Wish I could get my fiancée to play it! He just watched me play some of it and quickly decided it's not for him. Makes me a little sad, but I guess it's ok if we don't like all of the same games. There are some games that we both love to play, some that he loves but I can't stand, and others that I love but he can't stand. Our differences are what make the world interesting though. If everyone was the same people might get along better, but it sure would be boring!
critique of the critique: the mantis lords walk only adds more to the suspense of the most difficult fight the player has encountered at that point of the game, the risk of losing all your geo adds to the stakes of a fight like mantis lords. Its an incentive to learn the fight and survive so that you dont have to repeat the walk again.
the godseekers didnt think of radiance as their god, and they came from outside hallownest. Their god was some kind of storm related god who died, you can find some evidence of this in the godhome, althrough i forgot where
I’m here to mention that Grubfather doesn’t really eat the little grubs, I think. From what you can gather from the related charms and other little things, it looks like more of a growth stage. Grubfather acts as a cocoon for the little ones to grow into butterflies or something. I think they are called Grubberflies in one of the charms.
1:05:09 The difference (for me at least) between the mantis lords and the watcher knights is where the mantis lords are very deliberate and feel like they’re using some sort of combat style (ex. fencing but for bugs), the watcher knights are just trying to crush you by any means possible.
Which makes sense given the watcher knights are empty husks being taken over by infected lumaflies, and so would not have any knowledge of how to fight properly, while the mantis lords are strong and proud warriors, who have been training their whole life, and so are keenly aware of how to fight and how to fight honourably
@@09DinoDino Also, in a tablet it literally shows their law "Wanderers seeking death, may you find swift death upon our claws" and shows that they are a tightknit tribe of deadly assassins
I believe the hollow Knight being fairly easy was purposeful, since you have to fight him again every time you die to the radiance, it would have been really annoying to have him also be a difficult boss fight. narrative wise it aslo really sets him up as the prelude to the actual final boss, and not the real threat
The Hollow Knight is also far from a pushover without shade clock and nail upgrades, I know for trying the route for any% speedruns. First got beaten up by trying Watcher Knight's without upgrades and overcharmed for 2 hours! Than 2 more just trying THK with one upgrade, some attacks are quite fast/spammy to avoid without Monarch Wings or shadow cloack.
It fits into the lore even more as the Hollow Knight is broken, has been hanging in his shackles for an eternity and is fighting you wounded and exhausted. The Pure Vessel though kicks your ass, showing how hard the Hollow Knight would have been, and I think it all fits together really well :)
This argument is kind of backwards, because nobody was stopping Team Cherry from implementing a checkpoint right before The Radiance. Yet they made a conscious decision not to, and then balancing the Hollow Knight for the double fight should have came as a consequence of that decision.
@@Delfigamer1 Its actually better to not put a checkpoint before radiance tbh, it just builds up much more narratively and also helps with having full soul bar before the fight, if i hadnt spammed abyss shriek, i wouldnt have gotten through radiance
Also, The Hollow Knight itself is helping us. Everytime they stab themselves with their nail, they are helping you kill them. You can very well see that after everytime they do the thing they get more and more slow, they drag their nail more, their attacks start getting way sloppier and they use way more infection attacks, like the ground slam(which probably also hurts them even more cuz they're straight up just being slammed on the ground over and over)
About godhome lore: -The dreamers aren’t in godhome but in the dream world. We know godhome is in the dream world too but we don’t know how does the dream world work. It’s possible they’re different, separate, worlds or many interconnected dreams. - Different bosses are moved into godhome via the process of atunement. We don’t know how it exactly works but we know that the god tuner the knight possesses is a very important part of it. Through this process bosses also get stronger. The question about hornet was a great one. Most enemies do not realise they’re in godhome, but higher beings do, they seem to have some connection with their dream copies. For example we see Grimm fully knowing what is happening and even bowing to the master, watching over the fight. He thinks about how it is an honour to be a part of this ritual. Hornet, being half higher being (pale king ) is somewhat aware that something is wrong, wondering about what is happening.
The funniest thing for me with the "spike" in difficulty of Mantis Village is that the first time I played through, I had heard that there was an area even more difficult than Mantis Village waiting for me just on the other side. So I had put it off for the LONGEST TIME, that I was already near end game by the time I sucked up the courage to face them again. Turns out the place they were talking about? Deep Nest. Where I had already trounced Nosk and fought my way through the Beast's Den. It was a VERY empowering and bewildering feeling finally opening up that door.
I have to laugh about the frustration over the Mantis Lords. I missed them on my adventure only to return to challenge them near my endgame. I accidentally discovered the secret entrance to Deepnest. By the time I fought them I had learned to be patient in fights and had plenty of evasion abilities.
Yes, exactly. This is part of their life cycle. In fact, this is a bittersweet moment. The Grubfather is sacrificing himself so that his offspring may mature into grubflys. Can't remember where this obscure piece of lore is found, so I apologize if you don't believe us. However, if you listen closely, you can still hear the sounds of the grubs within his belly. They don't sound distressed and they are still alive.
@@net_spider Yeah. I think the happy sounds jive with the fact that hitting him with the Dream Nail and the repeated saying of "Happy......happy.....happy..." is from both the Grubs and their Papa. It's one of the bits of light in a very dark place, another bit of cuteness to contrast all the dread and despair.
Imagine if they gave you the option to kill the grubfather when you find him like that, and then had the dream nail explain what he was really doing after the fact.
Hollow knight's fatal flaw is giving a charm so good so quickly, it makes the rest of the game trivial honestly. What's more surprising is how Iselda would just sell it, clearly she had no idea how powerful it is, or maybe that she has truly given up exploring. I also would like to know the lord of how Iselda came across this charm, perhaps it was kept atop a mountain and guarded by a boss. Or it was sealed away by the Pale king because he feared its power.
I remember first sitting down to play this for an hour and being so absorbed into the world that I went on for a 10 hour play session. The healing mechanic combined with such a well designed world created this perfect synergy to allow for constant exploration and boundary pushing that made my brain go "okay lets see what's next" over and over. It was a pinnacle gaming experience for me.
My boyfriend at I tag teamed this game one weekend, we just couldn’t put it down. Reminded me of how my roommate and I got super into Ori and The Blind Forest and played it incessantly until we beat it during COVID. Some games just suck you in and it’s fun when it’s something you can hand off with a partner (unless they suck lol)
53:08: It IS in fact possible to bypass the trap. However, doing so requires crystal dashing along the ceiling to jump into a hole with the monarch wings (the one you usually exit when you leave Herrah’s den.)
Wait a second, you have less than 1000 subs? That is just straight up insane. Good analysis, and great production value. I feel like your channel will blow up soon. Keep up the good work
Fog Canyon and Uumuu are extremely vivid memories for me, as I didn't know there was a required charm to negate acid damage and had to do the whole thing without it. The moments between me realizing I couldn't damage the boss, Quirrel showing up to open the damage window, killing the boss and the tricky platforming to reach Monomon are STILL engraved in my memory! Also the moment I looked at the wiki and screamed...
On the point of laughter my favorite character laugh in the game is Hornet, they did it so well where it doesn’t come across too condescending but like she’s really enjoying the contest between you two
The Watcher Knights gave me so much trouble. They were one of the hardest fights for me in the game, even when I found the secret to break the chandelier. It cut down on 1 of them but the ones I had to fight still gave me fits. Seriously, I had less trouble with Hornet than I did those dang things lol.
Same here. Until I found out that quick slash is the key. Forget all that "ballet of death"-stuff, trying to avoid their attacks. Just equip QS, approach them and kill them. Heal in between phases.
52:50 You can actually skip beast's den, if you have the monarch wings. Theres a secret area in the ceiling of the room with the bench-trap that you can get to
Curious to know if there are any particular games you'd be looking for a critique on next. Heads up though, if they ain't on PS4 it can't happen. My laptop isn't strong enough to run anything decent and capture footage 🧐
This is the first video of yours that I ever found, about ~2-3 months ago. Now, having gone on a little hyper fixation deep dive, listening to all the lore dumps and steadily working my way through your video essays, I am continually, increasingly impressed with the, honestly incredible, quality of your content. You are highly, criminally “under-watched” my dude. (I can’t figure out a better word than that at the moment, I don’t want to say “under-appreciated,” bc it seems like there are actually a fair number of lovely, supportive internet travelers in the comment sections of your videos!) Anyhow, I hope you’re as proud of your content as I believe you should be. And, as I just saw the video titled “my fiancé plays” instead of the typical “my girlfriend plays” pop up in my recommended videos, may I be one of the hoard of well-wishers to send you many many congratulations!! Have a good one my dude, tho I doubt you’ll ever see this XD
@@MontyZander Hey, if you ever remake it, I'll watch the new version, but if this is a "bad" video, I'll have a lovely time watching your newer content
me: it's midnight, I need to go to sleep and catch some zzz's for work tomorrow-- new video: [is Hollow Knight] me, coffee in hand: OKAY TIME FOR ANOTHER COOL TWO HOUR BINGE WATCH (I'll do another comment tomorrow on the video itself, but I genuinely just perked up after a day that's been less than stellar and only got me through it by a podcast and now the promise of this video)
@@MontyZander yeah, well, it's something to look forward to tomorrow before/after work then! but I like what you've done in the first minutes already :D
1st version of this game I got was the Ps Plus free version. I thought this would be a mere 5 hour game judging from its style. I went in without a sense outside of knowing this was a good game featured in various youtube videos I've stumbled upon. My sheer joy when I realized 5 hours in I was still in Greenpath. At that point I knew how grand this game was truly. I never really got lost. My natural interest guided me accordingly. I felt so bad that i got to play this for free i got a switch version and got 4 official shirts lol. Team Cherry, WELL DONE.
