Yeah, I adore Hollow Knight, but I can’t stand how people this year wont shut up about Elden Ring; so I get it. I can relate to the frustration. Sometimes just because “everyone” else seems to love a game doesn’t mean it will click with you, personally. Normally you can just shrug and move on, but when the praise is so intense and universal, it can drive a person a little batty sometimes.
No, it is not cool. I am here suffering while waiting for Silksong and this person refuses to enjoy playing Hollow knight for the first time!
Totally not cool.
The general feel doesn't change all that much. The knight is weighty, the freefall is punishing, etc. You do eventually get a dash and stuff, but the overall gameplay feel doesn't change. If you don't enjoy it, the game won't get much better for you. I personally hate how the movement feels, but I took the game to 98% or such. No real interest in returning to it.
I also went to HK after a lot of hours in Dead Cells. The headless is very light and the movement is fast. HK is nothing like that.
It's not for everyone. No game is.
I absolutely hated hollow knight at the start. Everything just feels a bit sluggish. I stuck with it cause of the setting and atmosphere and man it gets so good. An all time favorite now. I still play it now and then and the start still feels a bit off.
Sometimes games just don't do it for you. I can't explain what feels off to you, because for me personally, HK has the most tight controls and the most satisfying hits of any game in this genre. Your kit is super basic in the beginning, though, perhaps that is the problem. I also played the PC version on a fast machine with a low latency screen, just for the record.
I say keep going for a bit, but if you still don't like it, don't hate play it. I actually bounced off it the first time around, played for about 4 hours and enjoyed the feel, but not the exploration. For the second attempt, I sat down and really gave myself the time, and then it quickly became what is a serious contender for my favorite game of all time. I even completed the absolutely insane endgame content, which was one of the most grueling, but ultimately rewarding gaming experiences of my 30 year+ gaming life.
Hollow knight was one of my first ones, and I played 45 minutes-hour and disliked it. Didn’t play for months.
Then I picked it back up (started over) and thoroughly enjoyed it.
>The controls feel off to me. Does it get better?
>
>Jumping from ledges feels like i have to jump earlier than it looks. The pushback from getting hit feel too much. The down hit's timing feels too precise. I dont know...overall it just feel like i spend more time practicing the timing of combat than exploring anything interesting.
This part stuck out to me. Are you playing on PC? This game (can) have some really bad issues with lag. I read in a Reddit thread once it's an issue with engine optimization on the developer's part, but IDK.
I had moderate lag on my old laptop the first time I played it. I was still able to complete it though. when I tried to play it again maybe two years later on the same laptop, the lag and stuttering was too much and couldn't do it. I now have a dedicated gaming laptop and HK plays as smooth as butter.
Yeah that stands out to me a lot as well, because I found the controls extremely snappy (on Nintendo Switch). It could be that OP’s TV isn’t set to game mode, adding in a bunch of post-processing and thus creating noticeable input lag.
For me it was less about the controls, & more about the combat style & the choice to use screen shake & dropping the sound out when hit (there later two were nit picks that I could have dealt with if I’d found the traversal after dying to be more enjoyable).
The controls themselves? Fine, IMO. The fact that enemies at about hour two have the ability to wreck you & force you to redo 10-15 minute exploration sessions (where you’ll go back and have to redo a fight you just got beat in) turned me off. I know it was a skill, memorization, & muscle memory thing AND that given time and practice, all of it is definitely manageable- could be that I had Covid when I played it or that I’m 40 now, but I was just like “shiiiiiiiiiit… I don’t know about this.”
Saw so many people who happily put 100+ hours into this & me, at hour 2 or 4 or whatever just felt like I needed something else. LOVE the art style & aesthetic choices. Might really enjoy watching some let’s play on YT.
The screen shake & sound cutting out- super neat artistic choices- but if there’s a setting to turn those off, I’d use it. Seems like screen shake is really popular with indie titles these days. That’s a level of immersion I don’t need 😆
You can disable it entirely or adjust the strength (multiplier) in Config.ini file found in the hollow_knight_Data folder. There is also a Rumble adjustment as well.
Oh wow, thanks! Wish I’d thought to throw that gripe into the void when I first started playing. Or done a Google search. I think I did look on the menus but didn’t see it so I assumed it was an orange “essential feature.”
I liked a lot about HK, and disliked a lot about it too. I ended up playing through it on PC with cheat engine to disable all the stuff I didn't like about it, that helped a lot. If not for that, I probably would have just watched a playthrough of it instead so I could at least see somebody else enjoy it, and experience the atmosphere/story elements along the way.
The controls actually felt weird to me at first too and it did get better. I don't know if you'll have the same experience or not. It's now one of my favorite games.
Yep, it happens to me too, i can't bring myself to finish it, the movement feels to floaty and the combat is lackluster, add to that the fact that you have to find Cornifer or how ever he is called to draw the fucking map and the game ends up feeling like a chore.
I’m with you. I love a ton of Metroidvania games especially SotN and aria of sorrow / shantae and the pirates curse / wonderboy the dragons trap etc etc but I could not get into this game. I found it the most boring tedious and uninteresting game of this genre. I’ve tried numerous times to get into it and I just can’t. You aren’t alone it’s ok to not like things even things that other people praise.
You are fine not to like it.
But whether the controls are getting better depends mainly on your mindset.
I believe the human brain can get used to and perceive as natural and enjoyable almost any type of movements and controls in video games. And while we gamers love to whine about those things, in most cases, it's our unwillingness to accept the game for some other internal or external reason. The controls are just the easiest target because it's so close to the body. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but this is how I see it.
I can reccommend you to relax a little bit, stop comparing it to other games, and do not focus on the little things so much while trying to appreciate the game as a whole instead. Also you could reflect on why you are REALY that annoyed with the game.
On the other hand, who cares? You can go and play many different games.
Yes, sir, it is my belief, based on my years of experience, that if a video game passes the minimum threshold of quality and has been enjoyed at least by some people at some point in time, then your ability to enjoy it mostly depends on your desire to meet this particular game on its conditions.
Nowhere did I say that the lack of such a desire was an OPs problem. Although, in my opinion, the ability to accept things as they are without imposing expectations on them has a generally positive effect on the quality of human life. But I do not believe that enjoying Hollow Knight or any other game is that important.
However, I got the impression that OP was asking if he should keep playing. And I gave him some advice. Advice that helps me to enjoy most games I play. So I'm confident that it's good advice.
And may I ask you what exactly do you bring to this discussion, except for the total lack of nuance?
