Is Hollow Knight Any Good?

Every now and then you’ll look at a game store page and see that it’s got pretty good reviews, and wonder if it’s actually any good. Well, I decided to play Hollow Knight and see if it lived up to the Overwhelmingly Positive user reviews on Steam five years on. 

What is Hollow Knight?

Hollow Knight is a 2D metroidvania — a subgenre of action adventure titles that is non-linear with a more primary focus on utility-gated exploration — platformer in which you play as a nameless bug travelling throughout the bug kingdom of Hallownest. The game won several awards for its gameplay and received several content updates post-release that kept it relevant throughout the first couple of months after it came out. 

What are the people saying?

Aside from practically every review gushing over the game — going as far as calling it the "GOAT" (Greatest of All Time) — other less helpful comments include players speaking of iconic characters present throughout the experience and saying that Hollow Knight is worth solely due to them. And finally, some comments that actually provide insightful information despite a general lack of actual structure are present, some mentioning the difficulty of the game, whilst others mention the platforming and exploration aspects.

Is it actually any good?

First of all, one of Hollow Knight’s greatest strengths are its visuals and music; anyone not mentioning how breathtaking this game is is committing a sin, no two ways about it. Some beautiful areas are present throughout Hallownest that are truly jaw dropping, especially in the gorgeous quality of the OLED TV that made the colours and 3D feel of the parallax background give depth to the game.

This is all without mentioning some of the most beautiful sounding soundtracks present in gaming. Dying doesn’t feel nearly as punishing when fighting many of the arduous bosses present throughout the game thanks to the thought of being able to hear their theme if only for a second longer. This fact is only made more true in the Path of Pain, where instead of getting painful memories of my time with the area when I hear the music, I find myself remembering it fondly due to its theme. 

Hollow Knight is effortlessly what I would call the staple of metroidvanias. Although the game can be quite difficult in some of its later levels (we're looking at you, Nightmare King Grimm), very few of the significant challenges present throughout the game are actually a necessity to complete it. And — for those that are itching for a challenge — Hollow Knight has some of the most difficult modes present in games, such as the infamous Pantheon of Hallownest, a boss rush mode in which players will be tasked to kill every boss back to back in their strongest iterations.

Although the game does not offer any easier difficulties for gamers that are less confident in their gaming skill, nothing in the title feels unfair or impossible to handle. Some of the toughest roadblocks in the game are bosses that players will certainly be able to overcome once they learn their pattern.

Hollow Knight has something for just about any gamer at any skill level that will present a challenge for them. It is easy to spend dozens of hours lost in Hallownest exploring, collecting, and finishing the game. As long as players don't surrender on their run and learn through practice and repetition, I can imagine very few people disliking it. It is certainly worthy of its Overwhelmingly Positive status in Steam.