Notes on "Hollow Knight"

2024-12-24

But now it's time to take a break from "Dead Cells."

That game is difficult! But also, I have habits from "Dead Cells," which play out a tad differently. I'll rewire myself. My brain is still that flexible.

An interesting mechanic is jumping higher (and really high!) when jump button is pressed longer. But fights are terrible (and I mean that I am terrible in those fights).

I like a certain Sergio Leone vibe of the player's character who wanders from God knows where into a dilapidated town like a true bad ass. Also, the game is visually nothing short of stunning.

On a technical note, it's my first game in I don't even wanna know how many years if not decades with an actual manual (plus a map—the last time I had a map attached was "Strife" in 1996). I appreciate it. But I'll start without a map and try to remember the locations myself. Two years into Metroidvanias, I am no longer spacially lost, like I was when I played "Narita Boy" and "Blasphemous" at first.

2024-12-27

The art style in "Hollow Knight" is very appealing to me: a one-of-a-kind mix of the old Walt Disney cartoons (the characters), Art Noveau (all this 19th century's benches and mechanisms), and H. R. Giger (large rooms inspired by segmented-bodies insects).

2024-12-29

And I got dashing in "Hollow Knight." I wanted to write that no Metroidvania is complete without dashing, but "Dead Cells" don't have this mechanic, I just realised. And it's still fine.

2024-12-31

And now bumping from the walls (also known as Mantis Claw). Nice. But platforming here is brutal.