Welcome to Hallownest
(copypasta from my previous post – sorry but since it’s about Hollow Knight in general, no need for rewriting)
So first of all Hollow Knight by Team Cherry stands among the selected few I would consider my favourite games of all time. In terms of gameplay mechanics, visuals, sound, storytelling, pacing, and so on, mistakes and annoyances are few and far between for me.
The game features an adorable little insect boy who swings his little nail against other small (and sometimes not so small) insects, what’s not to love! The wonderfully executed parallaxing handdrawn style brings the mysterious world of Hollownest to life, and the deeply layered orchestral soundtrack perfects the setting (there’s a reason Christopher Larkin was my #1 artist on this year’s Spotify rewind). The game works as a metroidvania: you explore an open world, find environmental anti-affordances (barriers), gain new affordances (upgrades), overcome said barriers, and repeat. Within this formula you also fight bosses, tailor the character to your playstyle, encounter colourful NPCs, and perhaps discover a secret or two. The genre is not new, but the execution is perfect. The two main elements of the metroidvania is navigation and combat, which is what this post will try to digest the first of the two – though a few other aspect will creep in, I am quite smitten by this game after all.
//Spoiler Warning – mechanics of Hollow Knight and Ori and the Will of the Wisp will be discussed in the following sections //
Combat Mechanics
The Basics
In the beginning The Knight possesses but a simple old nail, which can be swung in the four cardinal directions (down-ward only works while airborne). As all enemies at some point will move towards The Knight, this is theoretically all you need to win, but just like with movement, upgrades expand the possibilities of combat. The spells have controls similar to those of slashing, four directions plus a spell casting button. On the horizontal you have a fireball like ability, upward a short cone of damage, and downward is a dive spell – which also gives you invisibility frames, allowing you to dive enemies and move away unscathed. These also all have upgrades, changing their visuals from white to black, and increases their damage.
Mathematically the nail deals 5 damage by default. Through several upgrades, costing both geo (currency of Hallownest) and rarer resources, the damage can be increases to a maximum of 21 (without including charms). This number is however never shown to the player, but I also don’t see that as a necessity. Fighting enemies doesn’t include any sort of health bar, except you own, which renders the numbers unnecessary. Each upgrade feels impactful, allowing most enemies to be taken down in one hit fewer than before, while having a less noticeable effect on bosses though it’s technically the same.
Overall the controls for combat feels solid, and merge well with the setting. Attacks are quick and their hitbox clear; the mix of slashing and casting spells gives a bit of customisation to how you choose to play the game; and the destructible décor and movement impact on hits (pogoing or being pushed slightly back) gives a proper feeling of being in the world.
For the Foolhardy
For those seeking more challenges there are three main challenges you can add to your playthrough: Colosseum of Fools, Steel Soul Mode, and the Godmaster DLC.
Colosseum of Fools is and area found at the top of Kingdom’s Edge. Within this place you get to try your merit, doing one of the three trials – Trial of the Warrior, Trial of the Conqueror, and Trial of the Foot. The trials have to be unlocked sequentially, starting with the easiest and ending with the hardest, though once unlocked they can be replayed as many time as you wish.
Each trial pits you against several waves of enemies, also introducing new ones that are only found here. Upon clearing a trial the player is rewarded geo and other resources (subsequent victories only grant geo) and may include having to beat unique bosses.
The combat is fast, with lots of enemies and changes to the terrain, and no option to bench or save during the trial. Between waves it is usually possible to heal, if you have the required soul, but harder trials leaves less time to do so. The two harder trials also include periods where no footing is available, leaving healing impossible.
Though the combat is tough it doesn’t feel unfair, and the waves are the same every time so it’s possible to practice and get better (there’s a bench in the Colosseum for easy respawning). With some of the new enemies, bosses, and changing environment, the Colosseum puts you in unique situation to test your combat abilities, and being rewarded afterwards feels incredibly satisfying – with a cheering crowd to accompany your victory.
Steel Soul Mode is what may elsewhere be referred to as Hardcore mode, a playthrough where death is permanent. Pretty simple, once you die, your save file is erased. Having death be permanent (crazy concept, I know) changes the way you play. Similar to other games with difficult combat (like the soulsborne games) greed often reveals himself when I play, trying to get that one hit in, or trying to align enemies for a more devastating dive spell, often leads to failure and death. Attempting to keep greed at bay is all good and dandy, but the further you get into the game, the more you have to lose, and fighting the final boss (not true ending) was proper nerve-wracking and not something I desire to do again – though the thrill of beating it was worth it.
The Flow of Movement
The pacing and increase in difficulty of movement throughout the game ensures you get very comfortable with the mechanics of it and the tight controls. In taking some of the screenshots for this post I started a new savefile, and even with only the basics available to me it still felt like I was flying through areas compared to my first playthrough. Pogoing off fallen stalactites, enemies, spikes, and background elements made me feel like I was dancing (and laying waste) through the early areas.
This familiarity with the movement is also what makes combat such a joy! I’ll talk more about combat in the next post, but I’ll still share a few thoughts. The reactive movement of combat really makes the multi-purpose functions of the movement apparent. Dodging through an attack, combing a double-jump with a couple of pogo down-slashes, a desolate dive (dive spell), and dashing out of the enemy hitbox before the invisibility frames run out, not only end up feeling fairly natural to combo, but also incredibly satisfying! Even the crystal dash can be used as it deals damage as you fly, or can be used to stay stuck to the wall, avoiding attacks or enemies (looking at you colosseum of fools!)
The Bug you Wish to be
Few adjustments can also be made to how the movement works. In your travels you also encounter charms, small stones to equip which alters The Knight in different ways.
The amount of charms which can be equipped at any time increases as the player progresses but it’s always only a limited few which are allowed at any given time. Some more powerful charms also take up more slots and some might break upon death. Lastly it should be noted that it is possible to equip a single charm more than you have space for at the cost of receiving double damage until you go below the limit again.
Some charms are more offensive, like making your attacks faster, deal more damage, or have longer slash range; they might be spell centric like increasing damage, decreasing spell cost, or increasing soul gain from attacks. There are a total of 45 charms (though you can only have 40 at any given time as some replace others as you progress through the game) so going through them all seems a lot.
Related to movement you can get faster running and faster dashing (plus downward dashing), as well as the ability to slowly move while healing. Just like before these alter how you might play the game, or change the game to be more like how you want to play, but in either case, they don’t break any of the movement mechanics – neither in combat, nor in puzzles.
Wrap-up
As you might have guessed, I could probably be considered a fan of Hollow Knight. Graphics, sounds, and all that aside, the game simply features such tight controls, combat, and movement. And it keeps the focus tight, not trying to expand in too many different directions, causing inconsistencies or oversaturating the amount of mechanics necessary to keep the world interesting. So those are also the take-away from this post: Find out what your main mechanics are, keep them in focus throughout, expand where possible but make sure you don’t over-extend so the options become trivial, and make them merge in a way where they compliment each other – classic sum greater than its parts kind of situation.
Thanks for reading