Hollow Knight is by far one of my all-time favorite indie games. Illustrations draw you deeper into the cities and caverns below the world’s surface. Beautiful environments come alive as you delve deeper into the darkest depths of Hallownest’s unforgiving kingdom.

Hollow Knight is a game by Team Cherry, an independent company that consists of three people from Australia. Team Cherry created a world bursting with majestically treacherous secrets to discover.

Read the following review of Hollow Knight for Nintendo Switch to see what it’s like to live a bug’s life.

CONCEPT

A bug wanders alone in a dark setting. Hardly any light guides his path, but he pushes forward. He stands over a cliff watching a city in the distance. Jumping down, this is where the tutorial begins. Players learn the basic platforming and combat controls. You can run, jump, and attack with your nail.

After passing the tutorial, players meet one lone resident standing amid a lamppost and steel bench. He speaks of how many travelers have come seeking treasures underneath the towns well. Very few ever return.

The Knight decides to go down the well, which leads to a remarkable journey discovering a kingdom brought to ruin.

You’ll stumble into the territories of many large creatures who will either want to eat or help the Knight.

DESIGN

Masks replace the commonly known hearts for a life bar. You accumulate souls and choose to replenish health or as magic defeating enemies.

If you die, you will be transported to your nearest save point and leave your Shadow behind. When you die, you lose all your Geo, in-game currency, which is fossilized shells. Losing your Shadow also takes away the ability to store ⅓ of souls. You must then return to the same area without dying and defeat your Shadow; otherwise, you will lose all your Geo.

There is absolutely no ability to vault Geo anywhere in Hollow Knight. Hollow Knight is a challenging, reminiscent of the Dark Souls formula with Shovel Knight.  Implementing these gamble-risk designs is not for everyone.

Pogo Jumping Action

Pogo jumping and parrying are essential factors of Hollow Knight. The learning curve to successfully understand both mechanics takes more than a couple of hours. Pretty soon, you’ll be able to use your nail to bounce on enemies and deflect attacks.

Adventure through lively ecosystems with your trusty nail by your side to defend you from predators.

As you adventure into Hollownest’s underground labyrinths, you’ll come across stories of the kingdoms forgotten past and encounter strange friends. They will help the young Knight on his journey by assisting.

Players will fight powerful guardians protecting their sacred grounds if you trespass. Each fight is varied but most important of all extremely challenging. You’ll die and again, and again until you understand the pattern to defeat them. The sense of accomplishment is always felt after having overcome an obstacle in Hollow Knight.

The game gradually becomes increasingly tricky and feels punishing in most areas. A significant key factor here is to continue exploring (especially backtracking) to build your powers if you’re having a hard time with boss fights.

Find a bench to rest and prepare for your next trek.

AESTHETICS

I can’t deny that Hollow Knight looks stunning. Every area of the game is unique, colorful, and has cleverly hidden pathways to discover. Step by step, you being to appreciate the amount of detail was went into making the environments. The destructible obstacles are a nice touch.

Each place inside of Hollow Knight has a great atmosphere. Some areas that you explore are dark, while others are vibrant and appear teeming with life. I’m genuinely impressed with the quality of craftsmanship.

Moments like this where you can just stop and enjoy the artwork is always a pleasure.

VALUE

This version of Hollow Knight for the Nintendo Switch comes with four DLC’s. Hollow Knight packs a lot of content, and different endings are depending on your playthrough. It’ll take you a while to find every hidden secret and complete all side quests.

There are also in-game achievements for all of the completionists who want to get absolutely everything.

The Colosseum of Fools is insane! It’s very challenging and will put your skills to the test!

Verdict

Team Cherry’s first video game is an ambitious and beautiful world with tight controls. You can tell the incredible amount of love gone through creating Hollow Knight. This is a game that you should check out.

I highly recommend playing Hollow Knight. The sequel Hollow Knight: Silk Song is coming out in 2021. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Download Walk’s extension for Google Chrome

Walkway is a free extension for Google Chrome. Enjoy photographs of El Salvador, taken by national photographers, every time you open a new tab. Walkway is perfect for locals, any Salvadoran living abroad, and people in love with El Salvador.

Download Walkway

Did you enjoy our article? Visit Life’s Hectic to continue enjoying more content by Walk or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter! We’ll be posting updates and new content coming fresh to you every week.