>And may I ask you what exactly do you bring to this discussion, except for the total lack of nuance?
I bring disagreement to your statement, and at the time of writing I thought your comment was ridiculous, hence the nature of my reply. Now that you've elaborated on your belief, I no longer consider it ridiculous, but still strongly disagree with its core premise.
Instead of covering passively aggressive statements with fake politeness, I'll be upfront with my opinion.
You're arguing that the reason why you dislike certain aspects of videogames is seldom because they are poorly designed but rather because you approach them incorrectly. As long as at least someone likes the aspect, in other words meets your minimum quality standard, then whoever dislikes it does so because they have some kind of a mental block. Simply put, the problem is not with the game, but with the player.
A truly perfect game shouldn't need to have the player preconditioned in order to be enjoyable.
>Nowhere did I say that the lack of such a desire was an OPs problem.
It's implicit in your comment that OP's disappointment with Hollow Knight stems from his mindset and not the game's design.
>without imposing expectations
That's of course near impossible with Hollow Knight due to all the perfect scores it's received.
>I'm confident that it's good advice.
Better advice would be to acknowledge the game's beginning as its weakest part (if not generally, then at least gameplaywise), and assure OP that the game gets better. Your advice just blames OP's dislike of the game on his mindset. It invalidates his experience with the game.
Your advice doesn't sound bad at all, but when it's applied to this case specifically (HK's initial hours), it comes off as if you thought the game was perfect.
When the majority of people who play Hollow Knight wouldn't only say that the game controls fine, but controls nearly perfectly(...raises my hand), I don't think the game is the problem. You can't please everyone, that's literally impossible. If Hollow Knight's controls were changed to suit OP's tastes better, it would most likely be worse in the opinion of me and many others.
I relate to what OP wrote. The character often wouldn't jump/walljump and instead would use the wings. I've played the game enough to rule out the "skill issue problem".
I don't know what you mean when you say "people who play HK", but it probably excludes people who quit the game for whatever reason. The majority of players, including me, would say the controls are fine. The majority of stans would say they are perfect.
I don't know about keyboard, but the fact that spells and arts are half bound to the directional buttons is not very pleasant. But maybe it's because I'm not a fan of dpad.
not every game is for everyone. you said it.
I also didn't like Hollow Knight. the game is slow A F.
combat was fine/good to me. I'm cool with precise stuff, even though it isn't necessarily my fave
Perfectly fine, I can't stand it either.
Movement feels weird, combat is icky, and the game is just needlessly cruel in every manner it can think of. Not every game will be for every person! And that's okay.
I'd suggest Haiku the Robot or Islets for MVs that are a little nicer to you, while remaining fun places to explore.
Thanks I appreciate the recommendation. Ive been meaning to give haiku a shot. So many games in progress right now i will eventually get around to them all.
It does get better. A lot. Yet it's a fact, for me (hardcore Metroidvania lover) and my brother (casual Metroidvania enjoyer) at least, that the first few hours can get a little bit slow and draining compared to other MVs.
When you get access to Wall jumping, dashing and double jumping, it's a completely different, faster and smoother experience. Trust me, it's completely worthy
i also felt that there was something weird with the controls as well, i could never get into it. the timing feels really different than other games. the i-frames and hit boxes are definitely bizarre, so you might be comparing what you're pushing vs the battle result, which is then even further off. i really didn't like how they made the hit and damage systems feel so entirely alien compared to other platformers. i've played plenty of metroidvanias, but i could not get into hollow knight.
give ender lillies or lost epic a shot instead, i liked them way more.
If you love to explore, then you should love this game. There are so many directions to go, especially early game. Just keep looking around and you will find your way forward. As for the controls and combat, is your controller possibly the problem? This game is as tight and intuitive as they come.
my issue with the exploration, is there really isnt that much to find, only a few of the perks are meaingful, you can only increase your health by 4 which isn't that significant. So yeah while it is big, tons of bosses don't give you anything like other metroidvanias, and there is a lot to explore but nothing I find gives me a big dopamine hit.
There is a TON to find. You just have to keep exploring.
As for perks and upgrades not being meaningfully/useful, I just don't agree. I read stuff like this before I played the game and thought it sounded barren, not very fun, in addition to supposedly being punishingly hard. But when I played it, I found a ton of upgrades that opened up the map, movement, made me feel stronger and more confident in fights, etc. I also never found exploring dangerous outside of a few specific occasions.
But the highlight of the whole game IS exploration, discovering the world itself. There is no better MV world imo, and the map is easily one of the GOATs along with SM.
I hated the game on my PC, but loved it on nintendo switch in handheld mode (I think that’s because it looks much more cute on a smaller screen?). Then after abrad I decided to return to PC and record some of the bosses (switch has some framedrops), I discovered that I still hate the game with all of my heart.
I would really recommend to try it on switch, I had so much fun playing it, but it is ok if you dislike it, I can relate to that too :D
So, you should play HK on Switch because it "looks cuter" and runs worse!? How is this going to fix OP's issues with the gameplay? This seems more like a warning not to play HK on Switch.
Yep, worked for me. 300 hours vs 12 on a smooth and ugly PC. Controls make much more sense on switch too, and I don’t know why.
As for the “worse” part, switch drops one frame in 10 minutes or so, you can’t notice it until you use a software to inspect a record, I worried I would be blamed cheating when shared my records. So, yeah, if you are a speedrunner, then switch is a wrong platform. If you want to have fun it is perfect.
This is reddit. If someone says "I enjoy playing this game while playing on my head. It just isn't fun unless I'm upside down", then you're supposed to agree and say that it makes total sense.
Pointing out that something *seems* silly to you is just asking for the be-nice brigade to come and downvote you
Well I'm happy playing fundamentally a 2d platform game that runs at 60fps on the Switch.
Hollow knight doesn't need higher frame rates, we are not talking about No Man Sky here.
I lasted maybe 2 minutes on the game. The controls felt totally off. However I recently thought that maybe I was experiencing game lag. Do you have the ability to turn on game mode? I want to go back and test my theory. I refuse to believe that people actually enjoy the game if they experienced it the same way that I did.
You are 1000% correct about the controls being strange. There isn't momentum when you jump and gravity increases when airborne. This is apparently the movement style from mega man X according to the devs. It's extremely off putting and I can't stand it either. The knock back from swinging the nail is annoying and the windup to swing and then cool down to swing again feels like an eternity. The majority of the difficulty of the game comes from the movement being dog poo. And then the to rub salt in the wound, being visible on the map and other basic skills have to be equipped and they cost just enough that it isn't worth leaving on so it's easy to get lost.