Man I've seen A LOT of awesome critiques about this game but standing ovation here bro! Absolutely love that you saw the siblings ending the way I did. I think it's the best for the narrative(for whatever that means with this game) Hollow Knight is the only game that got me out of my 10 year hiatus from games
Great game, excellent critique. One mistake I found is that you state the dash length changes with button press duration. It actually is a fixed length tap or press. Keep up the good work 👍
Watching this video felt like playing hollow knight lol You talking about one area, then going "oh yeah this happens in here too" and branching off on extended tangents is exactly how it feels to meander around Hallownest
Great essay, editing and structure. Really just leaving this here for the algorithm but damn I can't believe how few views this has compared to the quality. Keep it up man, subbed
okay actually on further analysis: my first comment wasn’t enough. this video is legitimately fantastic. it’s well thought out, funny, deeply analytical, and a genuinely amazing video essay on this game. your love for it is so obvious, and it’s practically a crime this doesn’t have more views. well done ❤️
Here are 3 TINY nitpicks: 1.The grass in the dreamnail dream makes a sound when hit with sounds off. 2.The grass in the Massive Moss Charger fight in Godhome when hit makes a sound with sounds off. 3.When entering a pantheon it makes a sound with sounds off. EDIT:Also something else is that there are more vessels in Nosk's lair and one in greenpath.
I've been watching a few of your video essays over the last week and this one earned my sub. Not that I shouldn't have sooner but this is my favorite game of the 2010's and possibly all time. The analysis is comprehensive and on-point, the humor (simping for Iselda in hilarious Hbomb style callbacks) had me literally L-ing My F-ing AO, and it didn't hurt that your lamentations about bosses unbeaten boosted my almost non-existent ego. 10/10, take my thumbs up, sub, and comment for full algorithmic engagement. You earned at least that much. Cheers.
I would love to see a critique in this style on subnautica. Absolutely adore that game, and this video was entertaining, so I figure it would be a good match. Keep making content! You’re a small channel now, but the quality of these videos means people are gonna keep coming. great work.
I keep hearing about subnautica. I'll add it to the list! It's gonna be a while before I can get a PS5 due to stock issues so happy to add it to my backlog. Thanks!
Dash length isn't variable he was talking about the normal dash vs the crystal dash i think. The only thing that changes dash length is sharp shadow (+40%)
Another cool detail I haven't seen mentioned anywhere yet. It looks like your shade no longer attacks you once you've merged with the Voidheart and embraced the dark. God I love this game.
Only a few minutes in and you've already earned another subscriber. Jos And, fantastic as he is, sometimes gets so wrapped up in his whole 'im a critic, it's my job to critique, I Must Find Something To Judge' thing that he forgets to like. Enjoy the game. I do enjoy his videos, but _damn_ is it refreshing to find a long lovely essay from someone who genuinely just Liked The Game.
The funny thing about the Beast's Den is that your intuition about the bench trap actually can be rewarded. It's just incredibly hard to find. It took me about 3-4 playthroughs to find that, if you have the mantis claw, crystal heart and monarch wings, you can climb up the right wall of the bench room, crystal dash across and then, if you time it just right, you can cancel your dash in midair and use monarch wings to propel yourself up into a hidden entrance in the roof into the rest of the Beast's Den. Not only does this completely avoid the obvious bench trap, but this entrance is significantly closer to Herrah and to the one grub hidden in the den, allowing you to avoid dealing with many of the claustrophobic passages and difficult enemies in that area. Making the only reason to go deeper into the Den be if you're desperate for geo for whatever reason. It's been one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game for me. Playing the game again and not only seeing how much better you are, how well you'll have naturally learned the environments, map and enemies. But also discovering new secrets, skips, tactics and lore.
I watch critiques on whatever game I'm playing right now, you're up there with Luke Stephens, Joseph Anderson, NeverKnowsBest and all the good guys. Thanks for being my comfort 👍👍❤️
This is two years too late it seems and although i rarely comment on yt videos, your offical question about how to keep the hot buggie babe was litterally so funny. I love your deep dives and retrospectives but in a way, this small break of serious retrospection was really nice and tension breaking for me xP keep up the good work
when i as platinum player heard you say the mantis lords was one of the most difficult boss fights i audibly laughed, it gets so much worse as i think you know at this point
I 100% agree with what you said about the dash ability. I don’t know exactly how much it would have affected my play through, but it was definitely one of the first ‘A-ha’ moments for me. When i first started playing, i didn’t even realize there would be a dash later on, so when i DID get it, i was blown away, and immediately went back and played with it in the earlier area, because i wasn’t sure if there was anything i had missed. I would have 100% used the dash to just skip ahead instead of drinking in the atmosphere, and that would’ve been a sin.
I’ve been in search of a channel that does long form analysis and uploads more then once a year for a while now. You sir, have scratched that itch. Thank you! Love your shorter videos as well!
[15 minutes in, says about Iselda being best girl] aw YISSS okay, tiny nitpicks/additions/comments on the critique: - the Knight (ie player character) is canonically they/them, as is the Hollow Knight, as well as all the siblings (that is why they're siblings, not brothers and sisters, like with the latter we could probably call Hornet, the *gendered* child) but since a lot of language is still moving on from "masculine pronouns are neutral" it's understandable; - I know a lot of people interpret the "grub sidequest twist" as a gruesome banquet, but considering it's *bugs*, how happy the grubs sound FROM THE INSIDE of grubfather, and what we receive as a reward (grubberfly charm), grubfather devours their young to help them pupate from the cocoon that is his own body into actual grubberflies later on, and technically, since the charm appears from "...few ways [...], but mainly it's from final wish, a dying bug's potent desire crystallised into these gorgeous, powerful trinkets" (quote from Salubra), that might mean that grubfather has accepted his future death for the lives all of the grubs to mature. but yeah, kinda wish we were more explicit on the topic, and also the "he just went and ATE THEM" is valid, it's just that this topic has many different sides to it; - no, I genuinely enjoy Deepest, it's so dark and wonderfully set, while the worst area is Western Waterways (with exception of our dearest Ogrim) because HAVE YOU HEARD THE FLUKES?? Absolutely Disgusting, I still shudder bodily each time I hear them. Deepnest creepy sounds are very *natural*, while Flukes make me think of something being thrown away from the city above. also the lonely string instrument droning on, drowning all thoughts out and making me feel all... solemn and scared is just the worst/the best. but yeah, Deepnest is creepy, gotta give it that; - considering the Abyss civilisation lore: there are implications that snail tribe, such as Snail Shaman and their brethren, either descended or are continuing to live in the same vein as the civilisation before them, molding the Soul and Void for their own spells, as referenced in the upgraded spells we obtain from Snail Shaman corpses, and the fact that we can upgrade Howling Wraiths only in Abyss, to get the Abyss Shriek, tying the two together. not to mention the bodies of the snails, inky and black like ours and other siblings, and who burst into void particles upon our obtaining of their spells, and which could also explain *why* Soul Master was experimenting on one of the shamans, to harness the power that they wielded, and, judging on his soul version of the dive, succeeding in that. sure, Snail Shaman in Ancestral Mound says to us that "[Abyss Shriek] is not within the skills of us snails to do such a thing", with the fact that *dead* versions of the snails form the void versions of the spells, certainly make you think about it more! but nah, ig it's a moot point (unless mossbag does a culbit and makes a new vid on THAT part of the lore); - you thumping either your microphone or the surface your recording equipment is on when you say "it legitimately *breaks* my heart" @ 1:20:57, literally on the word "breaks" is one of the top notch accidental additions to the video; - you explaining how we not only use Fast Travel system in Hollow Knight, but also form a bond with The Last Stag, it impacting our playthrough, is just 🤌 MWAH; - Grimm Troupe is actually something that could be a DLC that makes you re-appreciate the game, re-traverse the old locations and open up secrets you didn't realise were there. like, I went for the Greenpath flame, realised I could visit Sheo from there quickly, and THERE I discovered where Nailsmith had gone! the flame in the Crystal Peak is almost directly over the area you could miss by not dropping down, the flame in City of Tears made me visit in again in late game, where I was avoiding it due to my own personal feelings tied to the playthrough, and instead I walked back, wiping away a tear of longing, and then the flame in Resting Grounds could lead you to Quirrel (or lack of him with only his nail), iirc flame in Kingdom's Edge can be found literally atop Tiso's fallen corpse, and Nightmare Flames meanwhile lead you to more secretive areas of the game like Hive and Fungal Core, and for some people who FOR SOME REASON never went to Ancestral Basin - here you go, a possibility. also dum dum like me only found how to get to Herrah through Brumm because I kept missing a very obvious passageway :'); - appreciation of Bretta is Good, Super Good; - I finally made through Path of Pain without even using the Hiveblood charm and technically not getting a hit on PS4! controller is a saviour there, even to me, staunchly lover of keyboard+mouse combo! also same on Godmaster, I still need to finish it without support to get to the two additional endings; - re: question about Godhome, the bosses in it? they're dream versions of themselves, either preserved in death, or repeated through your own perceptions of them and their boss fights, and the stark example of that are, in fact, Dream Nail lines from Hornet, and Grimm's lines as well as a bow to the Godseeker in his fight; - [mossbag "Silksong is a prequel" theory intensifies]; - kinda sad you didn't talk at all about the dream bosses and the involvement of the people other than just developers in the game to the point they are, in fact, affecting a lore in their ways, but that's just my love for these mini-characters showing; - you're so right about Iselda and Cornifer. girl, I could be SO MUCH BETTER (/hj). or else just TALK TO EACH OTHER, BE *BETTER*; - and to end all of this: you can't tell me that Quirrel DIES, he just went for a swim, or maybe he left his nail because he's not a warrior anymore! can't hear you, lalala!! (/j) thank you for the video, it was almost two hours really well spent!!
Thanks again for the comments! To be clear, I LOVE Deepnest as an area, its just really damn upsetting. Also yeah, the little Knight being canonically they/them is something I remembered to mention (same with the Kickstarters Bosses) as the video was rendering. Kicking myself for that one. But I'd also argue that because I'm a cis guy who sees an extension of himself in the knight through how the game links out experiences, it's not the end of the world if the player adds personal pronouns to the personality-less player character - this time. Also THANKS FOR NOTICING THE EMBARRASSING POP. I need to get a new pop filter.
