Hey thanks for watching and for all your lovely comments! Just wanted to issue a few corrections and clarifications: [1] I said that Hornet was referring to the Resting Grounds when she said “seek the Grave in Ash”. She’s actually talking about the Cast-off Shell in the Kingdom’s Edge, where you fight her for the second time. [2] There’s a few extra routes through the game that I didn’t mention, namely a path to Deepnest through the Fungal Core, and a path to the Kingdom’s Edge through a secret tunnel in the King’s Station. [3] It’s true that you can get your shade back without travelling to where you last died by giving a rancid egg to Jiji in Dirtmouth. This is useful in some situations, but I don’t think it changes the underlying design of the shade mechanic in a substantial way. [4] Your soul amount drops by a third, not a half, when you die. [5] I could have worded the DLC stuff better. Mentioning that bosses are “exclusive” to free, auto-installed DLC packs is a bit weird. My intention was to help out people who played Hollow Knight's base game in 2017 and were confused about missing these bonus bosses.
As soon as I saw the title and length of the video, I knew I was in for a treat. You knocked it out of the park! This is some incredible insight on an incredible game. Keep up the good work! (Also I hate to be the grammar nazi, but in quotes, the period goes before the quotation mark. So, "If this were someone's quote, it would look like this." )
The rancid eggs are limited, you have to stumble upon the option to use them AND doing this isn't always an option because you cannot always easily reach Hallownest. I think your point absolutely still stands. This mechanic encouraged (and sometimes forced) me to try again and again. While I enjoyed that personally it DOES discourage wandering into a different direction. EDIT: I am still getting replies to this even though I mentioned NINE replies below this one that I got corrected. I get it, people, it's unlimited! :P
I'd say the shade mechanic discourages giving up, and I honestly like that. If you die somewhere, you can still get the shade and leave this area ( the shade usually spawns in a place where you can kill it without initiating a boss fight), but it encourages you to try again and invest yourself. On another note, you spoke about the point in fighting optional bosses. I just wanted to add that winning against a unique, well designed boss is a reward in itself, and I personally would've fought them regardless of whether or not you get something.
Finn Wright the lack of sequence breaks and freedom kind of brought it down for me. In Super Metroid I felt like I could go a ton of places with or without power ups, but in Hollow Knight I felt like I was being led down a single path with different paths to reach the same place
There are more and more games made in Australia showing the light of day though. And that fact goes unnoticed too. I didn't even realise Hollow night was made in Australia... I guess the industry is a bit less obvious here huh. XD
That alternate path into Deepnest is both infinitely cruel and absolutely amazing. What a masterful way to plunge the player into the "oh no. Oh no no no no no" mentality.
It's nice that both main ways to get in there do that. The fall is terrifying in how it suddenly drops you into a dark, spooky area with no immediate way out, but the other way in past the Mantis Lords also gives you that mentality by making you walk past countless bodies of horrible creatures the mantises have killed. You're going into a place that is so horrifyingly dangerous that they had to seal it away behind that big door. When I first beat the Lords and went in there, I was so intimidated I immediately turned around to go explore somewhere else, because I didn't feel like I was ready yet.
@@Terithian And then while walking around after noping away from the front door, you accidentally blunder into the alternate pit entrance and go "What? Oh no. No no no no no...". Like I did. Like a champ. Like a champ without a lantern yet.
and getting the tram pass is even worse. I literally used the save & quit strat that speed runners use so often in order to not have to backtrack through the route.
Haha I'm playing HK for the first time as we speak and this happened to me earlier this week. It was a proper "WTF how do I get out of here?!" moment lol
especially after the broken vessel fight!!! nosk/'other you' doesn't seem visibly corrupted at first, so i was just like "A FRIEND! I SURE AM GLAD I WON'T HAVE TO FIGHT YOU BECAUSE THAT WAS HEARTBREAKING THE FIRST TIME" and then it turns out it was an anglerfish lure all along, whoops
‘Grave of ash’ actually refers to kingdoms edge, the grave refering to the previous incarnation of the pale king, and the ash being the ‘snow’ flying everywhere, almost like his ashes, plus hornet waits for you there.
I'm glad you said it so I didn't have to! His interpretation is the one I had my first incomplete play-through (worst ending) where I never visited Kingdom's Edge because I didn't notice it existed somehow.
Yeah that's what I thought. Hornet dialog was in the back of my mind, but when I arrived to the Resting Grounds it didn't "ping" in my radar. . . But when I arrived to Kingdom's Edge and saw all the stuff falling around . . . the Ash AND the bodies from the coliseum, it was then that the ping was deafening! "Hey! Hornet came in this direction and this stuff falling seems like ash. It's dreary enough to make for an unconventional grave of some kind." I didn't expected the "Grave of Ash" being the last, and enormous, body of the King, but that kind of unexpected is pretty awesome.
One of my favorite world-building moments was finding Tiso, the bold and arrogant fighter, dropped dead at the Kingdom's Edge. It was sad to see him after all the talk of glory only to see him dead. Even sadder when you hit him with the dream nail and see his final thoughts.
I knew that was going to happen from the very first time I saw him. I was kinda hoping he would never find that arena because I knew it would be his end. Also I wish I ignored Cloth, given how it ended.
@@JustAWildSkullKid that's her good ending though. She got her wish, and is happy to be reunited with her partner the way she wanted to be. (slight spoiler for Cloth ahead) If you ignore her, you will find her sad and dissatisfied, leaving Hallownest to find a glorious way to die elsewhere
October 2019: "We're waiting on Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4, and Silksong" August 2024: We're waiting on Metroid Prime 4, and Silksong, but enjoying Tears of the Kingdom May 2023: We got Tears of the Kingdom! June 2024: Metroid Prime 4 announced for 2025!
@@GMTK Maybe that's why you were unsatisfied with the true ending stuff. When you found the base game quest you thought it was Hornet's quest which leads to Radience pretty organically. And when you finished the base game you weren't left with that lingering question of "but what about that thing Hornet told me to find?"
@@scottleneau6221 Of course! But it doesn't change the underlying design of the shade mechanic. That's more of a handy way to save your arse if the shade ends up miles away in the furthest corner of the Abyss or something annoying.
Tbh i have beaten this game without any need to use wayward compass. Idea behind that was literally "to use that slot for sth else". It also added extra bit of immersion to playthrough. Watching room i'm in in and comparing it to rooms in map. Priceless memories!
I don't think I'll ever really get tired of watching people make video essays on how great a game Hollow knight is. If ever a game deserved it, this is it.