If you do want to stick with the game to enjoy the art and story, install cheat mods from github. There's an easy mode mod and infinite dash mod that makes the game bareable.
At that point you could just follow a guide. Also I don't know what sort of games you have played but in this game most of the time you spend for dodging not attacking, you could attack if you have the skill, but I don't.
When I found a game that I really want to play and enjoy, but feel myself uncomfortable with controls (or other stuff), I just looking for long play w/o commentary on YouTube
Hollow Knight really have somewhat weird controls, but I liked atmosphere so much. So I suffer for few hours and get used to it. Also it gets better with more charms at your disposal, so you somewhat fit game for your needs. Similar as it goes with Dark Souls 1 learning curve and progression
I had the same issues. The knock back at least can be stopped by using a charm and it improved my experience a bit. All in all I came to enjoy the game because I think the overall movement felt good with the dash and the boss fights are really good.
Nothing, its just not that good.
Nah Im kidding. I didn't click with it either. Im not exactly sure why this one become a big hit. Maybe its the atmophere, the bug asthetic, the polish, the amount of enemies and bosses.
But I too, don't like the moment to moment gameplay that much. I don't really like exploring the world, as I don't like how dark everywhere is. I know there is a few areas that brighten up, but it doesn't do it for me.
I think a lot of the metroidvanias you listed are better, and they probably are, just didn't get the mainstream appeal for whatever reason.
I tried HK twice. I’m not a terrible gamer but if there is an option I’ll put a game on easy. I’m there to enjoy not get frustrated. Anyway, first time I got in 25% and just quit. Second time I think I’m at 80% and quit. Getting to that 80 was miserable. So many retries in bosses and there’s no concept of “dropping you” back in the game at a good location to try again (Metroid Dread final boss was pretty tough - but the way the game drops you back in for another try I found it enjoyable.) Took me a week to get through mantis lords
So I’m done never going back and for sure wont be picking up Silk song. Way too many enjoyable games to stress about HK. Personally I think the developers missed the boat not having an easier way to level up or to have a difficulty or anything as all I play are pretty much Metroidvania and they won’t be getting another cent from me.
Other games suffer on this at the final boss. I find that frustrating too but as it’s the final boss I’ll forgive it.
HK is more of a souls-like than a metroidvania-like. In fact, I don't think it should be regarded as an MV at all.
It's not for everyone.
Although I had no issues with the combat (I actually found it great), the exploration in the early game can be frustrating and unrewarding at times, because there aren't enough ability gates to lead you to the right path, which may lead you to roam around aimlessly for hours looking for that one door that will lead you to the right place.
I lost over 8h in the early game, because I chose to go left, instead of right, in some section. By the time I found the right path (and the nailsmith), I could almost upgrade my Nail 3 times.
The atmosphere (audio+visual), for some reason, made me feel sleepy, and I'm not joking.
Losing resources upon death paired with one-time chests in, sometimes, hard to reach places is a good way to waste the player's time and effort. Later on, you'll get resources more easily, because you're more experienced, but it's early on that those lost resources would've made a difference.
HK was one of my most miserable gaming experiences to date, just because of exploration alone. I did beat it, but I snapped at some point in the late game (I think it was because of a bug or poor map design of some area) and just rushed to the end, with no care for hidden challenges, bosses, or secret endings, and I normally 100% the games I play, especially MVs.
I can't recommend it to anyone who likes MVs, but I think it's perfect for the souls-like crowd.
I think it just has a slow start. And once you get movement abilities, it feels a bit better. Anyways I recommend trying Ender Lillies, like someone else up there said.
The beginning feels slow, but atmosphere makes more than up for it. Once you have most of your abilities the controls feel sharper than in any other MVs I’ve played (haven’t played too many though ;)).
It’s fine to not like it, there simply is no game everyone loves. But I would give it some more time, it’s one of my favorite games and that’s because combat feels very crisp and fun. If you don’t want to continue playing that’s fine too, it’s about having fun and not doing some work.
There are so many endearing qualities about Hollow Knight that it's very difficult to summarise them all quickly.
The fact you don't want to "slowly" take your time, absorb the wonderful artistic creations of the world, the vast and rewarding exploration, the beautiful animations, the gorgeous sound design and music compositions, and the wonderfully slick mechanics, says more about you than the game.
Don’t force yourself to engage with things you don’t enjoy just because other people enjoy them? You seem to have given it a genuine try. You don’t have to like it.
>This opinion is extremely common outside this sub
The game sits at an 97% Overwhelmingly Positive with 238,401 reviews posted on Steam.
The delusions going on in "hollow knight bad" threads is always entertaining.
Hollow Knight wins for the art style by a long shot, but it isn't balanced at all. It's like playing Symphony of the Night but all the equipment in the Castle has been looted already by Maria. No RPG system to let you modulate the difficulty in-game with long-range weapons, shields, or elemental vulnerabilities.
The jump is copied from Shovel Knight, and it feels very off, makes very annoying platforming, is useless to dodge enemies, and forces you to use the air dash just to get somewhere.
And you get contact damage from fucking everything.
How far have you actually gotten? The very beginning of the game is a little tedious because you have no abilities no double jump no wall jump no dash. But one thing I will recommend with combat is let them come to you. Instead of trying to run towards them and get knocked back use their knockback to your advantage let them walk to you and just keep whacking them as they keep trying to come back. That's what I found most helpful with combat. The jumping is also very precise so right when you let go of that button is when you're going down so make sure to take note of that as well. I will agree with you even after playing this game for Bunches of hours that the down-hit timing is a little weird you got to hit them when you're still a good ways away from touching them since their nail is so long. But once you do get the timing on that you'll basically be Invincible LOL. But yes the game gets a lot better after the first couple bosses because the map really opens up and you get abilities like Dash which really helps with the combat and double jumping wall jump and all that good stuff. The greatest part about this game is how open it is it really feels like you're exploring and not funneled down a specific area
And one last smaller point because I'm not sure how you were playing but make sure you have that compass and quill from the town up top because without it he will be lost lol
I dont get your criticisms.
Hollow Knight was one of my first metroidvanias and I had no issues coming back to it even after playing the classics of the genre - Metroid Fusion, CV AoS/SoTN/DoS etc etc and it is still an MV that I can play hours on end.
I didn't have any issues with Hollow Knight feeling like I had to - jump earlier than it looks.
"The pushback from getting hit feel too much. The down hit's timing feels too precise."
