I want to share some ideas after playing the game Hollow Knight. This was a game that I played when I started to get in touch with independent games and it left me with deep impression with its “freedom”. Until today, it is still one of my favorite game. I will show “freedom” I found in this game and also some other things I want to share about this game.
1. Gameplay
a. Skills and abilities
I think the gameplay of this game is very diverse. It starts with very simple ways interaction: moving left and right, looking up and down, jump, focus and slash. In the progress of passing the game, the knight could gain and upgrade their skills, which makes the ways of input being more diverse.
Initial skills (abilities)
New abilities gain in the process
Spells
Nail arts
Dream nail
Though there are many abilities and skills, a very good thing about that is that the player doesn’t need tons of keys on the keyboard to operate these skills. For example, the basic slash is clicking X, and to perform great slash, the player only needs to hold X for a while and then release. So it won’t take long to get used to new abilities and skills when the player learns them and the player would not likely to be messed up by tons of different keys on the keyboard representing different abilities.
The main challenge in this game is to defeat the boss so the player need to defeat the boss using the skills they have learned. Some players have special preference to certain kind of skill (slash, spell, and nail art, which are the three main “sects”) and some players would like to choose different skills they want to use when facing specific enemy. To develop each “sect”, there are also many charms in this game which could furthermore upgrade the ability. For example, I’m a follower of slash sect and the charms I really like to use are “Fragile Strength” (increase bone nail’s slash damage), “Mark of Pride” (increase the attack range of bone nails) and “Quick Slash” (increase the bone nail attacking speed). I think all these different skills and charms improve game diversity, playability, and strategy, which is a kind of “freedom” to users to choose their preferred ones.
b. Challenges settings
I think the main challenges for this game are different bosses and complex terrains and the knight has limited HP. (Some people also lost their way but I think this is not a problem for me because the map is really clear for this game). If the knight dies at some place, it will be resurrect at the chair (archive checkpoint) and get the soul back at the place where it dies. If the knight dies once again on the way to the soul, all the Geos (money) would gone. It sounds really discouraging but actually not. Most of the chairs are really close to the boss and the way from chair to boss are not dangerous. So as long as the player remembers to sit on the chair near the boss, the cost of “death” is almost zero. Players will not get discouraged from “high cost” death and even be motivated by failures, trying again and again to defeat the boss. The sense of achievement gained after defeating the boss is very fulfilling. Same case for complex terrains.
(Boss and complex terrains)
Also, when the player learns a new skill (either ability, spells or nail art, etc.), there will usually be a small challenge for the user to learn and get familiar with new skills. For example, when the player learned Vengeful Spirit, there will be a Baldur, which could only be killed by Vengeful Spirit, blocking the way. The only way to get out is to use the spell and kill it. In this process, the player learned and get familiar with this skill.
2. Storytelling
Through the many interactive characters, stone tablets, and reading the mind of monsters in the game, we can understand the grand world view of the game. I want to mention this because this makes the game, all the things that player had done, meaningful. It also gives player the motivation to continue to explore this world. Furthermore, there are different endings for this game depending on the choices of the player. That’s another manifestation of high degrees of freedom. Player also has the motivation to play twice to see other endings after they finished with one ending.
3. Arts and music
I really love the art and music for this game. The differences in artistic styles between different regions are very obvious, giving these different regions distinct characteristics. At the same time, the just right soundtrack further strengthens the regional characteristics. For example, the music in the Greenpath Showcased agility, vitality, and vigor, and the music in Kingdom’s Edge shows desolation, antiquity, and loneliness.
The music for boss is also worth mentioning. They not only fit the characteristics of the boss, but also provide a sense of rhythm for battles. One of my favorite music is the battle music for Mantis Lords. The tense and rhythmic music makes me feel like I’m not fighting against the boss, but dancing with them after get familiar with their movement (though this might take a long time).
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