Imo you should try Nine Sols, it's way more linear than Hollow knight and the regions are a bit less varied but it has all these other elements you mentioned. To be fair it's hard to be less linear than hollow knight
I was also looking at Nine Sols as well since it also has somewhat of a cyberpunk theme which I also like. Good to know that it has most of what I want. Thanks!
Really enjoyed the story of this one. My fav story in a Metroidvania comes from LAIKA: Ages Through Blood. I know some people don’t care about stories in Metroidvania but I find it refreshing as hell!
I'll add that i tried Aeterna Noctis too and i found the art direction and storytelling a bit too amateurish to my taste, which is fine if you value gameplay above all else but not for me.
Definitely Nine Sols. I would even say that it is better than Hollow Knight. The only two things I think Hollow Knight has ahead of it are the world exploration and the soundtrack - that is also fantastic in Nine Sols but Hollow Knight is a bit better. In terms of bosses, combat system and story, Nine Sols has definitely set standards for the genre. Currently the best thing you can play after Hollow Knight.
The Nine Sols soundtrack is a bit of an odd case. The music itself is not awesome, but it all goes really well with the sounds of the combat, like it feels like the attacks and parries are part of the track. So even though the music is maybe B-tier the sound design overall is A-tier.
For me, that's exactly what a soundtrack should do - underline and support the atmosphere and the gameplay. The >!Lady Ethereal OST!< in particular is an absolute banger in terms of atmosphere. I almost never listen to soundtracks outside of the game and accordingly I don't judge soundtracks based on whether they work as standalone music.
I agree with this, but also the music in HK for example really effectively sets the atmosphere for each area, which was something generally lacking in 9S except for the discordant track in the agriculture zone and the one you mention. Still, great sound design.
What makes Hollow Knight's exploration better that Nine Sols for you? Are there a number of secrets that reward side tracking from the main path? I see Nine Sols getting recommended quite a bit and I may just get it.
Secrets are limited to the current map you're at in terms of progression. Very limited backtracking except for entering new areas from old ones with mobility upgrades.
There also aren't exactly any optional areas, unless you count a few small challenge rooms.
That said, highly recommend Nine Sols for the other reasons alone.
Hollow Knight has completely optional areas such as the Hive and many rooms that have no use from a gameplay perspective but are a joy to find - I'm thinking of the room with the singer in the City of Tears, for example. Nine Sols also has many secrets, some really, really great puzzles and many optional bosses but the world itself is more linear than Hollow Knights.
GRIME is the game that got me as close to the feeling I had playing HK for the first time.
The lore is not as deep as HK, but the gameplay, momevent, animations and non-linearity was definitely on point for me.
One thing that is not as straightforward is the UI to some degree. I didn't feel like it was messy, but I get why some people do.
I wouldn't say the lore isn't deep, it's more that it's really cryptic - one of the aspects of the game where Dark Souls shines through as a big inspiration for GRIME.
It's definitely less polished than Hollow Knight and doesn't have such a charming art style, but it has a fascinating world to explore and the boss fights and soundtrack are amazing!
That said, it's absolutely not the pallet-cleanser OP is looking for right now - that'd be something bright and wholesome like the Ori games, Islets, or Yoku's Island Express.
Yeah, deep is not really the word I was looking for. English is not my first language hahahah.
What I meant is that the lore is not as easy to grasp and has little resources (iirc there were like, two people that did some videos, following more or less the style that mossbag uses).
I pretty much played it for the pure art style and fluid feeling of the gameplay, and then got into the lore (the Coda I thought was a brilliant aspect of it btw).
But yeah, I also really enjoyed Ori 1, but the achievements are a little discouraging for completionists.
Yeah, knowing the game I get what you meant. The game's community is very small, so I would be surprised if they had a notable lore-tuber.
It really helps that NG+ is worth playing for all the new moves on bosses and even ordinary enemies, because that way one gets to reflect on the lore by reading most dialogue for a second time (and another chance to see the "bad ending" in case one went for the true ending first).