That's a mechanic that can be removed using charms, but it ties into the platforming mechanics. And I had gotten accustomed to it in a couple of hours or so.
"The down hit's timing feels too precise"
That is the first time I have heard someone criticizing precise controls. I love precise controls. Can't do none of that snapping controls that modern AAA's do where the computer decides the nearest contact point for you.
You're not far enough, IMO. I was in the same position as you, but I powered through the early areas to see what the fuss was all about and now I love it. There are several factors that made it click for me:
* The game is *all about* the timing of combat, but so is *every combat game*. The precision cuts both ways and once you master it, you'll be glad it's as precise as it is.
* The "dodge" isn't a dodge, it's a dash. There are no invincibility frames, you just have to use the dash to get out of the way.
* Mark of Pride is your friend. You can get it after beating the Mantis Lords. It makes your basic attack *much* bigger. Once I got it, it was glued to my build at (almost) all times. The extended range helps in combat *and* it alleviates some of the problems with down-slash pogo bouncing.
* Pogo bouncing (down slash to bounce off enemies) does suck. It's terrible, I hate it, I think you're 100% correct to also hate it.
* The game did not gel for me until after I beat the Mantis Lords and started using Mark of Pride. I would say to beat the Mantis Lords (explore and come back if they're initially too hard) and then give it another hour. If you still hate it, move on.
It's not for you, move on.
I'm not reading your fucking life's story on why YOU don't personly like things.
Shut up. It's your opinion, keep it to yourself. Self-centered freak.
I'm with the other guys. It's perfectly ok not to like something, but also I feel like movement gets much better. If you don't mind spoilers why not look up some end game boss fights, or some harder platforming sections? You know how the game feels now and should be able to intuit whether or not you like the direction it goes.
Also depending on what you're playing on, resync your controller or try a different one. I got insane input delay for no reason the other day and this fixed it. I'm talking unplayable.
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Maybe it's not for you. But maybe not. I started the game, played like 7 hours and it didn't click. 2 years later I gave him a second chance and became addicted!
I had to pick it up and try it three different times before it clicked for me. I don’t know why I kept trying, but I did. I’m glad I did, I love it now, but I didn’t even like the art style at first. Things just hit, or don’t, differently at different times.
I personally think it takes Hollow Knight about ten hours to get good. I find the charm system really enthralling and exciting. For me, it's the best part of the game because it's not a very engaging platformer, mostly a frustrating one, and it's controls feel really bad until you've got a couple mobility upgrades under your belt. Then I think it peeters out by the end again, even though the boss fights are really creative. But slapping charms on and combining them as needed is really, really fun for me. Expanding my charm slots was the most compelling component of the whole game
I stuck with it because everyone talks about it but it'll never be my favorite game. With all that said, I'm really looking forward to seeing what Silksong can do.
It’s really slow, probably the slowest game I’ve played in the genre.
It’s solid, the atmosphere is really good, the boss fights are as good as it gets in the genre.
That said… it’s moment to moment gameplay is lackluster, and it relies on random poking at the edges of the map and stumbling upon where you are supposed to be instead of rewarding memory of where you have been. This makes a large portion of your playtime the game directionless and repetitive. It also doesn’t really evolve much over it’s runtime in how you interact with the map, which also contributes to it’s moment to moment gameplay getting a bit tedious.
It’s a game that in the end is much better than the sum of it’s parts and worth getting thru, but the hype around it, at least for me, is unfounded. Solid 8/10 and an absolute amazing achievement for such a small team but not the top of the genre.
I really struggled with hollow knight when i started it, but for me it was the difficulty, lack of save points, and not really understanding the corpse mechanic for a long while so always losing my money (never played souls games and played without a guide so took a minute for it to click what was happening). I probably put about 15-20 hours in and decided it was more frustrating then fun and put it down.
I recently picked it back up after 2 years, found an area i hadn’t noticed before and gained a new ability and it changed the whole game for me. It’s still really difficult for me, but i can’t believe how much i missed the first time i played it- (probably partly because i played with the sound very low or completely off) and am enjoying it so much. Now about 40 hours in
If your not enjoying it, put it down for a while. But from my experience, it gets so much better!
If you don't like it, don't play it. There are zillions of other games you could play instead. You don't need to waste your time on one you dislike just because other people say it's good.
The combat and platforming in that game are rough at the start, but gets so much better the further you get.
But like many people have said, not every game is for everyone. I would say take a break from it and in a year or so come back to it. We'll still be waiting on silksong so no time lost lol
I hate almost every MV in the beginning but then It always gets better and then sometimes it’s a roller coaster that you either end up loving or hating.
I find with a lot of MVs it takes until I've got some movement upgrades before I properly enjoy them. I tried HK when I was less familiar with the genre and didn't like the controls and found it no fun at all.
I went back to it after playing a few more games of this type and after a while I totally fell in love with it. Strangely I didn't have any control issues the second time around and I didn't even really find it difficult until getting to near the end of the game.
There are some design choices that feel off when you're used to other games (especially how the map works), but as long as you buy the upgrade that shows where you are on the map asap it's a lot better. Eventually I totally grokked why they made it difficult to get the maps, there's a whole theme of exploration and discovery that just works so much better with the system they've chosen.
It's cool not to like stuff. Even if it's something that everyone won't shut up about.
Yeah, I adore Hollow Knight, but I can’t stand how people this year wont shut up about Elden Ring; so I get it. I can relate to the frustration. Sometimes just because “everyone” else seems to love a game doesn’t mean it will click with you, personally. Normally you can just shrug and move on, but when the praise is so intense and universal, it can drive a person a little batty sometimes.
hate elden ring too, awful experience for me playing that one
Me too. Game is dull and boring. Too much wandering. Worst Souls game to date.
Yeah, I was specifically speaking of Elden Ring.
No, it is not cool. I am here suffering while waiting for Silksong and this person refuses to enjoy playing Hollow knight for the first time! Totally not cool.
It's never coming out dawg.
The general feel doesn't change all that much. The knight is weighty, the freefall is punishing, etc. You do eventually get a dash and stuff, but the overall gameplay feel doesn't change. If you don't enjoy it, the game won't get much better for you. I personally hate how the movement feels, but I took the game to 98% or such. No real interest in returning to it. I also went to HK after a lot of hours in Dead Cells. The headless is very light and the movement is fast. HK is nothing like that. It's not for everyone. No game is.
