The Brilliant Level Design of Hollow Knight (Game Analysis 01)

Allow me to preface this article by saying that I am far from the first person to sing the praises of Hollow Knight. This, however, is for good reason; the game is difficult, but fair, charming, and delightfully atmospheric, due in no small part to its genius level design. Hollow Knight‘s levels employ every strength of the game’s mechanics to make for an engaging challenge, as well as a unique, beautiful art style to make every area, enemy, and action all the more memorable, and no stage in Hollow Knight does this better than the City of Tears.

The impact of the City of Tears, in all of its aesthetics, is sublime. Right out the gate, the player is struck with a deep, somber blue that permeates almost everything about the level, already creating an air of sadness and tragedy. Coupled with the wonderfully stylistic, hand-drawn art style of the game, the framework is laid for a gorgeous set piece. This effect is only enhanced by the ever-present rain, its appearance and ambient sound beautifully complimenting the dim, abandoned city. Then, as the player travels through it, they come across lavish, intricately-designed features and architecture, most notably the fountain square, solidifying the city as an area that was once richly populated. All of the artistic elements are deliberately put in place to drive home the idea that a great tragedy befell the city and its denizens, leaving it in a mournful state for all eternity.

Beyond this, its place in the story only makes the ambience of the area even more engaging and tragic: it was once the capital of a thriving kingdom. The City of Tears was not just any city, but the very heart of a kingdom. This fact alone makes the area much more memorable, and allows it to stand out among the other areas in the game as an important location for the player to be in the narrative.

Finally, its gameplay functions as a hybrid of a hub and a proper stage, with new areas opening up as the player progresses through the game in other areas until the entire area can be traversed properly, continually bringing the player back to explore the area more and truly discover its secrets, be them lore, hidden NPCs and shops, or progression items, wonderfully encapsulating the best of both the visual and gameplay aspects of Hollow Knight.

Hollow Knight is a 2017 Metroidvania title developed by Australian indie studio Team Cherry, following the story of an enigmatic, silent protagonist as it traverses the fallen kingdom of Hallownest, the remnants of one of the last great bug civilizations. Also, yes, the entire story of Hollow Knight revolves around various species of bugs. Throughout the game, the dark tale of the kingdom’s fate is retold through various anecdotes and bits of hidden lore, detailing the untimely downfall of the kingdom by the hand of a vengeful god of dreams, and the sacrifice its rulers made to salvage what little remained, ultimately culminating in the creation of the Hollow Knight, a vessel capable of sealing the god and its wrath deep within. It is this vessel that the player must ultimately defeat, and to that end, they must traverse Hallownest, including the aforementioned City of Tears.

Unfortunately, as much as I love the City of Tears, it’s not all perfect. At times, the city can feel very open-ended, in a bad way. It’s not entirely clear where the player is and is not supposed to go at times, and a recurring issue in Hollow Knight, at least for me, is a lack of real demarcation for where exits and doors are supposed to be. In a more open area like the City of Tears, this can be annoying, at times. Thankfully, though, this is an easy fix; simply make the visuals for the doors more clear in certain places, and perhaps give some visual or audio indication of when the player has reached an area they aren’t able to access at that point in the game’s progression.

However, this is only a minor nitpick, at best. Overall, the City of Tears is a masterpiece of level design, a brilliant marriage of visuals, audio, and function, and one of the most memorable areas in a game filled with incredible stages. The area oozes creativity and deep, carefully-crafted lore, and only further solidifies Hollow Knight as one of the best platformers in recent years.