One topic that came up a significant amount in discussion this week was crowdfunding games, and one specific point that was brought up was the quality limitations of these crowdfunded games. One specific limitation mentioned was in regards to aesthetics and art, which explained the prevalence of 8 and 16-bit graphics even in modern crowdfunded games, where higher quality visuals are possible. Team Cherry’s entirely crowdfunded project, Hollow Knight, is not only a phenomenal game, but was also entirely crowdfunded. This is not apparently obvious, however, when actually playing the game. From an art standpoint it is beautiful, and the original soundtrack is broad and impactful. One of the largest draws to me for being the game was actually these aesthetic aspects, which are not usually the strongest points of other crowdsourced games.
The gameplay doesn’t suffer at all from this heightened focus on art, however. Hollow Knight is a Metroid-Vania platformer, which refers to an action platformer game with a large in-game world not gated by individuals levels, but rather obstacles that require the acquisition of new skills or abilities to traverse. The subterranean, insect inhabited world of Hollow Knight take you, an adorable beetle-warrior, through this world for a purpose that is not obvious until later in the game. The combat relies much more on patience and learning rather than mechanical ability, which makes the new enemies in all the game’s many, unique areas a constant challenge. Finally, the charm customization system gives players in an incredible diversity of how they want to control their character. With over 40 different charms, all of which denote the protagonist with new spells or passive abilities, players can focus on playing the game in the way that us most fun for them. Are spells your thing? Equip the combo of charms that turns your basic projectile into a shotgun-burst of exploding worms. Would you rather focus on healing? Equip the charms that turns you into a snail that can move while healing at the same time. There is incredible care put into every aspect of this game which clearly took many hours to design and implement, which you wouldn’t expect from one that was entirely crowdsourced.
The ~20 hour story had up to five different endings, but the game makes it easy to retry for a better option should they not love the ending they get. The depth not only from art, but also gameplay and mechanics, is far beyond what I expected from a crowdsourced game. With our discussion of crowdsourcing as a tool for creating a counter-culture in a world where games are now mainstream, Hollow Knight shows that there does not have to be a trade-off between large company affiliation and incredible quality in games.