Actually the vessels’ pronouns are “it”, as that’s what they’re referred to in game. That’s because they’re not really alive, they’re reanimated corpses that were already dead by the time they hatched
4:30 and you hit the nail on the head for what felt off about Metroid Dread. I didn't have multiple paths and I was artificially blocked off from old routes that I wanted to return to and explore. The constant world state changes didn't have the believability they did in Fusion. Hollow Knight on the other hand always feels like I have 3 somewheres I could be at any point.
this was such a well constructed example of the passion hollow knight players feel for the game - the whole thing was eloquent and flowed together well. i didn't agree on every point, but intentionally or not, i think you very well summarized a lot of what the larger community loves about this little bug game. my only nitpick would be the insistence on calling the knight, hollow knight and siblings male when it's lore relevant that they're non-gendered, but that's something a lot of people do so it's understandable. great video essay, it's getting much more recognition now but still deserves as much as it can get.
The only negatives i would have about the game are gameplay wise. Things like backtracking and some bosses sometimes had trash rng. I also wish that there was more platforming as i found path of pain fun but i want more of it. I was a lot better at the platforming than fighting lol
@@MontyZander You can also think of the different letters that make up the word. A capital M for stalagMite looks like spikes coming out of the gound while the capital T for stalagTite looks like a spike hanging from the ceiling.
CRIMINALLY underviewed video. You've got a really fresh take on the game; I can tell you tried to avoid repeating the same points/insights from other major Hollow Knight video essays. Your readings of some of the music tracks blew my mind. I also found your defense of the sharp-angle level design really compelling. I can see why some people criticize the shade system. My qualms with it have more to do with platforming than combat. There were 2+ areas in the game (one in Greenpath, one in Crystal Peak, and a third I can't put my finger on) where I struggled with a platforming section and my shade appeared *on the other side of the room*. Those moments were very frustrating. If I was having trouble with the platforming challenge, the last thing I needed was extra pressure on my next attempt. It all but takes away the choice of giving up and trying the section later--you've gotta tough it out right then or make your way back to Dirtmouth and pay a rancid egg. I don't disagree with you on much, though! Awesome critique--please excuse me while I check out the rest of your channel
Sorry my dude I just saw this! Thanks for the kind comment. That's a really good point on the Shade placement now you mention it. I've had similar problems but I think my bias made me not realise the issue until you pointed it out!
To be fair... Cornifer somehow makes it to the areas that our Knight needs ABILITIES to reach. As for the Godhome, to enter it you need to use the Dream Nail. We are entering the Dream, and if you hit Dream Hornet with the Dream Nail, she will mention something like "What a Dream we're SHARING, little Ghost." Someone had mentioned that since Radiance is living in the Dream (like Owlks) killing her in the Dream, kills her for good. But with Silksong not coming soon enough, it makes me wonder which ending it would be that left her outside the Egg? Did we defeat Absolute Radiance, leaving her puzzled when confronting Hollow Knight? Or did we kill Radiance and returned to the Void? Will little Ghost Knight come back? Or is his story over, since... his goal is reached? And what of the Pale King? Where is he?
I really want Little Ghost to come back, but no matter what ending you get, his story is pretty much over. Unless they pull some deus ex stuff where he pushed down the Void Lord form or whatever, but that would feel really fake and hurt the original games story. Also, pretty sure PK is dead unless he's some even smaller form that came out of his corpse on his throne.
I fell in love with Hollow Knight and put a lot of time and dedication into it, this was my first truly difficult game to beat and I struggled a lot. I beat base game Radiance, but final Grimm and Path of Pain made me burn out on the game, and I can`t remember it as fondly. Watching this reminded me why I loved thig game so much in the first place, so thank you for that. Perhaps I ough to replay it some years later so I can experiece the joy of it again.
I love finding new HK critiques because it feels like everyone has a little bit of something to offer. What you said about the Dreamer areas really struck me; I'd never thought of their areas as individual tests of exploration, platforming, and combat, but as soon as you said it it made all the sense in the world. Little things like that make me value Team Cherry as developers even more. Excellent breakdown my man (Also yeah don't feel bad about not beating Godmaster, I have almost 500 hours in the game and still can't beat the last pantheon lol, the upgraded HK and Radiance battles are rough as hell)
Thanks man! Appreciate it! Yeah, I like having God home to jump into if I want to get my Hollow Knight fix every now and then. But I'm not skilled enough to finish it!
I really enjoyed this. I watch a lot of long form critiques and was pleasantly surprised at both the analysis you gave as well as the editing. You have a real knack for this. Thanks for the great video (counting days until silksong).
Hey Monty. I know this is an old video but I wanted to say that im really glad you do what you do. I have been playing games all my life, but due to circumstances from the past few years, ive had to put it on the back burner. Recently I found your videos, and your passion for games inspired me to pick up the controller again and its been a real treat to hear someone so well articulated describe why gaming can be so impactful. Cheers from Texas!
Very enjoyable - surprised you didn't comment on how fucking truly creepy the demonic looking beetle idol (whom I call Beelzebug) whose black, ichorous offering of ooze bestows upon you the Shadow Cloak in the depths of the Abyss looks. That lighthouse, the dream nail of the lighthouse keeper and WHATEVER is alive beneath the depths of the Black Ichor that thrashes ravenously is also horrific.
Only time will tell, but this might just be my favorite game of all-time. Definitely of the last ten years. I get bored so easily with metroidvanias and I find them much better as a concept than they are to actually play. This game fixed every single issue I’ve ever had with them. It’s probably not perfect, but i can’t think of any major flaws off the top of my head so i’d say it’s pretty damn close. Also the Sisters of Battle/Mantis Lords are the most well-designed boss fight in video game history and no one will ever change my mind about that.
Do you still feel this way or have you found another game that’s taken the title as your favorite? My favorite game is bloodborne so this little weird game tickled the right spots for me.
What a fantastic game! I played through it pretty blind, so seeing some of the aspects of the story and characters I hadn’t originally noticed is super cool!
So... I was in a mood to listen to someone go on about my favorite game and decided to watch this video. Great job Monty Zander! You are so underrated i wish I could give you more than one like ^-^
Awesome video! One thing to note re. the end of the grub sidequest... if you dreamnail the brubfather the baby grubs can be heard inside being happy and completeing it earns the achievement "metamorphosis", implying that the grubs are cucooning within grubfather to become moths/butterflys. So while orignally horrifying, if you explore a bit more it provides a sense of hope and new growth. Which is just further amazing worldbuilding by Team Cherry (much like the insane Mr. Mushroom quest).
1:19:13 what about the vessel you get dash from in the hornet fight? These are just the ones that we know of, but there could've been hundreds of vessels that escaped and left hallownest, like the player knight.
A note about the ending where you embrace the radiance Since the radiance seeps out through the seal in the game, us becoming a vessel to contain the radiance only pushes off the issues until the next time it seeps out. However since the key to the seal is locked in with us, there won't be any way for someone to open the seal and attack the radiance at its source the next time
I don't know if you're going to see this, a year after, but there are a few hints that, if the Knight becomes the new Vessel, the Radiance will never escape again. Both the Pale Lady and the Radiance herself hint that our Knight is the Vessel the King was searching for. The White Lady says the next things : " True one like you was awaited. " and " I implore you, usurp the Vessel. Its supposed strength was ill-judged. It was tarnished by an idea instilled. But you. You are free of such blemishes. You could contain that thing inside. " And the Radiance had a line that didn't make it to the final game that says : " He can contain me. " The only reason she escaped was because the Hollow Knight was 'flawed', he wasn't devoid of thought and emotion, like the Pale King wanted him to be. He both wanted to fulfill his role as the Vessel ( he has a removed line that says " ..No mind, the usurper...Only strength... " ) , which means that he was actively trying to not think and he thought dearly of his father, which is implied both by the removed line " ...Father?... " (when he encounters you with the King's Brand) and by the Father-Son moment locked behind the Path of Pain.
I love how passionate you are about this game. I didn't feel that way about Hollow Knight, but felt incredibly similarly about Undertale as you did this game. Great to see your opinions and dedication to the game.
I did not see this mentioned in the comments but knight and hornet locked inside the temple is very worrying ending. As hollow knight could not contain the radiance and infection before, it is not guaranteed that the knight will be able to. In the case that radiance inside the knight gains power back, and like hollow knight it losses himself into the infection there won’t be any chance for any other knight to kill him. Hornet and therefore the seal of the door is unreachable and the infection will devour the world...
My Dude this was such a fantastic watch! Hollow Knight was the 1st game I did a Let's Play on & it was such a frustrating, infuriating, beautiful, fulfilling & emotional journey. The world is so well crafted & the way it opens up is amazing. The sense of achievement you get from conquering tricky areas or tough bosses is up there with all the Souls games for me. And the relationships you forge with all the characters is something I loved so much. I actually put voices to all of mine when I played 😂 I'm with you on the DLC. Never quite beat Grimm or The Pantheon of the Knight (yet) but I was glad to do what I did of them. I too got the ending where we replace the Hollow Knight first then the epic & rage inducing battle with the Radiance. No lie I'm sure it took pretty much 100 attempts! 😱 Would love to see a follow up where you deep dive into the Moth civilisation & there connection to the overall story. The Seer is an interesting character & I feel perhaps the info we get from her leads to many more discussions about the past of this world. Oh & no mention of Mr Mushroom!! Lol! I understand we'll see him again in Silk Song 😁 I'm so glad I was recommended this video after watching your Bloodborne one & hope it continues to perform well for you. Thanks for a truly engrossing & enjoyable hour & 47 mins mate 🤘
Amazing critique! I also agree with your stance on Joseph Anderson's video. Joseph is actually extremely good at games, and I don't think he realizes the skill level of the average player hence why he thinks the way he does on some things.
I believe the Matisse intentionally make the trek between the bench and the mantis lords because there’s the one who just closes a door to the bench 10 seconds away from the mantis lords
Dude your order here is all over the place. You follow one thing and then skip the ending for later and then go to hornet at the beginning of city tears before you finish building up to the watcher nights?
