Hollow Knight (game)

"Beneath the fading town of Dirtmouth sleeps a vast, ancient kingdom. Many are drawn beneath the surface, searching for riches, or glory, or answers to old secrets. As the enigmatic Knight, you'll traverse the depths, unravel its mysteries and conquer its evils."

Hollow Knight is a 2D side-scrolling action adventure video game in the Metroidvania style. It was developed by Team Cherry and first released for Microsoft Windows on the 24th of February, 2017 then macOS, Linux. It was ported in 2018 to the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 by Jump Shark Studios.

Gameplay
The Knight can explore the large interconnected world of Hallownest using a variety of movement and combat techniques. In classic Metroidvania style, there are areas of the world that the Knight cannot access until they obtain particular Items or Abilities. Maps for each area must be bought from a shopkeeper generally hidden somewhere in that area, and the Knight can also buy upgrades that place markers on the map or allow them to reveal parts of the map as they explore. Many areas have a 'boss' enemy that the Knight must defeat in order to continue, and have a number of sub-bosses that drop useful rewards or upgrades.

Defeated enemies drop Geo, a currency that the Knight can use to buy items from shopkeepers. If the Knight is killed, they respawn at the last place they rested and lose all their Geo. They must then return to their place of death and defeat their Shade in order to recover the currency. The Knight also gains SOUL by attacking enemies, which they can then spend to recover lost health or activate special abilities. Health can also be recovered at Hot Springs, which are located around the world, or by resting at a Bench.

Development
The game was first announced through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that ran from November 19th, 2014 until December 19th, 2014, raising $58,893 AUD. Free additional content and updates were added over the two years following the initial release. Some of the leftover backers rewards as well as the 2nd player character goal are to be fulfilled in the game's sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Reception
The game was well-received, with the PC version having a score of 87/100 on reviews aggregation website Metacritic, and the Nintendo Switch version having a score of 90/100.

Tom Marks, writing at PC Gamer described the game as "the most beautiful hand drawn game [he'd] ever played". Jed Whitaker of Destructoid gave the game a 10/10, stating that it is "[t]ruly a masterpiece of gaming if there ever was one, and certainly art worthy of being in a museum." Some reviewers were critical of the game's lack of innovation in certain areas, such as Metro GameCentral, who said that while "[g]orgeously presented and cleverly designed, this impressively realised Metroidvania excels in every area except originality."

Trivia

 * While making Hollow Knight, Team Cherry's inspirations were games such as Zelda II, Faxanadu, Super Metroid, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.
 * The model for movement in Hollow Knight was the Mega Man and Mega Man X series.