Hollow Knight, a much-discussed game with many opinions! I’ll just say it, and let anyone criticize if they want, but my final verdict is that it’s a Bad game!! Yes, it’s a Bad game, it scores own goals against itself! The difficulty it has as a game is not based on any mechanism or puzzle you have to solve, it’s just that you have to lose several times until you learn to react immediately and neuromuscularly to every enemy reaction! And for those who have played it, don’t tell me that the fight with Zote, for example, an enemy you have to face 10 consecutive times and who jumps horizontally on you, is a work of design art!!? Irrelevant moves that bring the enemy onto you and you start by losing one soul and as it goes on, then 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. at the same time. That is, exactly the same thing and the only thing that changes is that you lose more souls at once!! The only pleasure is that you play it compulsively and when you manage it you say bravo to yourself! The story is mediocre because it’s a bit inconsistent! The exploration is nice, the graphics are beautiful, but the difficulty design is all over the place, so you can’t express your own style! Watch videos of battles on the internet and you’ll see that those of us who managed it did almost 99% of the same moves! A game that is played only mechanically. Kudos to the team who, with 3 people, made such a game, but it also shows that if there was a proper team (more people) it wouldn’t have fallen into its own pitfalls!

First, I will mention the positives and negatives of the game.
I bought the game for 15 euros, which is worth the money in terms of quality and the time you will dedicate to the game.

The graphics and sound of the game match the specific theme/genre of Hollow Knight, creating a nice atmosphere that makes you want to explore its world.

The game is somewhat open world, with directions to the right, left, up, and down. The map is huge and there are no loading screens, making the whole process more enjoyable.

The game is difficult and in some moments and areas, it does not forgive mistakes. Losing the money you have collected and having to return to where you died to retrieve it is a major punishment.

There are no instant deaths, which I consider a positive aspect, especially for those who want to play more casually.

The story is quite interesting, with many questions that make you want to continue playing to find out what happened.

The boss fights in the game can sometimes be challenging, but they mainly require patience rather than technique. The most difficult part of this game, I would say, is navigating through the obstacles in certain areas, some of which require a lot of thinking and precision with various techniques.

The main negative aspect of this game is how easily you can get lost and the amount of time you waste if you can't find where you need to go. There is no map to show you where to go, nor does it tell you what you need to do, resulting in long, pointless journeys.

However, one thing is for sure, you will play for several hours and it will provide you with enough content to keep you busy.

Positives:

- Very nice music/graphics/atmosphere
- Rich content for many hours of gameplay
- Interesting story with multiple endings
- Good gameplay in terms of character movements
- Nice way of exploration without any loading screens
- Stable 60fps in handheld and docked mode, which is rare to see in a game with good graphics

Negatives:

- Save points are in specific locations on the map
- There is no quests log/missions, so many times you have to find the next part of the story without the game giving you any information or clues about what you need to do.
- The areas are huge and it's easy to get lost, especially if you haven't obtained the map of the area yet. After finding the map, you have to revisit the areas for your character to draw them.
- Economy plays a big role in this game, so you have to collect money by killing enemies in order to buy items or magic to continue your journey.

Since I am rating it for the Nintendo Switch, I will mention that the controls of the Switch can be challenging in difficult areas. Personally, I had to use the PlayStation 4 controller.

In summary, if you enjoy exploration, this game does it quite well and I believe it is worth the money, even at 30 euros. However, if you search, you can find it much cheaper.