Title says it all.
The map system, the extremely large and expansive areas, difficulty spikes, and general "un-funness" has led me to finally put this game down for good. I don't have fun at all exploring despite loving Soulsborne series. Maybe I just don't like Metroidvania games?
Btw don't get me wrong, I want to love this game. The atmosphere is top notch and the story is intriguing. Shame about everything else though.
Am I just missing something here? What does everyone enjoy out of it?
Steamworld Dig 2 is still the best Metroidvania game I've played.
....Unfinished??yeah, I guess so? I still think they wouldn't have gone that way if they had more resources. It's a shame that they went the cute route, it really doesn't work for me and makes the game feel unfinished.
Now I'm even more confused. Every area and boss fight has music...
This is literally true of every highly rated game ever made.There seems to be quite a few people who agree that the title doesn't match up with high praise it always gets.
I never understood this concept. You don't think a couple of hours is quite long enough, so you need to put in an extra couple to check that you REALLY don't like it?I know Hollow Knight is massive (my first playthrough took 70+ hours while my third took 40) but playing a game for a few hours is long enough to decide it's for you.
Yes, I agree, not everyone likes everything. But these Hollow Knight threads where people feel disappointed by what they've played vs the praise it gets are common. It's the very definition of overrated.
A highly praised game shouldn't be that 'divisive'.
Except for the people who, in this very thread, said they played it for hours and didn't like it or were ambivalent and then it did eventually click. Clearly their experience can't be ignored. Maybe not everyone can immediately assess a game in half an hour.I'm less than 5 hours into it, but so far, I'm not really feeling it. It's actually the first Metroidvania game I've played that doesn't inspire me to keep coming back to it. I'll finish it eventually, but I'm not understanding the hype for it so far, other than the art style being top notch.
Edit: I'd like to add to what NinjaBoiX said above. I've seen a lot of people say that X game gets better after X amount of hours, but I've never understood that myself. I usually like a game right away; it shouldn't take more than 10-20 minutes for anyone to figure out whether they would want to play another 10-30 hours of basically any given game.
Should it be really seen as critically acclaimed if only a small percentage of a potential audience appreciates it for what it is?Why? Let the average readers discuss James Joyces Ulysses, and I'm certain that it, though a critically acclaimed work, will have failed to connect with a huge number of them.
Should it be really seen as critically acclaimed if only a small percentage of a potential audience appreciates it for what it is?
Should it be really seen as critically acclaimed if only a small percentage of a potential audience appreciates it for what it is?
My argument is that Hollow Knight has this label that it 'must be played' according to your link. When the reality is that there are quite a few people that have played it, but the reviews don't match up with their experience.Are you arguing that Joyces Ulysses isn't critically acclaimed? Or for that matter that Hollow Knight isn't?
https://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/hollow-knight
I actually see more threads about HK from people LTTP that proclaim its excellence on here than probbaly any other game.A small percentage? Roughly 46,000 reviews on steam currently. 95% positive. These threads aren't indicative at all of the general consensus.
You'd be a lot better off arguing without couching it in lazy ass words like "overrated" and, y'know, actually putting out some meaningful criticism toward the game. There are tons of critically acclaimed games I strongly dislike but I'd never begin to assume I could trot out "overrated" with my hands on my hips and act like that means anything at all, cos it doesn't.
When it first came out it was PC exclusive, and the high praise it got was given a side eye because so many people couldn't play it yet. It also upended the traditional hierarchy of all time great metroidvanias with people putting it up there with SoTN and SM which is always going to ruffle feathers and lead to unnecessary backlash.I'm super curious why it's this game in particular that has so many people making threads about how they didn't like it. We get at least one a month, and you don't see that for other games.
My argument is that Hollow Knight has this label that it 'must be played' according to your link. When the reality is that there are quite a few people that have played it, but the reviews don't match up with their experience.
Whenever people complain about the map system in Hollow Knight it just reinforces my theory that as games add more and more handholding type mechanics for 'player comfort' over years, players just get so used to them that they lash out when those are taken away.
As you backtrack, you learn the layout pretty well -- especially of the most central/revisited areas. Regardless, the game offers several different fast travel options as you explore the world. Traversal is never really that inconvenient once you get a few hours in. Having played as much of it as you have, I am sure you are aware of what I'm talking about. I can't imagine playing that much and still having an issue with backtracking given all the options.It's a really good game but yea I found the world traversal a real chore. Too much use of the map every few seconds, every little room is like a maze so constantly checking which exit you need to come out at just to access the neighbouring room etc, I personally thought the design here was straight up shit. I get ppl saying they like being lost in the world etc but all the rooms look like cut and pasted tiles with a different layout so I wasn't that immersed in the world to be feeling this.
The backtracking.....I've played and finished a majority of the big metroid-vania like games and I can't remember the backtracking to be so frequent and so cumbersome in a game ever. There was so much of it and combined with the problem above it just loathed having to travel anywhere in the game.
Nice chunky sprite design but cramped AF screen/rooms. As much as I love the artwork and character designs most of the boss fights are done in extremely cramped spaces (why couldn't they utilise scrolling more?!) which led me to just swap out charms for health stuff and just tanking most bosses. Again shit design that could've been negated with a little bit of horizonal/vertical scrolling.
I completely get where the OP is coming from but I was able to finish it (over 100% completion...just couldn't beat nightmare grimm and that crazy optional platforming section but aside from that saw and did everything else).
Same here. I got really frustrated with it and put it down. I am a dirty, filthy, metroidvania slut. I just didn't like hollow knight.Agreed. I stopped after a couple hours. One of the most overrated recent games.
Stop pretending that the ERA bubble is indicative of how the majority of consumers feels about something.My argument is that Hollow Knight has this label that it 'must be played' according to your link. When the reality is that there are quite a few people that have played it, but the reviews don't match up with their experience.
That's not actually true, like most things in the game though it is just optional functionality. You can definitely double jump, wall cling, wall jump, air dash, nail bounce, and several other things to manipulate your aerial movement. Some of these require finding new skills or charms, some (like the nail bounce) are baked into your kit from the second you start the game.It's the jumping mechanic that puts me off. It's impossible to adjust your jump in mid-air, it's just so sensitive that any compensation you make is
over the top.
The looks and sounds the game makes are brilliant though.
It creates a beautiful atmosphere dripping with humid insect nest goodness.
I just found dying from the uncompromising control system two screens away from the sofa I just re-spawned at very frustrating.
That's not actually true, like most things in the game though it is just optional functionality. You can definitely double jump, wall cling, wall jump, air dash, nail bounce, and several other things to manipulate your aerial movement. Some of these require finding new skills or charms, some (like the nail bounce) are baked into your kit from the second you start the game.
Ah, I know exactly the part you're talking about.Yeah. I had the air dash which did help loads. I suppose I'm just being impatient.
there were some fungus I had to nail bounce on but they were of the very limit of the jump. It was just to easy to fluff it.
I will restart it when the evenings get longer this winter. I don't hate the game.
i can just see the frustrations that may put some people off.
(The text entry box on resetera is killing my phone! Typing this is more frustrating than hollow knight!)