The World Design of Hollow Knight | Boss Keys
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 พ.ค. 2024
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Hollow Knight takes place in the sprawling kingdom of Hallownest: an underground ant's nest of forests, mines, basins, and waterways. In this episode of Boss Keys, I look at the shape, structure, and sequence of exploring this masterpiece game.
=== Before you watch ===
This video contains spoilers for the entirety of Hollow Knight
=== Sources ===
The Making of Hollow Knight | Game Informer
www.gameinformer.com/2018/10/...
=== Chapters ===
00:00 - Introduction
02:05 - Hallownest's Layout
04:15 - Exploring Hallownest
17:37 - Sequence Breaking Tricks
19:21 - Dependency Chart
20:45 - Bosses and Upgrades in Hollow Knight
27:59 - Navigating Hallownest
31:40 - Maps
33:59 - The True Ending of Hollow Knight
36:57 - Conclusion
=== Credits ===
AM2R soundtrack - DoctorM64 ( / am2r-original-soundtrack )
Ori and the Blind Forest soundtrack - Gareth Coker (garethcoker.bandcamp.com/albu...)
Hollow Knight soundtrack - Cristopher Larkin (christopherlarkin.bandcamp.co...)
Hollow Knight Speedrun Tech - The Greenpath Skips | Dr. Crowtron
• Hollow Knight Speedrun...
HOLLOW KNIGHT - Monomon Without Isma's Tear | Astoroth
• HOLLOW KNIGHT - Monomo...
=== Subtitles ===
Contribute translated subtitles - amara.org/v/C3BED/ - เกม
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
Great work on the video. I noticed the grave in ash, but that's an easy one to get mix up. Great job
La Mulana Boss Keys when?
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.
“It prevents the player from becoming stuck.”
You underestimate my stupidity.
Very underrated comment
I know. Every time I go back to this game after laying it down for a while I'm completely lost for over an hour.
I got stuck betwen an elevator amd a wall
I was stuck in the crossroads for ten hours my first time through because I genuinely just kept capping
Yea i got stuck in the first level for like 3 hours and said fuck it and left the game... Still havent touched it
I honestly just like hearing people say good things about Hollow Knight.
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
Haha, me too ^^ It´s one of the best games I´ve ever played
Only improvements i can think of are more paths and maybe a difficulty that affects bosses only, or at least a health bar for bosses
@@Raine_1037 Honestly I feel like the lack of a health bar is part of the fun. Cuz you never know when the boss might go down.
It's my favourite game of all time so far along side minecraft
October 2019: "We're waiting on Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4, and Silksong"
May 2023: We got Tears of the Kingdom!
April 2024: We're waiting on Metroid Prime 4, and Silksong
please keep gong, im counting on you
May 2021: We're waiting on Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4, and Silksong
And Tf2 Heavy Update
@@silksongoutyet wut
@@hornetisspider It's an update for a game (Team Fortress 2) that has also taken forever
“And cute bees in the hive”
Me: what about the bee that turns into a firetrucking drill
That drill bee (Beedrill™?) will give me nightmares until I grow up.
...
... I'm 27. I won't grow up, will I?
That's a pokemon
What about The big buzziling boi that hits harder than a dump truck
@@PaperEater_ i like him because he's CHONKY
@@ilvanasgobero8096 same
I'll never forget walking down in deepnest and seeing another me walking below me
Grombulon i hoped we would team up
Did you fight nosk?
Daley Huard hoped
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
When I first saw that I was confused af lmao
The fact that 3 people managed to create such a masterpiece still amazes me.
+ made in Australia. A country who's game development industry is very very badly supported
I... I... yes! It just feels so *complete* . How could just *three people* do it?!
radelaide !!!!!!!
3!?!?!!?!!!?!!????
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
That's the route I took at first, and was convinced for the longest time I was stuck there without a map forever.
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.
Why...
"and then if you afterwards go to Godhome-"
It's even funnier if you go to the Kickstarter backer area and check what his backer, Tiso Spencer, has written for his message.
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
"would launch several youtube channels"
mossbag: hehe that me
me: hehe that mossbag
me: I know who that is
Hollow Knight's VaatiVidya
Hehe thats cool
I also thought of mossbag right away
“The game begins in Dirtmouth”
*Sad King’s pass noises*
IIAkumuII 69th like(lenny)
Hollow Cat ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
King’s Pass is considered a part of Dirthmouth though
Hah
Sad howling cliffs noises
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.
