoy the music. None of the tracks I've experienced so far stand out to me especially, but it's a nice ambient soundtrack that fits the areas you traverse very well. I don't think I would ever listen to it outside of the game, but at the same time I don't think I would ever mute the game because it's pleasant on the ears. Also the NPCs are all pretty cute and I'm pretty eager to play more and see how this unfolds with them.

Gameplay-wise Hollow Knight is a fairly simple hack and slash sort of affair. No real combos or special attacks thus far, the only special skill I've gotten is a kamehameha sort of skill where I shoot an energy blast that consumes my energy, as well as the default special skill. That default skill, however, is something I think is really cool. Rather than relying on health drops, pickups or anything you can just heal whenever. You have a shared pool of energy that all of your special skills rely on, but it recharges any time you damage an enemy. It's a bit of a double edged sword though. As far as I can tell, there's only one weapon in the game with a linear upgrade path which isn't necessarily bad and the game gives you nearly every tool you need for combat right off the bat.

Nearly every tool you need. I'm having fun with Hollow Knight but it's got some pretty frustrating issues and a big one I find is that there's no dodge skill. Symphony of the Night gave you a back-dash right off, you could hit triangle and just back dash forever. Great for avoiding hits, great for travel and great for being stylish. In Hollow Knight, you don't get anything. You can't dash, you can't run. You're slow. Combat is kind of frustrating because if an enemy is going to attack you, all you can really do is jump out of the way and that's just not good enough sometimes. Plus there's the aforementioned double edged sword of healing and offensive skills taking from the same, limited, pool of energy. I find myself almost never using my offensive magic because I never know when some annoying really hard to kill enemy is going to pop up and take off most of my health leaving me in dire need to heal. Because get this; no invincibility after you get hit. So not only do you have poor mobility, but half the enemies in the game are designed to just hit you into other enemies or instant death spike traps so you take two or three times as much damage because there's nothing stopping you from getting combo hit. In fact the game's favorite environmental trap is to just have a tight platforming section over spikes and just drop a spike on you from the ceiling, so that if it hits you you fly into the spikes on the floor and get sent to the room beginning taking extra damage.

I also take issue with the world design. Unlike, say, symphony of the night where every breakable wall was clearly marked with a crack and there were usually multiple different ways to tackle a path that might look like it needs a specific mobility upgrade to get past, Hollow Knight's world feels like it was designed for the sake of placing all its secrets first and then how you get around to unlock them was an afterthought. I'm constantly just finding ledges I can't reach with no way to get to them. Breakable walls are in no way indicated until you hit them and then there's the map.

Oh snap this game's map, guys. So you know how in Metroid, any of the metroids really, and Symphony of the Night you have a really nice grid that shows you where you are, updates and just generally manages to be vague but at the same time tell you everything you need to know about a room (except that one room you have to enter from a secret back passage in Metroid Prime. You know the exact room I'm talking about.)? Yeah none of that here. First off you have to buy maps in this game, otherwise you just don't have one. You have to buy upgrades to let you see NPCs, important interaction points and other things on maps. You also have to buy an item that lets you see yourself on the map because otherwise you can't -and- you have to equip it. Right now, I have three points to spend on equipment and this thing takes up one. A thing that every game with a map ever has by default. That's still not all though. Because the map is still, still just plain bad. It tells you nothing and gives you zero indication for size or scale. More than once I've accidentally wandered into a boss fight because I thought I was in an entirely different area of the map. Also the map only updates when you rest at a save point. That’s real bad.

Oh and the game is inconsistent about things in ways that feels slightly off. Some enemies respawn instantly. Small flies and other enemies that you would expect to. Some don't, like bigger enemies that take more hits. Then there's this big knight miniboss type enemy that respawns every time you enter the room. What? No, seriously, what? Why, that thing nearly killed me the first time it showed up and I got locked in a room with it. Now I have to fight it every time I want to pass by this room, this room which is dead center in the middle of the map. Backtracking in this game is a nightmare because your mobility is so abysmal and enemies all take like twice as many hits to kill as it feels like they should. Like you could cut down every enemy's HP by half and the game would flow a lot faster because then you'd stop having to, well, just stop and stand there whacking an enemy three or four times before it died. Funny fact; enemies get invincibility frames, you don't.

