It's not bad for 20$. It's got the classic hollowknight non sense . You know if you die and don't make it back to your soul you loose everything. It just non sense like that , that killed the first game for me. I like the games , but they are way over rated.
Hand drawn graphics and haunting music set a great atmosphere. What doesn't is the constant set backs. These are not small set backs. Loosing your money can cost you hours of time , literally. For that reason it does not go above a 7.5 out 10 like the first one.
On the plus side its only 20$. If you don't mind frustrating, time consuming penalties, this may be a game for you.
I can't stress enough how brutal this game can get. It is exploration based but almost discourages exploration. I am all for a challenge. The back tracking and loosing your money does really detract from the game a lot. I have no clue your skill level. If your like me and are good at action / platform games , but not a master , then you can brave it through and beat it.
Just a fair warning , 20$ or not , you have to decide if that's worth frustrating gameplay , mixed with awesome and fun gameplay. The challenge is fun and keeps pushing you. The frustration can kill the game and I suspect has for many.
I am a hollow knight fan. The games regardless are well made. It is just they go over board with certain things and instead of making it challenging, it makes a lot of stuff and areas tedious.
Update-
25 hours in and almost to the end. Man it is hard to recommend this to anyone but hardcore , hardcore action / platformers.
Tedious is an understatement trust me. I have died probably over a hundred times despite running almost perfect in some areas. One ill hit can mean the difference between life and death. Loosing your money and the backtracking over the same areas gets super old.
I mean super old. I am nearing the end now and while I braved it through , I don't know that many will.
The bosses hit much harder and if you don't get at least one extra mask and upgrade your needle at least once your gonna have hell. The one extra mask doesn't really even help , but you can heal that much more. So technically it's not even an extra hit. Hopefully you can heal a little. That usually turns into a few extra hits for me anyways. Healing is even more crucial.
A few more benches could have worked wonders . As its normal to be exploring normal areas and die.