It's a great game. Maybe a bit bloated, but at the same time, i can't point to one thing that feels out of place. It's just a big fucking game and not everyone's gonna find it in themselves to enjoy it for 60-70 hours. I did though, and i recommend it as one of the best metroidvania games ever.
I think the thing that impressed me the most was the consistency and confidence with which the developers executed the art style of the game. Modern metroidvanias almost always make it a point to impress the player with presentation (the backgrounds, boss designs, music), but compared to Hollow Knight, almost all of them seem a bit shaky and unpolished. Big props to Team Cherry for that.
The gameplay has it's annoying parts, but that's due to an unusual complaint i have. I find it a bit too precise. I know i know, this might sound strange, since the precision is the thing you want in such a hard videogame. But what i mean is that sometimes it could use a bit of a bigger "buffer of allowed timing error" when it comes to, for example, a downslash mechanic, that allows you to traverse above spiky sections of the map. Im sure true hardcore fans of the game would trash me for saying that, but it would improve my time with the game in a substantial way and make me feel a bit less shitty about my skills and my character. Same goes for some bosses, maybe they could've remove the aspect of you automatically taking damage just by standing to close to a boss. It' doesn't really make sense and makes an already hard fights just more annoying to deal with. Other than that, i find the mechanics and movement to be very polished and pleasant to engage with.
Very engaging 70 hours that could easily become 100+ hours, were i to take on all of it's challenges in Godmaster expansion. But I have too many games on my list to invest in that extra part of the game.
I think the thing that impressed me the most was the consistency and confidence with which the developers executed the art style of the game. Modern metroidvanias almost always make it a point to impress the player with presentation (the backgrounds, boss designs, music), but compared to Hollow Knight, almost all of them seem a bit shaky and unpolished. Big props to Team Cherry for that.
The gameplay has it's annoying parts, but that's due to an unusual complaint i have. I find it a bit too precise. I know i know, this might sound strange, since the precision is the thing you want in such a hard videogame. But what i mean is that sometimes it could use a bit of a bigger "buffer of allowed timing error" when it comes to, for example, a downslash mechanic, that allows you to traverse above spiky sections of the map. Im sure true hardcore fans of the game would trash me for saying that, but it would improve my time with the game in a substantial way and make me feel a bit less shitty about my skills and my character. Same goes for some bosses, maybe they could've remove the aspect of you automatically taking damage just by standing to close to a boss. It' doesn't really make sense and makes an already hard fights just more annoying to deal with. Other than that, i find the mechanics and movement to be very polished and pleasant to engage with.
Very engaging 70 hours that could easily become 100+ hours, were i to take on all of it's challenges in Godmaster expansion. But I have too many games on my list to invest in that extra part of the game.