Turns out there's caterpillars that go through metamorphosis like this (it's not well known though but since it's such an obscure reference it makes for quite the shock)
I must have watched this video a dozen times before realizing I haven't commented yet, probably because I simply agree with almost everything said. As a newcomer to the game myself, I'm so happy to see that this amazing game is still able to mesmerize almost everyone who picked it up four years of its release. Good games always stand through the test of time, so if you are intrigued by this video, go get your copy! You won't be disappointed. (Also I hope you avoid spoilers of any kind, simply because going into the game with pre-conceptions will ruin your experience.) As for me, the mantis lords is probably my favorite boss, the first one I finished on radiant level. However, when I first arrived at mantis village, I never even came across them. I can see the uncharted area on the map, tried to break the floor again and again with d-dive or d-dark but nothing happened. Simply because I thought the lever above was just meant for reaching the geo stack next to it. This detour may seem trivial or even meaningless itself, but it's the compilation of all these little differences that grant you a different experience every playthrough. This is the first game I never feel the need to look up guides, because I just KNOW if I end up somewhere of a dead end, I have whatever ability/platforming skills/tricks needed to get out. The game won't hard-lock you in any way to punish you for not following their designed route, where you go completely depends on how well you observed the environment, what's your take on the current background story, and the platforming and battle skills you learned up till that point. And that makes the playthrough personal, memorable and special. There's no doubt that hollow knight will be my game of the generation, and I firmly believe everyone who hasn't played it to give it a try. IT"S JUST THAT DAMN GOOD!
Rewatching this one, one thing I wish was still updated, as the only copy I found doesn't work with current versions, was a mod called 'The Geo-Nail' it was designed to allow players to grind past the more difficult parts of combat. The idea was simple, every 1000/100/10/1 Geo you had in your wallet, depending on a setting in your settings menu. added a point to your damage, above and beyond all other nail upgrades. This, of course, meant that, if you had the patience, you could simply overpower opponents, and could do kick ass things like turn the Little Knight into a god of death for all of Hallow Nest, the Reaper who waltz' in, and just DESTROYS everything in a single swing of his simple nail. It was a fun mod, and while Hollow Knight(w/Gun), and the Light Nail mods are cool, that one felt like you were earning the power, since you did have to get the geo to make it work, and could still die if you weren't careful at all, especially since you got little Soul thanks to everything dying so quickly, meaning even scratch damage could add up.
The-- the Path of Pain... is OPTIONAL????? Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games and I have over 100 hours in it, but have never completed it (I beat the Knight, but never got to The Radiance) because I couldn't complete the Path of Pain!! I thought you had to complete the Path of Pain to get the other half of the Kingsoul charm and now I realize my entire life has been a lie 😭😭😭 Life altering revelations aside, this video is amazing! I knew that I loved this game but could never quite point out what it was that made it stand out from other Metrovanias I've played. But seeing all the things I loved (music, atmosphere, exploration) from a game design perspective has made me appreciate the masterpiece that this game is even more!! Thank you!!!
Good home is dreams, meaning bosses can be brought there and attuned to the godseekers who want to find gods after their gods forsaken them, they came to hallownest with several gods like the pale king, white lady, unn, and the radiance but these gods either don’t want to interact, can’t, are dead, or are too high to reach. They attune themselves with various godly/godlike creatures which are the bosses
On the topic of Hollow Knights music, the Sealed Vessel theme (the one which plays during the fight with The Hollow Knight) changes throughout the fight, in the beginning it is bombastic, loud, and grand, a truly fitting theme for a final boss fight. But then, in Phase 3, the Hollow Knight stabs itself with its nail, showing how it still has some self control despite its infection. And the music changes too, from its grand bombast to a slow, swinging and soft melody, really conveying the tradgedy of the Sealed Vessel that is the Hollow Knight, it wants to help you. And it tries, throughout Phases 3 and 4 it continuously stabs itself in an effort to end its pain.
I don't understand how you can think Hornet getting trapped in the egg is "saving the day" when it guarantees that if the infection starts seeping out of the knight, nobody can get in to kill him.
The amazing thing about hollow knight is that, I’m at the very end, and I don’t want to finish the game and not see all of the characters anymore. I’ve become so absorbed in their world, and their lives, that finishing the game feels like saying goodbye forever.
40:40 He also mumbles Isma's name in his sleep. The first time I heard it (after already knowing what happened to Isma), my heart fucking cracked. I finally purchased this game when the 2020 disaster hit us full force, and I cannot thank it enough for keeping a significant part of my sanity intact. I fell in love with the game the moment I arrived in Dirthmouth and heard the music, and my love only grew deeper as I descended further into the sad, beautiful world of Hallownest. The story is so gripping, even though it's hiding behind layers and layers of intentionally vague dialogue - it's kind of like one of those Arcane Eggs that Lemm likes to study, except we actually can peel the layers off and read what is contained within (or some of us can). The music is out of this world and I can't believe it didn't win an award. This game is objectively difficult, and yet the difficulty spikes were gentle enough to allow even myself, a mediocre player at best, to prevail, likely because when I stumbled upon something I couldn't handle yet (coughcoughWatcherscough), I could just go do something else. The mechanics are wonderfully explained via environmental storytelling - the only one I had to look up was pogoing when I became stuck in Fungal Wastes, and that one is kind of on me, too - and not hard to learn either; hard to master, certainly, but not hard to learn, and that's something I really appreciated. I also appreciated that they didn't just chuck everything at me immediately because I learn things slowly and too many things to handle from the start makes me anxious - I cannot agree more with your point about dashing being unlocked later on (and as a reward, at that), not just because of the pace it sets, but also because you could just go to Fungal Wastes and skip a significant portion of Forgotten Crossroads, which would make no sense because that is very much a soft tutorial area. The combat in this game is exquisite. It's hard, but it's fair, and it forces you to utilise different builds for different bosses, develop your own style of handling some of the more notorious bosses (looking at you, Gatekeeper Sly). Tanking and high DPS is not always the answer. Aside from couple fights, I love all of them in one way or another. The Mantis Lords are a good example; the sense of accomplishment I felt when I finally beat them and they bowed to me was immense. I treated it as a genuine achievement. The funny thing is, I remember that the first time I played the game, I had no clue the mantises have a secret stash that only unlocks after defeating the bosses, so I literally defeated them for the bow (and access to Deepnest, but I just peeked in and noped out), and it was _enough._ More than enough, even. Grimm is a similar story. NKG left me drenched in sweat after I beat him for the first time. Watcher Knights were frustrating, and now it's one of my favourite fights. Broken Vessel remains my favourite fight for so many reasons. Not a single being in the entire game - not even Pale King or the Radiance, or even the Seer, who could have theoretically prevent all of the game from happening - feels just _bad;_ their actions are understandable, which perhaps makes them even more tragic. I have never grown so attached to a character with so little personality. This game legitimately changed me, and hard carried me through some of the most uncertain times of my life. If I were forced to keep only one game, I too would pick it.
I know I am late, but I love how he starts the video by saying “the community is so welcoming to new players. I haven’t heard a single git good” when “get good” is one of the biggest memes in the community
I know this video is a few years old at this point but! I wanted to point this out If you have the Monarch Wings before going into the den in the Hidden Village, there’s a secret passage in the ceiling you can use to avoid the bench trap and skip 90% of the following section! Just climb up the wall on the right, Crystal dash (or jump and dash left) for a short distance, and use the Wings to jump up into the ceiling. It might take a few tries, but once you hear the low bell sound you’ll know you’ve got the right spot. Usually when I’m trying to do a 100% speedrun I get to the village just to unlock the Stag, and then return after getting the Monarch Wings. It saves a lot of frustration! TLDR you can get rewarded for using your head, but it’s MUCH harder than just recognizing the threat. You have to think like a spider and find an entrance only they would be able to get to! I enjoyed this video a lot, especially the way you talk about the psychology of the game design and the music!
Idc that this is atleast 3 years old, but its pretty funny that this game's insignificant characters are easily remembered, while some shows and whatnot I find it so hard to remember even the protagonist's name. Like how the f do I remember Willoh and almost forgot the name of the second JoJo when I have a stand as my pfp?
I would encourage you to complete PoP and the Pantheons if you get time. PoP in particular gets significantly easier with practice. The first time it took me 2 weeks and then I died near the end and had to start over. Then it took me 45mins to get back to the same spot.
24:51 Yes I want to “be Hornet” too… Soon… soon… I BELIEVE. And thanks for this video. A really good comprehensive analysis of a game that’s a true masterpiece.
Great video! For me the only gripe with the game is that I had to beat the hollow knight before facing the radiance I just couldn't do it (partly because I died to the Radiance every 10 secs)
I'll be honest, Hollow Knight is the most incredible game I've ever played that I simultaneously HATED playing. When I got past the Mantis Lords, I was so happy that the toughness that I'd felt so far with Hornet etc. was paying off into skill. Mantis Lords, to me, are one of the most perfect bosses ever made. Insurmountable at first but you can tell it isn't unfair and you just need to practise. In fact, it's the ONLY boss in the game like that other than Hornet. Every other boss from then on felt like banging my head against a wall until I got lucky. NKG and Radiance genuinely felt like I just didn't have the reaction time to do it. I have beaten every Soulsbornekiro, struggled a lot on some bosses but only took a few goes by the last game I played (DS3) to beat the endgame bosses. Hollow Knight destroyed me with almost every boss. And the White Palace and shit like that. Fucking hell. I LOVE this game. I'm just not good enough at 2D platformers for it. Didn't touch Godmaster.
Is it confirmed we’re visiting godhome when we enter the dreamer’s dreams? I assumed it was just one layer of the dreamscape, like the white palace and godhome.