I don't think I've ever seen so many people collectively agree on one game being objectively best. Atleast not one that isn't a AAA or a recycled IP
Well I like Celeste more, but I do understand why people would say hollow knight is the best.
@@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.
"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 60 hours and I only fought the hollow knight. Its okay
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........
@@leonc9760 Oh man Pantheon of Hollownest sounds like the perfect thing to try and do for like a week straight and then never touch again
Hollow knight is one of the most well designed games that I have ever played
Oh hey
I thought you'd be here, and i was right.
Have a nice day my dude
Yo what u doing here
Hey it’s well made tutorials man
You look familiar. I just can’t put my finger on it.
You helped me experience the full of this game
I'll never forget the bank running off with all my money
and getting it back was so satisfying
by the time i found i didnt even need the money but i still had to teach her a lesson for double crossing me
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.
@@Raine_1037 the spa in the city of tears
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.
"I'll be back when huge new games like Metroid Prime 4, Hollow Knight Silksong, and Breath of the Wild 2 are released."
*_WHEEZE_*
The fact that Metroid and BotW are getting new games and Silksong here be like
lol
@@feedzuh dont do silksong like that
its gonna release within the next 134 days, all we have to do is wait :)
totk released no silksong yet
"There has been no news to report today. This has been your Daily Silksong News."
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.
"she is standing on a ledge a first time player can't reach"
Me on my first playthrough: hold my squit
@@tkienjoyer I keep forgetting that early speedruns used that enemy to skip that ledge. Apparently runners hated it lol
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.
@@J.R.Unbound And she has a dress :)
"the best metroidvania ever made" is a huge claim... but honestly I think you're right.
I haven't found anything that compares to Hollow Knight and "metroidvanias" are my favorite genre.
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.
I think Hollow Knight is the greatest game of all time but Ori 2 could be another great metroidvania.
Best indie game ever in my book.
Low key though, my favorite game
40 minutes of Hollow Knight world design commentary? YESSSSSS
I watch your videos from time to time and never would have taken you for a Hollow Knight Fan, you have great tastes
Omg! 😍 Thomas Frank! ❤️
Always good to take short breaks , and this game is PEACE
Even better 😌
YEEEEESSSSSS
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
Those damn mimics are evolving 😳😳
No, how it actually works is the knight looks adorable when it sits in a chest, so you jump in and fall down.
"Join me on a deep dive" was a missed opportunity to say "a Desolate Dive"
"Handy, but maybe you can use that slot for something else"
Imagine fighting bosses without the wayward compass *shudders*
Op charm honestly
Literally defeated absolute radiance the moment I left dirtmouth, bit op kind of ruined the game...
yeah totally fucking cringe to drop compass, i'd rather overcharm
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!
@@VelMatter no yeah I don’t think I used wayward compass a single time after I beat false knight
"True ending is hard to get"
*Godmaster noise intensifies*
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.
That 5th pantheon is one of a kind.
The only time I wish the game has less bosses.
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.
@@Cinderbloom well I didn't. Chill out, it's an fing joke
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.
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 Same! It felt so out of reach
@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
“The enraged guardian can be found above the other guardian’s arena”
...they’re the same person.
Still found above the other guardians arena.
Crystal guradian?
Goes up one level
PERRY the crystal guardian?
@@michaelronqedar7919 nice meme
@@michaelronqedar7919 I laughed out loud, what the hell.
@@myspacer85 not the "other" guardians area
All dramatically enhanced by Christopher Larkin’s incredible soundtrack!
On your first visit to City of Tears it hits hard... That mix of visuals, rain and music... Perfection.
@@GrimmerPl Agreed. The Resting grounds had such a simple tune as well, but was so good for mass grave.
Ah yes, I did cry in the battle with Hollow Knight, despite the fact that my laptop couldn't load any of the previous cutscenes.
I never cared about game OSTs until I heard Hollow Knight's. Path of Pain was exponentially more dramatic because of it.
if i could erase something from my head, it would be going to the city of tears the first time. so i can experience it all over again.
I mean this as the highest of compliments. This video has helped me fall asleep dozens of times.
I'll take it!
His voice is really soothing and calm now that I think about it
@@GMTK i sleep as well but when i wake up i watch the video again
@@GMTK plot twist: he fell asleep because he found you boring
@@GMTK I have this video and two other hollow knight videos on a "calming list" for when its time to sleep. Its so calming.
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.
*going to sleep
*See notification
*It's GMTK
*It's about hollow knight
*Video is 40 minutes long
Sleeping can wait
RGB Draw I don’t need sleep I need answers!
