Metroidvania is a type of game that is derived from the Metroid series and the Castlevania series and one of the most prominent recent examples of this is the much-celebrated Hollow Knight. Hollow Knight is a side-scrolling action adventure full of darkness, mystery, sacrifice, and fulfillment made by Team Cherry, Ari Gibson, William Pellen, and David Kazi; the studio was founded in 2012 in Australia. Hollow Knight takes players through an incredible handcrafted world that is so hauntingly beautiful that it is hard to turn away from. All of this comes in cute and creepy bug form. Players take control of The Knight and dive deep into the shadows to find out the secrets of this thought-provoking title. Let’s break it down.

When first stepping into the game’s world, it’s immediately apparent of how dark the world is in Kings Pass coming into Dirtmouth itself. Coming into the world I quickly noticed just how smooth the controls were. Freeing myself from the tutorial zone put me in Dirtmouth, the city hub of the game. This is the highest point one can reach next to the Howling Cliffs, but this is the only real safe zone of this hostile land. Dirtmouth is full of NPCs that allow for narrative moments, the purchase of upgrades, rest, access the Stag Way, and plunge into the entrance of the Hallownest.

Hallownest is massive. I had no idea just how big it really was until I progressed into the game more and more. At first, I believed the game to be a short platforming game made by an indie studio I had never heard of before, the type of thing that often comes up in gaming and can be typically finished in a weekend. After I began to play in earnest, I kept thinking I surely was close to the end. Thirty-six hours later I have just completed the main storyline of the game in a blind run. I haven’t really scratched the surface of the four DLC adventures and I only have gotten one of several different endings. I cannot stress enough how wonderful my time with Hollow Knight has been.

For better or worse, I sunk a ton of time into Hollow Knight and I am not sad to see one minute of it gone.