It also is your source of power for when you learn (for lack of a better term) magic abilities, sending out devastating attacks that move until they go off screen. Your health is represented by five little orbs (to start with, this can be expanded), and at any point if you need to refill any empty ones, you can tap into the Soul and replenish health. Soul ties into not one, but two useful thing for you while you play.

Land a hit and you’ll see this white meter start to fill up, and you’ll be happy it does. Soul is gained by simply slashing at enemies. You’ll definitely need the Geo to purchase a number of different items that can help you in a lot of ways like learning new abilities or extending your health.

Enemies will drop some on their death, with weaker easier enemies only dropping two or three, and bosses dropping many dozens at a time. Geo is Hallownest’s form of currency, and you can find it almost anywhere. Your unnamed knight requires two things to push on through his challenges : Soul and Geo. Attacks will need to be dodged, and you may even need to find space to duck out and heal for a moment.Īll of the enemies, including the bosses, are the keys to this game’s two biggest systems. You won’t be able to just lumber up and hack away until you kill whatever is in front of you. The combat is smooth and incredibly easy to learn, but once you start taking on the bosses you’ll see just how much Hollow Knight wants you to work on your strategy in these fights. Scattered all over the map are platforming puzzles and hidden bosses that are going to test your patience and ability to learn on the fly. So, technically Hollow Knight kicks off with a fully accessible map…that you don’t have the moves to actually access.Īt first, this game feels like you’re running into a brick wall without wearing a helmet. You can explore in any and every direction immediately, but as with any Metroidvania game, any sections that are blocked off are done so until you gain a specific ability. Equipped with a sword (called Nail) and the ability to jump…you have all you need to set out. The moment you lay foot in the game’s kingdom of Hallownest, you’re not going to know what to do or where to go. Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight on the Switch does something unique, in that it makes both versions of getting lost in it true. The game can be so incredible that you’ll just absorb every pixel before you and feel it surrounding you, or it can be horrible at indicating where you need to go. Typically, in the world of gaming, getting lost in a game can either mean something very good, or very bad.

Hollow knight review