Atmosphere and Motivic Development in Hollow Knight's Soundtrack 

Play this game if you haven't. It's the only game I've ever been upset that I didn't pay more for it.

You make 12 minutes go by like 4. Exceptional video, mate.

1:26 Video doesn't do it justice, btw. Most hollow knight players I know will agree with me. That section of the game. You were trapped inside of the place. You don't know where you are. Then a little bit of music enters. It is nice and pretty. You realize that there is more to that place. Then you take the elevator down and the full score hits. The rush of emotion that hit those players was powerful. No joke, that part of the game is why so many people get such a strong connection with it.

8bmt: I could talk about it for a month Me: Please do 8bmt: SO I WIIIILLLLL Me: HE WIIIILLLLLL

That "so I will" gave me the biggest goofy smile. I can't wait for the next two parts!

ngl i giggled with joy a little when you said "So I will!!!" super looking forward to it :)

Sees the videos in recomendations.... well... I guess all the things I'm doing must wait

Are we talking about... Oh yeah, we're talking about *_LEITMOTIFS_*

A 3 part Hollow Knight music discussion? Yes please

8 Bit Music Theory... Hollow Knight... *DROPS EVERYTHING TO WATCH* "But wait there's more coming" *EXCITEMENT INTENSIFIES*

That was so precious. Just- "So, I WIIIIIIIIIIIIIILL!"

“The combat is challenging but fair” **cries in Watcher Knights**

I'm so glad you made this! You managed to cover much more than I thought would be possible in a single video, and I'm so excited for the next few in the series!! It's interesting that you saw the Soul Sanctum's theme as solemn, sad, and regretful -- I always thought of it as more grand, self-important, and malicious, and thinking about it that way puts it in a whole new light.

YES MORE HOLLOW NIGHT. When you said "I could do this for a month", my eyes rolled into my head and I just chanted "pleasepleaseplease"

Y'know... I need to play this game now.

"Dripping with atmosphere" I see what you did there

Could've clicked faster. 3 parts. wow. chances for mention of the resting grounds is really high then

I have never played this game, but GOD DAMN do I want to, now. The soundtrack hit me like a freight train of emotion.

I let out an audible 'WHOA' when i noticed the Soul Master's battle melody bares a striking resemblance to the vocal melody of the City Of Tears! I loved Hollow Knight to death, but wasn't super wowed by the soundtrack, but after watching this I already have a deeper appreciation for the soundtrack.

I also find it interesting how the soul sanctum theme repeats an ascending set of notes considering that while you're progressing through that area you are literally climbing up and when you get to the boss the music starts oscillating between ascending and descending since you've got no where left to climb, you've reached the top.

Hyyyyyyyype ! Best Indie Game ever made, damn I'm HYPED ! Thank you so much for this !

I definitely agree that the music is one of this game's major selling points. Not only is it beautiful, the way it rises, crechendos, and even when it remains silent, it makes the game's atmosphere all the more appealing and memorable. I'm so glad you plan to make a few more videos about this game's music! I was thinking before you said that how interesting it would be to hear your thoughts on the Hollow Knight battle.

OMG Hollow Knight, Hurray!! My husband LOVES your channel and always shows me your videos. But as a big music theory fan myself, I said I'd take you seriously once you covered Hollow Knight. Hahaha he shared me the link within minutes of it being published. Here I am at work sneakily watching the video, with a huge grin. An even GIANT grin when you mentioned So I will! Alright I'm officially a fan of your videos now :) I love video game soundtracks. But this one I could discuss for hours. Please PLEASE cover the following areas of the game (no spoilers): -when you first enter and (more importantly) cutscene when you leave the Abyss. The music in that moment gave me goosebumps and tears in my eyes. -the resting grounds -the sealed vessel... wow... What amazing, mindblowing ambiance. It conveys all of the pain, desperation, urgency of that scene. I can't listen to it without getting emotional. Pure beauty. Pretty please? :)

THAT TWIST ENDING THO Really the joy in your voice when you said “AND I WIIIIILLLL” was amazing and cute.

One of my favorite games and favorite soundtrack of all time. Thank you for covering Hollow Knight

I will watch literally as many videos about Hollow Knight's soundtrack as you put out lmao. I love this game so much and the soundtrack is a huge part of why.

