Hollow Knight

This game had a choke-hold on me during my playthrough. I couldn't stop thinking about it. It just keeps going. It keeps getting more fun. One of the best things about metroidvania design is how it can reward your exploration. You can reach an ending to Hollow Knight relatively quickly if you're focused on the objective, but I doubt you would be able to. One little detour can lead you down a rabbit whole of discoveries that can grant you new collectibles or abilities. You can't resist the urge to check out an area you haven't seen before and each time something new happens. It could be a bossfight, it could be a whole new challenge to overcome, or it could reveal something new about the world. Speaking of which, what a world. I'm baffled by how well thought out it is. There isn't a single wasted location in Hollow Knight. Nothing feels like fluff. They do so much to make the world feel lived in. I couldn't believe how this game managed to get me attached to several different characters. Some of them were never even alive and they still hit me. Oh, and the sound design too. Wow. This isn't even something I pay attention to much, but they do incredible work here. The music isn't going to hit you as hard as the sound effects will. Again, the devs do so much to make world feel lived in and the ambience plays a big role in that. I could sing this game's praises for days. It's as good as people said it was. They nailed every aspect of it. It's hard for me to come up with anything negative to say. Uuuh.. it's a little hard? You don't get punished hard for failing so the difficulty shouldn't be that much of a turn off anyway. Just... play this game eventually. Whenever you get around to it. It's awesome.