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Hollow Knight or Ori: The Will of the Wisps
- Thread starter SilentEagle
- Start date
I'd have either Ori over Hollow Knight by a mile, though admittedly that is almost definitely coloured by playing Hollow Knight with the internet's massive overhype of it, which can only ever really lead to being a let down. Even without that though, there were definitely multiple parts of HK I found frustrating, and not in an especially fun way either. Ori's also boosted by me being a real sucker for movement and it's just an absolute delight in that regard. And Coker's soundtracks, woo lord.
I'll still probably play Silksong though!
I'll still probably play Silksong though!
Very different games.
I'd still pick Ori because Hollow Knight is one of those games I can't understand why people go so crazy for. The extreme hype has turned me off.
The game was ok, but it is not a great metroidvania.
I'd still pick Ori because Hollow Knight is one of those games I can't understand why people go so crazy for. The extreme hype has turned me off.
The game was ok, but it is not a great metroidvania.
Ori 2 is nearly a flawless game to me. It's strongly arguable that it's the best looking 2D game of all time, every movement mechanic it introduces is like The Best Movement Mechanic, it has cinematic scripted chase sequences but also strong pattern recognition bosses, punchy combat feedback, tons of different areas that each have interesting gimmicks, fluid pacing the whole way through, a great OST, and while I don't cry my eyes out at the story, the emotional core is beyond solid for this type of game and leads to a satisfying narrative climax and ending. If I had to nitpick I'd say the enemy variety could be a smidge better but we're really splitting hairs here. Even if it isn't my favorite, objectively speaking it's hard for me to name any sidescroller that's a better overall package when it comes to sheer ideas, execution and production values.
Hollow Knight is a game with phenomenal highs but also some glaring lows. Starting with the good, it has by far the best atmosphere I've ever experienced in a sidescroller. Namely, Deepnest is a complete triumph of aesthetics and game design colliding to make for an unforgettable S-tier experienece. HK also excels as a combat-focused action game with extremely tight controls, satisfying hit feedback, and a veritable treasure trove of challenging enemies and bosses to conquer. As a Metroidvania, though...idk. I'm pretty smitten with its world design at a macro level with how the different areas sprawl out, loop back, interconnect, and are accessed. At a micro level, HK cribs a bit too much from the Igavania style of level design for my liking where it feels like every other room is not too interesting, or worse, A Really Long Hallway (on top of most areas feeling at least a little bloated). Unlike games like Ori and Metroid, the movement abilities are none too interesting here and do little to make backtracking feel as snappy and fun as they should. Pacing is also a little sketchy with the lack of easy fast travel (paired with said elongated map design) asking for a lot of your time simply moving between places you've already been, and the ability pacing is absolutely fucking dire. Now I don't need every Metroidvania to be paced like Super Metroid where the game is machinegunning new abilities at you with reckless abandon (even though it stimulates my X Spot mmm yesss), but there has to be a better balance here. The ability rollout of HK is so fucking glacial that it keeps me up at night, and again the vast majority of abilities are as basic as they can be with double jumps, dashes etc.
It's possible that HK has higher highs than Ori with its more elaborate boss fights and Deepnest, but as an overall package it's Ori 2 for me pretty easily. That said, I'm very excited for Silksong to see how Hornet's increased agility over the Knight can increase the flow of gameplay (sprinting wooooo), and hopefully the pacing is stronger.
Hollow Knight is a game with phenomenal highs but also some glaring lows. Starting with the good, it has by far the best atmosphere I've ever experienced in a sidescroller. Namely, Deepnest is a complete triumph of aesthetics and game design colliding to make for an unforgettable S-tier experienece. HK also excels as a combat-focused action game with extremely tight controls, satisfying hit feedback, and a veritable treasure trove of challenging enemies and bosses to conquer. As a Metroidvania, though...idk. I'm pretty smitten with its world design at a macro level with how the different areas sprawl out, loop back, interconnect, and are accessed. At a micro level, HK cribs a bit too much from the Igavania style of level design for my liking where it feels like every other room is not too interesting, or worse, A Really Long Hallway (on top of most areas feeling at least a little bloated). Unlike games like Ori and Metroid, the movement abilities are none too interesting here and do little to make backtracking feel as snappy and fun as they should. Pacing is also a little sketchy with the lack of easy fast travel (paired with said elongated map design) asking for a lot of your time simply moving between places you've already been, and the ability pacing is absolutely fucking dire. Now I don't need every Metroidvania to be paced like Super Metroid where the game is machinegunning new abilities at you with reckless abandon (even though it stimulates my X Spot mmm yesss), but there has to be a better balance here. The ability rollout of HK is so fucking glacial that it keeps me up at night, and again the vast majority of abilities are as basic as they can be with double jumps, dashes etc.
