I don’t love Metrovanias. But Hollow Knight is a game that kept asking me to play it. I’ll explain more about why I chose to play the game later on, but I’m so glad that I ended up giving the game a chance. It’s a great game, especially when you look at the price.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

The graphics of Hollow Knight are pretty darn good. Normally there isn’t much that you can get in terms of graphics out of a 2D platform style of game, but in the case of Hollow Knight, everything works and is pretty beautiful. The style is really nice and the first time that I played it, I instantly thought of Don’t Starve, and then once I started making the connection to that game, I started thinking that the graphics would have fit perfectly in a Tim Burton movie.

As a result, the style is amazing and I loved it. The character designs are really nice and the backgrounds are always stellar and do a really good job of setting the tone. Graphics gets a 9 out of 10 from me.

SOUND: 9/10

The music is the stuff that I love the most about Hollow Knight. In Fact, the music is what made me really want to play the game in the first place. I originally bought the game a couple months ago just for the purpose of having it. I knew very little about the actual game, but I knew that it was good and I was able to get it for like $4, so I thought I might as well.

Then sometime in October, I was looking up different video game songs on Youtube because I wanted to hear some new stuff and I came across one song called The Grimm Troupe, or something along those lines, and I loved the song. It was awesome, it was energetic and it had some great themes and patterns. Then I started listening to other songs from the game and I fell in love and knew that I wanted to play the game, mostly because of how awesome the music.

Out of all the songs, this one is still my favorite but I liked most of the songs throughout the game. Beyond that, the basic sounds of the game aren’t bad either, adding another level of depth that helps the games style. My grade for sound is going to be another 9 out of 10.

ADDICTIVENESS: 8/10

This personally isn’t the kind of game that I would play over and over from start to finish, but during your first entire play through of the game, it’s easily a lot of fun and overall a great experience. I personally didn’t see much outside of combat and the occasional instances where you could buy items or upgrade your weapon. There’s a bunch of merchants throughout Hallownest where you can buy a number of items or complete quests, which make certain parts of the game more fun or will give you a reason to go back to areas that you’ve been before.

Like I said before, it’s not the kind of game I’d go back and start over any time soon, but the first entire experience playing the game was epic and took up a decent chunk of time as well. My grade for addictiveness is going to be an 8 out of 10.

STORY: 8/10

There isn’t a lot to the story, you reach this area that resembles ruins and you start exploring them while learning that the place used to be a kingdom that was destroyed by some sort of a plague. As you progress through the game, you learn more about the kingdom and it’s downfall as well as who you are and your involvement. Depending on how you play and the route that you take, there’s going to be three different endings that you can unlock. In general, I think the story is okay but the real focus of the game for me was the gameplay and music. I didn’t focus too much on the story and it gets an 8 out of 10 from me.

DEPTH: 9/10

Hallownest is huge, with lots of places to explore. There’s nearly two dozen main sections that make up the entire world, with many of them having a few different locations in each one. In addition to all the places you can visit, there’s a dozen merchants and a bunch of NPC’s and enemies to interact with, making Hallownest full of life and things to do, despite the fact that it’s in ruins.

There’s also a bunch of items that you can buy and ways to upgrade your weapon, which add even more to the game. I think most of the depth comes from the size of the world more than anything else though, and depth gets a 9 out of 10 from me.

DIFFICULTY: 6

Hollow Knight can definitely be difficult at times, like Cuphead levels of difficulty. If you are knew to the game, there might be plenty of times where you die, especially against some of the bosses. Honestly, if you’re bad at Metrovanias, you might end up rage quitting a couple times, but if you really like the game or you’re a fan of the genre or good at them, you’re going to keep trying no matter how hard it gets.

OVERALL: 8.7/10

Overall, Hollow Knight is good. I’m not a fan of Metrovanias but there were just too many good things about the game to pass on. The two biggest and best aspects of the game in my opinion are the soundtrack and the gameplay. These two make the game so good and beyond those, the graphics and the story are good as well. You put all of them together and you get a game that’s fairly well balanced and entertaining.

The base game can easily set you back 30 hours, which is normally good for the $15 base price. But the Switch version also comes with a bunch of DLC packs. You get four DLC packs which come with new enemies, new bosses, new music, new upgrades, new quests, and more. The four packs are called Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, Lifeblood, and Godmaster, and all four can add another 10 to 20 hours of gameplay depending on how you play.

So if you’re a completionist, this $15 game can keep you occupied for 70 hours or more. Plus, it’s possible to get the game on sale throughout the year for $10 or less, and if you can, it will be a steal. My overall grade for Hollow Knight is going to be an 8.7 out of 10.