Same
Same
same
I camed
There's actually an achievement for leaving Zote to die in Greenpath.
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.
@@periclescomoeddie5215 lol I am trying to get my first platinum and I want it to be on hollow knight. Doesn’t look very easy ;-;
@@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.
He deserves it, the stinker
@@infernalsquid that he does
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.
Neat!
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.
I did the same, but only because I couldn’t find the false knight room for some reason ahahaa
i wondered why resting ground had a switch instead of a toll
@@magica3526 so you aren't locked in if you fall down with no geo
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.
"a joy to get lost in"
*deepnest flashbacks*
AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaAaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
@@Magnamhut b
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
@@wobwobidou well, you were smarter than me
future self would've probably been better prepared xD
I’m impressed that this guy managed to fight radiance with 5 masks.
I'm impressed he managed to fight her with a broken soul vessel.
@@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
After 30 hours apparently
every TE speedrun ever
Wow
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.
Yeah, if you've completed the path of pain, you know that this game's platforming is pretty well thought out.
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.
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.
I only found the grimm troupe when I was almost done with the game, and had the full map unlocked
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)
@@JacobPDeIiNoNi plus you have to beat grimm once to access some of them which is its own nightmare
Pretty sure the "grave in ash" is in the kingdoms edge where the king's corpse is and you fight Hornet the second time, not the Resting Grounds.
Yup.
You're right - thanks for the correction!
@@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?"
@@GMTK speaking of Corrections, did you know that you can summon your shade with rotten eggs at the gravekeeper in dirtmouth?
@@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.
"deep well of lore that will launch several youtube career" looking at you mossbag
GraveyardMedia, Relyea, CrankyTemplar, Foregoner... there's so many fun people I get to watch because of HK
@@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.
@@Waffersforever No doubt HK pushed alot of channels into relevance, but specifically lore channels, I can think of only one.
I recommend MonStahLer, great speedruns and an overall chill dude.
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.
Neat!
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
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.
I’m at 60 hours for 109% and the pantheons are my final 3% and is such a struggle for me
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
"Metroid Prime 4, Hollow Knight Silksong, and Breath of the Wild 2" man that's a real juicy lineup right there...
Zynthio you wouldn’t know silksong yet but knowing team cherry it should fit nicely on that list.
Sam Shaw yes we do. There was a demo, you know. We have GAMEPLAY! From that, we KNOW that it’ll be good. It’s team cherry. When are they not amazing?
Ooo
If only we knew the release dates for any of them.
Hollowknight zote song
Don't call my boy Cornifer sketchy - he's trying his best alright?
And that humming is just amazing.
Plus he's the only dude besides the king that pulled a wife, as far as we were shown. Thats gotta mean something, right?
@@danemp4727 For the others there is always Bretta. She is easy.
I feel like that might actually be a pun- after all, Cornifer is SKETCHING a rough version of the map whenever you find him :D
Cornifer is the ultimate figther, wherever you go, he is here, and he only master the cartograph style
Imagine if him wield a sword.
Hm-hm-hm-hmm-hmm
Hm-hm-hm-hmm
I’m very surprised that you talked about the map of Hollow Knight without mentioning the brilliance of the delicate flower
The brilliance is really hard to see when you're suffering through the pain and agony of this god-forsaken quest :(
@@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
@@jazmindodds those two jumps seem like POP when you have the flower
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.
‘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.
Thats what i thought
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.
I'm glad I went to this comment section as soon as I heard him say it cause I assumed I was not the first to think about correcting him
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.
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.
She is a Hollow Knight's Solaire.
But whatever you will do, you will not save her :
When she turned hostile I just escaped and avoided her. Couldn't do anything to hurt her :(
@@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 :(
@@GrimmerPl you can save her
Isaac Manahan Nope, you can’t. All you can do is avoid killing her, but she will always end up as a husk miner.
The Indie game which made most of AAAs sweat , and probably cry too . What a masterpiece man , and music ooooft .
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 Now the hype for silksong is real xD
@@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.
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.
I just realized this comment is 2 years old. If this pops up on your notifications, you're doing good, youtube
"Now that's what I call exploiting a bug."
[Like Video]
“Sketchy Map”
[Subscribe]
Thats like the best joke in the video
This made me laugh out loud at work :D
40 minutes? You're spoiling us Mark!
How did you know his name?