@@psych_shock4370Celeste and Hollow Knight aren't in the same genre. There are points of similarity and I love both games a lot, but it's not an apples to apples comparison tbf. Hollow Knight is the best metroidvania I've played and Celeste is possibly the best platformer I've ever played. I do get why they're compared. With Hollow Knight, I was absorbing every detail and unbelievably immersed in this mysterious and beautiful kingdom. Still haven't found a game that gives me that vibe or even comes close(Silksong when?). Celeste looked beautiful and the controls were so smooth and snappy, although I never did get good enough to do more than the first two or three B sides. But if the mechanics weren't enough, the characters and writing sold me on it completely. Everytime I think of either game, I wish I could experience it all again for the first time.
When I first played through Hollow Knight, I remember hearing about how popular Hornet was as a character. After fully completing the game, I was surprised by how rarely Hornet actually appears, and how little she says, and yet I, like everybody else, found her be an absolutely awesome character. I think the reason for this is due to how she heightens the main aspects of the game; improvement, exploration and combat. When you first see Hornet, she is standing on a ledge that a first time player can't reach. She is literally above you, as you, unlike her, cannot jump high enough to reach that ledge. As you explore the area, you see her traverse almost effortlessly, guiding you along as if she knows the area like the back of her hand. She is basically what the game wants you to become; somebody with thorough knowledge of the world, and has the skills to travel places easily.
The Voice acting is it for me: Her battle crys and her whole appearence as a character is what makes Hornet so special. Pretty amazing for a drawn 2d character!
@@ironfire286 Her voice acting is only matched by the Dung Defender to me (if you only count bosses). And oh I adore her design. It's reminiscent of the Knight, immediately making the player interested in her due to how little the player knows about the story at this point, but she also looks much more developed, being taller and having a fancier weapon. She's the Mega Man X to classic Mega Man to me.
I have attempted the final boss of the 4th boss rush so many times. I can get there 100% of the time with 100% life and full or nearly full soul. Cannot for the life of me beat it. I can't imagine doing it with all the chains and such. I may have the number of boss rushes wrong. I'm talking specifically about the Pure Vessel. Still haven't beaten it. Still haven't beaten the game because of it.
Yeah does this mean Mark didn't get the true true true super duper secret pale flower godmaster good(?) ending? shaaaaaame. sit through 40 hours of pure unadulterated torture that is the Pantheon.
I laugh so much when I came back to withdraw my money and the banker wasn't there, and the whole scenario was messed up like it was all fake. I've to say that at first glance I found that npc suspicious, I've never deposited a lot of money, but after discoverying the arctifact shopper, I wasn't so worry about money, so I deposited a good amout.
I wonder if there was a specific gameplay reason behind that. Because it seemed to me that the bank opened up right around the point that players have started collecting enough money to be worried about losing it, but less than it costs to buy some of the more desirable items (e.g. lumafly lantern). And they're likely to pull it back out again a couple times before they're able to deposit enough to make her leave. By that point, they've probably unlocked Sly and Lemm and the Grubfather and maybe even Jiji, and reached the point where they're collecting a lot more money at a time. So now I'm wondering if they discovered that playtesters stopped bothering with the bank after a certain point and added that in as a response to that.
"my favorite example is The Blue Lake, which is above the City of Tears, and explain why it always rain down here" I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICED THIS THING, EVEN THOUGH BLUE LAKE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLACES xDDD
That's what makes it even so beautiful when Quirrel ends his journey sitting there, after stating when you meet him at the bench in City of Tears that he wants to discover why it is always raining in the city
@@hubertlast9777 He completed his mission, found inner peace, and got to spend his final moments basking in the glory of one of Hallownests most beautiful secrets, a fellow adventurer by his side. He lived a good life and died a good death.
@@uncreativearro And to think that despite the fact the Quirrel has such an important story role, (with him literally being needed to beat Uumuu to free Monomon) Quirrel was one of the many backer designed npcs.
My favorite tricky little area of the game is where you get the Baldur Shell charm. Where Greenpath connects to the Howling Cliffs, there's a chest that yields 1 Geo when opened. By now, you'll have collected multiple chests (most notably the chest after the False Knight battle), and you'll know sometimes Geo gets stuck in the chest. So, you hop on, and boom! There are now two Elder Baldurs coming for your hide. This may not work on everyone, but it sure as hell worked on me
It worked on me so well and came out of complete nowhere, I didn’t even know how the hell I ended up in front of those Baldurs and when I inevitably died, I had to go hopping around back to see where the hell I entered from. Then I smacked myself in the head
It is. Not by a big margin, which speaks volumes about super metroid and symphony. They only got surpassed 20+ years later and they still remain almost on the same level. You can say symphony artstyle and music >>> HK, Super metroid crazy shortcuts >> Hollow knight. It's impressive.
As someone who randomly purchased this game after buying a Switch Lite I didn't realize I was stepping into a master class of game design. I went in 100% blind and never looked at a guide, I poured over 40 hours into a playthrough only hitting 82% . Being a player who wanted to uncover every bit of the map, I spent a lot of time back tracking trying to find hidden routes and corridors but still when I went to my first fight of the Hollow Knight (after 40 hours) and beat it on my second try I still realized I only had half of the Kings Soul, I was missing grubs, I never found out how to get into the Hive, I now see I missed a few bosses, I never got all the charms, my Nail was never fully upgraded, I never finished completion of the Dream Nail, I never got access to the White Palace, I still have two+ DLC packs to play through and all the "Quests" to finish plus everything else I still don't know about (also I never beat the dream variant of the Broken Vessel because omg). This game was pure joy to play through and even now that I am taking the time to learn about the game, I can applaud Team Cherry because I really was able to discover everything in such a non linear fashion making it such a unique experience. I remember taking mental notes of every area I couldn't get, forgetting about them then getting an upgrade and going back and exploring every zone just to see what I missed. I'm about to start 3 new play troughs (one for speed, one to try no deaths and one for a fully complete game) but even then I may go back and play it more just because there is so much do to in such a deceptively simple game. I have been gushing over it since I got it and really can't believe how much I enjoyed it given I really dislike metroid-vania games. Granted it took me a while to understand what the game was about after my first play through but man, I can't even begin to talk about all those amazing experiences of discovering bosses, being scared to go on, the rage of dying when trying to get back to my shade, the intrigue of finding a new NPC, the beauty of the background art (and art in general in this game because wow) and just so much more. Goes to show that even with simple mechanics they really made each zone so unique and different that it really is just a masterpiece of gaming. The fact I don't know more people enthralled with this game in person is a shame but man, I want to play it more.