I Made My Fiancée Play Hollow Knight
th-cam.com/video/S48hKzu1Ck0/w-d-xo.html
Wish I could get my fiancée to play it! He just watched me play some of it and quickly decided it's not for him. Makes me a little sad, but I guess it's ok if we don't like all of the same games. There are some games that we both love to play, some that he loves but I can't stand, and others that I love but he can't stand. Our differences are what make the world interesting though. If everyone was the same people might get along better, but it sure would be boring!
critique of the critique: the mantis lords walk only adds more to the suspense of the most difficult fight the player has encountered at that point of the game, the risk of losing all your geo adds to the stakes of a fight like mantis lords. Its an incentive to learn the fight and survive so that you dont have to repeat the walk again.
the godseekers didnt think of radiance as their god, and they came from outside hallownest. Their god was some kind of storm related god who died, you can find some evidence of this in the godhome, althrough i forgot where
I’m here to mention that Grubfather doesn’t really eat the little grubs, I think. From what you can gather from the related charms and other little things, it looks like more of a growth stage. Grubfather acts as a cocoon for the little ones to grow into butterflies or something. I think they are called Grubberflies in one of the charms.
They are called Grubberflies
So it's like a chest burster.
One can only hope
So less vore, and more unbirth?
@@fredranzalot4849 a clean mix of both.
1:05:09 The difference (for me at least) between the mantis lords and the watcher knights is where the mantis lords are very deliberate and feel like they’re using some sort of combat style (ex. fencing but for bugs), the watcher knights are just trying to crush you by any means possible.
Which makes sense given the watcher knights are empty husks being taken over by infected lumaflies, and so would not have any knowledge of how to fight properly, while the mantis lords are strong and proud warriors, who have been training their whole life, and so are keenly aware of how to fight and how to fight honourably
@@09DinoDino Also, in a tablet it literally shows their law "Wanderers seeking death, may you find swift death upon our claws" and shows that they are a tightknit tribe of deadly assassins
I believe the hollow Knight being fairly easy was purposeful, since you have to fight him again every time you die to the radiance, it would have been really annoying to have him also be a difficult boss fight. narrative wise it aslo really sets him up as the prelude to the actual final boss, and not the real threat
The Hollow Knight is also far from a pushover without shade clock and nail upgrades, I know for trying the route for any% speedruns. First got beaten up by trying Watcher Knight's without upgrades and overcharmed for 2 hours! Than 2 more just trying THK with one upgrade, some attacks are quite fast/spammy to avoid without Monarch Wings or shadow cloack.
It fits into the lore even more as the Hollow Knight is broken, has been hanging in his shackles for an eternity and is fighting you wounded and exhausted.
The Pure Vessel though kicks your ass, showing how hard the Hollow Knight would have been, and I think it all fits together really well :)
This argument is kind of backwards, because nobody was stopping Team Cherry from implementing a checkpoint right before The Radiance. Yet they made a conscious decision not to, and then balancing the Hollow Knight for the double fight should have came as a consequence of that decision.
@@Delfigamer1 Its actually better to not put a checkpoint before radiance tbh, it just builds up much more narratively and also helps with having full soul bar before the fight, if i hadnt spammed abyss shriek, i wouldnt have gotten through radiance
Also, The Hollow Knight itself is helping us. Everytime they stab themselves with their nail, they are helping you kill them. You can very well see that after everytime they do the thing they get more and more slow, they drag their nail more, their attacks start getting way sloppier and they use way more infection attacks, like the ground slam(which probably also hurts them even more cuz they're straight up just being slammed on the ground over and over)
About godhome lore:
-The dreamers aren’t in godhome but in the dream world. We know godhome is in the dream world too but we don’t know how does the dream world work. It’s possible they’re different, separate, worlds or many interconnected dreams.
- Different bosses are moved into godhome via the process of atunement. We don’t know how it exactly works but we know that the god tuner the knight possesses is a very important part of it. Through this process bosses also get stronger. The question about hornet was a great one. Most enemies do not realise they’re in godhome, but higher beings do, they seem to have some connection with their dream copies. For example we see Grimm fully knowing what is happening and even bowing to the master, watching over the fight. He thinks about how it is an honour to be a part of this ritual. Hornet, being half higher being (pale king ) is somewhat aware that something is wrong, wondering about what is happening.
The knight commits grand theft godtuner
The secret of how cornifer got iselda is in that long nose
Oh... Oh NO
She loves it
I wish I was jared 19
It’s actually his mouth
@@MontyZander dragon quest reference
Puff puff
why doesnt this video have more views? it really looks like a lot of work went into it and it was very enjoyable to watch. Thank you for making this!
Damn. Thanks so much!
Ive watched it multiple times 😊
The funniest thing for me with the "spike" in difficulty of Mantis Village is that the first time I played through, I had heard that there was an area even more difficult than Mantis Village waiting for me just on the other side.
So I had put it off for the LONGEST TIME, that I was already near end game by the time I sucked up the courage to face them again.
Turns out the place they were talking about? Deep Nest. Where I had already trounced Nosk and fought my way through the Beast's Den.
It was a VERY empowering and bewildering feeling finally opening up that door.
I have to laugh about the frustration over the Mantis Lords. I missed them on my adventure only to return to challenge them near my endgame. I accidentally discovered the secret entrance to Deepnest. By the time I fought them I had learned to be patient in fights and had plenty of evasion abilities.
39:32 you have misinterpreted the grubfather, he ate them so they can to do the metamorphosis
Yes, exactly. This is part of their life cycle. In fact, this is a bittersweet moment. The Grubfather is sacrificing himself so that his offspring may mature into grubflys.
Can't remember where this obscure piece of lore is found, so I apologize if you don't believe us. However, if you listen closely, you can still hear the sounds of the grubs within his belly. They don't sound distressed and they are still alive.
@@net_spider Yeah. I think the happy sounds jive with the fact that hitting him with the Dream Nail and the repeated saying of "Happy......happy.....happy..." is from both the Grubs and their Papa. It's one of the bits of light in a very dark place, another bit of cuteness to contrast all the dread and despair.
@@net_spider iirc it's from the last grub charm
Imagine if they gave you the option to kill the grubfather when you find him like that, and then had the dream nail explain what he was really doing after the fact.
Hollow knight's fatal flaw is giving a charm so good so quickly, it makes the rest of the game trivial honestly. What's more surprising is how Iselda would just sell it, clearly she had no idea how powerful it is, or maybe that she has truly given up exploring. I also would like to know the lord of how Iselda came across this charm, perhaps it was kept atop a mountain and guarded by a boss. Or it was sealed away by the Pale king because he feared its power.
Iselda mentions being skilled with a nail
You jest but shaman stone does trivialise boss fights ip till watcher knights.
Read the whole thing expecting it to be a wandering compass meme post x3
Yeah right. Hollow knight is hard as hell and having one good charm changes nothing to that.
Also the only charm canonically proven to be capable of talking. S+++++ tier easy
I remember first sitting down to play this for an hour and being so absorbed into the world that I went on for a 10 hour play session. The healing mechanic combined with such a well designed world created this perfect synergy to allow for constant exploration and boundary pushing that made my brain go "okay lets see what's next" over and over. It was a pinnacle gaming experience for me.
My boyfriend at I tag teamed this game one weekend, we just couldn’t put it down. Reminded me of how my roommate and I got super into Ori and The Blind Forest and played it incessantly until we beat it during COVID. Some games just suck you in and it’s fun when it’s something you can hand off with a partner (unless they suck lol)
What amazing quality my guy, you're up there with the best of them
Thanks my dude!
53:08: It IS in fact possible to bypass the trap. However, doing so requires crystal dashing along the ceiling to jump into a hole with the monarch wings (the one you usually exit when you leave Herrah’s den.)
Fair point!
You dont actually need crystal dash, I dont think. Dash double jump and mantis claw will also get you there.
You can do this with just monarch wings, you don't need crystal heart
@@mooshiros7053 if you can get monarch wings without crystal dash, then you're already a master of the game
@@tjosiahhaynes Or you're doing a randomizer run.
I believe each ending being canon does not mean that Silksong is canon for every Hollow Knight ending.
Wait a second, you have less than 1000 subs? That is just straight up insane. Good analysis, and great production value. I feel like your channel will blow up soon. Keep up the good work
Cheers! Appreciate it - seriously.
1:37:10 If you read her dreams, you can actually find out. She and Grimm are the only Godhome bosses that are aware of being summoned.
You deserve millions of subscribers, sir.
Thanks my dude!
He will if he keeps up the great work
Fog Canyon and Uumuu are extremely vivid memories for me, as I didn't know there was a required charm to negate acid damage and had to do the whole thing without it.
The moments between me realizing I couldn't damage the boss, Quirrel showing up to open the damage window, killing the boss and the tricky platforming to reach Monomon are STILL engraved in my memory!
Also the moment I looked at the wiki and screamed...
On the point of laughter my favorite character laugh in the game is Hornet, they did it so well where it doesn’t come across too condescending but like she’s really enjoying the contest between you two
The Watcher Knights gave me so much trouble. They were one of the hardest fights for me in the game, even when I found the secret to break the chandelier. It cut down on 1 of them but the ones I had to fight still gave me fits. Seriously, I had less trouble with Hornet than I did those dang things lol.
Same here.
Until I found out that quick slash is the key.
Forget all that "ballet of death"-stuff, trying to avoid their attacks.
Just equip QS, approach them and kill them.
Heal in between phases.
52:50 You can actually skip beast's den, if you have the monarch wings. Theres a secret area in the ceiling of the room with the bench-trap that you can get to
Curious to know if there are any particular games you'd be looking for a critique on next. Heads up though, if they ain't on PS4 it can't happen. My laptop isn't strong enough to run anything decent and capture footage 🧐
Can you do Jedi fallen order. This video is great!
@@konjou2649 I was actually thinking about Jedi! It's on my list.
Thanks man!
Very curious to see what you think of Cyberpunk if you're planning on getting it
Could you consider Iconoclasts?
This is the first video of yours that I ever found, about ~2-3 months ago. Now, having gone on a little hyper fixation deep dive, listening to all the lore dumps and steadily working my way through your video essays, I am continually, increasingly impressed with the, honestly incredible, quality of your content. You are highly, criminally “under-watched” my dude. (I can’t figure out a better word than that at the moment, I don’t want to say “under-appreciated,” bc it seems like there are actually a fair number of lovely, supportive internet travelers in the comment sections of your videos!)