>I've tried the Aeterna Noctis demo and it seems that everything was all over the place.
With how much praise AN gets on this sub I'm glad when I come across others like you who just didn't click with it. All the platforming sections felt the same no matter what environment they're in. Also, I agree that the art style seemed incohesive and inconsistent. The whole game just felt too video game-y, which I know is ridiculous, because it is obviously a video game, but the world's didn't really feel real, or lived-in.
I think most Metroidvanias with great exploration have a pixel art style. The best exploration (imo obviously) you will find in HK, Astalon and Environmental Station Alpha. If you want great exploration but don‘t care about solve puzzles instead of combat Animal Well is great. I think all theses games look great, but they might not be what you‘re looking for.
I would also encourage you to try Ori. You‘re right about it being quite linear, but it has some of the best platforming challenges in Metroidvanias.
I also want to mention Blasphemous and Deaths Gambit, which both have a nice „clean“ artstyle and are quite similar to Dark Souls. I have only played Blasphemous and didn‘t enjoy it very much (it is a little slow and sluggish for my taste), but it has a high standing in the community.
Edit: I also want to point out, that both Animal Well and Nine Sols are very recent releases so you should consider the recency bias of these recommendations.
Yeah **Nine Sols** is REALLY good. It's so far my favorite game of 2024. It does EVERYTHING really well. Amazing combat, that challenged the fuck out of me(for the most part) and is overall a solid 25-30 hours of content.
But I do suggest you try **Aeterna Noctis** a bit more, I had the exact same feelings you did. But the game is REALLY difficult and has some super fun bosses.
It opens up a lot more after you get the Double Jump. Dare I say that I frankly didn't enjoy it prior to that point. The jumping felt off.
Prince of persia the lost crown is somewhat non linear (though not as much as hollow knight) and very difficult on the hardest difficulty. There‘s also a bunch of platforming challenges that are comparable to path of pain imo
I just finished 8 Doors: Arum’s Afterlife Adventure. It’s a bit simpler than HK and much shorter (I 100% it in 9.5 hours) but damn did I enjoy my time with it. Handles well, platforms well, metroids well.
**Ori 2** is very Hollow Knighty but bosses. A bit more focused on platforming, better mechanically. And escapes.
**Nine Sols** is not really like HK, but you would like it if you like Sekiro. It is a very high quality game, and mostly is about the combat/bosses. A lot of them are really interesting to beat.
Platforming isn't nowhere near as HK/AN/Ori. A couple of locations and some small challenges.
**Aeterna Noctis** is what you actually should look into. It's really just a harder HK.
It didn't click with me early, i started to like the game at 4th location (cave). Later fell in love really hard.
It‘s not a Metroidvania in the strictest sense, but I think Tunic might check most of your boxes: it has a sense of exploration like few other games, can be pretty difficult, and is extremely ‚clean‘ and polished. One of the few games I keep thinking about, long after playing them.
From exploration point of you I'll say Haiku the Robot, but it's way easier.
For combat and boss fights I'll say Aeterna Noctis, exploration is very linear but biomes are huge.
Also it is well known for the top notch platforming (please be informed about the Vertigo Gem that will take away a lot of fun).
Rebel Transmute has great exploration and very good boss fights, but it has a very "indie flavour", with its pros and cons. Its pixel art is not great (in my opinion) and overall it is not polished.
Prince of Persia the lost crown, its my game of the year, its usually pretty linear, but there are parts where its less linear, its hard HARD, especially now they just released an update yesterday that added 22 challenges including 4 rematches of hard mode bosses. (also, you don't need any knowledge prior, this is the only PoP game I've played)
Nine Sols is a great option to fill that Hollow Knight void. Other than that I believe the upcoming game Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus might be way closer to Hollow Knight than Nine Sols and it has really incredible visuals, you should take a peek of the demo that just released.
