Immediately, you are thrown into a world either without a map or with very little information about your location. However, you have a very limited number of slots and if you waste on something as simple as your map location, you will miss out on everything Hollow Knight has to offer. Early on in your Hollow Knight map reading career, you are given a crest (these are specific perks or powers that you can equip) that means that you can see your location on the map. However, once you find the cartographer in each area, he will give you a partial map but the majority of it is blank, ready for you to explore and complete. This doesn’t stop you exploring but you can’t help but feel lost and a sense of trepidation as move through this uncharted zone. Upon entering a new area, you have no map and if you try to open the map screen it will be blank. All of this is tied together through an ever expanding map. Each area in Hollow Knight is distinct not only in theme but monsters and challenges. So what makes this 2D map so magical? Firstly, Hollow Knight is a game all about exploring the depths a place call the Hollownest. At this point, you probably already know that I’m going to say something along the lines of, map reading in Hollow Knight is beautiful, and you would be correct in that assumption. Hollow Knight manages an incredible amount, especially when you consider that most maps allow for three-dimensional navigation. A 2D platformer that succeeds in being one of the most engaging map reading experiences in video games. You go on it see where the next ‘thing’ is and follow it from place to place with, for the most part, a clear idea of what to expect.Īnd then you have Hollow Knight. Instead, it’s a waypoint finder, that takes a lot of the mystery and adventure out of the experience. However, even in those examples the level of detail and player tracking mean that there is no joy in using the map. In other instances, you can give a map a pass if the game world is mildly modern/futuristic. I don’t like to use the words ludo-narrative dissonance, but I will. Generally, the approach is to be a hyper-detailed Google Maps version of reality regardless of whether you are exploring a mountain in Monster Hunter World, where the most high tech bit of kit you have is a staff that shoots a beetle, but you still see yourself and others running across a scroll, tracking monster movement and every rock and fauna around. In it we discuss that maps and map reading are something video games struggle with. But, as with all the other stats, if players seek out the right items, such as certain combinations of Charms or Mask Shards, they can increase their odds little by little.We have a podcast episode dedicated to video game maps, so if you love them as much as we do head over here for a listen, or check out my new post on maps in God of War. The starting stats of the player character, AKA the Knight are pretty weak, and that includes their Health. And, when a player first starts Hollow Knight and gets into combat, they may be surprised to see just how many hits every enemy seems to take. Updated July 3rd, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: As Hollow Knight fans wait evermore in what feels like purgatory for news related to the sequel, Silksong, new players are just starting this adorable-yet-dark Metroidvania and other games like it for the very first time. From the starting point of Health in Hollow Knightof 5 Masks, players can bump that all the way up to 9 after collecting every Mask Shard. Think of them like Heart Containers from the Zelda series, collect enough, and they'll combine to make a new 'heart'. To increase the number of Masks the player has, they'll need to collect items called Mask Shards. The more Masks the Knight has, the more hits they'll be able to take before they are destroyed, sent back to the bench, and must defeat their Shade before regaining their Geo.
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