The only game I've played that recaptured Dark Souls' magic, Hollow Knight is the total package. Others have spoken at length on what they love about this game. I could talk about the incredible world design, thrilling bosses, amazing music, and surprisingly deep gameplay, but what's always stood out to me is how gratifying the exploration is.

A lot of Metroidvanias fall into the trap of having collectibles or equipment that are not very fun for certain players to use because of their playstyle. Hollow Knight's charms (the main collectible outside of power-ups) avoid this issue because you need to find them in order to buy more slots for equipping them. The charms work like badges in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, giving the player options to buff their character, with the most powerful charms taking up the most space. Because charms must be found to buy more slots, a player will not feel like they wasted their time finding one they don't like since that charm will eventually allow them to equip more charms they do like. It's a small, but brilliant touch that makes exploration rewarding even on subsequent playthroughs.

The intrinsic desire to explore exists in the hearts of most gamers and Hollow Knight not only delivers on that, but maintains it long after you expect to have found everything.

I grew up playing Nintendo games and still play them. Suffice to say I did not think this type of game would appeal to me. How wrong I was! Dark Souls is exceptional in many ways, but I feel its appeal is widely misunderstood. The game is difficult, sure, but if a game's status is defined by its difficulty, then why are easier game franchises like Kirby still appreciated? No, Dark Souls is a masterpiece because of how unpredictable, yet focused its world is. New ideas and enemy encounters are introduced in every level. At times, they border on being frustrating. And yet, I couldn't stop playing.

The cherry on top of these expertly-designed challenges is the absolutely sublime level design. Levels provide shortcuts after overcoming a challenge that link back to your current bonfire (checkpoint). These shortcuts are smartly placed to give players a moment of respite after overcoming seemingly impossible odds.

This setup alone makes for a pretty good game, but there are even more things to marvel at in Dark Souls. For those who have yet to play it, I will not spoil these secrets. And if you need any advice going in, it would be to have two things: patience and humility. The former because the game is challenging and the latter because the game's challenges are fair, with very few exceptions. I once thought the game was unreasonable, but I persevered and was rewarded for it. If you stick with it, you will never forget your experience. There is a reason why so many games have tried imitating it with very little success.