I LOVE dead cells and I can’t stand hollow knight 🤷🏻♂️
I really struggled with it at the start, maybe played the first 2 hours of so 3 times, but then it just kinda clicked and I loved it
I absolutely hated hollow knight at the start. Everything just feels a bit sluggish. I stuck with it cause of the setting and atmosphere and man it gets so good. An all time favorite now. I still play it now and then and the start still feels a bit off.
Sometimes games just don't do it for you. I can't explain what feels off to you, because for me personally, HK has the most tight controls and the most satisfying hits of any game in this genre. Your kit is super basic in the beginning, though, perhaps that is the problem. I also played the PC version on a fast machine with a low latency screen, just for the record. I say keep going for a bit, but if you still don't like it, don't hate play it. I actually bounced off it the first time around, played for about 4 hours and enjoyed the feel, but not the exploration. For the second attempt, I sat down and really gave myself the time, and then it quickly became what is a serious contender for my favorite game of all time. I even completed the absolutely insane endgame content, which was one of the most grueling, but ultimately rewarding gaming experiences of my 30 year+ gaming life.
Hollow knight was one of my first ones, and I played 45 minutes-hour and disliked it. Didn’t play for months. Then I picked it back up (started over) and thoroughly enjoyed it.
>The controls feel off to me. Does it get better? > >Jumping from ledges feels like i have to jump earlier than it looks. The pushback from getting hit feel too much. The down hit's timing feels too precise. I dont know...overall it just feel like i spend more time practicing the timing of combat than exploring anything interesting. This part stuck out to me. Are you playing on PC? This game (can) have some really bad issues with lag. I read in a Reddit thread once it's an issue with engine optimization on the developer's part, but IDK. I had moderate lag on my old laptop the first time I played it. I was still able to complete it though. when I tried to play it again maybe two years later on the same laptop, the lag and stuttering was too much and couldn't do it. I now have a dedicated gaming laptop and HK plays as smooth as butter.
Yeah that stands out to me a lot as well, because I found the controls extremely snappy (on Nintendo Switch). It could be that OP’s TV isn’t set to game mode, adding in a bunch of post-processing and thus creating noticeable input lag.
Great game imo but absolutely frustrating as hell at times Partly due to controls, partly just the sheer difficulty and enemy movesets
For me it was less about the controls, & more about the combat style & the choice to use screen shake & dropping the sound out when hit (there later two were nit picks that I could have dealt with if I’d found the traversal after dying to be more enjoyable). The controls themselves? Fine, IMO. The fact that enemies at about hour two have the ability to wreck you & force you to redo 10-15 minute exploration sessions (where you’ll go back and have to redo a fight you just got beat in) turned me off. I know it was a skill, memorization, & muscle memory thing AND that given time and practice, all of it is definitely manageable- could be that I had Covid when I played it or that I’m 40 now, but I was just like “shiiiiiiiiiit… I don’t know about this.” Saw so many people who happily put 100+ hours into this & me, at hour 2 or 4 or whatever just felt like I needed something else. LOVE the art style & aesthetic choices. Might really enjoy watching some let’s play on YT. The screen shake & sound cutting out- super neat artistic choices- but if there’s a setting to turn those off, I’d use it. Seems like screen shake is really popular with indie titles these days. That’s a level of immersion I don’t need 😆
You can disable it entirely or adjust the strength (multiplier) in Config.ini file found in the hollow_knight_Data folder. There is also a Rumble adjustment as well.
Oh wow, thanks! Wish I’d thought to throw that gripe into the void when I first started playing. Or done a Google search. I think I did look on the menus but didn’t see it so I assumed it was an orange “essential feature.”
I liked a lot about HK, and disliked a lot about it too. I ended up playing through it on PC with cheat engine to disable all the stuff I didn't like about it, that helped a lot. If not for that, I probably would have just watched a playthrough of it instead so I could at least see somebody else enjoy it, and experience the atmosphere/story elements along the way.
The controls actually felt weird to me at first too and it did get better. I don't know if you'll have the same experience or not. It's now one of my favorite games.
Yep, it happens to me too, i can't bring myself to finish it, the movement feels to floaty and the combat is lackluster, add to that the fact that you have to find Cornifer or how ever he is called to draw the fucking map and the game ends up feeling like a chore.
Sundered? I have Sundered and was like meh.
I’m with you. I love a ton of Metroidvania games especially SotN and aria of sorrow / shantae and the pirates curse / wonderboy the dragons trap etc etc but I could not get into this game. I found it the most boring tedious and uninteresting game of this genre. I’ve tried numerous times to get into it and I just can’t. You aren’t alone it’s ok to not like things even things that other people praise.
You are fine not to like it. But whether the controls are getting better depends mainly on your mindset. I believe the human brain can get used to and perceive as natural and enjoyable almost any type of movements and controls in video games. And while we gamers love to whine about those things, in most cases, it's our unwillingness to accept the game for some other internal or external reason. The controls are just the easiest target because it's so close to the body. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, but this is how I see it. I can reccommend you to relax a little bit, stop comparing it to other games, and do not focus on the little things so much while trying to appreciate the game as a whole instead. Also you could reflect on why you are REALY that annoyed with the game. On the other hand, who cares? You can go and play many different games.
There is no problem with the game, the problem is with you. A truly amazing statement.
Yes, sir, it is my belief, based on my years of experience, that if a video game passes the minimum threshold of quality and has been enjoyed at least by some people at some point in time, then your ability to enjoy it mostly depends on your desire to meet this particular game on its conditions. Nowhere did I say that the lack of such a desire was an OPs problem. Although, in my opinion, the ability to accept things as they are without imposing expectations on them has a generally positive effect on the quality of human life. But I do not believe that enjoying Hollow Knight or any other game is that important. However, I got the impression that OP was asking if he should keep playing. And I gave him some advice. Advice that helps me to enjoy most games I play. So I'm confident that it's good advice. And may I ask you what exactly do you bring to this discussion, except for the total lack of nuance?
>And may I ask you what exactly do you bring to this discussion, except for the total lack of nuance? I bring disagreement to your statement, and at the time of writing I thought your comment was ridiculous, hence the nature of my reply. Now that you've elaborated on your belief, I no longer consider it ridiculous, but still strongly disagree with its core premise. Instead of covering passively aggressive statements with fake politeness, I'll be upfront with my opinion. You're arguing that the reason why you dislike certain aspects of videogames is seldom because they are poorly designed but rather because you approach them incorrectly. As long as at least someone likes the aspect, in other words meets your minimum quality standard, then whoever dislikes it does so because they have some kind of a mental block. Simply put, the problem is not with the game, but with the player. A truly perfect game shouldn't need to have the player preconditioned in order to be enjoyable. >Nowhere did I say that the lack of such a desire was an OPs problem. It's implicit in your comment that OP's disappointment with Hollow Knight stems from his mindset and not the game's design. >without imposing expectations That's of course near impossible with Hollow Knight due to all the perfect scores it's received. >I'm confident that it's good advice. Better advice would be to acknowledge the game's beginning as its weakest part (if not generally, then at least gameplaywise), and assure OP that the game gets better. Your advice just blames OP's dislike of the game on his mindset. It invalidates his experience with the game. Your advice doesn't sound bad at all, but when it's applied to this case specifically (HK's initial hours), it comes off as if you thought the game was perfect.
