I really hated Dread. It feels extremely linear with no opportunity for sequence breaking or backtracking. The fact that the EMMI fights are so QTE bullshit that the game gives you autosave points outside of save rooms felt like a tacit admission that they were badly designed. Plus, it kept the dogshit forced melee counters from Samus Returns.

I haven’t played it. It looks like it’s primarily melee focused which is a minus for me and I’ve heard it has a dropping shit on death mechanic which is one of my most hated mechanics in all of gaming.

Going off of memory since it’s been a long time since I’ve played sotn but I think it doesn’t make for meaningful progression in the same way power ups in metroid do. Like with metroid power ups it substantially impacts how one interacts with and traverses with the map in a way that picking up an item with higher stats doesn’t. Same problem with something like borderlands or diablo.

Naw no worries, lesgoooo! I have not played Hollow Knight, I figured that kind of twitch Super Meatboy/Celeste style platforming would gel badly with backtracking.

The Headhunter is such a good boss!!! Literally the only Koji Igarashi boss that challenges you to use your newfound mobility vs the classic games! Most other bosses are just giant damage sponges, like the ball of human bodies guy. Final boss is decent.

Yeah areas, Igarashi and the gang just like grey way too much. Aria has a drab pallette generally.

Dumb drop rates are really stupid and it’s a shame they did not fix it when Circle of the Moon had the same issue, but I did not grind for souls, fuck that. I stuck with the ones that emulate old sub-weapons. Stupid progression is the thing in EVERY one of these games where you get a powerup - sometimes a cool glide or jump ability, sometimes shit like the box pushing in Circle, so keycards I guess - and then you look at the map and wonder which of these twenty dead ends has an obstacle that matches the thing you have, and hit the teleporters. I hate it so much, in Resident Evil for contrast you get the battery and go “Oh! This powers the generator for that outdoor elevator!” because the environment design is actually good.

These games give you way too much mobility and too many attack options as I described, enemies just get styled upon and their only option is either lunge attacks, yeah, or making them huge/damage sponges. These games have nothing as cool as the axe knight hallway in Castlevania 1.

Is Hollow Knight actually good? Is it not a nightmare to backtrack through twitch platforming and difficult combat?