this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
84 points (92.9% liked)
Games
18409 readers
1161 users here now
Video game news oriented community. No NanoUFO is not a bot :)
Posts.
- News oriented content (general reviews, previews or retrospectives allowed).
- Broad discussion posts (preferably not only about a specific game).
- No humor/memes etc..
- No affiliate links
- No advertising.
- No clickbait, editorialized, sensational titles. State the game in question in the title. No all caps.
- No self promotion.
- No duplicate posts, newer post will be deleted unless there is more discussion in one of the posts.
- No politics.
Comments.
- No personal attacks.
- Obey instance rules.
- No low effort comments(one or two words, emoji etc..)
- Please use spoiler tags for spoilers.
My goal is just to have a community where people can go and see what new game news is out for the day and comment on it.
Other communities:
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I don't really understand the appeal of Hollow Knight. Like don't get me wrong, I loved it, but having played lots of other Metroidvanias, including the classic Symphony of the Night, it didn't rock my world or reshape the paradigm that existed. It is a good Metroidvania alongside others.
Is the appeal a kind of generational thing—people who hadn't played a lot of those predecessors but experienced this one first?
Edit: I appreciate the responses and everyone's unique perspective!
Hollow Knight is appropriately moody for the genre. Many Metroidvanias are boring because they lack character that would motivate you to do Metroidvania levels of backtracking. Some games tried to copy Hollow Knight vibes specifically, for example Ender Lillies, but nobody managed to even match it.
The game itself is not innovative but very polished, like Blizzard game from the old times. I think it was one of the first games in the genre that picked up some cues from Soulsborne games too, before formula was overdone, hence why it is so fondly remembered.
The art style is great, and the ability to choose your loadout adds a unique twist to how Metroidvanias usually work. I had a good time playing it, and it reminded me a lot of when I played Symphony of the Night many years ago.
This is a good point, and likely why I've not gotten that into many of the more recent ones (with some exceptions). I suppose in that sense, it's revolutionary next to many of its contemporaries.