BOI equip some defender's crest, grimm child, glowing womb, weaversong, grub song and a speed master andhold down crystal dash on an upper corner. he'll ded in no timw
Don't worry man, there may not be too many people enthralled with Hollow Knight, but the people who are...oh boy. I recommend dream nailing _everything!_ in your future playthroughs! The zotelings, the differences between dream dialogue of Grubs and Grub Mimics, the dreamnail dialog of the False knight's mace, dialog of the bugs with idols or seals or wanderer's journals, the dialog of the Dung Defender...God, Team Cherry outdid themselves with giving lore and extra fleshing out to the creatures. The timing at which you dreamnail changes too! There's one-time dialog for Grimm if you dreamnail before speaking. There's dreamnail dialog for Cloth if you dreamnail before speaking. Even the most impossible dreamnail dialog, like during boss fights are cohesive with lore. Cornifer has different dialog if you talk to him in Deepnest for the first time. The Godseeker gives more lore on the crystals while talking about the delicate flower. Sly hints at being a nail sage while talking to him for the very first time, and his dream dialog supports it too. The Nailsage being alive in the time of Hallownest is hinted by Quirrel. The Pale Lurker is shown to have a connection to whoever put the cocoon around the Godseeker. Iselda talks about her husband (like how Cornifer calls her "his queen" when she's angry (aww) if you miss Cornifer's map) while selling maps in the store. And charms like the Defender's crest get extra dialog and/or reduced prices from Leg Eater, the White Lady, Lemm, Elderbug and Tuk, which gives character depth to the Dung Defender. This game's music is also top notch. There's a small jingle which plays if right before picking up the Kingsoul from the Pale King's shell, you sit on the throne. It plays a very short loop of the smol knight's theme, over the theme of the Pale King (the leitmotif when the poem before the games start is shown). You can only ever sit on the throne once. And those few seconds when the Pale King's theme plays along with that of his little vessel child symbolizes the only connection the player knight and their father would ever have. It gave me goosebumps. (Definitely try doing the path of pain before sitting on the throne, reading the lore tablet to the right and _then_ picking up the kingsoul for maximum effect.) Ugh, this game is too perfect sometimes.
Dude I was the exact same. Went in guideless and after completion I told myself I would wander around and collect the final grubs and charms that I missed. Instead I got frustrated and quit for 6 months. Coming back and using a guide to round things off has been such a brilliant idea. I have rediscovered why I adore this game and it has led me to beat a load of bosses and have a blast.
16:19 In my opinion, having the dreamer's locations on your maps was a really good idea. As you said, it's more like general pointers, since you still have no idea how to get there. But, when I finally went to the path leading up to them, it really built up my anticipation of what I would find, since I knew I was coming across something really important and not just any old area. Although there isn't really "any old area" in this game
I remember my first time seeing Herrah on the map. I didn't discover Deepnest at all, and i was like "Wait, WHAT, she's THERE on the far left? In the blank dark? No way!". It really gives you a sense of how little you have explored at that point.
@ironfire286 I was a little disappointed when I saw how much farther I had to go after sitting at the hot spring bench in deepnest and then figured out that it's pretty much a straight line there, since I was used to the spooky maze-like structure I had seen so far. But yeah, until I got there, seeing the Grimm Kin and Herrah so far away was really stunning
Thankfully I'm in PS4, so there are no achievements that require you starting a new file. It's the first game I got the Platinum Trophy for, and I am so proud of it.
@@stopsign1663 It really ain't easy, but a lot of the trophies are more integrated into the game than in other games. For example, you don't have to re-do the same level 100 times, or beat it really fast. You just have to do all the game offers to you.
I've actually done the grind for the lumafly lantern at the beginning of the game before (was seeing just how much of the game I could access before getting the soul blast ability), and it turns out Crystal Peak is very carefully designed with this in mind; without mantis claws in particular, the areas you can access are extremely limited. Basically the only major thing you can do is grab the dream nail as your first ability, which is very neat. From the resting grounds you're forced to return to the crossroads via the stag station, which incidentally is the only one in the game you don't have to pay for, except for technically Dirtmouth and the Stag Nest which are both designed to be accessed via stag anyways.
yeah i tried getting crystal heart early after watching this. and it requires mantis claw to be reached, unless there's some glitch i don't know about.
@@gribberoni Yes but none of them do lore. I was really confused as to what other channels Mark was referring to other than Mossbag. Maybe forge? But he made content before HK.
@@avery-gee Possibly Perpetual Noob, I think I remember seeing that name in-game as one of the supporter bugs too. I should do a third playthrough of HK soon.
6:40, actually, in my first playthrough, i accidentally stumbled into darknest right after i got the mantis claw, by breaking the hidden wall in the fungal wastes that you showed in 10:28 and falling the big hole, stuck there with an unupgraded weapon, and trying to fight my way out, then accidentally digging myself further inwards out of curiousity. I had a very unconverntional first playthough which gave me a very unique first experience with the game (the game suddenly felt like horror to me). This goes to show just how much the game opens up once you get the mantis claw
I did the exact same thing, except I wound up going to the City of Tears first but went back when I got a foreboding feeling by the spooky music in the Soul Sanctum (I used the stagway so I didn't need to beat the Soul Master for the descending dive). After this I found the tram pass in the Darknest, climbed my way back up and visited the Resting Grounds, bought the map of the Darknest in Dirthmouth since I never found Cornifer, then realised there was stuff left to do in the Darknest and found and killed my first Dreamer, all before fighting a third boss. Things got even more confusing when I did then fight the Soul Master, got the descending dive, and broke through the ground in the Resting Grounds leading me to the elevator to the right side of the City of Tears, after which I finally made my way to the statue of the Hollow Knight in the center. This did somehow break the game however, because I'm not sure whether it was acquiring the Dream Nail, beating a Dreamer, or accessing this statue from the right entrance that did it, but the cutscene with Hornet explaining the "grave of ash" never happened in my game, leaving me thoroughly confused when I saw this bit online. Unique playthroughs indeed.
