I think that Hollow Knight is one of the best games that has been released in the past 5 years and it is a wonderful example of what an independent studio can do to create and amazing game that is thankfully not a part of EA or Bethesda. However, despite the fact that this game is incredible, it isn't without its faults and from the perspective of an "average gamer," which is what I consider myself to be, this game has some flaws and that is just fine because every game has flaws.
This game is damn near perfect and I will acknowledge this. It is one of the most highly talked about games in the past 3 years and it deserves every bit of that. This doesn't mean that it is absolutely perfect though and I'll give a few examples of why that is.
Where TF do I go now?
This is something that I have felt in HK so many times that I don't even know how to properly exhibit it. The amount of times that I ended up somewhere and then after finally defeating a boss only to get some item and then look around and be like "ok, that's wonderful... but where do I go now?" Is something that I experience on a regular basis.
The map is pretty open and it is done in a Metroid-vania type sense, but it isn't evident or even terribly discoverable, where you are actually meant to go next. In the 20 or 30 hours that I have been playing the game I find myself wandering with a WTF am i supposed to do now? type attitude. There isn't a clear mission and no sort of indicator as to where it is that you should even be heading in the game and while this might appeal to 100%-ers for someone like me I would like to have at least SOME indication of where it is that I am meant to go next.
Do you remember how in Metroid or Castlevania that when you achieved a certain objective they would at least give you some degree of idea where it is that you are supposed to go next? Well they don't do that in HK at all. Once you achieve some sort of victory over a boss it is just a situation of.... ok, wander about a bit until you stumble upon something new. This is annoying and results in repetitive gameplay and even worse... resorting to YT videos to determine the next step
Currency is basically irrelevant
Early on in the game "geo" or the game's currency is somewhat important and you find yourself grinding every now and then to save up for various items that are available in the shops. About halfway through the game currency becomes a complete non issue because you either have waaaaaay too much of it or you don't have any at all unless you chase down your ghost corpse that is holding it.
I have purchased everything that has ever been for sale in the game even to the point where I don't actually even want the thing that I am buying but I have so much Geo that why not?
If you don't think that what I am saying is true just watch a few YT vids of people playing that game and see how they basically avoid all enemies because there is very little incentive to fight anything since there is no XP and money becomes completely irrelevant about 50% of the way through the game.
Save points are too far away
This is probably going to sound like I am whinging a bit here but there are a few bosses that you have to face I guess in order to progress through the game, even though there is no clearly defined path to victory and some of these bosses, as you would expect are really tough and have a massive learning curve.
Take the boss of the Hive for example: The only save points are absolute ages away from where you face this boss. It is a relatively tough boss in relation to the rest of the game up to this point and after it, yet if you want to face him multiple times in a row you are going to have to spend 10-15 minutes per try JUST GETTING TO HIM
It really shouldn't be like this and in the end once you defeat him it turns out that he actually is not terribly instrumental in beating the entire game and this kind of refers back to point number 1 that I made: Upon defeating a particular aspect of the game you are at a stand-still as far as knowing where you are meant to be going or even what the overall objective of the game is. I have revealed basically the entire map that is featured above but still, I don't really know what I am fighting or what the story is here. I just know that I keep running around, keep getting killed or killing, and I am meant to carry on... but to what end? There is no clear-cut final objective here and totally solving everything in the game is something that might appeal to some people out there but at this point in time I am just running around now and it is getting old.
Overall I feel as though Hollow Knight is a damn near perfect game but the only thing I have to bitch about it is that it seems as though this game is kind of forcing us to look online for tips from someone's Twitch account or YouTube channel. I would prefer a game that is challenging (which this is) but still at least evident as to what it is that you are meant to do next and Hollow Knight fails pretty badly at that point.
I will admit that I have resorted to YT videos many many times in my completion of this game and if we were to go back in time 20 years when this was not an option, I think I would have stopped playing it quite some time ago. If it weren't for the internetz, i think that Hollow Knight would be regarded in a very different manner than it is now.