Finished the game a little bit ago, at around 82% completion and after roughly 28h of playtime. Bought all of Cornifer's maps, filled them in as best I could, got around 3/4 of the Grubs, and probably around 25/40 of the charms. I do plan to get the Platinum, since concept of an ultra punishing boss rush mode quite intrigues me, and I felt that the boss fights were the best thing about Hollow Knight.
The negative
All that said, I can't help but feel that the game just dragged on for way too long, especially considering its genre (Metroidvania), which generally consists of shorter, more concise experiences. Whereas something like Metroid Fusion or Zero Mission can craft an exciting, memorable experience roughly 5 hours long, Hollow Knight is content proceeding at a glacial pace. Character upgrades are rare, and the game seems more about getting lost, finding the cartographer, and consulting the map than it does getting you through a mid-sized area at a brisk, reasonable pace. What really doesn't help is that despite all of the "biomes" being distinct from one another, nearly every area and room within those biomes are nondescript, sharing near identical backgrounds and platforms, as well as an all too similar look and feel. These factors, coupled with the fact that landmarks and fast travel points are so infrequently stumbled upon (not to mention the sheer scope of the world), contribute to making the game feel like a maze, and not always in a good way.
The positive
Instead, what I did enjoy about Hollow Knight was how the Knight themself controlled, and the various ways in which their abilities made the gameplay loop feel satisfying. Dashing, wall jumping, speed boosting, and nail bouncing felt tight and responsive, and navigating the landscape with those abilities at the forefront was what made the game fundamentally enjoyable to play through. Music was also pretty solid all around, with tracks evoking wildly different feelings for each of the respective areas and their associated boss fights (City of Tears and Hornet's theme being standouts, imo). Regarding the story and lore, however, I admittedly could not bring myself to care or form that much of an investment when it's all so cryptic and scattered across the fragmented dialogue of so many NPCs and Dream Nail-able entities. The game had hours to pull me into its story somehow, but it just never did. There were, however, a few resonant moments, particularly Bretta's creepycute crush on the Knight, Zote's continual boasts and set of precepts, and of course, The Last Stag / Old Stag's emergence of hope and optimism upon rediscovering his old home. Largely, I feel that Bloodborne serves as a better example of how to draw the player in through sparse, mysterious lore and dialogue.
In closing
Hollow Knight was an interesting enough experience, and one that I certainly don't regret having. Was it the 10/10 Metroidvania GOAT that many on this forum claim it to be, though? No, I don't quite think it reached even close to that standard. Honestly, I do find it bewildering that, in a period where lambasting modern, labrious, massive AAA open world checklist games is the norm in enthusiast circles such as ours, Hollow Knight seemingly gets a pass for doing more or less the same thing (treading upon that "bigger is better" game design mindset), but in 2D Metroidvania form. I can only hope that Silksong consists of a tighter, more focused experience, but I don't think I'd bet on that coming to fruition. All the same, I'm glad to have experienced HK's tight mobility, combat, and boss fights.
