Soo… Hollow Knight. I’ve been looking for a Metroidvania game and this popped up. How does it compare to Metroid? From the trailer footage and the reviews it looks more of a super-precise platformer like Celeste with lots of cruel boss fights.
i lean more towards the metroid side of the metroidvania genre and i spent around 15 or so hours in hollow knight. it has beautiful design and very deep lore. the map goes on forever. the platforming is tough, but not exceedingly difficult. what made me give up is partially that the combat is too fast and goes on for too long, and partially that it has a corpse run mechanic, which i despise.
at least for a while you can get away with exploring somewhere else when an area seems too daunting, but after a while you hit combat roadblocks which means every failure requires a dash back with half health.
Hollow knight is great, it’s one of my favorites. However if you are looking for something to scratch a Metroid itch, I’d suggest looking into Axiom Verge.
Hollow Knight is great. The bosses are tough, but manageable. IIRC, the only really tough platforming section is optional.
I’ve been picking Metroidvanias from this list lately and been pretty happy. He also has some good maps for them.
https://demajen.co.uk/tierlist.html
I was recommended it after I finished both Oris but I remember getting super frustrated with the death system which made the whole thing too hardcore for me and my 2.7 minutes of free time. Did I do it wrong?
As a pretty old dude, I feel you on the lack of time. That’s part of why I don’t mind looking at maps. I need to be efficient with my time. You do get items that help with survivability and a fair number of checkpoints. As with any media, you should never feel guilty if you’re just not feeling it.
The Ori games were beautiful and quite well done too. Best escape sequences ever.
Man, I wanted to like the game, but the souls-like trudge from the save point over and over, because I suck and get beaten by bosses easily, drives me up the wall.
They definitely leaned into the vania side of the genre. If it helps, my approach to bosses is to go in completely defensive at first. That is, don’t even try to attack. Learn the moveset, dodge, and eventually you’ll start to see where you can squeeze in an attack (or two or three). Don’t get greedy and stick to the attack windows that work for you. It can be rewarding, but it’s definitely not for everyone.
There is a (something like 50 round) pantheon at the end where you fight every boss/mini-boss in the game plus a unique boss for the final round. It’s literally like 45 minutes. I made it to the final round, but I will never finish it. It’s just too much for me and I wasn’t having fun.
I’ll beat my head against any wall until it breaks with a boss fight, as long as I can get back in the fight straight away. Otherwise it’s just putting annoying simple shit I’ve already beaten in the way of my goal, and that bores me.
Definitely a metroidvania where combat is a major point of the game. Not my favorite in that respect, since my reflexes get worse with each year that passes. Otherwise, it is in the top five of the genre.
Anyhow, I recommend a dark horse for your metroid fix, provided you are into puzzles. I think La-Mulana 1 & 2 are easily the largest and best games in the genre, but they require lots of out-of-the-box thinking, and some of the puzzles are really hardcore. If you are into Indiana Jones, this really scratches that itch.
The games come in freeware and commercial flavors.
It’s a beautiful game. One of the best I’ve played. I just love the atmosphere, art style and music
It’s more focused on combat than platforming (tip: you can bounce off some spikes with a well timed downward aerial attack) and the typical metroidvania exploration and backtracking. Except there’s a brutal optional platforming section that I haven’t had the courage to face yet 😅
The bosses are tough, but not unfair. Some of the optional ones and the (true) final battle can be a bit frustrating but that makes finally succeeding just all the more satisfying.
Given that it it’s a couple of years old now it’s cheap to buy even when not on sale, so do yourself the favor and give it a try!
Soo… Hollow Knight. I’ve been looking for a Metroidvania game and this popped up. How does it compare to Metroid? From the trailer footage and the reviews it looks more of a super-precise platformer like Celeste with lots of cruel boss fights.
i lean more towards the metroid side of the metroidvania genre and i spent around 15 or so hours in hollow knight. it has beautiful design and very deep lore. the map goes on forever. the platforming is tough, but not exceedingly difficult. what made me give up is partially that the combat is too fast and goes on for too long, and partially that it has a corpse run mechanic, which i despise.
at least for a while you can get away with exploring somewhere else when an area seems too daunting, but after a while you hit combat roadblocks which means every failure requires a dash back with half health.
Hollow knight is great, it’s one of my favorites. However if you are looking for something to scratch a Metroid itch, I’d suggest looking into Axiom Verge.
Looks awesome, thanks for the tip!
Hollow Knight is great. The bosses are tough, but manageable. IIRC, the only really tough platforming section is optional. I’ve been picking Metroidvanias from this list lately and been pretty happy. He also has some good maps for them. https://demajen.co.uk/tierlist.html
I was recommended it after I finished both Oris but I remember getting super frustrated with the death system which made the whole thing too hardcore for me and my 2.7 minutes of free time. Did I do it wrong?
As a pretty old dude, I feel you on the lack of time. That’s part of why I don’t mind looking at maps. I need to be efficient with my time. You do get items that help with survivability and a fair number of checkpoints. As with any media, you should never feel guilty if you’re just not feeling it.
The Ori games were beautiful and quite well done too. Best escape sequences ever.
Man, I wanted to like the game, but the souls-like trudge from the save point over and over, because I suck and get beaten by bosses easily, drives me up the wall.
They definitely leaned into the vania side of the genre. If it helps, my approach to bosses is to go in completely defensive at first. That is, don’t even try to attack. Learn the moveset, dodge, and eventually you’ll start to see where you can squeeze in an attack (or two or three). Don’t get greedy and stick to the attack windows that work for you. It can be rewarding, but it’s definitely not for everyone.
There is a (something like 50 round) pantheon at the end where you fight every boss/mini-boss in the game plus a unique boss for the final round. It’s literally like 45 minutes. I made it to the final round, but I will never finish it. It’s just too much for me and I wasn’t having fun.
I’ll beat my head against any wall until it breaks with a boss fight, as long as I can get back in the fight straight away. Otherwise it’s just putting annoying simple shit I’ve already beaten in the way of my goal, and that bores me.
Definitely a metroidvania where combat is a major point of the game. Not my favorite in that respect, since my reflexes get worse with each year that passes. Otherwise, it is in the top five of the genre.
Anyhow, I recommend a dark horse for your metroid fix, provided you are into puzzles. I think La-Mulana 1 & 2 are easily the largest and best games in the genre, but they require lots of out-of-the-box thinking, and some of the puzzles are really hardcore. If you are into Indiana Jones, this really scratches that itch.
The games come in freeware and commercial flavors.
It’s a beautiful game. One of the best I’ve played. I just love the atmosphere, art style and music
It’s more focused on combat than platforming (tip: you can bounce off some spikes with a well timed downward aerial attack) and the typical metroidvania exploration and backtracking. Except there’s a brutal optional platforming section that I haven’t had the courage to face yet 😅
The bosses are tough, but not unfair. Some of the optional ones and the (true) final battle can be a bit frustrating but that makes finally succeeding just all the more satisfying.
Given that it it’s a couple of years old now it’s cheap to buy even when not on sale, so do yourself the favor and give it a try!
As someone who’s quite a ways through the map, what platforming section are you referring to? (Maybe spoiler tag it)
He’s referring to the
Path of pain
which is in The White Palace
Oh what the hell I haven’t even seen that