@@Razorhat omg we had the exact same playthrough! I killed the darknest dreamer as well when i entered deepnest, cause i had the dreamnail from getting the larntern and entering the crystal cave, then falling down the hole. After killing the dreamer, i walked back and realized that to reach city of tears, all i needed was the claw, not the crystal dash lol. That broke many cutscenes for me as well, which caused me a lot of confusion in my second playthrough
Same! It is so weird watching this video and seeing what the “normal” way of getting through the game is and how different it was from my experience with the game
Same, and i fell down the hole to the hot spring bench, i was locked in deep nest. I got the tram key went to kingdoms edge and found the way into the other side of the city, all before upgrading my nail. It was quite an experience
It's kind of crazy going through a second run. You realise that there are so many places, even just in the forgotten crossroads alone, that you can pogo off of enemies or reach earlier than you would have thought possible by utilising certain tricks. It's really fun to go back with a massively increased understanding of the games mechanics.
On my second run, I of course immediately went to deepnest early, went to kingdom's edge with the trampass, bounced my way up to Hornet 2, beat her with the old nail, went down to the abyss, got the shade cloak and visited queen's gardens. Was very intense but also really fun lol.
The Grub in crossroads in the Spike room! First playthrough i marked it and thought "yeah, maybe i get a higher jump some point" Second playthrough "oh yeah, this is possible ez" :D
"it took me 20 hours to get to the credits the first time" * glances at my save file at 50 hours not even a half way through.. * - this game is HAAAARRRD!
No shame in taking your time! Hollow knight is a hard game, in fact many people gave up after the 1st boss on ps4! And only 10% even finished the game so yeah, definitely a tough game. Have you since completed it?
It took me about 40hrs to get 100% completion and I’m now working towards 112% with the DLC - but I didn’t hesitate to use guides. If I was ever confused or lost or didn’t know how to get something, I would just look it up and be on my way. It was certainly time efficient, but part of me wishes that I just went in blind and had to figure things out....
@@legofarm13 I'm currently on 110% completion with pantheons 3 & 4 giving the last 2% but nail sage sly is absolutely wrecking me and I hate him! I "only" need 3 more trophies for the platinum but it doesn't matter because I'll never get it thanks to "embrace the void" -no way in hell I'm doing over 40 fights in a row with 1 life and absolute radiance being last........
Myla's side story is still so sad to me, every time you speak to her you watcher her slip deeper and deeper under the thrall of the Radiance until she eventually becomes an enemy.
@@josepharte I kept trying to dream nail her, but eventually she did damage to me, so I healed with the spore shroom and accidentally killed her. RIP Myla :(
I honestly think the find-your-ghost mechanic helped me in my first time through. It may discourage exploration, but it can also encourage commitment to whatever challenge got you killed. It can be annoying if you die in a hard to reach place to normal enemies, but it makes you come back and try it again. I had to fight some bosses some thirty times to beat them, leaving your ghost there incentives you to try it again.
@@underdrow5572 lol the best part is that your shade spawns right in front of the bench you respawn at, takes one hit, and doesn't even fight back since you have to have the void heart. He must have been so fed up he just ignored it
35:31 I actually think the controls in Hollow Knight are definitely as good as Meat Boy or Celeste, and I never got that frustrating feeling of accidentally dashing diagonally when I meant to dash straight (that often happened to me in Celeste), because you can't dash diagonally at all. The White Palace was definitely hard, but I think it was enjoyable and I never felt like the controls were against me in any way, I personally think they're as sharp as they come.
I feel like I'm in soo much more control in Hollow Knight compared to Celeste. The movement in Celeste always felt very imprecise and laboured to me. The quick and sharp movement options in Hollow Knight is my second favourite aspect of the gameplay besides the exploration.
I dunno, I played the game for a couple hours and hated how you only attack in 4 directions. Even Super Metroid gives you more than that. I'm probably just too impatient for this game
@@91DWay honestly, I don't see how attacking in more than 4 directions would be much more useful, and diagonal knockback while platforming would be an absolute pain
Never really played any platformers, but I have to agree that to me, at least, the controls felt nice to use, and were never frustrating, otherwise I probably wouldn't have spent nine hours on the path of pain.
@@anonanon359 If I recall correctly, the only paid DLC is the game's soundtrack. I recommend it simply because of wanting to support Team Cherry, but you don't need it. You can always use RU-vid to listen to the tracks, but they won't be as high quality as actually owning the files yourself. Even still, the DLC is all extra content, none of it is vital to beating the game. All you really get is a sense of pride and accomplishment. In fact, The Hive is way easier if you don't get the DLC since you don't have to fight Hive Knight.
@@anonanon359 The DLC is all free. Team Cherry were going to make one piece of paid DLC, but they ended up turning it into an entirely new game; Silksong. Absolutely get Hollow Knight, it's superb
12:14 I would call that a soft _gate_ mechanic rather than a *"soft lock"* Usually when people say softlock, they refer to when a game hasn't crashed or frozen but, because of unforseen circumstances, you cannot finish the game and have to turn it off. Like getting locked in a room with no way out. Or getting forever stuck in a falling animation, unable to land.
@@viniciusqueiroz2713 doesn't quite mean the same thing. A softlock is a non-escapable scenario where the user can't progress further without restarting. A soft lock is what Mark explained. A soft block is a brick made of cotton.
@@eliascotrim51 soft-lock, softlock, soft lock, all mean the same thing, soft lock. OP is correct, that should be called a soft gate, because that's what it most resembles. A soft lock is anything you cannot progress further in, without either powering off or hard resetting the console.
The catchy about hollow knight is that you can actually feel all the passion from his devs while playing it. On every single datail. They for sure didn't start this project thinking "lets design a metroidvania game", they instead express their art and passion 'trough' the project. What a title fellas, what a experience.
10:30 I stumbled into this secret passage to Deepnest completely by accident and couldn't climb back out. I was introduced to the ... experience of Deepnest the hard way.
Same. I managed to randomly find a way to the sleeper and then I found the station and escaped. I only mapped the area when i had defeated the hollow knight, looking on the internet for all the things I didn't find like bosses, charms and the awesome DLCs.
I found my way in and instantly stumbled upon cornifer. I proceeded to get helplessly lost and “deep” into deepnest. (I had found the spring) I hated it. I have made 3 Incursions into hell, and 1 of them lasted 5 hours where I just tried to do everything so I would never have to go back. I left then tried to cover up my PTSD.
Hollow Knight has this weird thing where if you managed to miss a boss or an ability you can still somehow explore the world. There's really no straight progression where you need to get something in order to progress. That's what I really love about the game.
This, but the opposite. If you can't defeat key bosses, you're completely stuck. You can explore a little, but it is like exploring a city at night. Everything is closed and you have to redo it all anyway because there aren't nearly enough map tacks for the everything you have to skip. The further you stray from the intended order, the harder it is to find what you need to progress. If you aren't good enough to knock out the bosses right away then you almost have to use a guide, but no one tells you that.
