Follow the hollow

This is the music review of
Gods & Nightmares (2018).

There is hardly a genre as difficult to be successful as indie games. While big brands with big budgets can usually reduce the risk of failure through marketing and their core clientele, many small development studios usually start from scratch - including Team Cherry, the developers of 2017's Metroidvania Hollow Knight. They have exactly one game on their release list and only the sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, in the pipeline.

Nevertheless, thanks to its fanatical fanbase, the sequel is considered one of the most anticipated, as the main game was nominated for numerous awards, including the prestigious Game Award for Best Debut Indie Game. I myself was later tempted to play Hollow Knight by the positive reviews. With around 30 hours on the clock, I had only completed 26 of the 63 achievements and probably missed out on some content, but I had had enough of the gloomy, dreary story about the 'hollow knight'.

I liked the atmosphere, the flair and the challenging gameplay. Conversely, both my sense of direction and my frustration tolerance were put to the test, which is why I was glad to see the credits at the end. Did I have fun and can I understand the fans' euphoria? Absolutely! Nevertheless, I like Ori a little more in direct comparison. We'll now find out whether the same can be said on a musical level.

Hollow Knight's OST comprises 26 tracks (running time approx. 1 hour) and was composed by Australian composer Christopher Larkin, who should not be confused with the American actor of the same name. Meanwhile, the scores of the two Metroidvanias cannot really be compared. While Larkin relies on mostly classical sounds, Gareth Coker's work for the story of the forest spirit is much more modern.

However, this review is not about that one, but about the music of Hollow Knight. It builds on the keyboard of classic orchestral game music and follows in the footsteps of Child of Light and other indie gems. The Hollow Knight Hollow Knight–wiki describes the score as follows:

The score for Hollow Knight captures the vast underground world of the game. The story begins with soft piano notes echoing the Hollow Knight-theme, and as the player explores further, orchestral forces swell to an operatic scale as the fate of the knight unfolds.

There is basically nothing to add content-wise, but I would still like to share my observations and personal favorites. Larkin understands perfectly how to marry the seemingly contradictory worlds of elegant classical music, as in Dirtmouth and Mantis Lords , with the wildness of the undiscovered game world. This tribal quality shines through in pieces such as Crossroads or Nosk which are probably the most comparable to the Ori-games, but never reach their opulent musical power.

This is probably largely due to the limitation to classical instruments such as wind instruments (White Palace), harps (The White Lady) or strings (False Knight). Mantis Lords and Soul Sanctum round off the image of an ancient orchestra with the use of harpsichord and organ, while Decisive Battle softens this impression again with its drums. Nevertheless, it becomes clear, especially towards the end, that the Dark Souls-series may have been the inspiration for the ecstatic moments of the score. The opening of Sealed Vessel in particular captures its spirit very well, but is not a copy due to its reduced scope.

The Hornet theme is also beautiful. This is the theme for the needle-wielding Hornet, which we come across again and again during our adventure and will also be the protagonist of Silksong. Through the use of strings, her theme skillfully captures the idea of the swarm of hornets dancing around as a mixture of precision and grace. All in all, one of the better scores for one of the better indie games.

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Gods & Nightmares

Could it also have been the four free expansions that helped the developers secure the favor of the players? Who knows, who knows. As far as I know, I haven't played them, but after listening to the OST, I've got a bit of an urge to pick up the game again. Meanwhile, the music for the expansions was also available, albeit as a paid album titled Gods & Nightmares.

However, there is nothing nightmarish about the 15 pieces - on the contrary. Larkin continues the successful course of the score of the main game, but this time sails a little closer to the winds of modern convention. This turns The Grimm Troupe and Nightmare King into a clash between metal and Dracula, while Pale Court is no less bloodsucking, but with its mixture of strings and piano it is more classical.

Alongside the latter and Gods & Glory my favorite track on this album is Daughter of Hallownest, which is a somewhat more liberated version of the Hornet's-theme. The track is played in a duel with the boomerang-faced accompanist, and you can see what that looks like ony YouTube ... makes your fingers hurt just watching it.