Side by side
Hollow Knight vs Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Hollow Knight
93 positive (78%) · 15 mixed (13%) · 11 negative (9%)
Trust + time weighted: +67%
AI summary — not a quote
Hollow Knight is widely regarded by Reddit users as a premier 'Soulslike' Metroidvania, praised for its atmospheric world-building, polished combat, and exceptional music. While many celebrate its open-ended exploration and fair challenge, others find the frequent backtracking and meandering pace frustrating.
Pros
- Atmospheric and gorgeous visual design
- Polished combat and tight controls
- Exceptional music and sound design
- High value with significant free post-launch content
Cons
- Extensive backtracking can feel tedious
- Meandering pace may lead to losing focus
- Significant difficulty spikes in late-game platforming
- Critical progression skills can be easily missed
Top excerpts
The exploration is really engaging, especially those lore heavy areas. Gave me the same feeling I had in Hollow Knight. Like, when you know that this location is important, but you are not really sure why yet.
Games I've played since my daughters were born that I have really enjoyed: Tunic, Hollow knight, Death's Door, Gris, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, Undertale, Cup Head, Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Exo One.
I think it is kinda like "What does Hollow Knight offer besides being a polished and good metroidvania with amazing music, setting and visuals?"
Thankfully the visuals were gorgeous so it doesn’t hurt to visit the same places over and over again until you are really desperated
There is however one thing that I’d call a major flaw. It’s the hard roadblocks placed by devs – a few critical skills that completely block you from progressing further in storyline until you happen to discover them. The major problem with them is that the game lets you progress awfully far until you realize something is not adding up and you are missing out.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
11 positive (92%) · 1 mixed (8%) · 0 negative (0%)
Trust + time weighted: +92%
Top excerpts
Anyway, Mario Wonder is great and I've already promised her I'll happily play it again with her and/or the kids, so I think all is well.
I'm pleasantly surprised by the online features of **Super Mario Bros. Wonder**. ... Thus, I came out of that level realizing that Mario Wonder is a game that allows for and rewards player creativity, which is terrific, and also that it's a game that creates emergent gameplay out of passive multiplayer in a way that, if not truly new in the gaming space at least *feels* novel.
I do love the “wonder” mechanic introduced in “Super Mario Bros. Wonder”. Though it is the “Wonder Seed” that triggers the hallucinatory mindfeckery, it might as well be the mushrooms that have been such a mainstay of Mario’s world for so long. The “trippyness” induced by these seeds is a great fit for a Mario 2D platformer.
I really did enjoy this game. ... That said, despite the hype and promises of being the first 2D Mario platformer since the SNES days to take the series forward, I found that “Super Mario Bros. Wonder” mostly just plays like it could have been another entry in the “New Super Mario Bros.” franchise. ... I do love the “wonder” mechanic introduced in “Super Mario Bros. Wonder”.
I've been on the fence with Mario Wonder but this has convinced me.