First time I got there, I heard some weird and creepy noises. I looked down and I saw a tide of creepy bugs on the ground. I turned back and decided to force my future self to go there
I'll never forget going through the city of tears, witnessing all of the destruction and hearing horror stories of how the bugs died...and then running into Marisa. Such a sad and beautiful moment. I get the chills remembering it.
After experiencing both Breath of the Wild and Hollow Knight, I get the impression that distributing a variety of in-game and storybuilding content throughout the world and allowing the player multiple paths to the same key destinations are two liberating elements that make a game feel massive and grant a player more agency. Thanks for this awesome analysis, GMTK!
considering that i played both too, yeah its just the amazing feeling of freedom and exploration, i enjoyed valheim a ton too cuz of this(also cuz multiplayer), but not as much
Yeah . Imo , one of the best feeling in a game is when you solve the problem at hand using the game's systems against itself and outsmart the intended solution with something better which wasn't the solution the developers wanted
And it's 15$. I bought the game three times for myself (on PC on two accounts and on Switch), and for two friends, and still feel like I stole it somehow. Cuphead is great but nowhere near Hollow Knight. Best Metroidvania of all time, and best product of all time in terms of quality vs. price.
15:25 The grave of ash is in the Kingdom’s Edge, it’s the Wyrm skin you get to after the second Hornet fight. Note that Hornet talks about obtaining a “mark”, not a nail.
Another small mistake he has a graphic of all of the stag stations. but he leaves out the final hidden one, even though he talks about it at a different point in the video.
6:40 "At this point Hollow Knight seems quite linear" I think it was worth mentioning that most players will probably encounter the Mantis Lords in the village too. There is a warning that the player should upgrade their weapon first, thus suggesting they go to the City instead of fighting the Lords, but it's a very learnable fight that decent players should be able to beat without an upgrade. It is likely that a lot of players branch here rather than later, by beating the Lords and going into Deepnest before the City. Mentioned in other comments but the grave of ash is definitely the Cast-Off Shell and not the Resting Grounds. This is significant because Hornet isn't just telling us where to go next, she is specifically directing us to the Abyss meaning she wants us equipped to fight the Radiance. The goal we get from acquiring the Dream Nail is to unlock the Temple and reseal the Infection. The goal we get from Hornet is to destroy the source of the Infection altogether. It's a great bit of world-building because it plays on the ignorance of the ghost/player to the larger events around them. Hornet is attempting to direct us to a greater goal that we have no understanding of until later. It plays into that idea of other characters doing their own thing off screen, with their own goals and motives. Not sure why you don't think the Rancid Egg mechanic solves the problem of the shade mechanic. It does exactly what you say at a fairly small cost. Well, a medium cost of a Simple Key up front and then if you want to retrieve your shade and go somewhere else you use a rancid egg which are pretty common. It would have been nice to pepper in some of the little world details that HK is great at. Like the broken throne in the Mantis Lords room which you only realise later belonged to the Traitor Lord. Or Quirrel mentioning that he'd like to see the source of the rain in the City and his arc ending with him resting at the Blue Lake. Or how Cornifer doesn't hum in Deepnest, making the area even more scary and oppressive as you struggle to find the map and realise that Cornifer is too terrified to make any noise, which accentuates your own fear. Regarding the map system, I really like it. I think it's fair for people to want a map that updates as you go but I don't think it's fair when they say HK's map system is bad. It lends itself to a different type of exploration, forcing you to wander blindly in a new area for bit, listening for Cornifer's siren song which leads to that little triumph each time you acquire a new map. Your exploration is then more directed as you need access to bench if you want to update your progress. I do think that the compass should have been a permanent upgrade rather than a charm though. I think the ending bossfights are absolutely incredible too, maybe not specifically related to world design but a brilliant culmination of all the world design in the game. The Hollow Knight fight is a little underwhelming, leaving the new player feeling a bit let down. Also, at a certain point the music turns somber and the boss starts stabbing itself, confusing new players who don't know the lore and leaving them with the sense that they are missing something which creates the drive to investigate further. Then in the real ending, Hornet, after specifically telling you she wouldn't join in, does join in, which tells us that she really believes we have a chance. She opens the gate to the Radiance and we are now necessarily familiar with the Dream Nail mechanic so we know what to do without having to be told. All our little brother and sister ghosts rise up with us as the fight climaxes, including the shade of the Hollow Knight itself joining the fight to help you finish it off. One of the best experiences I've had in gaming. What a masterpiece of a game. Super video, very well put together and my gripes are very minor.
It is truly amazing just how many little bits are in there subtly guiding and world building without you even consciously realizing it. As you say, a true masterpiece of a game!
On that last point...speak for yourself. Sincerely, the dumbass who just kept stabbing the Hollow Knight until they got the Sealed Siblings ending, and had to look up how to get to the Radiance.
To speak of the brilliance of the level design of this game, I spent 45 hours on a 106% play through my first time. I spent 18 the second time and less than 13 the third which was a Steel Soul run.
it took me around 95 hours for my first 111% run, my second was around thirty i believe? third is 10, fourth is 2 hours 45 minutes (speedrun 2 my unbeloved) and im just finishing up a steel soul run i love this game
When a game after 2 years of release still there're alot of youtubers making videos praising how good it is, you know it's a good game. Most smaller indie games got lost in the spectre of time and forgotten after just first few months.
It sounds like this game will be like Super Mario 64- 20 years after its release, people will still be praising it as one of the best video games of all time. heck, PS4 exclusives don't get talked about for that long.
@@ohias it blends in with the rest of the souls games, and sekiro is talked about more. More importantly, it's an AAA title made by a huge studio, not 2 people on a shoestring budget. The guy didn't even mention specific games, you're just pointing out counterexamples as if they said "no PS4 exclusive gets talked about that much"
Grim Troupe really should be mentioned in this video, since collecting flames is a really good way to give players who are overwhelmed by the size of the map a direction to explore.
While that's true, it's extremely unlikely a player who's not comfortable with exploration will find howling cliffs that early (let alone a very secret room in howling cliffs)
"It might be the best Metroidvania game ever made." Wow. To wear that mantle is to stand as a god amongst titans, yet I agree. I hope the developers at Team Cherry watch this video and hear your praise, they deserve it :)
I almost used to feel bad about thinking that. It seemed inconceivable that this little team could take the spots of some of my favorites of all time with their first game, but they did it.