So I guess what I'm saying is that it's a cool game but the gameplay is frustrating? Like I really like everything except the gameplay because it feels like the developers just kind of didn't do the metroidvania thing good. In fact it feels like they went out of their way to do it bad. It reminds me of Valdis Story in a lot of unpleasent ways, and that game was a huge disappointment.

So in the end, would I recommend this to someone? Maybe. Have you played Aquaria yet? If not, go get Aquaria and play that instead. It's a very fun metroidvania style game with a unique control scheme, amazing OST and some really cool level design. If you have played Aquaria then sure. Despite everything I've said here I would still recommend Hollow Knight to anyone who asked because while the gameplay is really burning my biscuits an that map is a crime, I really like the atmosphere and character design. I want to see where the story goes too.

#nerdshit #Seriously that map is awful #Hollow Knight #I forgot to mention it but quick travel costs money too #That's just a bummer #Symphony of the Night is still reigning champ #No that's not a fair comparison at all

[bmaxwell]

Number 12: Hollow Knight

I enter a new area. The music is sparse, beating out occasional long, sustained notes amid the tink tink of picks striking rock. Strange crystalline bugs scurry around the area, frequently emitting huge purple energy blasts. One hits me, jarring me enough to knock me off the edge narrowly missing a pit of spikes. I land on a conveyor belt full of glowing crystals, make a few tricky jumps, then move to the next room.

Fucking where am I? If I die....I’m not sure how I even got here? I should have headed back to Dirtmouth and spent my money and now I’m going to die and lose it and I don’t have a map, and OH GOD IS THAT A BENCH OVER THERE FUCK YES. Aaaand exhale. Have a seat and let the music wash over you. Take a moment. Heal. Compose yourself. Find the cartographer. Get a map. Orient yourself. Steel yourself. Get. Up.

Such is life in the world of Hollow Knight. It’s a world of greys, blacks, and blues. The sprawling labyrinth of Hollownest, twisting and winding beneath the tiny village of Dirtmouth is in turns beautiful and terrible, melancholy and hopeful, pensive and intense. 

It does the things you expect a metroidvania to do. There’s plenty of running, jumping, and fighting. You happen upon many areas you can’t enter until you get another in the drip-feed of power ups. There are distinct areas with their own unique art style, music, and enemies. Boss encounters will require patience and punish greed. 

Speaking of punishing greed, the game shares some DNA with Dark Souls. You lose your currency when you die, save at bonfires benches, and trek back to the location of your demise to recover your lost currency. There’s always the temptation to keep pushing ahead when I know I should cash out. Another similarity: the game’s lore is more found than shown. You have to take an interest in listening to the small bits of dialogue, reading between the lines, and filling in some of the picture yourself. In short, you get out what you put in. 

Each of game’s zones feels so distinct and bespoke. The music and hand-drawn environments jump out at you, but it’s little details like the drip drip of water somewhere in the distance in the Royal Waterway, or the unsettling scurrying sound of the bug-infested nightmare carnival of Deepnest. 

Part of me wishes the game was a little more clear about where you need to go, as I spent a whole lot of time checking my map and trying to figure out where I could make progress. The game world is so gorgeous and feels so alive that I really don’t mind being lost too much. The soundtrack is one of the best I’ve ever heard in a game, which helps on those long exploratory journeys. The way the game handles its map is a sticking point for a lot of players, and it was for me at first too. You don’t get a map for a given area until you find Cornifer the cartographer and buy a map from him. At first this was annoying (I hate being lost) but it adds a lot of tension to finding a new area, and the process feels more organic and less videogame-y to me. 

All of this doesn’t matter if the platforming and combat don’t feel right, and this is another element where Hollow Knight feels perfect. The jumping is crisp and tight, the combat hits the sweet spot with just the right amount of challenge, and the boss battles feel like an event. 

It’s rare that a game bulls-eyes every target it shoots for, especially from a small studio making its first game. Team Cherry sold Hollow Knight for $15 and kept working on it, churning out substantial updates long after the game’s release. It’s an incredible value from a small team and clearly a labor of love.

Hollow Knight is just perfect.