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Jun 17, 2018
3,244
Yes, the game is consistently amazing from start to finish. It never once overstayed it's welcome in the 24 hours I put into it.

It's an incredible game with my only slight annoyance being that sometimes if I died I spawned way way back as I'd forgotten to rest at a nearby bench. My own fault in those cases though.
 

Akai

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,045
That is just extra content imo, I couldn't care less about it, I tried it but I don't have the will or time to kill all those bosses again.

Extra content that I can't beat, because it's catering to the 0.01% of players.

But yeah, I would call vanilla Hollow Knight a masterpiece for sure.

I have a question: I'm currently quite a bit in, specifically
I have destroyed two of the masks, the one in the city and the one in deepnest.
Is there some point of no return or something? I dont want to end up fighting the final boss and being locked out of optional content or something.

Nope. You get spawned back in the last room prior to the last boss and can free-roam again. Game has multiple endings, so it encourages you to explore and unlock more.
 
Last edited:
Oct 27, 2017
15,008
Hold on!

So it's a scam? Don't deposit money? I haven't. I just have an account but a balance of zero

Damnit, I'm sorry if I spoilt that for you. I thought you were talking about her with familiarity.
Yes, after you deposit a certain amount of money with her, you return and find she is gone and the 'bank' is just a cardboard image which falls over. You can find her elsewhere in the game though, and reclaim your stolen money plus more! You can still use the bank though, provided you don't go over a certain limit (I think it's about 3000 geo), but if you want to do that I suggest checking out the wiki for more information.
 

HStallion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
62,242
I have my minor quibbles but that's all they are. The overall package is immaculate in presentation with great gameplay and a wonderful world. I should note I played it when it finally made its way over to the PS4 with all the DLC. Still its excellent all around.
 

Doctor Doggo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,372
Without a doubt. I just finished it two weeks ago and it already might be a top 10 game of all time for me. It had its fangs in me from pretty much hour one. And I am someone who never really played Metroidvanias. I had a genesis growing up when they became a thing and never have gone back to playing them.

Pretty much have only ever played Shadow Complex and Axiom Verge. Both of which I found great, but don't even touch Hollow Knight.
 

steejee

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,602
Gut reaction would be to say "No, but it's close"

Upon reflection about the feeling I had experiencing it, I think it wasn't so much the flaws that kept it back for me personally. The fast travel got a bit annoying when you needed to move about a lot (especially if you were going and back and forth to somewhere not that close to a travel point), a lot of the Charms were kinda useless, and having to burn a charm on a 'Where the hell am I on the map?' charm was kinda annoying. Those are all small things though and easily forgivable. I think I can't push it to "Masterpiece" because there was never a point in the game where I just had to stop and reflect on how what I was doing or seeing was something I'd never experienced in gaming before. That's a high bar, but for 'Masterpiece' I feel it's a fair bar. So for others I'm sure it does clear that hurdle.

What it *did* do was make me flash back to playing the original Metroid as a kid and the sense of unease and loneliness the game conveyed so well. That's a feat in itself.

Didn't care for the Godseeker expansion (moreso locking some lore behind a bunch of boss rushes), but looking forward to the sequel.
 

Semfry

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,952
Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night are masterpieces and Hollow Knight is even better, so it's kind of a forgone conclusion.

Only reason it's not the hands-down best is because the La-Mulana games exist.
 

Altrich

Member
Apr 5, 2018
735
Yes. I like it more than any castlevanias and metroids ive ever played (yes, more than prime and sotn, although not by that much as theyre all masterpiece).

Got the good ending, got 107% out of possible 112% completion coz I dont feel I wanted to finish all the trials so ive shelved it for now. A must buy.
 

RoKKeR

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,374
I feel like I need to play it on a larger TV to really get into it/appreciate it. I enjoyed the first few hours on Switch but something about the screen and controls made me put it down. Was easy to tell the quality from just a few hours, though.
 

HStallion

Member
Oct 25, 2017
62,242
Any game of that quality at $15 is a masterpiece to me. Can't wait for the sequel.

Yeah the price for the amount of quality content was kind of mind blowing to me. I've paid twice as much for games a fraction of the size. Not that I'll expect every $15 game to match but damn it was impressive the amount of value was there.
 

Muffin

Member
Oct 26, 2017
10,339
Extra content that I can't beat, because it's catering to the 0.01% of players.

But yeah, I would call vanilla Hollowknight a masterpiece for sure.



Nope. You get spawned back in the last room prior to the last boss and can free-roam again. Game has multiple endings, so it encourages you to explore and unlock more.
Cool, that I can even unlock multiple endings after I got one is pretty neat. Thanks.
 

jett

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,652
Any game that stands toe-to-toe with Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night surely is.
 

Coi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,808
For me it's just ok.
I'm having fun, but I'm not feeling the map design and art style.
And I'm not a big fan of the difficulty, It didn't add anything more that frustration (like the Soul Master boss) because it feels more unfair than anything else, specially when game progression isn't hard at all.
And the death mechanic it's weird, because money is not something really valuable in the game after buying some essential stuff.
 

Deleted member 2145

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
29,223
it's the best 2D metroidvania ever made so yeah I'd say that constitutes a masterpiece

silksong about to join it too
 

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
It's the only game I've ever played where I can go for 10+ hours sessions and still not be bored.
 