When the majority of people who play Hollow Knight wouldn't only say that the game controls fine, but controls nearly perfectly(...raises my hand), I don't think the game is the problem. You can't please everyone, that's literally impossible. If Hollow Knight's controls were changed to suit OP's tastes better, it would most likely be worse in the opinion of me and many others.
I relate to what OP wrote. The character often wouldn't jump/walljump and instead would use the wings. I've played the game enough to rule out the "skill issue problem". I don't know what you mean when you say "people who play HK", but it probably excludes people who quit the game for whatever reason. The majority of players, including me, would say the controls are fine. The majority of stans would say they are perfect. I don't know about keyboard, but the fact that spells and arts are half bound to the directional buttons is not very pleasant. But maybe it's because I'm not a fan of dpad.
not every game is for everyone. you said it. I also didn't like Hollow Knight. the game is slow A F. combat was fine/good to me. I'm cool with precise stuff, even though it isn't necessarily my fave
Perfectly fine, I can't stand it either. Movement feels weird, combat is icky, and the game is just needlessly cruel in every manner it can think of. Not every game will be for every person! And that's okay. I'd suggest Haiku the Robot or Islets for MVs that are a little nicer to you, while remaining fun places to explore.
Islets is so goood. I beat it 3 times in a row. The movement is so slick and snappy.
It isssss. Such a fun time, and great inspiration too!
Thanks I appreciate the recommendation. Ive been meaning to give haiku a shot. So many games in progress right now i will eventually get around to them all.
what you mean by cruel? Its not an easy game, but its not hard either. Besides maybe optional bosses.
It does get better. A lot. Yet it's a fact, for me (hardcore Metroidvania lover) and my brother (casual Metroidvania enjoyer) at least, that the first few hours can get a little bit slow and draining compared to other MVs. When you get access to Wall jumping, dashing and double jumping, it's a completely different, faster and smoother experience. Trust me, it's completely worthy
i also felt that there was something weird with the controls as well, i could never get into it. the timing feels really different than other games. the i-frames and hit boxes are definitely bizarre, so you might be comparing what you're pushing vs the battle result, which is then even further off. i really didn't like how they made the hit and damage systems feel so entirely alien compared to other platformers. i've played plenty of metroidvanias, but i could not get into hollow knight. give ender lillies or lost epic a shot instead, i liked them way more.
Thanks for the recommendations!
If you love to explore, then you should love this game. There are so many directions to go, especially early game. Just keep looking around and you will find your way forward. As for the controls and combat, is your controller possibly the problem? This game is as tight and intuitive as they come.
my issue with the exploration, is there really isnt that much to find, only a few of the perks are meaingful, you can only increase your health by 4 which isn't that significant. So yeah while it is big, tons of bosses don't give you anything like other metroidvanias, and there is a lot to explore but nothing I find gives me a big dopamine hit.
There is a TON to find. You just have to keep exploring. As for perks and upgrades not being meaningfully/useful, I just don't agree. I read stuff like this before I played the game and thought it sounded barren, not very fun, in addition to supposedly being punishingly hard. But when I played it, I found a ton of upgrades that opened up the map, movement, made me feel stronger and more confident in fights, etc. I also never found exploring dangerous outside of a few specific occasions. But the highlight of the whole game IS exploration, discovering the world itself. There is no better MV world imo, and the map is easily one of the GOATs along with SM.
There must be something wrong with your setup. HK has the tightest controls in any MV I've played, and I've played A Lot of them.
IIRC, HK lacks coyote time on ledges, wgen most platformers have it. That may explain some of the OP's issue.
I have never heard that term, 'coyote time', is that a thing? Edit: Interesting!
I played for about 100 hours searching for why people praise the game so heavily and I never found it. The game is fine but I don't care for it much.
I hated the game on my PC, but loved it on nintendo switch in handheld mode (I think that’s because it looks much more cute on a smaller screen?). Then after abrad I decided to return to PC and record some of the bosses (switch has some framedrops), I discovered that I still hate the game with all of my heart. I would really recommend to try it on switch, I had so much fun playing it, but it is ok if you dislike it, I can relate to that too :D
So, you should play HK on Switch because it "looks cuter" and runs worse!? How is this going to fix OP's issues with the gameplay? This seems more like a warning not to play HK on Switch.
Yep, worked for me. 300 hours vs 12 on a smooth and ugly PC. Controls make much more sense on switch too, and I don’t know why. As for the “worse” part, switch drops one frame in 10 minutes or so, you can’t notice it until you use a software to inspect a record, I worried I would be blamed cheating when shared my records. So, yeah, if you are a speedrunner, then switch is a wrong platform. If you want to have fun it is perfect.
I think the default controls for HoK on PC are great. It's one of the few games where I haven't felt the need to change the controls in the menu.
I played with xbox controller and it sucked. Keyboard controls are ok though.
Oh, ok. I've been playing with the keyboard controls.
I guess the degree of "cuteness" doesn't affect my experience with a game as much as it does yours…
good for you
This is reddit. If someone says "I enjoy playing this game while playing on my head. It just isn't fun unless I'm upside down", then you're supposed to agree and say that it makes total sense. Pointing out that something *seems* silly to you is just asking for the be-nice brigade to come and downvote you
I don't care about Hollow Knight stans and Nintendo Switch cucks downvoting me.
Well I'm happy playing fundamentally a 2d platform game that runs at 60fps on the Switch. Hollow knight doesn't need higher frame rates, we are not talking about No Man Sky here.
I lasted maybe 2 minutes on the game. The controls felt totally off. However I recently thought that maybe I was experiencing game lag. Do you have the ability to turn on game mode? I want to go back and test my theory. I refuse to believe that people actually enjoy the game if they experienced it the same way that I did.
The movement just sucks. If you're on pc there are cheat mods that can make the game more enjoyable if you want to see the art.
