Hollow Knight, starting as a Kickstarter campaign in November 2014, is a challenging 2D metroidvania platformer by Team Cherry that does just about everything right. As it stands, Hollow Knight has been critically acclaimed and deemed top-tier time and time again. The mechanics and gameplay of Hollow Knight feel tight and refined. The combat is always satisfying, and with all enemies being dangerous, death is a real factor from the beginning.

The art style is rich with lavish detail, yet still with a cartoonish charm. Most areas are passionately creative and meticulously inclusive, acting as complete worlds of their own. The attention to detail in the world is outstanding, every area has something unique and interesting to discover which always makes exploring very rewarding. Prevalent themes of darkness and mystery linger throughout hollow nest, constantly inviting the player to push onwards. The thrilling exhilaration of entering a new area is perfectly matched with the stunning soundtrack, egging you to adventure onwards, or providing an ominous warning of danger.

Hollow Knight possess replayability through genius design choices. It’s impossible to encounter every variance on one playthrough. NPCs that are to either be saved or killed, particular charms that may lock out others if obtained in a certain order, Multiple story paths and choices, all culminating to over 4 different endings. Hollow Knight promises an immersive and captivating experiencing the second time round.

The difficulty is going to be very hit or miss with people. By industry standards, Hollow Knight is a challenging game; but it's only really as hard as you make it. Depending on how long it takes for the player to get used to the control system or the story path that they choose, the main campaign of Hollow Knight is either going laughably easy, or difficult enough to pull your hair out. Regardless, players can chose to test their mastery with optional free end game DLC content boasting ridiculous difficulty.

While Hollow Knight is a fantastic game, no game comes without its flaws.
Not every boss in Hollow Knight is a winner, and this is partly due to the repetitive nature of the game.
Likewise, some areas look uninspired and tame compared to the wild originality of the others. The main currency system (Geo) quickly became obsolete, leaving us with a RPG tack on, rather than a fully fleshed out system. Ture to the metroidvania genre, Hollow Knight has a lot of back tracking, and while partly supplemented by new abilities and powers; it felt very tedious and monotonous by the end of my first 10 hours.

The beginning of the game leaves many players feeling overwhelmed, lost and confused. This is evident by the majority of steam negative reviewers having under 2 hours. The game only truly opens up and becomes accessible once the player unlocks the map and compass, two accessories that we should start with. This navigation system carries on, as finding each area’s “cartographer” to unlock the map for the area will be essential.

While Hollow Knight deserves nothing less than praise, it's few issues keep it silvers away from achieving perfection.
9/10