So... Hollow Knight. I just finished my first playthrough of the game, and did absolutely every possible thing I could possibly do in a single run - gotta get a thorough idea of the game after all.

In a sentence - Hollow Knight is the best game I've played (for the first time) in years.

It gave me the same awe-inspiring, rage-inducing, emotion-playing marvel of an experience that my first ever Souls game did. Team Cherry have succeeded in making an absolute masterpiece of a game that, despite its small development team and backing, defies all the odds and has turned out to be ... well, exactly that - a masterpiece.

The game boasts a compelling, and ever-threatening story told through dialogue, visual cues, scattered items and enemies. The complexity and secrecy of the character's task, and the world about him, is one of inimitably flawless design. The lore of the world is rich, the characters met are complex at times, and simplistically beautiful at others - whilst ever providing the much needed, if momentary, companionship our lonesome little hero needs - even those that may wish to kill us. One can expect to meet a fair number of friends (and foes) whom wish to speak with them, and even share the journey - the character quests reveal much about their bearer, and whilst rewarding at times, they are most importantly a rollercoaster of emotions. That which you ought hate might in truth be the saddest of them all.

As can be expected of a 2D platformer, Hollow Knight possesses a huge and sprawling world full of unique environments - each filled to bursting with enemies and threats of their own; intricate maps that twist and turn on each other in relieving, and at times frustrating ways. Expect to get lost a decent amount in the early stages, until at last you've got a sense of geographical locations (though maps are available for each area having progressed far enough into them). The world is not only huge, but interconnected - both geographically and lore-wise. Every area plays its part, and not one disappoints.

Hollow Knight is anything but linear. One can explore almost the entirety of the world whilst barely fighting any bosses at all, should they choose to, and all can be returned to at any time - and by a variety of means and directions. The player will find themselves consistently revisiting areas to explore new, previously unreachable paths, find new secrets and encounter new enemies.

Beyond being filled with enemies, traps, dangerous landscapes and the occasional friend... Hollow Knight is also filled with secrets. Secrets that hide items, spells, characters... and secrets that hide more secrets that sometimes even hide more secrets. EXPLORE EVERYTHING. HIT EVERY WALL.

... now we get to the grit of the game - though by no means are these 'bad' points, but ones which may turn people off. Hollow Knight is hard. Not HARD, but... bloody hard.

Generic mobs tend not to pose much of a problem. Perhaps when you first encounter them, but soon you'll find yourself used to their moves and now how to easily defeat them all. Then there are bosses. Hollow Knight has many unique boss battles to test your mettle, and indeed they shall. Bosses are no pushovers, and can be extremely difficult for the unprepared. Equip the right items, adopt the right tactics, get used to their movesets and hope for the best.

However, the true challenge of Hollow Knight is the platforming. While at times simple, especially in the early areas, many of the worlds secrets or best items are 'locked' behind a platforming challenge (or even a WHOLE AREA of platforming). Until you learn all the tricks of the trade, some of these will go from difficult, to absolutely impossible. Expect to die many times trying to complete that one challenge locking you away from your last Shard or Fragment (I won't tell you their full names of course).

Beyond the blatant aspects of the game, Hollow Knight also possesses an amazing Soundtrack, composed by Christopher Larkin. It really is fantastic, and among my top list (which I suppose is a fair few) of Game Soundtracks - including Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Journey, The Last Guardian, The Witcher III, Demon's Souls, NieR and many, many more. Point is... it's damn good.

Truly, to encompass everything, Hollow Knight is absolutely worth it to anyone. Even if 2D Platformers aren't your thing, it's still one to play. It may drive you to the point of insanity at times (namely platforming), but everything is surpassable with perseverance.

Buy Hollow Knight. Play it. Struggle through it. Hate it. Beat it. Fall in love with it.

EDIT :: And of course... Steel Soul is a biotch.

Order in chaos is a paradoxical and yet natural phenomenon. An exemplary reference of this would be amongst schools of fish whom form tidy queues in emergencies. In the words of Jung, "In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order."

Tunic is a beautiful marriage of these juxtaposing elements. It draws the player into a non-linear world, gives them a stick and an unreadable manual with no pages and leaves them to it. Yet, what appears as chaos to an external observer has an inner structure and that once the player properly understands the sorting mechanism of said chaos, they'll come to the conclusion that it isn't chaotic at all.

This game is layer upon layer of pure form and composition. A deliberate and intricate matrix that unveils itself with every discovery. Tunic is a rare diamond in the gaming industry, where passion and vision are rewarded with brilliant execution. It is so clear that the developer of Tunic had a clear goal in mind when creating the game, and has presented a project of love and attention.

====

Tunic is a game of exploration and puzzle solving at its core. It has moments of tension, moments of calm, but where it shines is the abundance of wonderment it provides. Discovery at its best. The world itself is an absolute gem to explore, from visual design, atmosphere, sound design and music; through to the incredible level design and myriad of secrets and paths to discover.

The mechanics are simple and uncomplicated, which for a game like this is a boon. It puts priority on the player using their eyes, ears and mind to progress the game rather than the deftness of their fingers. As such, the game is unbound by difficulty. It's a game of knowing.

And that's all you need to know.

Don't watch reviews, don't watch gameplay. The trailer on the store page is enough to determine whether it's your style of game (and even then it's better not to watch it). Don't let anything spoil the experience, because there is no way of getting that sense of discovery back.