Anyhow, I hope you’re as proud of your content as I believe you should be. And, as I just saw the video titled “my fiancé plays” instead of the typical “my girlfriend plays” pop up in my recommended videos, may I be one of the hoard of well-wishers to send you many many congratulations!! Have a good one my dude, tho I doubt you’ll ever see this XD
Thanks so much for the kind words! This video’s one of the ones I wish I could “remake” and polish up tbh so I appreciate people still enjoy it!
@@MontyZander Hey, if you ever remake it, I'll watch the new version, but if this is a "bad" video, I'll have a lovely time watching your newer content
me: it's midnight, I need to go to sleep and catch some zzz's for work tomorrow--
new video: [is Hollow Knight]
me, coffee in hand: OKAY TIME FOR ANOTHER COOL TWO HOUR BINGE WATCH
(I'll do another comment tomorrow on the video itself, but I genuinely just perked up after a day that's been less than stellar and only got me through it by a podcast and now the promise of this video)
Haha if it helps I tried to slow myself right down with this one narration-wise, so might send you to sleep!
@@MontyZander yeah, well, it's something to look forward to tomorrow before/after work then! but I like what you've done in the first minutes already :D
1st version of this game I got was the Ps Plus free version. I thought this would be a mere 5 hour game judging from its style. I went in without a sense outside of knowing this was a good game featured in various youtube videos I've stumbled upon. My sheer joy when I realized 5 hours in I was still in Greenpath. At that point I knew how grand this game was truly. I never really got lost. My natural interest guided me accordingly. I felt so bad that i got to play this for free i got a switch version and got 4 official shirts lol. Team Cherry, WELL DONE.
Man I've seen A LOT of awesome critiques about this game but standing ovation here bro! Absolutely love that you saw the siblings ending the way I did. I think it's the best for the narrative(for whatever that means with this game) Hollow Knight is the only game that got me out of my 10 year hiatus from games
Thanks for the kind words! Made my weekend 🧡
@@MontyZander awesome sauce! Absolutely beautiful critique!
Just finished this game for the first time, what an incredible ride of a game. It compels you to go the extra mile and track down all the extra bosses
Great game, excellent critique. One mistake I found is that you state the dash length changes with button press duration. It actually is a fixed length tap or press. Keep up the good work 👍
Watching this video felt like playing hollow knight lol
You talking about one area, then going "oh yeah this happens in here too" and branching off on extended tangents is exactly how it feels to meander around Hallownest
Great essay, editing and structure. Really just leaving this here for the algorithm but damn I can't believe how few views this has compared to the quality. Keep it up man, subbed
Cheers my dude. Appreciate it!
okay actually on further analysis: my first comment wasn’t enough. this video is legitimately fantastic. it’s well thought out, funny, deeply analytical, and a genuinely amazing video essay on this game. your love for it is so obvious, and it’s practically a crime this doesn’t have more views. well done ❤️
Hey thanks so much!
Here are 3 TINY nitpicks:
1.The grass in the dreamnail dream makes a sound when hit with sounds off.
2.The grass in the Massive Moss Charger fight in Godhome when hit makes a sound with sounds off.
3.When entering a pantheon it makes a sound with sounds off.
EDIT:Also something else is that there are more vessels in Nosk's lair and one in greenpath.
Well shit you got me!
The secret room in the White Palace also makes sound with sounds off
I've been watching a few of your video essays over the last week and this one earned my sub. Not that I shouldn't have sooner but this is my favorite game of the 2010's and possibly all time. The analysis is comprehensive and on-point, the humor (simping for Iselda in hilarious Hbomb style callbacks) had me literally L-ing My F-ing AO, and it didn't hurt that your lamentations about bosses unbeaten boosted my almost non-existent ego. 10/10, take my thumbs up, sub, and comment for full algorithmic engagement. You earned at least that much. Cheers.
I would love to see a critique in this style on subnautica. Absolutely adore that game, and this video was entertaining, so I figure it would be a good match.
Keep making content! You’re a small channel now, but the quality of these videos means people are gonna keep coming. great work.
I keep hearing about subnautica. I'll add it to the list! It's gonna be a while before I can get a PS5 due to stock issues so happy to add it to my backlog. Thanks!
I've put almost a hundred hours into this game AND I HAD NO IDEA DASH LENGTH WAS VARIABLE
Dash length isn't variable he was talking about the normal dash vs the crystal dash i think. The only thing that changes dash length is sharp shadow (+40%)
Another cool detail I haven't seen mentioned anywhere yet. It looks like your shade no longer attacks you once you've merged with the Voidheart and embraced the dark. God I love this game.
Only a few minutes in and you've already earned another subscriber. Jos And, fantastic as he is, sometimes gets so wrapped up in his whole 'im a critic, it's my job to critique, I Must Find Something To Judge' thing that he forgets to like. Enjoy the game. I do enjoy his videos, but _damn_ is it refreshing to find a long lovely essay from someone who genuinely just Liked The Game.
Monty, you deserve a lot of praise for your longform essays. Well done
Thank you!
The funny thing about the Beast's Den is that your intuition about the bench trap actually can be rewarded. It's just incredibly hard to find. It took me about 3-4 playthroughs to find that, if you have the mantis claw, crystal heart and monarch wings, you can climb up the right wall of the bench room, crystal dash across and then, if you time it just right, you can cancel your dash in midair and use monarch wings to propel yourself up into a hidden entrance in the roof into the rest of the Beast's Den. Not only does this completely avoid the obvious bench trap, but this entrance is significantly closer to Herrah and to the one grub hidden in the den, allowing you to avoid dealing with many of the claustrophobic passages and difficult enemies in that area. Making the only reason to go deeper into the Den be if you're desperate for geo for whatever reason. It's been one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game for me. Playing the game again and not only seeing how much better you are, how well you'll have naturally learned the environments, map and enemies. But also discovering new secrets, skips, tactics and lore.
I watch critiques on whatever game I'm playing right now, you're up there with Luke Stephens, Joseph Anderson, NeverKnowsBest and all the good guys. Thanks for being my comfort 👍👍❤️
This is two years too late it seems and although i rarely comment on yt videos, your offical question about how to keep the hot buggie babe was litterally so funny. I love your deep dives and retrospectives but in a way, this small break of serious retrospection was really nice and tension breaking for me xP keep up the good work
when i as platinum player heard you say the mantis lords was one of the most difficult boss fights i audibly laughed, it gets so much worse as i think you know at this point
He obviously knows the whole game.
I 100% agree with what you said about the dash ability. I don’t know exactly how much it would have affected my play through, but it was definitely one of the first ‘A-ha’ moments for me. When i first started playing, i didn’t even realize there would be a dash later on, so when i DID get it, i was blown away, and immediately went back and played with it in the earlier area, because i wasn’t sure if there was anything i had missed. I would have 100% used the dash to just skip ahead instead of drinking in the atmosphere, and that would’ve been a sin.
I’ve been in search of a channel that does long form analysis and uploads more then once a year for a while now. You sir, have scratched that itch. Thank you! Love your shorter videos as well!
[15 minutes in, says about Iselda being best girl] aw YISSS
okay, tiny nitpicks/additions/comments on the critique:
- the Knight (ie player character) is canonically they/them, as is the Hollow Knight, as well as all the siblings (that is why they're siblings, not brothers and sisters, like with the latter we could probably call Hornet, the *gendered* child) but since a lot of language is still moving on from "masculine pronouns are neutral" it's understandable;
- I know a lot of people interpret the "grub sidequest twist" as a gruesome banquet, but considering it's *bugs*, how happy the grubs sound FROM THE INSIDE of grubfather, and what we receive as a reward (grubberfly charm), grubfather devours their young to help them pupate from the cocoon that is his own body into actual grubberflies later on, and technically, since the charm appears from "...few ways [...], but mainly it's from final wish, a dying bug's potent desire crystallised into these gorgeous, powerful trinkets" (quote from Salubra), that might mean that grubfather has accepted his future death for the lives all of the grubs to mature. but yeah, kinda wish we were more explicit on the topic, and also the "he just went and ATE THEM" is valid, it's just that this topic has many different sides to it;
- no, I genuinely enjoy Deepest, it's so dark and wonderfully set, while the worst area is Western Waterways (with exception of our dearest Ogrim) because HAVE YOU HEARD THE FLUKES?? Absolutely Disgusting, I still shudder bodily each time I hear them. Deepnest creepy sounds are very *natural*, while Flukes make me think of something being thrown away from the city above. also the lonely string instrument droning on, drowning all thoughts out and making me feel all... solemn and scared is just the worst/the best. but yeah, Deepnest is creepy, gotta give it that;
- considering the Abyss civilisation lore: there are implications that snail tribe, such as Snail Shaman and their brethren, either descended or are continuing to live in the same vein as the civilisation before them, molding the Soul and Void for their own spells, as referenced in the upgraded spells we obtain from Snail Shaman corpses, and the fact that we can upgrade Howling Wraiths only in Abyss, to get the Abyss Shriek, tying the two together. not to mention the bodies of the snails, inky and black like ours and other siblings, and who burst into void particles upon our obtaining of their spells, and which could also explain *why* Soul Master was experimenting on one of the shamans, to harness the power that they wielded, and, judging on his soul version of the dive, succeeding in that. sure, Snail Shaman in Ancestral Mound says to us that "[Abyss Shriek] is not within the skills of us snails to do such a thing", with the fact that *dead* versions of the snails form the void versions of the spells, certainly make you think about it more! but nah, ig it's a moot point (unless mossbag does a culbit and makes a new vid on THAT part of the lore);
- you thumping either your microphone or the surface your recording equipment is on when you say "it legitimately *breaks* my heart" @ 1:20:57, literally on the word "breaks" is one of the top notch accidental additions to the video;
- you explaining how we not only use Fast Travel system in Hollow Knight, but also form a bond with The Last Stag, it impacting our playthrough, is just 🤌 MWAH;
- Grimm Troupe is actually something that could be a DLC that makes you re-appreciate the game, re-traverse the old locations and open up secrets you didn't realise were there. like, I went for the Greenpath flame, realised I could visit Sheo from there quickly, and THERE I discovered where Nailsmith had gone! the flame in the Crystal Peak is almost directly over the area you could miss by not dropping down, the flame in City of Tears made me visit in again in late game, where I was avoiding it due to my own personal feelings tied to the playthrough, and instead I walked back, wiping away a tear of longing, and then the flame in Resting Grounds could lead you to Quirrel (or lack of him with only his nail), iirc flame in Kingdom's Edge can be found literally atop Tiso's fallen corpse, and Nightmare Flames meanwhile lead you to more secretive areas of the game like Hive and Fungal Core, and for some people who FOR SOME REASON never went to Ancestral Basin - here you go, a possibility. also dum dum like me only found how to get to Herrah through Brumm because I kept missing a very obvious passageway :');
- appreciation of Bretta is Good, Super Good;
- I finally made through Path of Pain without even using the Hiveblood charm and technically not getting a hit on PS4! controller is a saviour there, even to me, staunchly lover of keyboard+mouse combo! also same on Godmaster, I still need to finish it without support to get to the two additional endings;
- re: question about Godhome, the bosses in it? they're dream versions of themselves, either preserved in death, or repeated through your own perceptions of them and their boss fights, and the stark example of that are, in fact, Dream Nail lines from Hornet, and Grimm's lines as well as a bow to the Godseeker in his fight;
- [mossbag "Silksong is a prequel" theory intensifies];
- kinda sad you didn't talk at all about the dream bosses and the involvement of the people other than just developers in the game to the point they are, in fact, affecting a lore in their ways, but that's just my love for these mini-characters showing;
- you're so right about Iselda and Cornifer. girl, I could be SO MUCH BETTER (/hj). or else just TALK TO EACH OTHER, BE *BETTER*;
- and to end all of this: you can't tell me that Quirrel DIES, he just went for a swim, or maybe he left his nail because he's not a warrior anymore! can't hear you, lalala!! (/j)
thank you for the video, it was almost two hours really well spent!!