Oct 31, 2017
626
While I haven't finished it yet, I would lean towards yes at this point. I've currently hit a wall at the watcher knights, though that doesn't really bother me. I've hit many walls in this game so far, and overcoming them has been very satisfying. I do wonder if I'll hit the limits of my hand-eye coordination at some point though.

Well Super Metroid is not a metroidvania. It's a Metroid game. It has no RPG elements that SotN brought to the Metroid formula, hence metroidvania. I know it's nitpicky, but it is my biggest gaming pet peeve.

Under that definition is Hollow Knight a Metroidvania? I mean, it doesn't have levels or xp, but does have the charms so I could see it either way.
 

lt519

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,064
It's fantastic, one of the better metroidvania's I've played, but I'm not sure I'd call it a masterpiece. I had too many issues with the save system and it had a slow start until the movement and combat felt fun.

More a matter of personal opinion, I like a focus on platforming versus a focus on combat.
 

Thatguy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,207
Seattle WA
For me it isn't. The mood/ambiance is too one-note from area to area (dark dark dark dark). The power progression is too shallow. 10 hours in I don't want to be getting frequent game overs from basic world traversal. It made it a chore. Boss fights were needlessly hard. The music was mostly forgettable.

not even a top 10 metroidvana for me.
 

Discoalucard

Member
Oct 28, 2017
240
NJ
It's a pretty good game but with a large number of similar titles having been produced over the past few years, I have no idea why Era latched onto this one in particular. Axiom Verge, Guacamelee, and Monster Boy in particular, are all much better.

I really dislike the map system because it felt like it was taking away tools that every other game had, and then tried to sell it back you to as upgrades. The visuals are well done technically and can be quite pretty, but it's way too dreary for me to want to spend 20+ hours with. Same with the music.
 

nanskee

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 31, 2017
5,069
It's very good but I disagree with people that say it's better than Super Metroid. I actually had some issues with Hollow Knight, I left in original thread
 

Gelf

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,292
It's probably in my top 10 of all time. I went in expecting just another competent indie metroidvania and it blew me away. Loved everything about it including the often criticized map system. It's nice when games are brave enough to let me get lost.
 

Kiraly

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,848
When will they add a goddamn casual mode. I don't have the time nor interest to redo sections of a game over and over again.
 
Jan 20, 2019
260
It's a splendid game, and fully deserves it's adoration in my opinion. I don't know if I would use "masterpiece" to describe it, but I also think that there are few game truly worthy of that title.

As someone who generally doesn't enjoy platforming or Metroidvanias much, I've been having a blast with Hollow Knight. Even though I've probably died well over a hundred times so far...the fact that it keeps me coming back for more confirms that it is a great game.
 

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Yeah the price for the amount of quality content was kind of mind blowing to me. I've paid twice as much for games a fraction of the size. Not that I'll expect every $15 game to match but damn it was impressive the amount of value was there.

I don't know how they did it. Maybe they really believed in the game and knew it'd sell gangbusters, or maybe since it was crowd funded they didn't need to charge as much?
 
Jan 10, 2018
6,927
For being developed by a small company it is an incredible achievement. The art style alone deserves awards. And it's also the only game that I played that pulled off the subtle storytelling similar to Soulsbourne games. The lore was major part in keeping me invested in the exploration.
 

Deleted member 19996

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,897
Had no idea it had corpse runs. Gross

Only played about 20 mins since I hated the combat system. Knowing this now, I'll probably not return to it.
 

Skiptastic

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,680
*larrydavidnotsure.gif*

I loved it and enjoyed becoming really good at the game, but there were a lot of frustrations along the way (by design, I'm sure) that prevented me from saying yes right away.
 

Dragonyeuw

Member
Nov 4, 2017
4,372
This game has been in my steam wishlist for ages. I've held out on it because I have so many other games to play right now. With the amount of praise I see heaped on this though perhaps I need to push it to the front of the queue.
 

PrimeBeef

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,840
While I haven't finished it yet, I would lean towards yes at this point. I've currently hit a wall at the watcher knights, though that doesn't really bother me. I've hit many walls in this game so far, and overcoming them has been very satisfying. I do wonder if I'll hit the limits of my hand-eye coordination at some point though.



Under that definition is Hollow Knight a Metroidvania? I mean, it doesn't have levels or xp, but does have the charms so I could see it either way.
It is. Metroids and any game that does not have RPG elements would not be. I consider the charms to be RPG elements since you have to go back to a bench to make a specific load out. In Metroid games, once you get the item or enhancement it's always available.
 

mute

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,062
I don't think it is a masterpiece, but out of all the Metroid-vania-alikes that I have played recently it is probably my favorite. Most of the common complaints I don't have an issue with, the map/map system is fine to me.

What I don't like about it is the "invisible hand" that guides you around throughout the game is kinda bad. You jump around from place to place a bit too much for me, and the clues are often times "power bomb the glass pipe" type of obscure. I feel like SM "funneled" your exploration a little better. Also, some of the roadblocks to progress that require abilities are really obtuse, and when you get those abilities the game doesn't give you a good enough example of how to use it effectively. Maybe I missed something though.