@@futhamucka iirc this channel was once named Mark Brown
@@futhamucka He states his name at the start of some of his older videos as well. "I'm Mark Brown, and this is Game Maker's Toolkit."
His name is also in the description of this video.
@@josephhighe5612 Older? He did it 4 weeks ago :D
Shoutout to all my homies that made it over the Crystal Peak and got the Dream Nail before even getting the Mantis Claw........
“The true good ending”
Godseeker: hehe cool
Also, team cherry: “there is no true ending”
By true ending lets just go with not hollow knight or sealed siblings
@@Voidling242 Good idea. Delicate Flower version of "Embrace the Void" it is!
Team Cherry: all endings are canon
"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
@@isaacjones6323 noooo Quirrel :(
@@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.
"so I won't be talking about the Grimm troupe"
*cries*
I think I’m just now realizing that on my first playthrough, I skipped the monarch wings without realizing it. That’s crazy, and so cool
Hollow Knight helped me cope up with my anxiety in ways I didn't know existed. This game is therapy for me.
For real though. Something about exploring and the potential of finding something new is just therapeutic
21:25 i want to point out that "dlc" is actually a free update and you can't really call hive knight "exclusive"
Бармен so is there any paid dlc, I’m considering getting this game and want to I always if I have to pay for dlc?
@@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 TH-cam 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
@@Skeloperch Just a second on getting the soundtrack if you're into that sort of thing - it's absolutely fantastic, and still one of my favorites.
@@banjomannnn well, silksong isn't out yet too.
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.
I stumbled in that way too, and went the wrong way missing cornifer. I got quite lost and it was very much hell
I had just gotten out of deepnest, and then, that.
It hurt bad.
That's deepnest for you.
I never had that problem with the true ending. I had stumbled across the white lady and the abyss before my second dreamer. Hell I didn't know you could get to fog canyon without the shade cloak! So when I beat the first ending it felt anti climatic as I thought "wait, I didn't finish everything though, that's it?" and it gave me direction and motivation to find the rest of the ending. After beating Radiance (after so many deaths) I was hyped and hungry to do the dlc. Hollow Knight is the best metroidvania (and only one I've beaten) because it made me wander around and lose the main trail but never made me FEEL lost. I always felt like I was moving forward and never felt like finding the path was a chore.
I personally think the Dream No More ending was perfectly well-designed. In the comments, you mention that you misspoke about the Grave in Ash and realize that it actually meant Kingdom's Edge, yet that misunderstanding might have been what killed it for you. Sure, maybe Hornet could have appeared one last time in the area, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to have the secret ending be a bit harder to find than the normal one. I believe Team Cherry themselves said there was no "true ending", if you're content with simply becoming The Vessel then that can be the end of your journey.
MB: "my favourite is the Blue Lake, that stands over the City of Tears, and it's the reason why it always rains"
My mind: duuuuuuuuuuude.
Quirrel literally explains this.
@@ethanhayes7038 I've finished the game over an year ago man
Man when he said it he freaking blew my mind!
Nonno Now, what do you mean by finished?
Seriously, Hollow Knight has NO BUSINESS being this good and well designed! Every piece is just so well fit!
And this cheap. Seriously screw Cuphead for stealing all the awards HK should have gotten.
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.
@@mgtowmaghrebin7491 ikr?!?!
@@mgtowmaghrebin7491 It's what you call a "Mastapeece for yo wallet"
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
My first play through of Hollow Knight will always stick in my mind. I remember throwing myself into the Forgotten Crossroads and dying to a big beetle with a hammer. I lost all of my money and didn’t notice at first that I could retrieve it, so, out of fear of dying to the main boss, I grinded for geo to buy out the shops in Dirtmouth. This meant I had the lantern much earlier than most players. I defeated False Knight, but instead of going to Greenpath (since I had never encountered that guardian beetle before) I went right into the Crystal Peaks. The parkour was immensely hard and frustrating, and I died repeatedly to those pesky crystal bugs, but upon finally getting somewhere *new* - the Resting Grounds - I was completely in awe of the beauty of the game. The dream nail sequence had me hooked and the story was in full swing before I had even known about Greenpath.
That is what I love about Hollow Knight. Each player has a unique experience. Even if there’s a linear path to begin with, there is no need to follow it. While it was frustrating to follow the game in this way, I had a blast doing so and nothing could beat the relief and bewilderment I felt.
I remember going to the City of Tears and almost dying to the first Soul Twister. When I saw that they were regular enemies, I put off beating the area until I had a dreamer. I was terrified of the area for a while.
