Don't get me wrong, it's still a good game. But I'm not sure it deserves all the hype it got last year.
It does some very clever stuff in terms of gameplay, with each character having their own unique battle system that synergise with the others.
And yes, the soundtrack is incredible.
In terms of the story, whilst it was interesting, the way the game drip-feeds you knowledge in the first two acts quickly became frustrating. There were multiple cutscenes where characters speak in such a vague, superficially poetic way. In reality it just felt pretentious.
Major story spoilers:
spoiler
The overall metaphor for grief is unique. I liked the concept of the characters being creations in this painting, and how that layer of reality feeds into the one you begin the game in. But it felt like everything was revealed all at once in Act 3. The game gives you very little up to that point, so it's hard to emphasize with many of the characters. Perhaps replaying the game knowing what you know changes the perspective of it, but for a new player I'm not sure it's the best way to tell a story.
Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion but I found the game aesthetically quite ugly. Many landscapes had a feeling of copy pasted Unreal assets that looked so same-y at points they became confusing to navigate (especially given the lack of a mini-map). The characters had these blank, uncanny stares half the time and the designs for some of them (Esquie in particular) just didn't look good to me.
Oh and I'm really not sure why the devs decided to add entirely unnecessary platforming elements!
I found certain enemy attacks to be inconsistent and not well telegraphed, leading to some frustrating encounters were you had to memorise the parry timings rather than learn them from a valid cue.
I think the game deserves good reviews, but I'm not quite sure how it won so many GOTY awards. Perhaps it just wasn't the game for me.
Yeah, it didn't sit well with me either and the only reason that i tried it was because everyone was singing it's praises like it was the most amazing game in history.
Only one YT channel didn't go with the flow Worth a Buy, Mack didn't say it was bad but that everyone was making it more incredible than it really is.
I got it and played till you get the little redhead in a museum i think and then i was kinda bored and couldn't be bothered to keep going and the whole way to that point i just didn't resonate with it.
I’m this way with Hollow Knight. I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s close to the bottom of my list of Metroidvanias.
The great thing about modern gaming is the variety and availability, so there’s always something else to play that meets our tastes.
I also couldn’t get into HK despite loving Dead Cells and being on a real side-scroller kick at the time. Music was great but I just couldn’t care about the world. They you had the whole world going bonkers about Silksong for like 6 years… I lost any interest at that point.
I adore Dead Cells!
I had really hoped my love for that game would translate to HK. I am excited for that new Castlevania game the creators of DeadCells are making. I’m sure it’ll be a banger.
Hell yeah. Me too!