disclaimer:
this is my favorite game of all time so there's bound to be some blatant bias sprinkled over the review

What is Hollow Knight? For the blind, it is light. For the hungry, it is bread. For the sick, it is the cure. Now, even if this is nothing but a cheap copypasta, everything still holds true. Whilst it isn't beneficial to use video games as an escape method from real life problems since it doesn't cure the underlying depression nor change the status quo, it can still bring some joy into your life and save you from decisions you'd later regret. This is my love letter to Team Cherry and this masterpiece of a game. In all actuality, calling this a mere video game would be a diservice. Hollow Knight is much more than a metroidvania you pick up today and dismiss tomorrow. The experience lingers in your mind the same way movies like Titanic or books like War and Peace would. Hollow Knight is a statement. It has dash slashed its way into the hall of fame of pop-culture and established itself as a franchise never to be forgotten.

Storytelling
A silent protagonist returns to an old kingdom they once left behind. That's everything you're given and it's up to you to decipher the rest through the power of your imagination. Things aren't always spelled out for you. You might find the corpse of a giant centipede in a secret room, and that bug, although irrelevant in most aspects, still manages to spark your imagination. Some characters you come across are as clueless as yourself, so accidentally stumbling across them becomes a breath of fresh air, you're not alone down in Hallownest. On the other hand, some characters are hiding secrets from you, some are willing to trade, others will decieve you. In the grand scheme of things their stories might be uninteresting and the ending is attainable without speaking to anyone. But an otherwise dead world feels alive thanks to them.

Some bosses, upon defeat, reveal a secret "dream version" that you are able to fight. Through combat with these fierce opponents you learn their story and what role they played in the glory days of the kingdom. Nothing is forced on the player and the player doesn't need to read anything more than a couple of sentences to grasp the big picture. Instead, the story is experienced through gameplay rather than told through text. However, this is still an opportunity for those lore fans out there.

All this boils down to the fact that I've always wanted to play a long game and immerse myself in a world just like I would a book. I've always wanted to do side quests and walk around aimlessly exploring whilst the main storyline is temporarily put on hold. Sadly, no game has ever held my attention for more than 5 hours. I don't think I enjoy games anymore. Skyrim, Final Fantasy and similiar big open world games fail misserably, but Hollow Knight was different. And I also think that Hollow Knight is an exception. It's special. I won't play Final Fantasy for 50 hours and search for collectibles since I don't enjoy games anymore. So take it from me, Hollow Knight is worth every second you invest into it.

Gameplay
The gameplay can best be described with the japanese word "seseragi". Simply put, it refers to a small stream of water and the healing nature sounds accompanying it. There are videos of it online. What I want to say is that, the combat and movement in Hollow Knight are equivalent to that of flowing water. If you're skilled enough everything blends together seemlessly, and at least for me, it has some sort of calming sensation to it. Jumping on top of a bug with your nail and dashing away feels like playing the piano, seeing as I play with a keyboard and mouse this might be the reason.

Bosses are well thought out and some encounters even feel like coreographed dance performances, I'm looking at you Grimm. In my eyes, World of Warcraft has always been the staple when it comes to complicated and satisfying boss battles. However, the longer a game's life span is the more overloaded the mechanics become, and so WoW has suffered as a result. In Hollow Knight you don't have unecessary clutter, everything can be avoided if you have a trained eye and doesn't require the assistance of addons constantly telling you how to move. A single complaint would be that even if no boss is the same, (well of course the dream variants are), some mechanics are repeated through multiple battles, so it might feel redundant seeing a jump, a dash and a floating orb in every encounter.

Difficulty
Let's talk about the elephant in the room, namely the difficulty level. I won't lie, Hollow Knight is not an easy game, but it isn't that hard either. Boss fights on harder difficulties require you to be aware of your surroundings, you cannot step into the ring and move around on auto pilot since that will send you straight back to the bench. During your regular playthrough some easy bosses will feel impossible, but that is because you lack required upgrades and are still not used to the mechanics of the fights. In due time you will beat Hornet and the Mantis Lords without any problems. So enjoy the difficulty and enjoy the road to improvement, because you WILL reach a point where you're good at the game, and that's when Team Cherry will need to overcomplicate the boss fights, and then we will reach the World of Warcraft situation.

Interesting...
I just noticed that I originally posted this review one day before my ex-girlfriend left and ghosted me. The game meant a lot to me because I associated it with the time I spent together with her. Do not take anyone for granted.