lost pages

A slow crawl into the unknown…

For those that don’t know, Hollow Knight is widely considered to be a masterpiece and is one of the most successful crowdfunded Indie Games, which released back in 2017.

This is probably my first formal introduction to Metroidvanias and I have to give massive props to independent developer Team Cherry. It blows my mind, that this video game was made by a core of 2 developers and a composer. To preface, I have yet to complete the game but from the roughly 50 or so hours I have spent exploring, dying, re-exploring and dying repeatedly to all sorts of enemies and relentless bosses. I have yet to give up on this journey.

Despite my early gripes with the game in terms of having to pay for items such as maps, needing a ‘compass’ equipped to really navigate these intricate maps. I just found the early game rather tedious and for lack of a better word ‘stingy’ in having to do all these extra steps to really make significant strides.

However, the more hours I put in. The more the game began to really click me with me. The best analogy I have with this game, is learning how to navigate a Tube Map. For some people, it can get boring and frustrating having to go back and forth and how the path can seem nigh on endless.

But for me, what Hollow Knight does best is that it embraces the thrill of exploration and that by moving around the Map, you begin to pave your own way, your own course and charter new experiences that are special to you. The game allows you to be lost and this is by design.

The excellent presentation and atmosphere combined with the opaque storytelling makes Hollow Knight something greater, in being almost like a fairy-tale that we get to tell multiple variations of. There is deep sense of sorrow and sadness, juxtaposed with the persistence to learn and uncover the truth of what is happening in this brutal world.

I probably have so much more to say…

But I am truly glad I stuck with Hollow Knight as there are very few games that make me really reflect on the game design and sheer execution of making the player have agency and letting them have the grace to be lost and keep on fighting on the beaten path.