I love Dark Souls, it's one of my favourite games ever, but at this point I feel like it has done untold damage to video games.

Like, Hollow Knight is a really good metroidvania. The platforming challenges are solid, the vibes are immaculate (if a bit too bleak in points), the bosses are Really fun and creative and the trinket system is a really good reward system. And yet all of its souls-inspired mechanics seem to just go against the rest of the game's design.

Losing money on death locked me out of the fast-travel system multiple times; the checkpoint system makes some areas unbearable to navigate if you come at them from the wrong "side"; and getting a fully functional map is too laborious to the point that it just ends up making exploration less compelling.

The game is still Pretty Good, don't get me wrong. It's not even a difficulty thing, like, the boss fights are really hard and I very much enjoyed them. But some of these mechanics just don't gel that well with the metroidvania formula, to the point that I ended up giving up on the game about 6 hours in. (maybe it gets better as it goes on? Maybe).