Returning to the Greenpath with the Crystal Power was one of the most memorable parts of the game for me

I got SO happy when I saw that you made a video on Hollow Knight, so when I got to the end I completely lost it. Thank you so much for doing these!!!! ♥️

It's like the composer watched your video on how to write ambiance like David Wise!

We don't deserve Christopher Larkin Seriously though, Hollow Knight has the best game soundtrack IMO

I really like the way that you highlighted the intervals (7 and 9) at 4:42. The 8 bit synth plus the whole 1357(9) chord arpeggiated/rolled was bright enough for my poor ears to actually place and recognize the intervals. Please do that more in the future!

I love revisiting this little trilogy because I love Hollow Knight and your clear appreciation for it... Keep up the great work mate

I want nothing more than an analysis of the stacking layers in the path of pain that would be incredible.

i wish i could experience this game for the first time again. nothing can compare to the feeling that hit me like a brick when i walked into the open part of city of tears, and really every time i listen to the soundtrack i tear up. same with greenpath and many other songs, im not even sure why, but i just cant describe the feeling it gives me. i only started playing in 2020, but i feel like i grew up with this game. it almost feels embarrassing to admit, but this is genuinely one of if not the best games ive ever played. its like i feel connected to it, even. hollow knight truly has my heart. :')

My birthday was recently so I think I will consider this my birthday present. I love Hollow Knight. Thank you! It's perfect!

11:32 made me so excited. Love this game so much and can't wait to see more videos about its soundtrack. City of Tears and Crystal Peak are my favorite tracks but they're all sooo good.

Hauntingly well done video, I could listen to you talk about Hollow Knight for hou- OH HE'S MAKING MORE YESSSSS

and please do talk about Hollow Knight for a month, your excitement just made me feel happy because I want to (try to) geek out this soundtrack as well

*Sees a new 8-bit music theory video* Me: ooh that’s good *sees it’s about Hollow Knight* Me: ooh that’s VERY good *sees it analyzes City of Tears* Me: YAAAAASSSS

OH MY GOD I love Hollow Knight, and I screamed when I saw the notification on Twitter. I screamed again with the SO I WILL! Thanks for analyzing this amazing Soundtrack, I'm eager to see the next videos ^^

Open chords and colorful jazz chord tones help give a deeper and more sophisticated atmosphere while at the same time, keeps it free flowing. This is one of the many wonderful things I love about VGM.

can you imagine how godly it would be to hear a live orchestra play the music from hollow knight, christopher larkin reALLY outdid himself, the music is incredible

I haven't played Hollow Knight, but I'm sold on it now. These are brilliant soundtrack composing techniques. Thanks for digging in!

A famous Italian youtuber started the series a couple weeks ago. I fell in love with the OST and transcribed "dirthmouth". I Bought it yesterday and spent the night playing it and today you upload the video! that's absurd!!! :D

When I was watching the video I was thinking, "Man, I could listen to this guy talk about this game forever," and I was so happy to hear you're doing more videos on it! :D

It's so incredible what can be done with music when it comes to storytelling and theme building. I hope to someday write compositions as beautiful as these and for that reason, I'm really glad that 8-bit takes such in-depth looks at pieces like these so that people like me can learn and take notes. Keep up the awesome work 8-bit Music Theory!

Loved the video. Hollow Knight has a great soundtrack. Thanks for covering

SO EXCITED FOR THE SERIES I absolutely adore Hollow Knight and Christopher Larkin's work

Videos like these bring much needed attention to Hollow Knight's (and other video games') soundtrack, so thank you. The soundtrack is actually on Spotify too!

“AND I WIIIIIIIIIIILL!!!” I don’t think I’ve ever heard you yell before, you made me laugh

Can't wait to see more of this. I got Hollow Knight as a Christmas gift from a friend and fell it love with it. The gameplay, the setting and art direction, and most especially the muaic.

H-HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS EARLIER?!? Hollow Knight has been my GOTY so far (I got started on it late) and it sucked me in so deep, to see you analyzing the music brings me so much joy. Thank you so much!

