PixlBit

So I've been playing two games recently, and those games are in the title of the blog. Don't think much more needs to be said.

 

Hollow Knight.

Time for some hyperbole, but after finishing Hollow Knight for the third time, I honestly think it might be the best 2d metroidvania game I've played - and metroidvania is one of my favourite genres. It might have even surpassed the likes of super metroid and aria of sorrow for me. This is for a few reasons.

1: Expansive World: Hollow Knight is huge. Like mind bogglingly so. This is a 30 hour plus game if you want to explore everything. In other games of the genre, this would be a negative for me, as I generally feel like 8-12 hours is perfect for most games in the genre. However, in Hollow Knight, when I was done I still wanted more. I wanted to explore outside of hallow nest, I wanted to see what else was in the world.

 Seriously, every time you think there couldn't possibly be more content, the game surprises you with more areas, more bosses, and more secrets than you could shake a stick at.

2. Exploration is rewarding: this is for a few reasons. The first is that there are tons of secrets and rewards for those who explore everything. The second is that exploration is dangerous and sometimes terrifying. You see, to get a map of an area, you have to find the cartographer and buy a map off him. He'll still leave some areas blank for you to fill in though, and you can't fill in areas of the map yourself until you sit at a bench (this games version of a bonfire). This means you have to map out areas in your head until you can find a safe place to sit and fill in the map. This makes navigating a challenge in its own right, and gives you a sense of discovery few other games can capture.

 

3. Combat: Hollow Knight has a pretty involved combat system, though you won't be able to tell that right away. The game is a bit slow to start, and the first two bosses are unfortunately pretty simple because of this. Once you have access to your dash, double jump and charm system, this changes pretty drastically. You can bounce off enemies by timing downward thrusts ala shovel knight, duck tales, or Zelda 2. You have access to spells that can be devastating, though they use the same resource as your healing does, so playing like a Mage has its downsides and isn't an instant win button. Healing takes a while so you have to find the right moment to do so.

 It gets even more involved with charms. They work as a load out system of sorts that you can change at any bench. Some of these change combat fairly drastically: there are some that double your spell damage, some that extend the range of your melee attacks, some that make your attacks faster etc. there are some crazier ones, like constantly spawning allies that will attack your enemies for you, though they constantly drain your soul. There are some that put a shield around you while you heal, and even one that gives you potentially over double health but you can't heal at all while they're equipped. You have a limited amount of notches for these charms, so you have to work out the perfect loadout for any given situation. This makes some of the more difficult bosses less frustrating, because rather than rage quitting, you're thinking "I wonder if I could take him if I make this change to my loadout."

4. Atmosphere: this game has atmosphere in spades. This is due to excellent sound design and a great score, though also knowing when to forsake music altogether. There are areas that give you a childlike sense of wonder, and some that will absolutely terrify you and make you want to leave immediately. This game uses its insect theme to immense effect, with some goddamn creepy designs. If you have arachnophobia maybe stay out of deepnest...
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6. Lore: hollow knight does the Dark Souls thing of making its lore obtuse, though not quite as obtuse as said game. You don't need to be reading item descriptions constantly, but you will need to talk to every npcs and pay attention to the backgrounds in levels. The way the map is laid out makes sense, I.e you may wonder why there's an area underground that is constantly raining until you go above the area and find an underground lake that appears to be leaking. That's an early game example, but there are quite a few oh shit moments like this.

 Oh, and like the early Souls games, you can't trust every npc. And there are quite a few heartbreaking moments if you're truly paying attention.

 Honestly, I could go on and on about hollow knight, but if you have a switch or pc and you like the genre, this is a must buy. Oh and fuck ign comments for getting annoyed that the reviewer gave an indie game such a high score. It's simply amazing what a 3 man team from fucking Adelaide can accomplish, especially seeeing as game development in Australia is mostly for mobile games.

 

God of War.

 Man, I knew the Internet made jokes about how many times Kratos said boy, but I wasn't quite expecting it to be this ludicrous. He has a fucking name you cunt!

Anyway, God of War is pretty darn good. I definitely have my complaints, but I'm about halfway through and mostly enjoying it. I say mostly, because some of the side content I feel compelled to do is a bit repetitive. The main stuff is phenomenal though.

 As a god of war fan, I was a little worried going in. Firstly, because they were trying to humanise Kratos, who had such a raging murder. Boner by the third game that John Wayne Gacey would have told him to tone it the fuck down. This wasn't helped when the director of the tomb raider reboots were attached to to this project.

 However, they fucking nailed it. Kratos is still the same old Kratos we know and love, he's just trying to act responsibly now. I love that the old games are still canon, and he's still a monster, but he's trying to forget that and find his humanity to look after his son. Makes me want to see more insane characters get a kid. Like Jason Voorhes, or Mike Pence. 

The story is actually pretty good, though I'd argue the overarching storyline of the first two God of wars and the psp games were pretty good, they just had some shitty execution given some mediocre ps2 era writing. 3 was kinda shit in terms of story because it literally only exists because God of War 2 chose not to end.

 The other concern I had was that the series would tone down its spectacle and violent insanity. The first hour was extremely slow paced and acting like it wanted to be an Arthouse project, but then blam some trailer trash methhead goes super saiyen and you throw a fucking cliff on top of him after punching him through half a forest worth of trees. Now that's art.

 There's weirdly more emphasis on exploration and puzzles, which is great for me because they were some of my favourite parts of the original series. I wish there was jump button and actual platforming, but the exploration and puzzles are decent enough without it I guess. Weirdly enough this feels more like a tomb raider game than the tomb raider reboots did.

A lot of people complain about the combat, but I like it. I think if they moved the camera out a bit and didn't focus so much on swarms it would be a pretty solid combat system. It's like a weird in between of old school God of War and dark souls combat, but there's a decent amount of depth to it. There are combos, a stun metre that when filled up allows you to do devastating moves, ranged attacks, juggling, stance changes, three different weapon types with different move sets, runes that you can change out for different attacks and runes and so on and so fourth. Combat is where I really miss the jump button though. I wish it were like old games where I could juggle enemies in the air. That and zooming the camera out would honestly make this one of the better combat systems I've tinkered with.

 The only other real problem I have with it is that I wish the rpg systems were either less or more involved. It's in a weird middle state at the moment and I wish it would either go full blown rpg or lighten it up and let me focus on the action.

 All in all, pretty solid game. I went in with lowered expectations because of all the hype and have been pleasantly surprised thus far.