Thanks again for the comments! To be clear, I LOVE Deepnest as an area, its just really damn upsetting.
Also yeah, the little Knight being canonically they/them is something I remembered to mention (same with the Kickstarters Bosses) as the video was rendering. Kicking myself for that one. But I'd also argue that because I'm a cis guy who sees an extension of himself in the knight through how the game links out experiences, it's not the end of the world if the player adds personal pronouns to the personality-less player character - this time.
Also THANKS FOR NOTICING THE EMBARRASSING POP. I need to get a new pop filter.
Actually the vessels’ pronouns are “it”, as that’s what they’re referred to in game. That’s because they’re not really alive, they’re reanimated corpses that were already dead by the time they hatched
4:30 and you hit the nail on the head for what felt off about Metroid Dread. I didn't have multiple paths and I was artificially blocked off from old routes that I wanted to return to and explore.
The constant world state changes didn't have the believability they did in Fusion.
Hollow Knight on the other hand always feels like I have 3 somewheres I could be at any point.
this was such a well constructed example of the passion hollow knight players feel for the game - the whole thing was eloquent and flowed together well. i didn't agree on every point, but intentionally or not, i think you very well summarized a lot of what the larger community loves about this little bug game. my only nitpick would be the insistence on calling the knight, hollow knight and siblings male when it's lore relevant that they're non-gendered, but that's something a lot of people do so it's understandable. great video essay, it's getting much more recognition now but still deserves as much as it can get.
The only negatives i would have about the game are gameplay wise. Things like backtracking and some bosses sometimes had trash rng. I also wish that there was more platforming as i found path of pain fun but i want more of it. I was a lot better at the platforming than fighting lol
I swear that horrible corridor in queen’s garden leading to mantis lord was especially made for the dream nail gate.
Just to make it easier stalagmites ("mights") can stand their ground, stalactites ("tights") have to hold on tight. That's how I remember it.
I love this.
@@MontyZander You can also think of the different letters that make up the word. A capital M for stalagMite looks like spikes coming out of the gound while the capital T for stalagTite looks like a spike hanging from the ceiling.
"Tites" hang down like "Tits" often do.
That's how I remembered it.
CRIMINALLY underviewed video. You've got a really fresh take on the game; I can tell you tried to avoid repeating the same points/insights from other major Hollow Knight video essays. Your readings of some of the music tracks blew my mind. I also found your defense of the sharp-angle level design really compelling.
I can see why some people criticize the shade system. My qualms with it have more to do with platforming than combat. There were 2+ areas in the game (one in Greenpath, one in Crystal Peak, and a third I can't put my finger on) where I struggled with a platforming section and my shade appeared *on the other side of the room*. Those moments were very frustrating. If I was having trouble with the platforming challenge, the last thing I needed was extra pressure on my next attempt. It all but takes away the choice of giving up and trying the section later--you've gotta tough it out right then or make your way back to Dirtmouth and pay a rancid egg.
I don't disagree with you on much, though! Awesome critique--please excuse me while I check out the rest of your channel
Sorry my dude I just saw this! Thanks for the kind comment. That's a really good point on the Shade placement now you mention it. I've had similar problems but I think my bias made me not realise the issue until you pointed it out!
To be fair... Cornifer somehow makes it to the areas that our Knight needs ABILITIES to reach.
As for the Godhome, to enter it you need to use the Dream Nail. We are entering the Dream, and if you hit Dream Hornet with the Dream Nail, she will mention something like "What a Dream we're SHARING, little Ghost."
Someone had mentioned that since Radiance is living in the Dream (like Owlks) killing her in the Dream, kills her for good.
But with Silksong not coming soon enough, it makes me wonder which ending it would be that left her outside the Egg? Did we defeat Absolute Radiance, leaving her puzzled when confronting Hollow Knight? Or did we kill Radiance and returned to the Void?
Will little Ghost Knight come back? Or is his story over, since... his goal is reached? And what of the Pale King? Where is he?
I really want Little Ghost to come back, but no matter what ending you get, his story is pretty much over. Unless they pull some deus ex stuff where he pushed down the Void Lord form or whatever, but that would feel really fake and hurt the original games story.
Also, pretty sure PK is dead unless he's some even smaller form that came out of his corpse on his throne.
@@RaccAttack77 Hornet still needs him to pay alimonies.
I fell in love with Hollow Knight and put a lot of time and dedication into it, this was my first truly difficult game to beat and I struggled a lot. I beat base game Radiance, but final Grimm and Path of Pain made me burn out on the game, and I can`t remember it as fondly. Watching this reminded me why I loved thig game so much in the first place, so thank you for that. Perhaps I ough to replay it some years later so I can experiece the joy of it again.
Fck path of pain dude. That was a mistake when I tried it. 😂 never again. Just watched some playthrus and marveled at their skill I obvs greatly lack.
I love finding new HK critiques because it feels like everyone has a little bit of something to offer. What you said about the Dreamer areas really struck me; I'd never thought of their areas as individual tests of exploration, platforming, and combat, but as soon as you said it it made all the sense in the world. Little things like that make me value Team Cherry as developers even more. Excellent breakdown my man
(Also yeah don't feel bad about not beating Godmaster, I have almost 500 hours in the game and still can't beat the last pantheon lol, the upgraded HK and Radiance battles are rough as hell)
Thanks man! Appreciate it!
Yeah, I like having God home to jump into if I want to get my Hollow Knight fix every now and then. But I'm not skilled enough to finish it!
I really enjoyed this. I watch a lot of long form critiques and was pleasantly surprised at both the analysis you gave as well as the editing. You have a real knack for this. Thanks for the great video (counting days until silksong).
Hey thanks man! The editing specifically is still something I'm looking to work on. Appreciate it!
If only we even knew how long we had to count.
T O O L O N G
Hey Monty. I know this is an old video but I wanted to say that im really glad you do what you do. I have been playing games all my life, but due to circumstances from the past few years, ive had to put it on the back burner. Recently I found your videos, and your passion for games inspired me to pick up the controller again and its been a real treat to hear someone so well articulated describe why gaming can be so impactful. Cheers from Texas!
Very enjoyable - surprised you didn't comment on how fucking truly creepy the demonic looking beetle idol (whom I call Beelzebug) whose black, ichorous offering of ooze bestows upon you the Shadow Cloak in the depths of the Abyss looks. That lighthouse, the dream nail of the lighthouse keeper and WHATEVER is alive beneath the depths of the Black Ichor that thrashes ravenously is also horrific.
Only time will tell, but this might just be my favorite game of all-time. Definitely of the last ten years. I get bored so easily with metroidvanias and I find them much better as a concept than they are to actually play. This game fixed every single issue I’ve ever had with them. It’s probably not perfect, but i can’t think of any major flaws off the top of my head so i’d say it’s pretty damn close.
Also the Sisters of Battle/Mantis Lords are the most well-designed boss fight in video game history and no one will ever change my mind about that.
Do you still feel this way or have you found another game that’s taken the title as your favorite?
My favorite game is bloodborne so this little weird game tickled the right spots for me.
What a fantastic game! I played through it pretty blind, so seeing some of the aspects of the story and characters I hadn’t originally noticed is super cool!
So... I was in a mood to listen to someone go on about my favorite game and decided to watch this video. Great job Monty Zander! You are so underrated i wish I could give you more than one like ^-^
Thanks so much!
same here. Awesome essay, man
Awesome video! One thing to note re. the end of the grub sidequest... if you dreamnail the brubfather the baby grubs can be heard inside being happy and completeing it earns the achievement "metamorphosis", implying that the grubs are cucooning within grubfather to become moths/butterflys. So while orignally horrifying, if you explore a bit more it provides a sense of hope and new growth. Which is just further amazing worldbuilding by Team Cherry (much like the insane Mr. Mushroom quest).
