Exploration
The world of this game is amazing. You are thrown into this otherworldly place with its unique architecture and strange inhabitants being all sorts of weird bugs. You start (or at list I started) by thinking that its not going to be a very big game (especially because of how cheap it is) but the more I went through it the more I realized how wrong I was. This game is BIG, the more you explore the world - the more areas you will find until you are not sure if it will ever end. Every area offers its own unique challenges and the progression is done very gradually and very well while at the same time allowing you to choose where to go and what to do next (to an extent at list).

Secrets
I am a person that loves secrets. In many games the secrets are there for some collectible to give you an achievement but ultimately don't open new things to do in the actual game. There is nothing wrong with secrets for collectibles but this game does more with them. Sometimes you will find a collectible but other times a secret will open a whole new area for you to explore and I love it. It means that if you spend a while just looking around for secrets you will be rewarded for it and more than that - In a way it makes the game feel endless as if there is always another wall to break to find a whole new world behind.


Combat
The combat of this game divides into two different parts - sword fighting (your "Nail") and ability fighting (your "soul").
Through the entire game you have a sword (That is referred to as "nail") that you can swing up, down, left or right to hit things with.
You also have a soul which is a bar that fills by killing creatures or entering "soul wells" which you can then use to either heal or attack with - with abilities you gain throughout the game.
I personally like the sword fighting better because it feels more skillful and doesn't deplete - though both forms of fighting are well made and feel balanced.
The best part about the fighting is the enemies. From the basic enemies to the hardest bosses every enemy feels like a unique challenge and there are a LOT of them. The enemies can get really difficult and force you to use at list most if not all of your tools (your fighting skills with the nail, your abilities, your platforming skills, your charms...) in order to beat.

Platforming
You start with basic movements (left, right, up, down and jump). The movement feels good, it feels precise and you unlock other movement mechanics later on in the game (like dash, double jump etc) which make it more interesting.
The platforming doesn't get as difficult as in games like - "The end is nigh" or "Celeste" (Which I highly recommend you to play if you like hard platformers) but that makes sense since hollow knight is more of an adventure-fighting-platformer rather than strictly a platformer. The game does have a few hard platforming sections if you want to challenge yourself and its important to control your movement well for fighting. Overall the platforming is not crazy hard so it doesn't halt your progress and not very easy so you still have a challenge.

Some more stuff
The game has a "charms" system which are items you collect / buy with the game's currency which you use to upgrade your character in different ways and you can only use a set amount of charms at a time based on your available slots.
There is also a fast travel system as you would expect from a game like this and a money system with a currency called "goo" which allows you to unlock the fast travel stations as well as buy charms and a few other items.

There is a story - though its very vague and hard to understand, that's the only "downside" if you can even call it that - that I can truly say about the game. I am saying if you can even call it a downside because I don't think this game tried to be a game that pushes you through a story of a character but rather a mysterious world for you to explore and discover or at list that's how I choose to look at it. That said if you are looking for a story driven game this may not be what you are looking for.

If you couldn't tell - I love this game, in fact its my favorite game. I wasn't going to make this long of a review and I doubt that many people are going to read it let alone get this far (if you did - hi oh and thanks :)) but it was important to me to talk about what I think and what I felt playing this game and I hope I managed to describe it. I would recommend anyone that likes this type of game to give it a shot especially when the price is this low, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

BUY THIS GAME

[h2]The World[/h2] [b]Exploration[/b] The world of this game is amazing. You are thrown into this otherworldly place with its unique architecture and strange inhabitants being all sorts of weird bugs. You start (or at list I started) by thinking that its not going to be a very big game (especially because of how cheap it is) but the more I went through it the more I realized how wrong I was. This game is BIG, the more you explore the world - the more areas you will find until you are not sure if it will ever end. Every area offers its own unique challenges and the progression is done very gradually and very well while at the same time allowing you to choose where to go and what to do next (to an extent at list). [b]Secrets[/b] I am a person that loves secrets. In many games the secrets are there for some collectible to give you an achievement but ultimately don't open new things to do in the actual game. There is nothing wrong with secrets for collectibles but this game does more with them. Sometimes you will find a collectible but other times a secret will open a whole new area for you to explore and I love it. It means that if you spend a while just looking around for secrets you will be rewarded for it and more than that - In a way it makes the game feel endless as if there is always another wall to break to find a whole new world behind. [h2]The gameplay[/h2] [b]Combat[/b] The combat of this game divides into two different parts - sword fighting (your "Nail") and ability fighting (your "soul"). Through the entire game you have a sword (That is referred to as "nail") that you can swing up, down, left or right to hit things with. You also have a soul which is a bar that fills by killing creatures or entering "soul wells" which you can then use to either heal or attack with - with abilities you gain throughout the game. I personally like the sword fighting better because it feels more skillful and doesn't deplete - though both forms of fighting are well made and feel balanced. The best part about the fighting is the enemies. From the basic enemies to the hardest bosses every enemy feels like a unique challenge and there are a LOT of them. The enemies can get really difficult and force you to use at list most if not all of your tools (your fighting skills with the nail, your abilities, your platforming skills, your charms...) in order to beat. [b]Platforming[/b] You start with basic movements (left, right, up, down and jump). The movement feels good, it feels precise and you unlock other movement mechanics later on in the game (like dash, double jump etc) which make it more interesting. The platforming doesn't get as difficult as in games like - "The end is nigh" or "Celeste" (Which I highly recommend you to play if you like hard platformers) but that makes sense since hollow knight is more of an adventure-fighting-platformer rather than strictly a platformer. The game does have a few hard platforming sections if you want to challenge yourself and its important to control your movement well for fighting. Overall the platforming is not crazy hard so it doesn't halt your progress and not very easy so you still have a challenge. [b]Some more stuff[/b] The game has a "charms" system which are items you collect / buy with the game's currency which you use to upgrade your character in different ways and you can only use a set amount of charms at a time based on your available slots. There is also a fast travel system as you would expect from a game like this and a money system with a currency called "goo" which allows you to unlock the fast travel stations as well as buy charms and a few other items. [h2]The story[/h2] There is a story - though its very vague and hard to understand, that's the only "downside" if you can even call it that - that I can truly say about the game. I am saying if you can even call it a downside because I don't think this game tried to be a game that pushes you through a story of a character but rather a mysterious world for you to explore and discover or at list that's how I choose to look at it. That said if you are looking for a story driven game this may not be what you are looking for. [h2]My thoughts[/h2] If you couldn't tell - I love this game, in fact its my favorite game. I wasn't going to make this long of a review and I doubt that many people are going to read it let alone get this far (if you did - hi oh and thanks :)) but it was important to me to talk about what I think and what I felt playing this game and I hope I managed to describe it. I would recommend anyone that likes this type of game to give it a shot especially when the price is this low, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :) [h2]TLDR[/h2] BUY THIS GAME