@@dallyink7412 Yeah, it's incredibly impressive. To be fair, though, the tools they're working with allow for an exponentially increased work rate compared to what devs used in the SNES era
I think it stands shoulder to shoulder with Super Metroid, which was my uncontested favorite game of all time until HK. Metroid is better in some ways (imo better small-scale level design), Hollow Knight in others (better bosses, hands down). Maybe one or the other is better, they are both two of the greatest games ever made.
@@user-et3xn2jm1u I completely agree. One of the very few things that I didn't like about HK is its lack of slopes, which could be why the design doesn't feel quite as good as SM on a small-scale. I also agree that the bosses are much better overall, although I don't think any of them are as powerful as the final struggle against Mother Brain. That being said, it is quite moving when the music changes during the battle against The Hollow Knight and he regains his senses just enough to help you by killing himself. Truly, these games are an embarrassment of riches.
Hearing Mark describe the "natural" route to the City of Tears surprised me! For me, City of Tears became a late-game area. Having no idea the Mantis Lords fight was optional, I assumed Deepnest was the next place to go, explored until I found the tramway pass, went to the Resting Grounds and started collecting Essence, explored most of Crystal Peak and got the Crystal Heart, went *back* to Deepnest, found the other tram car, and finally found my way into the City of Tears via the Ancient Basin (which I didn't get the map for until much later, so I had no idea what it was called). When I finally got the Dive from the Soul Sanctum, I was a little confused to find that nearly all the places it unlocked were places I'd already been through other routes. I think I may even have awakened Herrah at that point.
That's really funny! To me, the tram pass is a near useless item and very late-game. I only ever use it a single time to go the hive after I've pretty much completed the game, and maybe, just maybe to get the basin's pale ore if I forgot it earlier, which has only happened once. I have never used the tram to the resting grounds or to go to/from deepnest or from the hive. I have the skills but not the will to get the tram pass earlier but I simply don't
I literally unsubbed from GMTK for a while because I would feel this yearning for a HK video and every notification that isn't for the sacred vid kinda hurt me.
When this video came out a month ago, I watched about 5 minutes before deciding to I have to play Hollow Knight. 37 hours in Hallownest later, I finally beat this masterpiece of a game and got to see one of Mark's best and longest video to date. So I guess the game was the lock and this video is my reward? Sweet.
@@senza4591 Depends how you play i guess, i beated the game after 25 hours and beaten NKG (the best boss i faced since Artorias in Dark Souls) and got all the mask+vessel+ charms at 30 hours.. To be fair, to find some material and shards, i read the wiki :3 And to found the collector O_O i beat him with a fully built stuff.. wasn't fun, felt like stomping a bug... Oh wait :o
I started out playing as a complete newbie, took me 73 hours, 85%, I can probably do it in 28 hours at this point though. Me a few months ago would be amazed at these numbers!
I was able to get to the "true" ending in that time (defeating radiance). I didn't really engage with the DLC that adds rematches with bosses - that isn't really my thing. However, I couldn't be more excited to get my hands on Silksong next year!
"Best Metroidvania ever made" ...until Silksong releases that is. Can't wait to see what these guys have done with building on all the experience they got from making Hollow Knight. A lot of franchises' second outings are their best. Think Star wars, Dead Space, Alien, even Dark Souls - if you consider it to be the spiritual sequel of Demon's Souls. Cyberpunk 2077 is second only to Silksong on my Steam wishlist, because I have that much faith in these Australian devs to deliver a quality experience. This will be a day one buy for me and I don't feel any trepidation stating this on the internet, in a youtube comment section, because I will absolutely not have to defend my position. That is the strength of this game's brand. The strength of the shared experience that Hollow Knight has provided to those that have lost themselves in it. Silksong When? Silksong when it's fucking ready. Be patient. Let them make it. Take as much time as you need, Team Cherry. We are waiting, but not demanding. Don't announce anything until you are ready. We'll all still be here.
I mean, I want silksong as soon as possible, but that's with an asterisk. A big asterisk, one that says but only as soon as it's the great game that we all want it to be. So what I really want is for it to be a great game as soon as possible, but we all know that takes time.
Tbh i would be amazed if I enjoy it as much as Hollow Knight. Its one of those catching lightning in a bottle things. As i grow older , i find myself more and more giving up on games when the difficulty ramps up, but for some reason i didnt do that with HK ( White Palace PoP , and Radiance). If Silksong manages to evoke that again, ill gladly buy it twice ( as i did HK).
@@Rorschach87 That's interesting because although I loved HK as much as you did, I was the opposite when it came to the endgame stuff. The thing I enjoyed the most about the game was exploring the world and seeing all the different environments across the map. I got to the White palace last of all and decided Nope. I'm done. It was starting to frustrate me so I wanted to end on a high note of being completely satisfied with the experience I had had up to that point, and since I've got nothing to prove to anyone in a single player game, deciding not to bother slowly mastering a hard bit of platforming by dying over and over was the right decision for me.
I love how they made some NPC have an actual impact on gameplay like Quirrel helping you fight the Jellyfish boss and Cloth will sacrifice herself saving you at queen's garden if you save her in the Ancient Basin and her spirit will thank you for a worthy challenge and happy that she will reunite with Nola. If you did not save her and beat the Traitor lord alone, you can find her at Dirtmouth and she will tell you about seeking a challenge and want to die in an Epic battle as a true warrior. Which make it so fascinating to play the game and see her different fates in multiple scenario.
18:24 I’m so glad to hear this. The idea that Team Cherry WANTED players to experiment and find out that they could skip upgrades and parts of the game just to see them have that empowering moment of discovery is a real breath of fresh air. Many game developers are taken aback or offended that players aren’t playing the game the way they’re “supposed to,” but Team Cherry says “hey, if you think you can do it, go right ahead, I’ll even watch,” and that’s great.
In my opinion it is a good way to look at the art you've created as an artist (yes I consider games and especially hollow knight a work of art in their own way). Instead of stubbornly saying "no you're wrong" to different interpretations of the artwork, you sit back and you're glad that your art inspired creativity in the people interacting with it.
@@bartvansliedregt5482 They take that approach wth more than just game progression, but with the lore too. They give you all the clues in the game, but never tell you exactly how to interpret them, leaving the players to figure it out themselves. That or watch mossbag when we get confused.