OMG, I only recently found this channel. Not only is it chock full of interesting and useful composition ideas, but you're covering the music of my favourite game of the last decade. Bliss.

YES! I've been waiting for you to finally make a video on Hollow Knight, and then there's going to be two more? Honestly, go nuts. If you wanna keep talking about the score for more than two videos, I'd be down. Even if they're not consecutive, I love this game too much to not appreciate any gratuitous gushing over the OST. c:

Oh man!! Hollow Knight's soundtrack is truly stunning and the way all of its tracks mesh together and hearken back to the same melodies from earlier in the game is spectacular. I'm so excited you're going to dig even more into it! I hope you get into Dung Defender and White Defender. White Defender is my favorite song from the whole game.

I actually got choked up when you said "SO I WIIIIL" This game means so much to me. It genuinely put tears in my eyes during my playthrough becuase I was awestruck at it's beauty at every turn. It really inspires me to create. To make others feel the raw emotion and passion that this game made me feel. I wouldn't hesitate to call it my favourite game artistically alone, but the gameplay is ridiculously satisfying, rewarding, and engaging. It's a masterpiece.

I am thrilled, THRILLED that you are doing this game. I could not be happier, and I cannot wait for the next few videos.

I love the electronics playing the music that you’re talking about before you show us the actual phrase

GREAT video!! Hollow knight is one of my all-time favorites. The moment the oasis heal pool theme started playing, it instantly made me feel warm and safe... what an atmospheric soundtrack all around!

I was "Oh well, too bad he didn't analise the Hornet battle" when the video was finishing and then BUM! 2 more episodes! Man, made me so happy. Thank you so much! Looking forward to it.

How is this video 12 minutes long, it gives me the feeling of watching an amazing in depth hour video. Amazing!

I am finishing my second playthrough in a row on this game and I completely agree that the tone is the most compelling thing about it. They give you very little to go on in regards to context and I don’t need to discuss the difficulty but damn the theme of tragedy and grief that perpetuates the game makes you want to keep playing. Thanks so much for these videos man, I really enjoyed this.

Just like this channel, I randomly stumbled across the game. And wow I am glad I did. This game is very underrated, but it makes me happy that it exists and those that know about it LOVE IT.

This game was amazing to say the absolute least! Also, this channel gives me life.... Thanks a ton!

i’m doing a composition project based on ideas in hollow knight for my music theory class and these videos have been so helpful 🙏🙏

I am very excited for the next video about this soundtrack, there is a really solid work on this game. You also should take a look at Klonoa: Door to Phantomile soundtrack, it is one of my favorites, and I feel a very familiar sound when I hear PatMetheny's work, you could use the first klonoa game soundtrack to talk about the timbre of the instruments most used there, cause that is what this soundtrack does different from the other ones (also, some stages of the game change de bpm of the soundtrack depending on how fast the level develops, which I always found a fucking great feature). Everything is tied pretty consistently on this game, It surelly deserves to be here.

Suuuuuper stoked to hear what you announced at the end. Right before the video was coming to an end, I was like, "I really hope I can find another channel that talks more abou-- Oh snap!" Lookin forward to it my dude.

Man I've only watched 2 videos of you but they're so good! I'm a singing student at a conservatoire and I started trying my hand at composing in lockdown and have been doing it ever since when I find some spare time. Just your analysis of Wintory's music gave me so much insight in how to approach stuff and now this, I am definitely going to spread these videos out so as to not get too much info at once but these are teaching me a lot as I am not a music theory nut myself. Thank you!!! Also I should definitely play some of these games!

You make such great content. You should be proud

Man. This soundtrack really shows how complex you make make something simple sound. Just one thing in the middle and the bass and stuff on top could really change the chord. Man there is some good composers out there, no wonder it's a competitive field ahahh.

The soul sanctum part gave me ptsd from making a grueling trek back their after dying to the soul master time and time again great video

I was hoping you'd touch on Hollow Knight one day, and I thought you'd make it a short one about its use of leit motif but instead you made it a lengthy detailed video that delighted and interested me. Thank you for always fueling my love of video games and informing my music major studies with stuff I can follow!

I just listened to all your Hollow Knight videos and I could have done with 10 more. They were fascinating!