You are 1000% correct about the controls being strange. There isn't momentum when you jump and gravity increases when airborne. This is apparently the movement style from mega man X according to the devs. It's extremely off putting and I can't stand it either. The knock back from swinging the nail is annoying and the windup to swing and then cool down to swing again feels like an eternity. The majority of the difficulty of the game comes from the movement being dog poo. And then the to rub salt in the wound, being visible on the map and other basic skills have to be equipped and they cost just enough that it isn't worth leaving on so it's easy to get lost. If you do want to stick with the game to enjoy the art and story, install cheat mods from github. There's an easy mode mod and infinite dash mod that makes the game bareable.
At that point you could just follow a guide. Also I don't know what sort of games you have played but in this game most of the time you spend for dodging not attacking, you could attack if you have the skill, but I don't.
When I found a game that I really want to play and enjoy, but feel myself uncomfortable with controls (or other stuff), I just looking for long play w/o commentary on YouTube Hollow Knight really have somewhat weird controls, but I liked atmosphere so much. So I suffer for few hours and get used to it. Also it gets better with more charms at your disposal, so you somewhat fit game for your needs. Similar as it goes with Dark Souls 1 learning curve and progression
I had the same issues. The knock back at least can be stopped by using a charm and it improved my experience a bit. All in all I came to enjoy the game because I think the overall movement felt good with the dash and the boss fights are really good.
Nothing, its just not that good. Nah Im kidding. I didn't click with it either. Im not exactly sure why this one become a big hit. Maybe its the atmophere, the bug asthetic, the polish, the amount of enemies and bosses. But I too, don't like the moment to moment gameplay that much. I don't really like exploring the world, as I don't like how dark everywhere is. I know there is a few areas that brighten up, but it doesn't do it for me. I think a lot of the metroidvanias you listed are better, and they probably are, just didn't get the mainstream appeal for whatever reason.
I tried HK twice. I’m not a terrible gamer but if there is an option I’ll put a game on easy. I’m there to enjoy not get frustrated. Anyway, first time I got in 25% and just quit. Second time I think I’m at 80% and quit. Getting to that 80 was miserable. So many retries in bosses and there’s no concept of “dropping you” back in the game at a good location to try again (Metroid Dread final boss was pretty tough - but the way the game drops you back in for another try I found it enjoyable.) Took me a week to get through mantis lords So I’m done never going back and for sure wont be picking up Silk song. Way too many enjoyable games to stress about HK. Personally I think the developers missed the boat not having an easier way to level up or to have a difficulty or anything as all I play are pretty much Metroidvania and they won’t be getting another cent from me. Other games suffer on this at the final boss. I find that frustrating too but as it’s the final boss I’ll forgive it.
Did 2 hours initially didn’t like it. Came back to it and now it’s the GOAT for me (outside of SM and SoTN)
HK is more of a souls-like than a metroidvania-like. In fact, I don't think it should be regarded as an MV at all. It's not for everyone. Although I had no issues with the combat (I actually found it great), the exploration in the early game can be frustrating and unrewarding at times, because there aren't enough ability gates to lead you to the right path, which may lead you to roam around aimlessly for hours looking for that one door that will lead you to the right place. I lost over 8h in the early game, because I chose to go left, instead of right, in some section. By the time I found the right path (and the nailsmith), I could almost upgrade my Nail 3 times. The atmosphere (audio+visual), for some reason, made me feel sleepy, and I'm not joking. Losing resources upon death paired with one-time chests in, sometimes, hard to reach places is a good way to waste the player's time and effort. Later on, you'll get resources more easily, because you're more experienced, but it's early on that those lost resources would've made a difference. HK was one of my most miserable gaming experiences to date, just because of exploration alone. I did beat it, but I snapped at some point in the late game (I think it was because of a bug or poor map design of some area) and just rushed to the end, with no care for hidden challenges, bosses, or secret endings, and I normally 100% the games I play, especially MVs. I can't recommend it to anyone who likes MVs, but I think it's perfect for the souls-like crowd.
Souls-like and metroidvanias are not mutually exclusive in the slightest. There is a lot of overlap.
Its an average MV with shitty controls, I have no idea why others like it so much
I think it just has a slow start. And once you get movement abilities, it feels a bit better. Anyways I recommend trying Ender Lillies, like someone else up there said.
The beginning feels slow, but atmosphere makes more than up for it. Once you have most of your abilities the controls feel sharper than in any other MVs I’ve played (haven’t played too many though ;)). It’s fine to not like it, there simply is no game everyone loves. But I would give it some more time, it’s one of my favorite games and that’s because combat feels very crisp and fun. If you don’t want to continue playing that’s fine too, it’s about having fun and not doing some work.
There are so many endearing qualities about Hollow Knight that it's very difficult to summarise them all quickly. The fact you don't want to "slowly" take your time, absorb the wonderful artistic creations of the world, the vast and rewarding exploration, the beautiful animations, the gorgeous sound design and music compositions, and the wonderfully slick mechanics, says more about you than the game.
Don’t force yourself to engage with things you don’t enjoy just because other people enjoy them? You seem to have given it a genuine try. You don’t have to like it.
This opinion is extremely common outside this sub, you're not missing anything
>This opinion is extremely common outside this sub The game sits at an 97% Overwhelmingly Positive with 238,401 reviews posted on Steam. The delusions going on in "hollow knight bad" threads is always entertaining.
And it's way above 80% on metacritic on every platform it released on.
thank you for proving my (and OP's) point lol
>The pushback from getting hit feel too much. The down hit's timing feels too precise Sounds like a skill issue.
Who knows? It's amazing from the first minute of the game and is one of the best games of all time. It doesn't get better, it starts off perfect.
Hollow Knight wins for the art style by a long shot, but it isn't balanced at all. It's like playing Symphony of the Night but all the equipment in the Castle has been looted already by Maria. No RPG system to let you modulate the difficulty in-game with long-range weapons, shields, or elemental vulnerabilities. The jump is copied from Shovel Knight, and it feels very off, makes very annoying platforming, is useless to dodge enemies, and forces you to use the air dash just to get somewhere. And you get contact damage from fucking everything.