Team Cherry really treats players as smart people who can figure things out for themselves so they can get a real adventurous experience. Too bad I was so dumb that I couldn’t have finished the game without hollow knight wiki and youtube tutorial videos🥲
One intellectual note: I really like how Hollow Knight handles safety v. danger and different amounts of progress. The stag stations are a great example of both, with a bench to rest at, a place to update your map, a friendly face, and a way to nope out of there if you feel like you went in thoroughly unprepared. That was really nice on my first play through. A couple objections: 1. the full map does not reveal itself when you sit on a bench, it simply updates the places you've been and openings that still lead to other rooms. 2. The fight with the Hollow Knight isn't the bad ending, just perpetuation, as hornet calls it. It may not let you see as much of the world, and I personally wasn't satisfied with stopping there, but it is canonically one solution, and it works. Unintelligent notes: 1. How dare you say people miss out on anything by not saving Zote, frick that little punk. 2. Boi do I wish the in-game sign posts were pointed out by any of the npcs, because I missed them entirely my first playthrough. 3. "...beat the radiance, after a thousand tries" *flashesback to P5 ending*
"With a bench to rest at" Deepnest and Stag nest would like to have a word with you. Also Tiso tries mocking you at the crossroads' station and he's mean.
I don't remember her exact lines but Hornet says "prolong this kingdom's stasis or strike it at its core" referring to either containing the Radiance or erasing it entirely, which I think is beautiful. At that point, you have no frickin clue what she just said, and you don't realize what she meant until wayyy later on when you've done both endings and you speak to her at that point again. I also like how you can get a mix of the endings. You can either walk in and do the impure vessel's job or solve the problem entirely, or have the opportunity to strike the core yet ignore it and prolong the stasis, trapping Hornet with you seemingly forever. It's truly amazing. But the best ending is Mr. Mushroom, obviously.
buy the soundtrack and buy the game for some friends to further support team cherry, they get more money and more people get to play this masterpiece :D
I've purchased this game three times on three different platforms, as well as a limited physical edition for that exact reason. I've even bought it for, like, four other people who never would have purchased it otherwise, but ended up loving it.
Anna K pantheon of Hollownest is the one thing I’ve yet to do in my main file, only other things are Steel Soul runs, which I just find would be annoying to do
@@zaid_alhelu If you have all the upgrades, then regular "Radiance" is easier than Nightmare Grim. "Absolute Radiance", on the other hand, is the hardest boss in the game, and makes Nightmare Grim seem like a joke. (there's actually a second, slightly harder version of Nightmare Grim, which I could consistently kill ,without taking damage, while not being able to reach Absolute Radiance's final phase X_X)
@@zaid_alhelu Depends on the type of bosses you're comfortable with. On your first try, NKG can wreck you in a few seconds, but he doesn't have that many different moves and gets really predictable really quickly. It's actually really surprising how he goes from hardest boss in the game to total push over, once you've learn how to beat him once. The Radiance fight on the other hand is a bit easier to get into, being slower than NKG and leaving far more openings to deal damage. But the way its attacks can weave into one another (and its teleporting shenanigans in the second half) means you need to be able to adapt and improvise far more than the pure memorisation of NKG. So I guess while both bosses get easier with time, NKG starts harder but becomes easier than Radiance with time. Oh, and absolute Radiance is the worst of both worlds...
I am currently on the end of my first playthrough, and I literally screamed WTF when he proceeded to *OBLITERATE* those laser beam bugs on the video. Didn't know it was possible. Haha. Those bunch really made me scream in frustration. Also those flying bugs that shoots crystal shards at you.
@@samueltheblonde Yeah, those pesky bugs too. I can't fight a set of those without taking a damage. From a logical standpoint, fighting those using hit and run tactics is the way to go, but no-patience-me just gets obliterated by them every time. Also, boss fights where the nearest bench is so far and the way is filled with annoying bugs is so frustrating. Well, there's the Dream Gate but I didn't know that existed until near the end of my playthrough.
I'm only here after playing Metroid Dread and missing Hollow Knight. I realize now after watching this video just how much better the game design of this game is verse the literal series it took inspiration from. In every way Hollow Knight has eclipsed Metroid for me.
@@jebril Completely agree with you on this one. I was rather disappointed by how overly handholding and artificial Dread felt. I got lost multiple times because I was always trying to think "How would the designer want me to progress now?". In Hollow Knight there's no such thing as this; you progress however you want, naturally, according to your own experience and will. I find that infinitely more rewarding and magical.
AAA studios don't have to sweat, they have literal millions of fans who will bend over backwards to defend the braindead choices they make, or at the very least buy their games. I'm a Pokémon fan, but look at how Scarlet and Violet released. It's so frustrating to see so much talent, creativity, and passion being drowned out by a sea of mediocrity, but that's just the nature of the industry I guess. Luckily Hollow Knight, Celeste, Hades, Undertale, Cuphead, and other exceptions exist to make people aware of the freedom of expression and beauty that indie devs have.
@@Grey-The-Skeleton I think it's stated that the bugs are already dead, with just a faint memory kept alive by the infection. Yes, I am invested in that conclusion since I killed her.
Only other games I have felt like this for were xenoblade chronicles and undertale. Hollow knight is still only my 7th or 6th favorite game of all time though.
I was literally sweating when I dropped there from Fungal Wastes. When I finished it (well, I found a way out) my gamepad was sweaty and I felt a relief. Like, it was finally over. Boy, was I wrong.
I notice I always avoid going into deepnest. I played through the game twice and both times, I go to the left after defeating the Mantis Lords and then turn right back around and only come back once it becomes necessary. That's a really well made area and I got scared by it a lot of times
@@RinRin72769 It's not too difficult if you take the right route and kill the enemies in advance, the City of Tears makes it quite easy to travel most of the way to the gardens.
It truly was. That last platforming before reaching the rose had me practicing again and again to get it right, it was a very very fun challenge all around
The quest is easy if you kill all enemies beforehand. But the spikes at the end suck. Whoever thought that was a good idea can shove a thorny bramble up his
I never saw their faces being transformed. I always saw it as they turning around to stab The Knight with their needle. When they fly around, they have their needle in the back as well.
I wish I did find it with the tram pass. Deepnest scared me shitless when I discovered it super early so I decided to avoid it until I had to go there... so when I heard about Kingdom's Edge I had to inquire about it and went through the stag station route. Honestly though I feel like the route I took introduces the area better. Shame when I basically discovered everything else myself.
One thing I really loved about hollow knight is that whenever I picked up the game I ended up progressing in some way. I play many games at once and sometimes I don't even finish them, so it took me about 6 months to get to the first ending (I am also a very, VERY slow player - i got there with 80% completion and 50 hours of playtime). So I'd normally play the game for a couple days and then leave it there to then pick it up after a couple of weeks. and yet, every time I discovered new secrets, charms, or managed to access new areas, even when I was just strolling around trying to get used to the controls again. This game really is amazing.
