The following sentences summarize the incipit of Hollow Knight, the new effort of Team Cherry for PC and Nintendo Switch.
Beneath the declining city of Dirthmount rests an ancient kingdom in ruins. Many are lured beneath the surface, seeking wealth, glory, or answers to ancient secrets.
The skeleton of this indie is that of a 2D action that is extremely close to the trend Metroidvania. The adventures of our protagonist unfold through a vast and complex map, full of interconnections between its various components.
The central point of our adventure, as well as the real hub of the game, is the city of Dirthmouth. Little and nothing remains of the prosperous city, as its inhabitants have progressively not resisted the attraction of the mystery and the opportunities that lay beneath their feet. Our protagonist despite being a stranger will not be immune to the lure of the underground kingdom in ruins.
It will be our responsibility to get some of the city buildings back into operation thanks to our wanderings and in the meantime obtaining new functions from the Hub. What was initially just the first checkpoint in the game, soon turns into a resource for purchasing items and comforts for our little hero.
This small oasis of almost normal life will be very useful in the long adventure that lies ahead: the developers have in fact declared that to complete this title at 100% it will take about 40 hours of play. But don't worry if you are impetuous, Hollow Knight also lends itself to your tastes. For speedrun lovers the game can be completed in 3 hours (one of the game achievements requires just this to be unlocked). Hollow Knight in its main component, that of underground exploration, mixes an action and a platform behavior, both supported by the mechanics based on the use of the resource "Soul" represented in game by a globe containing a shining white fluid. The Soul it can be used to recover some of one's vitality, but also to perform special actions.
In its action form, the game is extremely simple in its mechanics: one button for attacking and another for actions dependent on the "Soul". Enemies tend to be well "readable" after facing them a couple of times, a bit like learning the various patterns in action titles. If engaged with the right timing, they can be easily defeated without taking any damage. Having said that, however, given the ability of our protagonist to be able to recover his vitality, the timing to face an enemy tends to be fundamental, under penalty of suffering a blow and losing one of the few life points available to us. Fortunately, inflicting damage on enemies earns Soul and therefore unless multiple catastrophic events, life is almost never a problem, except for some really difficult situations dictated by the level design.
The platform side is actually a non-central component in the game. These moments can be frustrating because sometimes the feel of jumping is inaccurate. This flaw is mitigated over the course of history thanks to the addition of a mechanic present beyond a certain point in the game (which we will avoid spoiling), but it remains an annoying problem in the early stages. In the event of the death of our hero, a sequence truly inspired by From Software's Souls triggers, with the loss of all the in-game currency and we will be forced to return to our shadow to recover them.
From squire to first class knight
The growth of the knight is not expressed through a classic system of levels, but is dictated by the acquisition of charms (trinkets that allow you to obtain a passive ability if equipped) or by purchasing objects with the in-game currency that directly permanently influence the parameters of the Knight. This is also accompanied by an improvement in the techniques that he has available through the interaction with some NPCs.
Taking the distance from the game mechanics, it's hard not to notice the most striking element of Hollow Knight: this is obviously the atmosphere that pervades the game world. It is not uncommon in the indie world that video games take advantage of a particular care from an "artistic" point of view to compensate for a budget obviously not comparable with large productions (Hollow Knight was financed by a Kickstarter campaign that allowed it to raise almost 60 dollars). In this the developers have very well created Dirthmouth and the underground environment that is the theater of our epic.
The game's soundtrack is consistently at excellent levels, and deeply touches the player even while he doesn't pay attention to you with a mix of cheer and nostalgia for the now desolate areas he finds himself traversing. Thanks to it, the immersion in the title is almost always complete in a few minutes.
Obviously, the care in development does not stop only at the great soundtrack used, the visual appeal is similarly taken care of. The main theme revolves around the past greatness, but the ingenuity of the character designers and level designers manages to propose it with a nice and clean aesthetic, which allows you to easily associate the character of the various NPCs (both allies and enemies) to their appearance, despite (or maybe thanks) to the absence of too many details that would have spoiled the simplicity of a game that is made to be enjoyable in fast sequences. So much so that in a short time our protagonist has already conquered many fans for his "puccioso", yet solemn aspect.