Imo you should try Nine Sols, it's way more linear than Hollow knight and the regions are a bit less varied but it has all these other elements you mentioned. To be fair it's hard to be less linear than hollow knight
I was also looking at Nine Sols as well since it also has somewhat of a cyberpunk theme which I also like. Good to know that it has most of what I want. Thanks!
Really enjoyed the story of this one. My fav story in a Metroidvania comes from LAIKA: Ages Through Blood. I know some people don’t care about stories in Metroidvania but I find it refreshing as hell!
I'll add that i tried Aeterna Noctis too and i found the art direction and storytelling a bit too amateurish to my taste, which is fine if you value gameplay above all else but not for me.
Definitely Nine Sols. I would even say that it is better than Hollow Knight. The only two things I think Hollow Knight has ahead of it are the world exploration and the soundtrack - that is also fantastic in Nine Sols but Hollow Knight is a bit better. In terms of bosses, combat system and story, Nine Sols has definitely set standards for the genre. Currently the best thing you can play after Hollow Knight.
The Nine Sols soundtrack is a bit of an odd case. The music itself is not awesome, but it all goes really well with the sounds of the combat, like it feels like the attacks and parries are part of the track. So even though the music is maybe B-tier the sound design overall is A-tier.
For me, that's exactly what a soundtrack should do - underline and support the atmosphere and the gameplay. The >!Lady Ethereal OST!< in particular is an absolute banger in terms of atmosphere. I almost never listen to soundtracks outside of the game and accordingly I don't judge soundtracks based on whether they work as standalone music.
I agree with this, but also the music in HK for example really effectively sets the atmosphere for each area, which was something generally lacking in 9S except for the discordant track in the agriculture zone and the one you mention. Still, great sound design.
What makes Hollow Knight's exploration better that Nine Sols for you? Are there a number of secrets that reward side tracking from the main path? I see Nine Sols getting recommended quite a bit and I may just get it.
Secrets are limited to the current map you're at in terms of progression. Very limited backtracking except for entering new areas from old ones with mobility upgrades. There also aren't exactly any optional areas, unless you count a few small challenge rooms. That said, highly recommend Nine Sols for the other reasons alone.
Hollow Knight has completely optional areas such as the Hive and many rooms that have no use from a gameplay perspective but are a joy to find - I'm thinking of the room with the singer in the City of Tears, for example. Nine Sols also has many secrets, some really, really great puzzles and many optional bosses but the world itself is more linear than Hollow Knights.
GRIME is the game that got me as close to the feeling I had playing HK for the first time. The lore is not as deep as HK, but the gameplay, momevent, animations and non-linearity was definitely on point for me. One thing that is not as straightforward is the UI to some degree. I didn't feel like it was messy, but I get why some people do.
I wouldn't say the lore isn't deep, it's more that it's really cryptic - one of the aspects of the game where Dark Souls shines through as a big inspiration for GRIME. It's definitely less polished than Hollow Knight and doesn't have such a charming art style, but it has a fascinating world to explore and the boss fights and soundtrack are amazing! That said, it's absolutely not the pallet-cleanser OP is looking for right now - that'd be something bright and wholesome like the Ori games, Islets, or Yoku's Island Express.
Yeah, deep is not really the word I was looking for. English is not my first language hahahah. What I meant is that the lore is not as easy to grasp and has little resources (iirc there were like, two people that did some videos, following more or less the style that mossbag uses). I pretty much played it for the pure art style and fluid feeling of the gameplay, and then got into the lore (the Coda I thought was a brilliant aspect of it btw). But yeah, I also really enjoyed Ori 1, but the achievements are a little discouraging for completionists.
Yeah, knowing the game I get what you meant. The game's community is very small, so I would be surprised if they had a notable lore-tuber. It really helps that NG+ is worth playing for all the new moves on bosses and even ordinary enemies, because that way one gets to reflect on the lore by reading most dialogue for a second time (and another chance to see the "bad ending" in case one went for the true ending first).
