A passion project always seems to be flawed, and Hollow Knight is no exception.

It is to be expected from an indie game made by a three-man crew in Australia, but in this game the flaws stand out. Humongous and ill-fitting difficulty spikes, occasional poor and unfair enemy design, and sprawling levels are, quite often, a big hindrance to the player. These flaws are always very noticeable to me, but the reason is because this game is just so darn good.

The world is huge, and full of life. Every enemy feels like a real animal, all the NPCs feel like real people, and every area feels like an actual, beautiful place.

Speaking of beauty, this entire game is gorgeous from top to bottom, with incredibly designed artwork in every levels that, in turn, makes every place feel unique, yet fitting together, all into one massive, existing world.

It's all so creative as well - dark, crystal mines swarming with selfish, attacking miners, a lovely wasteland covered and populated by fungus due to the damp conditions of underground, a genuinely horrifying set of pitch black tunnels filled with creepy camouflage spiders, a lush land full of all kinds of greenery, a city in the rain due to groundwater, etc. All of these worlds can be explored completely freely, in any order, without feeling purposeless. One time, in the span of an hour, I accidentally stumbled through three completely different areas, and unlocked so much abilities and story.

The story, and lore, are absolutely fascinating, and it draws you into the mystery of Hallownest. Who are you, as a strange, empty knight? What is your purpose, and why are you so compelled to complete it? What is this land of gods? Why is everyone infected? It's all basically a well established mythology, and one that could be expanded upon and explored endlessly.

The combat's pretty fun too, as it should be in this massive of a game, and the huge set of abilities to unlock expands in a very satisfying way. The enemies vary greatly, and there is such a wide and understandable variety of methods to defeating each of them. In the end, you find yourself launching through multiple rooms at great speeds in a matter of seconds, plowing through hordes of easy enemies, and it's so great.

As an added bonus, everything related to sound design, music and HD Rumble (for the switch) is simply perfect. I can't describe how good this game sounds and actually feels, as in "feeling" the game vibrating.

Yeah, it's flawed. Yeah, I don't always love it. But I do love it most of the time, and there's really no other game like it. It's Hollow Knight, and it probably is one of the best games of all time.

4.5/5: Very close to a 5, but still an absolutely glorious game

After 8 years, this still has no right to be this damn good.

Maybe it's my rose-tinted nostalgia goggles, but playing this with my friends while in school was so much fun, especially the Zelda, Metroid, Pikmin Boss Rush, and most certainly the Luigi's Mansion and Mario Chase. Played it again now, and it's still so much fun.

The single-player is aight, tho.

Slapstick gameplay at its finest. I loved every single second of this hilarious, engaging and incredibly endearing game. Every puzzle is a delight to participate in, and I just wanted more and more fun stuffing up every single person in existence.

It's a shame the game was finished in about five hours, but that doesn't really distract from the fact that those five hours might have been the most enjoyable I've had with video games in general.

4/5: Short and Sweet

A never-ending playground of exciting, fluid ideas. The deft, coherent game design that always thrived in the Mario series bursts to life in an all-new world and colour palette, tucking wonderous (hah.) secrets around every corner of every (and I mean every) level. In a sense, this is the perfect translation of the Odyssey format to 2D platforming - I also think this does better at avoiding some of Odyssey's pitfalls, such as the overabundance of useless content. Sometimes a little too easy - how is the final bowser level meant to be a 5-star difficulty?? - but never dull. And occasionally, it gives you a challenge like the final-final special level to demonstrate the brain-tickling tactility with which every single mechanic ticks together in harmony. Marvellous.

By the way: I get the complaints about the flowers getting grating and a little too 'tutorial-y', but I found them to be quite charming, and even funny sometimes. They especially helped the fact that I couldn't play this online, since I am not paying for NSO.