It's possible that HK has higher highs than Ori with its more elaborate boss fights and Deepnest, but as an overall package it's Ori 2 for me pretty easily. That said, I'm very excited for Silksong to see how Hornet's increased agility over the Knight can increase the flow of gameplay (sprinting wooooo), and hopefully the pacing is stronger.
Haven't played Will of the Wisps, but I have completed Blind Forest 100%. My gaming experience tells me WotW is an evolution of the same formula, without differring too much from the first game, and for me Hollow Knight is in a completely different league, so I'll say Hollow Knight
As much as that guys sucked, this argument was always pretty naive. HK itself has mostly mechanics taken from the rest of the genre (and Dark Souls).
"half its mechanics" being equipping charms, im guessing and none of the many things that made it unique? Where's that same smoke for Lost Crown which is closer to HK with the equipable charms and finding area map vendors? It got as silly as claiming it copied having a gibberish language....even though Blind Forest was doing that years before HK released.
Too bad I'm in such a Fallout hole rn, thread is making me want to dip back into ori for a re-evaluation. Might just do that before Silksong
I don't know why I didn't get along well with Ori. Something about how it feels doesn't feel as satisfying to me. Maybe it was just the Xbox's shitty d-pad.
Fucking love Hollow Knight though.
Fucking love Hollow Knight though.
I think its made for analogue controls might be part of it. I don't think you can really walk, or aim moves in the same way on a dpad, or adjust the air momentum without relying on tapping a button. Even mouse+keyboard makes more sense to me.
even putting aside gameplay and art style (where I would give it to Hollow Knight)... Ori to me is sentimental while Hollow Knight is melancholic. the latter is an objectively better trait.
That is a real weakness of Ori for me too. It's not even just that it's 'sad,' but it has very didactic tone, as if it has manufactured a thought it wants you to have rather than leaving you to your own experience.
It's in the substance of it's themes as well. The games differ significantly in how they present 'light' for instance. In Ori there is genuine unambiguous evil and good in the world, and the closer one is to the 'light' the more inherently good one is. It's actually a very disturbing, though popular, idea. Hollow Knight is basically the exact opposite, where almost no one, whether 'light' or 'dark,' in that world is truly 'evil,' mostly just unfortunate, ignorant, or detached in some way or another.
Hollow Knight just has a lot more to engage with substanitively.
Nah, that's part of what kills them for me too. Very little to say, lots of time spent saying it.
Ori was pretty. Lots of spectacle but the game itself didn't do much for me.
Hollow Knight on the other hand made me feel awe and majesty and trial and triumph and it did so with game design, not with just pretty. And it was also just as beautiful, especially in the music department.
Hollow Knight on the other hand made me feel awe and majesty and trial and triumph and it did so with game design, not with just pretty. And it was also just as beautiful, especially in the music department.
The back tracking of Hollow Knight is what keeps it from greatness for me. What a drag in such a beautiful game.
Will of the Wisps, it's not particularly close and I'm a big Hollow Knight fan.
WotW is one of the best Metroidvanias of all time, perhaps the greatest because of the way it includes pin perfect platforming on top that.
WotW is one of the best Metroidvanias of all time, perhaps the greatest because of the way it includes pin perfect platforming on top that.
There was something about Ori's controls that just didn't click with me.
vs
I'm currently wearing a Silksong shirt, even though I couldn't finish Hollow Knight.
vs
I'm currently wearing a Silksong shirt, even though I couldn't finish Hollow Knight.
Hollow Knight by far.
Ori is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played but it also left me feeling nothing despite how much the game wants you to connect with it emotionally. The combat was also just okay, rather than the top tier combat HK offers.
I agree, the strength of these games is the platforming, and Ori 1 had more of an emphasis on that. The combat in the second game, while improved from the first, is still pretty meh when compared to the titans of this genre (HK, Metroid Dread, and recently Prince of Persia The Lost Crown). I also liked the chase sequences much better in the first game.
Ori is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played but it also left me feeling nothing despite how much the game wants you to connect with it emotionally. The combat was also just okay, rather than the top tier combat HK offers.
I agree, the strength of these games is the platforming, and Ori 1 had more of an emphasis on that. The combat in the second game, while improved from the first, is still pretty meh when compared to the titans of this genre (HK, Metroid Dread, and recently Prince of Persia The Lost Crown). I also liked the chase sequences much better in the first game.
When Hollow Knight "clicks" it is an absolutely sublime experience.
Ori is very pretty and demands much less of the player. But coming from the first Ori, which had hardly any combat, I found the constant fighting in WotW very intrusive. I was kinda over it well before the credits rolled. So I'd probably put Blind Forest before WotW, even.
Ori is very pretty and demands much less of the player. But coming from the first Ori, which had hardly any combat, I found the constant fighting in WotW very intrusive. I was kinda over it well before the credits rolled. So I'd probably put Blind Forest before WotW, even.