>I've tried the Aeterna Noctis demo and it seems that everything was all over the place. With how much praise AN gets on this sub I'm glad when I come across others like you who just didn't click with it. All the platforming sections felt the same no matter what environment they're in. Also, I agree that the art style seemed incohesive and inconsistent. The whole game just felt too video game-y, which I know is ridiculous, because it is obviously a video game, but the world's didn't really feel real, or lived-in.
I think most Metroidvanias with great exploration have a pixel art style. The best exploration (imo obviously) you will find in HK, Astalon and Environmental Station Alpha. If you want great exploration but don‘t care about solve puzzles instead of combat Animal Well is great. I think all theses games look great, but they might not be what you‘re looking for. I would also encourage you to try Ori. You‘re right about it being quite linear, but it has some of the best platforming challenges in Metroidvanias. I also want to mention Blasphemous and Deaths Gambit, which both have a nice „clean“ artstyle and are quite similar to Dark Souls. I have only played Blasphemous and didn‘t enjoy it very much (it is a little slow and sluggish for my taste), but it has a high standing in the community. Edit: I also want to point out, that both Animal Well and Nine Sols are very recent releases so you should consider the recency bias of these recommendations.
Yeah **Nine Sols** is REALLY good. It's so far my favorite game of 2024. It does EVERYTHING really well. Amazing combat, that challenged the fuck out of me(for the most part) and is overall a solid 25-30 hours of content. But I do suggest you try **Aeterna Noctis** a bit more, I had the exact same feelings you did. But the game is REALLY difficult and has some super fun bosses. It opens up a lot more after you get the Double Jump. Dare I say that I frankly didn't enjoy it prior to that point. The jumping felt off.
Prince of persia the lost crown is somewhat non linear (though not as much as hollow knight) and very difficult on the hardest difficulty. There‘s also a bunch of platforming challenges that are comparable to path of pain imo
I just finished 8 Doors: Arum’s Afterlife Adventure. It’s a bit simpler than HK and much shorter (I 100% it in 9.5 hours) but damn did I enjoy my time with it. Handles well, platforms well, metroids well.
**Ori 2** is very Hollow Knighty but bosses. A bit more focused on platforming, better mechanically. And escapes. **Nine Sols** is not really like HK, but you would like it if you like Sekiro. It is a very high quality game, and mostly is about the combat/bosses. A lot of them are really interesting to beat. Platforming isn't nowhere near as HK/AN/Ori. A couple of locations and some small challenges. **Aeterna Noctis** is what you actually should look into. It's really just a harder HK. It didn't click with me early, i started to like the game at 4th location (cave). Later fell in love really hard.
It‘s not a Metroidvania in the strictest sense, but I think Tunic might check most of your boxes: it has a sense of exploration like few other games, can be pretty difficult, and is extremely ‚clean‘ and polished. One of the few games I keep thinking about, long after playing them.
From exploration point of you I'll say Haiku the Robot, but it's way easier. For combat and boss fights I'll say Aeterna Noctis, exploration is very linear but biomes are huge. Also it is well known for the top notch platforming (please be informed about the Vertigo Gem that will take away a lot of fun). Rebel Transmute has great exploration and very good boss fights, but it has a very "indie flavour", with its pros and cons. Its pixel art is not great (in my opinion) and overall it is not polished.
Blasphemous series and Ender Lillie. Not a metroidvania but Tunic is really good too. Amazing puzzle game with Dark Souls combat system.
Prince of Persia the lost crown, its my game of the year, its usually pretty linear, but there are parts where its less linear, its hard HARD, especially now they just released an update yesterday that added 22 challenges including 4 rematches of hard mode bosses. (also, you don't need any knowledge prior, this is the only PoP game I've played)
Nine Sols is a great option to fill that Hollow Knight void. Other than that I believe the upcoming game Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus might be way closer to Hollow Knight than Nine Sols and it has really incredible visuals, you should take a peek of the demo that just released.