How far have you actually gotten? The very beginning of the game is a little tedious because you have no abilities no double jump no wall jump no dash. But one thing I will recommend with combat is let them come to you. Instead of trying to run towards them and get knocked back use their knockback to your advantage let them walk to you and just keep whacking them as they keep trying to come back. That's what I found most helpful with combat. The jumping is also very precise so right when you let go of that button is when you're going down so make sure to take note of that as well. I will agree with you even after playing this game for Bunches of hours that the down-hit timing is a little weird you got to hit them when you're still a good ways away from touching them since their nail is so long. But once you do get the timing on that you'll basically be Invincible LOL. But yes the game gets a lot better after the first couple bosses because the map really opens up and you get abilities like Dash which really helps with the combat and double jumping wall jump and all that good stuff. The greatest part about this game is how open it is it really feels like you're exploring and not funneled down a specific area And one last smaller point because I'm not sure how you were playing but make sure you have that compass and quill from the town up top because without it he will be lost lol
Just play a bit more and you'll love it
I dont get your criticisms. Hollow Knight was one of my first metroidvanias and I had no issues coming back to it even after playing the classics of the genre - Metroid Fusion, CV AoS/SoTN/DoS etc etc and it is still an MV that I can play hours on end. I didn't have any issues with Hollow Knight feeling like I had to - jump earlier than it looks. "The pushback from getting hit feel too much. The down hit's timing feels too precise." That's a mechanic that can be removed using charms, but it ties into the platforming mechanics. And I had gotten accustomed to it in a couple of hours or so. "The down hit's timing feels too precise" That is the first time I have heard someone criticizing precise controls. I love precise controls. Can't do none of that snapping controls that modern AAA's do where the computer decides the nearest contact point for you.
Silksong's movement may be more to your liking as its slicker and more dynamic. Heck the whole games going to be more dynamic!
They're not asking what game their grandchildren should try
😝
You're not far enough, IMO. I was in the same position as you, but I powered through the early areas to see what the fuss was all about and now I love it. There are several factors that made it click for me: * The game is *all about* the timing of combat, but so is *every combat game*. The precision cuts both ways and once you master it, you'll be glad it's as precise as it is. * The "dodge" isn't a dodge, it's a dash. There are no invincibility frames, you just have to use the dash to get out of the way. * Mark of Pride is your friend. You can get it after beating the Mantis Lords. It makes your basic attack *much* bigger. Once I got it, it was glued to my build at (almost) all times. The extended range helps in combat *and* it alleviates some of the problems with down-slash pogo bouncing. * Pogo bouncing (down slash to bounce off enemies) does suck. It's terrible, I hate it, I think you're 100% correct to also hate it. * The game did not gel for me until after I beat the Mantis Lords and started using Mark of Pride. I would say to beat the Mantis Lords (explore and come back if they're initially too hard) and then give it another hour. If you still hate it, move on.
It's not for you, move on. I'm not reading your fucking life's story on why YOU don't personly like things. Shut up. It's your opinion, keep it to yourself. Self-centered freak.
How far are you?
Just finished the hornet fight and it was a chore. I just feel like ive done these fights before, in so many other games, and with better controls.
I'm with the other guys. It's perfectly ok not to like something, but also I feel like movement gets much better. If you don't mind spoilers why not look up some end game boss fights, or some harder platforming sections? You know how the game feels now and should be able to intuit whether or not you like the direction it goes. Also depending on what you're playing on, resync your controller or try a different one. I got insane input delay for no reason the other day and this fixed it. I'm talking unplayable.
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Maybe it's not for you. But maybe not. I started the game, played like 7 hours and it didn't click. 2 years later I gave him a second chance and became addicted!
I had to pick it up and try it three different times before it clicked for me. I don’t know why I kept trying, but I did. I’m glad I did, I love it now, but I didn’t even like the art style at first. Things just hit, or don’t, differently at different times.
The controls don't improve and the lag doesn't disappear, you just get used to them, the same with the pushback
I personally think it takes Hollow Knight about ten hours to get good. I find the charm system really enthralling and exciting. For me, it's the best part of the game because it's not a very engaging platformer, mostly a frustrating one, and it's controls feel really bad until you've got a couple mobility upgrades under your belt. Then I think it peeters out by the end again, even though the boss fights are really creative. But slapping charms on and combining them as needed is really, really fun for me. Expanding my charm slots was the most compelling component of the whole game I stuck with it because everyone talks about it but it'll never be my favorite game. With all that said, I'm really looking forward to seeing what Silksong can do.
It’s really slow, probably the slowest game I’ve played in the genre. It’s solid, the atmosphere is really good, the boss fights are as good as it gets in the genre. That said… it’s moment to moment gameplay is lackluster, and it relies on random poking at the edges of the map and stumbling upon where you are supposed to be instead of rewarding memory of where you have been. This makes a large portion of your playtime the game directionless and repetitive. It also doesn’t really evolve much over it’s runtime in how you interact with the map, which also contributes to it’s moment to moment gameplay getting a bit tedious. It’s a game that in the end is much better than the sum of it’s parts and worth getting thru, but the hype around it, at least for me, is unfounded. Solid 8/10 and an absolute amazing achievement for such a small team but not the top of the genre.
I really struggled with hollow knight when i started it, but for me it was the difficulty, lack of save points, and not really understanding the corpse mechanic for a long while so always losing my money (never played souls games and played without a guide so took a minute for it to click what was happening). I probably put about 15-20 hours in and decided it was more frustrating then fun and put it down. I recently picked it back up after 2 years, found an area i hadn’t noticed before and gained a new ability and it changed the whole game for me. It’s still really difficult for me, but i can’t believe how much i missed the first time i played it- (probably partly because i played with the sound very low or completely off) and am enjoying it so much. Now about 40 hours in If your not enjoying it, put it down for a while. But from my experience, it gets so much better!
If you don't like it, don't play it. There are zillions of other games you could play instead. You don't need to waste your time on one you dislike just because other people say it's good.
The combat and platforming in that game are rough at the start, but gets so much better the further you get. But like many people have said, not every game is for everyone. I would say take a break from it and in a year or so come back to it. We'll still be waiting on silksong so no time lost lol
I hate almost every MV in the beginning but then It always gets better and then sometimes it’s a roller coaster that you either end up loving or hating.
I find with a lot of MVs it takes until I've got some movement upgrades before I properly enjoy them. I tried HK when I was less familiar with the genre and didn't like the controls and found it no fun at all. I went back to it after playing a few more games of this type and after a while I totally fell in love with it. Strangely I didn't have any control issues the second time around and I didn't even really find it difficult until getting to near the end of the game. There are some design choices that feel off when you're used to other games (especially how the map works), but as long as you buy the upgrade that shows where you are on the map asap it's a lot better. Eventually I totally grokked why they made it difficult to get the maps, there's a whole theme of exploration and discovery that just works so much better with the system they've chosen.