When Hollow Knight originally dropped on the Switch, I bought it immediately as I had heard good things. I played it for a few hours, struggled to find anything around the map, got killed multiple times, found the lack of objective agonizing, and ended up having a horrible time.
I don’t remember when I picked it up again, but I know why. I had gone down a YouTube rabbit hole (I didn’t spoil myself, don’t worry), learning about mechanics, game design, and the incredible feeling of discovery in the game. Curious, I dove back in better equipped and determined to find the diamond in the rough, and I learned the difficulty and that purposeful feeling of being lost was the point. Now, Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games of all time.