It's funny, I first got to the City of Tears from the right. I actually missed that you could wall jump over the bridge entrance to the City of Tears. I ended up buying the lamp and going to the Crystal Peaks. I got the Crystal Dash and dropped into the Resting Grounds. After being lost for a bit, I found the secret entrance above the charm seller that I could crystal dash to that lead to the giant lake. On the other side of the lake is the right side elevator to the City of Tears. God I love this game!
Exploring the vast caverns of hollownest is such a pure and unforgettable experience, I love how little the game holds your hand and forces you to piece the story together for yourself
Dirtmouth: Connections to King’s Pass(and indirectly the Howling Cliffs), Forgotten Crossroads and Crystal Peak Forgotten Crossroads: Connections to Greenpath, Crystal Peak and Fungal Wastes Greenpath: Connections to Howling Cliffs, Fog Canyon, Queen’s Gardens and Forgotten Crossroads Crystal Peak: Connections to Dirtmouth, Forgotten Crossroads and Resting Grounds Fungal Wastes: Connections to Forgotten Crossroads, City Of Tears(west wing)and Deepnest City Of Tears: Connections to Fungal Wastes(west wing), Ancient Basin(east wing), Royal Waterways(west wing)and Kingdom’s Edge(east wing) Royal Waterways: Connections to City Of Tears(west wing),Ancient Basin and Kingdom’s Edge Kingdom’s Edge: Connections to City Of Tears, Ancient Basin and The Hive Ancient Basin: Connections to Kingdom’s Edge, Deepnest and Royal Waterways Deepnest: Connections to Fungal Wastes, Ancient Basin and Queen’s Gardens Queen’s Gardens:Connections to Deepnest, Fog Canyon and Fungal Wastes Howling Cliffs: Connections to Dirtmouth and Greenpath The Hive does have connections to Kingdom’s Edge, but since it is one of the three smallest areas in the game and *only* connects to Kingdom’s Edge, it will be considered a subsidiary of Kingdom’s Edge and will not be included as a result.
"Just having it there, out of sight from most players makes the world more truly alive." You won't see this kind of design from triple A games because they gotta show where the money went and can't keep a secret to save their lives.
There was a similar philosophy pushed by Blizzard during the early years of World of Warcraft. They called it "aspirational content", and the idea is that even if 99% of players never see it, having meaningful content that you know *can* be done makes the world feel far more expansive than it really is. (Sadly, they ended up dropping that principle when they pivoted their design to focus pretty much exclusively on raiding.)
I've been waiting two years to watch this video. And just this past week, I received, started, and have now near-completed Hollow Knight. The journey was more magical, varied, and interesting than I could have dreamed, and I cannot sing this game's praises any more highly. Every day I've played this game, I've stumbled on a new boss, a surprisingly expansive new area, or some other completely small, completely meaningless surprise that nonetheless meant the world to me, because I found something special and entirely optional that numerous other people might have missed. I've felt like I've earned every single victory and every hard won new item, and that I've won the right to take every new step in this world through growing stronger, engaging more with the lovely and intensely beautiful world. There are very few gaming experiences that have built themselves up for me in this way, and even fewer that have paid them off as well as Hollow Knight. It has been a deep and meaningful gaming experience that I will carry with me forever. And the game keeps rewarding me--I have this need to always hunt up new things, to always seek out big mysterious zones that are somehow still blank on my map, and even now after I've surpassed 100% total completion, there's always something new to find, and some new payoff to the game's complex web of storylines and characters, or some new gameplay element or item to obtain. Truly, a remarkable experience. And your video on the subject was excellent.
18:07 hah I did that one. And I definitely do remember stumbling into the dream nail and being like “this game has an objective and I found it randomly. Cool.”
I found the dreamnail before the Mantis claw because I didn't figure out that you could bounce on those stupid mushrooms. It was an exciting experience.
You have just convinced me to try out a game that I never intended to play, something that no gameplay trailer or review had ever made me do before, knowing that the game is still not spoiled despite a 40 minutes video that explain the entire mechanism. Thank you very much.
@@Museko you gonna go for 112%? P5? Took me 130 hrs to get 112% and p5 just about killed me lol . One of the greatest games ever made. Markoth!!!!!!!!!
36:48 To be fair, the map shows an exit to that room to the top left, so if you're seeking out places you haven't explored yet, you'll find this spot pretty quickly.
"The white palace is difficult without the sharp controls of Super Meat Boy" Ima stop you right there, SMB is a floaty nightmare compared to the accuracy of Hollow Knight. The crazy inertia in SMB is 80% of its difficulty. Also on my (blind) first playthough I discovered the shade cloak before fighting the Dung Defender. After that I got stuck a *long* time trying to figure where I was supposed to go to unlock these multiple areas I could see where the only way in was clearly to swim in acid.
I wouldn't say the original SMB is really a high bar for controls - that's a product of its time. I had fun with the White Palace, but I think the biggest problem was that you often couldn't see where you were jumping to or where the hazards were. If the camera zoomed out, or adjusted itself automatically to some parts, I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more.
@@ArchenOpteryx The camera does do that, but only sometimes. It would be better if it dropped you directly onto a platform for safety. I remember dying in the White Palace because I kept falling until I hit retracting spikes I didn’t even see.
Honestly, hollow knight's platforming could be a bit more polished, but that's to be expected as that isnt the main focus like a game like celeste. But saying its worse than *_super FUcKiNG MEATBOY_* is blasphemous.
I’m a little late, but I just wanna say that I saw the video when it came out and it convinced me to buy Hollow Knight, which became one of my favorite games of all time. So thank you for this and I hope more people get introduced to this amazing game.
Валерий Зимин if you ask me the enraged crystal guardian and the last dream boss zote are the hardest pre godmaster bosses and yes i had less problems with nightmare king grimm
@@f.b.i4808 since he locks onto you with the arm beam, you have to manipulate the direction before going in for attacks. Its a bit different than most fights, so its understandable to struggle. IMO the hardest boss(s) of the game, are the watcher knights, while some think its nightmare grim. Thats the beauty of this game, its so different for everyone.
@@Emily848 I honestly think guardian is one of the easiest fights. Nightmare king Grim took me a few hours to memorize I really had to earn that win, but the watcher knights took me a couple days worth of trying lol fucking hate them. Just had to take all my tank charms and quick slash. Hide in corner and spam attack and hope they die before I did lol