@@J.R.Unbound Yes, same!
I thought they were legit bosses at first. But whoo boy I was so proud of myself when I beat them lmao
I did that on my first playthrought too, althought a little later, right after getting the dash. I didn't understand how those purple bouncing mushrooms work(it's the only time I legit got stuck in the game), so I got the dreamnail instead.
@@legrandliseurtri7495 I was also confused by the mushrooms, but luckily I went through Fog Canyon to get the Fungal Wastes, which has no mandatory bouncing mushrooms. It took me forever to get to the Crystal Peaks, though. Guess I wasn't much of a hoarder!
@@J.R.Unbound The thing is, you can access fungal wastes without bouncing on the mushrooms, but you can't get mantis claw, so it doesn't matter. Also why I fought Elder Hu with super low equipement.
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.
At least it has one of the best songs in the entire game.
And then I dream nailed her to see what she was thinking about.
I need a hug. I just.... I need hugs.
@@Messilegend1000 i dreamnailed her for here essence. i knew it was 1 essence
@@glitchon7151 You monster
@@Messilegend1000 Oh god same, that was a sad day
Higher beings, these words are for you alone:
*Finally*
Higher beings:"What took you so long"
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.
me: getting game theory flashbacks
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.
I've played hundreds of hours of HK, and to this day one of my favorite parts of this game is how i slowly learned how the rooms connected, where all the secrets were hidden, what enemies spawn in each room, where all the important parts were, and most importantly how to path a way through it all. its such a good feeling to wander around and realize that you recognize that set of three Squits in a room or that specific placement of Wandering Husks in the City, and find your way to your next planned point of interest.
memorizing the HK map is one of the most fun things i've ever done in gaming, and it's literally just a MAP. but because of how it's laid out and how the world reveals itself to you throughout your playthrough, it starts to feel like home.
where before were twisting tunnels and labrynthine mazes, now it's familiar hallways and friendly NPCs tucked away in their little safe havens, usually with a helpful bench nearby to rest at, switch up charms, check the map, and head out once more through the Eternal Kingdom
i really love this game, and if i could throw away everything i know about it to do it all over again for the first time i would in a heartbeat.
I agree with saying that map starts to create in brain after a while, but for me looking on map (Without Wayward Compass, of course) gives me information how room I'm searching for is connected to the one I'm in. For me the most hard to remember areas are Deepnest and Fungal Wastes. Sometimes I have lost in rooms, and needed many minutes to realize, that I was 1 room too low.
@@Mleko11110 deepnest is meant to be a maze, I don't blame you
“Memorable character moments”
*shows Mayla
I’m crying
I never go back after the infection spreads...I just can't.
If containing the infection cures it, not killing her in her infected state and finishing the game might just turn out ok for her.
@@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.
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.
it's a soft lock, not a softlock.
@@eliascotrim51 How about Soft Block, then?
@@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.
Alright yall why don't you stop being angry about that and get angrier he didn't make a pun out of it
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.
The large double damage husks in forgotten crossroads drop 45 geo, which means you have to defeat 40 of them to get the lantern before killing false knight. Now take a guess what I did on my second playthrough
"The Radiance is very hard and makes me want to cry"
Absolute Radiance says "hi"
Radiant Absolute Radiance: "Am I a joke to you?"
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
I am still not done with hollow knight yet, so how does the radiance compare to nightmare king Grimm?
@@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...
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
22:14 team Chery doesn't worry if everyone sees the content they make huh. That explains silksong
The best part of the game.
The way the map fills in, greatly reduces unneeded backtracking.
No matter how lost you are, you will find something good... or real bad. however you want to look at it.
no wasted exploration.
"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.
I honestly think it's the greatest game of all time. It's just so so good.
"Dodging laserbeams in the Crystal Peak..."
*proceeds to obliterate the lasers beams*
You _could_ dodge the laser beams, _OR_ you could just *_ABSOLUTLY OBLITERATE THEM_*
in my first play through, i never knew you could even harm them
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.
@@Erwiinstein what about those bugs that shoot three globs of goo at you? It's hard to not get hit by one of the projectiles.
@@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.
11:42 Ah, this is what I did. I was confused when you said earlier you need to beat the Soul Master before accessing crystal peak because I only fought him way later.
I did the same as you...I seriously thought soul sanctum was a late game area.
Hollow knight set the bar for metroidvanias so high, that the genre should have a namechange.
