Hollow Knight

Playtime: 55.4 Hours

All you have heard about Hollow Knight is correct. Great gameplay, awesome lore, just pure fun all around.

However, I would not have said that 4 years ago when I first played this game.

Hollow Knight was my first Metroidvania. Since then I have dabbled into the genre and I wholeheartedly think that if this is your first Metroidvania, you won't enjoy it to the fullest.

Hollow Knight is a very open game. There are tons of unique & interesting areas that tell a story and can easily get lost in. However, that's the problem.

Hollow Knight is a game that is VERY easy to get lost in. That's not even considering the fact the game gives you very little information on where you are supposed to go.

On my second time playing this, I played for 8 hours, I was stuck for around 4 of those trying to get past a black barrier that seemed breakable. It was for this reason, I gave up on it and only recently returned back to it a few years later.

On my third playthrough, I had nothing but fun (though admittedly, I kept a map open on a second screen at all times.) It is almost infuriating how you are expected to give up a notch to just know where you are on the map!

Aside from that, Hollow Knight can be a hard game if you are unexperienced with Metroidvania's. But that's to be expected for all genres. It's only this game has been a lot of people's first experience with the genre that I am writing this in the first place.

Overall, my third run of this game was the most fun I had. That's due to not sucking as badly with a bit more experience under my belt than the first two tries. You really start to appreciate the little things such as being able to sequence break to access some bosses early.

It's a great game that should be enjoyed to the fullest.

Update:

I was more correct than I ever thought.

This game has a mode. A mode necessary for a few achievements and 2 hidden endings.

It's a mode that consists of 5 boss rushes that achieves one simple goal.

Taking care of tourists.

It took me hours to beat Radiance, which is needed to get the third ending. I could beat the first 2 pantheons no bother but it just gets harder and harder with seemingly no end.

If you complete these without using glitches for invulnerability, I tip my hat off to you.

Because there is no way in hell I even want to try it.