That sounds about right from what I've seen of Hollow Knight (I think I beat the first boss and got slightly into the second area at some point, but only sort of remember the start of the game).
I wonder if there's some perk you get and can spend equip slots on at some point to make the health bar show up.
3 weeks ago
Metroid Prime was a pretty good argument for "Metroidvania can be 3D" up until the last, I dunno, 20%? And then I guess it wasn't so much a counterargument as just I stopped enjoying it (never played either sequel), though I did grind my way through the endgame. For me, at least, if it's got that "somewhat nonlinear world / sometimes backtrack with new tools" motif going on, I'm happy to file it under Metroidvania, particularly if it seems like it emphasizes exploration over combat.
If my memory doesn't fail me, I think the last one I actually finished was Timespinner (interesting, only has a mild case of Kickstarter syndrome), but I want to shout out Astalon: Tears of the Earth as a slightly older-school take on the formula.
As for what I'm playing now: I've been trying to play more strategy games, which at the moment means revisiting Civilization IV and dipping my toes into Age of Mythology: Retold. I'm also slowly working my way through Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero.
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That sounds about right from what I've seen of Hollow Knight (I think I beat the first boss and got slightly into the second area at some point, but only sort of remember the start of the game).
I wonder if there's some perk you get and can spend equip slots on at some point to make the health bar show up.
Metroid Prime was a pretty good argument for "Metroidvania can be 3D" up until the last, I dunno, 20%? And then I guess it wasn't so much a counterargument as just I stopped enjoying it (never played either sequel), though I did grind my way through the endgame. For me, at least, if it's got that "somewhat nonlinear world / sometimes backtrack with new tools" motif going on, I'm happy to file it under Metroidvania, particularly if it seems like it emphasizes exploration over combat.
If my memory doesn't fail me, I think the last one I actually finished was Timespinner (interesting, only has a mild case of Kickstarter syndrome), but I want to shout out Astalon: Tears of the Earth as a slightly older-school take on the formula.
As for what I'm playing now: I've been trying to play more strategy games, which at the moment means revisiting Civilization IV and dipping my toes into Age of Mythology: Retold. I'm also slowly working my way through Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero.