Beta Test #20: Hollow Knight
It’s a dark, dreamy, windy twilight in the dust bowl plane. You stand poised over your target. Nothing makes a sound. not even the leafless trees burble out a sullen woosh. You hover, ready to strike. Yes, finally, this is your moment. Suddenly, a moaning, grunting noise as the beast in front of you rebounds into life. Your ears prick. The target moves. Slowly you rise, ready to hit. Hit. HIT.
Your target dodges and you lose all life points.
…
You wake up on a bench.
Hello my little bone knights! I’m Bethany Griffiths, and this is Beta Test. A game review platform where I, a hardcore button masher, choose one game a month to go ham on until either I get better or get wrecked. All in the hopes that I can provide you with a completely (un)biased review.
Dear lord, what a month. I have moved out of home, almost quit my job on three separate occasions, my therapist keeps telling me I need to take authority, and I got rained on a lot! I’m an actual wreck. On the plus side though, I’ve been to a theme park, seen a museum, gone walkabout in the Royal botanic gardens, and bought three sexy pairs of cowboy boots! so … there’s a trade off in there somewhere (probably the boots). Might help to play some video games. Yes, I’m sure that’ll set me right. Help me video game gods, you’re my only hope!
Hollow Knight, Developed and published by Team Cherry is a platform jumping game that hearkens back to early 00’s multi site pathfinder days. Taking place in a post industrial boom town, find yourself traversing lush greenery, and craggy caverns, dodging enemy attacks, and fleeing things that make you go “ohshitohshitohshit”, while solving mysteries and unlocking all the treasures of the playing field.
I’m gonna start out with shouting a big hearty ‘I am so happy with this game’! The feel of the universe, the character play, the intrigue, the drama, the boss fights that make you scream like Markiplier in a FNAF video. It had it all! Let’s start at the beginning. I was immediately enthralled by the beautiful scenery, and from there I was pulled into the dimension. The game insists on giving you very little to work with, which would normally be a detriment, yet I found myself enjoying that I knew as much as the characters. It’s a story rich game that takes time, which made me slow down and feel the game play, as opposed to barrelling along in my usual style. In deed, Hollow Knight takes all my base knowledge of early 2000’s platformers and brings it into crystal clear HD quality in a way that only an indie millennial platformer could.
The artistic style is beautiful in that ‘I just made my first indie game and I’m pulling all the stops‘ kind of way, which I am a massive slut for (You know it, I know it, at least five game developers by this point know it). The easy, flowing nature of the art, and the score meant I was able to find a peaceful moment in almost every stage of my playthrough. More over though, I felt in awe of the culminative efforts of the developing team, and the way they were able to stitch together a game with SO MUCH INTEGRITY. (If we remember back far enough, I tried my hand at Nihilumbra a couple of months ago, and thought it was mostly OK.) Hollow Knight takes Nihilumbra by the collar (balls) and shoves it into inky black oblivion, while dialling up everything on its’ own metre to 100. It’s wild to see such a well made game in such a saturated market do so well. Side note: It’s been living up to the pay bracket as well, which, you know, $50 for a game. You’d hope it’s as good as it says it is.
Hollow Knight was easy to access, and user friendly. I found myself switching the controls around quite a bit to find a setting that suited me, and I enjoy that the game allowed me to take full control of the user interfacing. From a development point of view I am also thoroughly impressed with the sound effects of the characters. It makes it a lot easier to see what’s going on, especially for those of us who may be impaired. I solidly recommend Hollow Knight to anyone who wants to buy it. Thoroughly sucked in.
All in all, this is an amazing game. I had such a blast playing it, and I will absolutely be continuing in my QUEST throughout the coming months!
Because of the beauty and grace of the animations, and the solid game play, I give this game:
5/5 Skully bois for style
4/5 Skully bois for plot
2/5 Skully bois for easiness
5/5 Skully bois for ATMOSPHERE
So, my dudes! I’ve been Bethany Griffiths, and this has been a jumpy jumpy Beta Test. A game review platform where I either got better or got wrecked. All in the hopes that I can provide you with a completely unbiased review. If you have a game that you want me to give my two cents on, Please let me know!
Until next time,
FRED the ALIEN Productions 