Green Path Music is so mesmerizing. So beautiful. everything I play I just stand there to hear the music

Up until recently I've always watched your videos yet grasped only the tip of the surface of what you're talking about. After about a year or a bit more, and some time self-studying, with this video I have realized that I can actually kind of follow your rhythm now and I feel so happy about that.

Very excited you're spending time on this wonderful soundtrack.

Holy shit. Thank you for 3 videos on this, I hope you do the Hollow Knight (boss) theme and the related tracks

My personal favorite example of a leitmotif in Hollow Knight is the connection drawn between the themes of the vessels in the game, specifically between the Birthplace theme and the second half of Sealed Vessel. I love that someone else has such a passion for the music of games.

Ima watch this right after I played the game, I promise, I won't miss out on your videos

Oh my god I love you dude. Thank you so much for doing a Hollow Knight video.

great vid! something i feel like you would like to know is that in the game the radiance and nightmare king grimm are implied to be opposites of eachother, dreams and nightmares. and there are actually musical motifs that carry from the radiance track to the nightmare king track! The fact that christopher larken has such a understanding of this world makes his soundtrack fit in perfectly with the game. plus the dissonance in the second half of nightmare king between the organ and choir is great! im also an extra big fan of how this games soundtrack reacts to what is happening around you like in pikmin! some of my fav tracks for how they tie into the world around them are hornet with the faster violins accentuating her elegant and fast fighting style, the mantis lords because of the very baroque like harpsichord to show what type of society they have, and the dung defender lighthearted brass and mallets showing off how goofy and lighthearted he is in contrast to the rest of the waterways. and thats just in boss fight music! some of my fav area themes for how they tie in are the queens gardens, crystal peak and godhome! i also adore the use of variations of the main theme for each of the vessels. the main theme for the knight on the title screen, the broken vessel theme, the sealed vessel, and the pure vessel! i adore this game! hope this wasnt too long of a ramble!

OH WOW! Your videos have been getting SO good! This was SO well done man! Congrats!

I bought this game because of this video and I have to say, you've ruined my life in the best possible way. I have never been more invested in a game in years and I'd have never given it a second glance if it wasn't for your analysis. The beautiful tragedy. Every time I pass through the City of Tears I feel so many feelings. I've fallen into a pit, and there's no getting out. Can't thank you enough.

I'm sure you already have the videos planned out, but if by some chance this might make a difference: The way the music builds for the climb out of the abyss when you dream nail your reflection, then how that all comes full circle with the main theme of not only the game but the Hollow Knight fight, taking a look at that as you do, would be beautiful

HOLY SHIT PARTS 2 AND 3??? fuck this channel only gets better

Recently beat this game and throughout playing I kept hoping that you'd make an analysis one day. Hyped that it's arrived!

Amazing video been looking for a video like this since Hollow Knight came out! Thank you looking forward to the next vids!

Love your vids 8 bit - one unintentional side effect of your channel is finding out about games I’ve never heard of like this and Cuphead and buying them as a result. Maybe some sponsored content from game makers with discount codes or something in the future? You’ve helped drive sales for at least this customer. Keep the great content up!!

The whole time you were talking I was thinking to myself I wish he would cover all the other great parts of this soundtrack and broke into the biggest smile when you said you would :D :D :D :D :D

gosh im so pumped on you doing this video. i knew it was coming eventually rofl

THESE NEXT VIDEOS WILL BE AMAZING, THANK YOU!

I've been waiting for this video from you for a while. Glad its finally happening.

This made my day omg thank you

AH! Hollow Knight is so beautiful! So glad you covered it! Can't wait until SilkSong comes out

I've been looking forward to this...

Thank you so much for making this! I've been wanting episodes on Hollow Knight for so long and I can't wait for the next episodes! :D

Excellent video my friend. I absolutely adored this game, one of my top picks of all time. And as with all great games, the soundtrack is phenomenal! Thanks for your very interesting dive into it 8bit, I cant wait to watch the next couple! Keep it up!

3 PARTS !!!? Ok dude, I'm in loooove !!!

I'm subscribing and getting notifications because I want to see part 3 as soon as it drops out!

Oh man this was excellent - I'm so ready for parts 2 and 3!! Excited to hear your takes on the development of the main theme :D