No. Hollow Knight set the bar extremely high, arguably higher than any metroidvania before or since (which is saying something for sure). But changing the name of the genre dismisses the series that are the reason hollow knight even exists in the first place.
Hollow metroidvanias
hollowmetroid, castlevania dosent even care
Hollowlikes
Hollovania
I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again, I wish I could forget Hollow Knight so I could play it all over again
That surgery is called Silksong.
There's been a few games I have felt that way about, a beautiful way to describe it!
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.
Saaaaaaame. I feel that way about dark souls too.
@@Anvie__ eey dark souls!
27:40
"memorable character moments"
*shows myla
TOO SOON
well he's not wrong
@@CaptainCuttlefish74 Yeah, it sure was a memorable moment. Just... Not in a good way.
"Significant emotional event."
@@jamesleon457 Yes, I suppose uncontrollable sobbing can be described as such.
I still think back to that moment from time to time and say to myself "I'm sorry".
It's so funky seeing how so many people interact with this game. I never had any issues with getting lost or missing out on content or anything like that because whenever I found the place I was supposed to go in an area to make progress, I would actively avoid it and explore everything else there. And then whenever I got a new upgrade I would backtrack to all the places I remembered not being able to reach. The only issue of not finding things I remember having was that the map would obviously fill in a room even if I had just walked in and out, or if it was a big room with sone corner I hadn't explored yet. Other than that, I found everything except White Defender (genuinely what is that entrance method lol) just fine because Im apparently just a ravenous explorer I guess.
I just wish I could forget all about Hollow Knight, and just experience all of this again. The joy of finding Cornifer while stumbling and dying around Deepnest is just pure bliss, and it sucks I can take it in just once.
Silksong coming "soon"™
@@Iron-Wolf Its been coming "soon" for a year now :(
@@porpoise8160 Somewhere around that part iirc, near the Mantis Lords entrance.
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.
@@underdrow5572 exactly!
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🥲
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.
Kinda like my experience reading this comment
Also, good luck with the godmaster stuff if you haven't dpne them already :)
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
For speed just ignore everything but
god it's so hard to ignore everything
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.
Pretty funny that the Lords of Shadow folks went on to make Metroid Dread!
The best videogame essays in the biz. I always come back to your videos, Mark. Great stuff!
Me, realizing it’s 2am and I have stuff to do tomorrow and seeing a 40 minute long HK vid:
No cost too great.
It's 2:15am here and this is not the first time I've watched this video. Help
Me when my mom finds me up at 3 AM playing video games: *no voice to cry suffering*
I got less than 5 hours of sleep because of this video.
No cost too great lmao.
no mind to think
no will to break
no voice to cry suffering
I love how he refers to the dreamers as "awake" as if you didn't just kill them in their sleep
Just exposing myself as a super Hollow Knight nerd, but at 15:25 the Ashen Grave is referring to the cast off shell in the kingdoms edge.
Love the video though. Hollow Knight is my all time favorite game in this genre and you do an excellent job breaking down the systems used in this and other games.
This is exactly why silksong doesn't have a release date yet, Team Cherry set the bar too high when they made this masterpiece
"Cute beelets"
Meanwhile in The Hive giant bee's are roaring and transforming their faces into needles
beelets* i think
@@calinguga Thanks
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 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.
Never found her
Честер Шрёдингера she is on the ancient basin on the tram station and the same in deepnest I think
Fascinating! I hadn't found her before Mantis Lord, so had no idea that was a thing!
Loved this. Also just dropping by because I was searching for your analysis on Fusion since I'm insatiably hyped for Dread. Hope the series comes back soon! Cheers.
I could listen to this guy drone on for hours about this game.
I've never played HK.
I don't recognize this channel.
But god it's so satisfying hearing such high praise of any game -- when you can go into such astounding detail about the layout and construction of just one game, that's how you know it's been made well.
Play it, it's absolutely amazing if you haven't noticed from the video
I still cant believe a game this good only runs $15. I would happily pay a full $60 for this game, and frankly Team Cherry would deserve it.
spaceman256 bought it 3 times 1 for pc 1 for switch and 1 for my little brothers playstation
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.
@@f.b.i4808 same 1 pc 1 switch
I got it for about $5 on steam and tbh i kinda feel bad for paying so little for SO MUCH content
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
@@Razorhat That's actually a speedrun strategy, skipping the Hornet cutscene by killing a dreamer first.
Grave and ash is referring to kingdoms edge I believe, which makes sense why hornet would send you there for a final fight to prove you are worthy of taking the role of king