Damn I guess I didn't think hard enough about that one haha. Also yes Mr Mushroom is... Intriguing 🤔
@@MontyZander yeah intriguing is a good word for it. I've half thought they had a few mushrooms when comming up with that one...
"I still can't beat him after 40-50 attempts".
Me: laughs in 50 hours of absrad practice.
1:19:13 what about the vessel you get dash from in the hornet fight? These are just the ones that we know of, but there could've been hundreds of vessels that escaped and left hallownest, like the player knight.
Nosk also killed a few
A note about the ending where you embrace the radiance
Since the radiance seeps out through the seal in the game, us becoming a vessel to contain the radiance only pushes off the issues until the next time it seeps out. However since the key to the seal is locked in with us, there won't be any way for someone to open the seal and attack the radiance at its source the next time
I don't know if you're going to see this, a year after, but there are a few hints that, if the Knight becomes the new Vessel, the Radiance will never escape again.
Both the Pale Lady and the Radiance herself hint that our Knight is the Vessel the King was searching for.
The White Lady says the next things : " True one like you was awaited. " and " I implore you, usurp the Vessel. Its supposed strength was ill-judged. It was tarnished by an idea instilled. But you. You are free of such blemishes. You could contain that thing inside. "
And the Radiance had a line that didn't make it to the final game that says : " He can contain me. "
The only reason she escaped was because the Hollow Knight was 'flawed', he wasn't devoid of thought and emotion, like the Pale King wanted him to be. He both wanted to fulfill his role as the Vessel ( he has a removed line that says " ..No mind, the usurper...Only strength... " ) , which means that he was actively trying to not think and he thought dearly of his father, which is implied both by the removed line " ...Father?... " (when he encounters you with the King's Brand) and by the Father-Son moment locked behind the Path of Pain.
I love how passionate you are about this game. I didn't feel that way about Hollow Knight, but felt incredibly similarly about Undertale as you did this game. Great to see your opinions and dedication to the game.
The way you casually mention Cloth helping us with the traitor lord and then move on without missing a beat is both BRUTAL and hilarious.
I did not see this mentioned in the comments but knight and hornet locked inside the temple is very worrying ending. As hollow knight could not contain the radiance and infection before, it is not guaranteed that the knight will be able to. In the case that radiance inside the knight gains power back, and like hollow knight it losses himself into the infection there won’t be any chance for any other knight to kill him. Hornet and therefore the seal of the door is unreachable and the infection will devour the world...
A ruler with a giant ego starts a giant under surface city and messes with powers beyond their controll, plus there is a lighthouse.
Commenting to help the algorithm. You put a lot of work into this. Great job. Iselda loves that dad bod.
I hope you've heard the other side of the grubfather, that he is helping the grubs to the next stage of their metamorphosis
My Dude this was such a fantastic watch! Hollow Knight was the 1st game I did a Let's Play on & it was such a frustrating, infuriating, beautiful, fulfilling & emotional journey. The world is so well crafted & the way it opens up is amazing. The sense of achievement you get from conquering tricky areas or tough bosses is up there with all the Souls games for me. And the relationships you forge with all the characters is something I loved so much. I actually put voices to all of mine when I played 😂
I'm with you on the DLC. Never quite beat Grimm or The Pantheon of the Knight (yet) but I was glad to do what I did of them.
I too got the ending where we replace the Hollow Knight first then the epic & rage inducing battle with the Radiance. No lie I'm sure it took pretty much 100 attempts! 😱
Would love to see a follow up where you deep dive into the Moth civilisation & there connection to the overall story. The Seer is an interesting character & I feel perhaps the info we get from her leads to many more discussions about the past of this world.
Oh & no mention of Mr Mushroom!! Lol! I understand we'll see him again in Silk Song 😁
I'm so glad I was recommended this video after watching your Bloodborne one & hope it continues to perform well for you.
Thanks for a truly engrossing & enjoyable hour & 47 mins mate 🤘
Amazing critique! I also agree with your stance on Joseph Anderson's video. Joseph is actually extremely good at games, and I don't think he realizes the skill level of the average player hence why he thinks the way he does on some things.
I believe the Matisse intentionally make the trek between the bench and the mantis lords because there’s the one who just closes a door to the bench 10 seconds away from the mantis lords
Dude your order here is all over the place. You follow one thing and then skip the ending for later and then go to hornet at the beginning of city tears before you finish building up to the watcher nights?
Turns out there's caterpillars that go through metamorphosis like this (it's not well known though but since it's such an obscure reference it makes for quite the shock)
I must have watched this video a dozen times before realizing I haven't commented yet, probably because I simply agree with almost everything said.
As a newcomer to the game myself, I'm so happy to see that this amazing game is still able to mesmerize almost everyone who picked it up four years of its release. Good games always stand through the test of time, so if you are intrigued by this video, go get your copy! You won't be disappointed. (Also I hope you avoid spoilers of any kind, simply because going into the game with pre-conceptions will ruin your experience.)
As for me, the mantis lords is probably my favorite boss, the first one I finished on radiant level. However, when I first arrived at mantis village, I never even came across them. I can see the uncharted area on the map, tried to break the floor again and again with d-dive or d-dark but nothing happened. Simply because I thought the lever above was just meant for reaching the geo stack next to it.
This detour may seem trivial or even meaningless itself, but it's the compilation of all these little differences that grant you a different experience every playthrough. This is the first game I never feel the need to look up guides, because I just KNOW if I end up somewhere of a dead end, I have whatever ability/platforming skills/tricks needed to get out. The game won't hard-lock you in any way to punish you for not following their designed route, where you go completely depends on how well you observed the environment, what's your take on the current background story, and the platforming and battle skills you learned up till that point. And that makes the playthrough personal, memorable and special.
There's no doubt that hollow knight will be my game of the generation, and I firmly believe everyone who hasn't played it to give it a try. IT"S JUST THAT DAMN GOOD!
1:25:45 wtf you can teleport in this game? I finished the game without it
You missed a ton of great stuff.
Rewatching this one, one thing I wish was still updated, as the only copy I found doesn't work with current versions, was a mod called 'The Geo-Nail' it was designed to allow players to grind past the more difficult parts of combat. The idea was simple, every 1000/100/10/1 Geo you had in your wallet, depending on a setting in your settings menu. added a point to your damage, above and beyond all other nail upgrades.
This, of course, meant that, if you had the patience, you could simply overpower opponents, and could do kick ass things like turn the Little Knight into a god of death for all of Hallow Nest, the Reaper who waltz' in, and just DESTROYS everything in a single swing of his simple nail.
It was a fun mod, and while Hollow Knight(w/Gun), and the Light Nail mods are cool, that one felt like you were earning the power, since you did have to get the geo to make it work, and could still die if you weren't careful at all, especially since you got little Soul thanks to everything dying so quickly, meaning even scratch damage could add up.
The-- the Path of Pain... is OPTIONAL?????
Hollow Knight is one of my favorite games and I have over 100 hours in it, but have never completed it (I beat the Knight, but never got to The Radiance) because I couldn't complete the Path of Pain!! I thought you had to complete the Path of Pain to get the other half of the Kingsoul charm and now I realize my entire life has been a lie 😭😭😭
Life altering revelations aside, this video is amazing! I knew that I loved this game but could never quite point out what it was that made it stand out from other Metrovanias I've played. But seeing all the things I loved (music, atmosphere, exploration) from a game design perspective has made me appreciate the masterpiece that this game is even more!! Thank you!!!
Aaand ive learned TODAY that the dash responds the same way as the jump does for button presses. Maybe i knew that on a subconscious level
One of my favorite parts of this game is how so many npcs disregard the knight before he becomes the most important character in the game
Good home is dreams, meaning bosses can be brought there and attuned to the godseekers who want to find gods after their gods forsaken them, they came to hallownest with several gods like the pale king, white lady, unn, and the radiance but these gods either don’t want to interact, can’t, are dead, or are too high to reach. They attune themselves with various godly/godlike creatures which are the bosses
To be fair to the Grimm Troupe I always found the seeking of the flames as a chance to bond with Jr.
On the topic of Hollow Knights music, the Sealed Vessel theme (the one which plays during the fight with The Hollow Knight) changes throughout the fight, in the beginning it is bombastic, loud, and grand, a truly fitting theme for a final boss fight.
But then, in Phase 3, the Hollow Knight stabs itself with its nail, showing how it still has some self control despite its infection. And the music changes too, from its grand bombast to a slow, swinging and soft melody, really conveying the tradgedy of the Sealed Vessel that is the Hollow Knight, it wants to help you. And it tries, throughout Phases 3 and 4 it continuously stabs itself in an effort to end its pain.
One of my favorite games of all time. Great video essay!! 👍🏻
there’s actually a secret access tunnel in the roof of the distant village creepy room that you can go through to get to bench then hera
39:28 the grub father is actually using his body as a chrysalis for the children to metamorphose
I don't understand how you can think Hornet getting trapped in the egg is "saving the day" when it guarantees that if the infection starts seeping out of the knight, nobody can get in to kill him.
The amazing thing about hollow knight is that, I’m at the very end, and I don’t want to finish the game and not see all of the characters anymore. I’ve become so absorbed in their world, and their lives, that finishing the game feels like saying goodbye forever.
40:40 He also mumbles Isma's name in his sleep. The first time I heard it (after already knowing what happened to Isma), my heart fucking cracked.
I finally purchased this game when the 2020 disaster hit us full force, and I cannot thank it enough for keeping a significant part of my sanity intact. I fell in love with the game the moment I arrived in Dirthmouth and heard the music, and my love only grew deeper as I descended further into the sad, beautiful world of Hallownest. The story is so gripping, even though it's hiding behind layers and layers of intentionally vague dialogue - it's kind of like one of those Arcane Eggs that Lemm likes to study, except we actually can peel the layers off and read what is contained within (or some of us can). The music is out of this world and I can't believe it didn't win an award. This game is objectively difficult, and yet the difficulty spikes were gentle enough to allow even myself, a mediocre player at best, to prevail, likely because when I stumbled upon something I couldn't handle yet (coughcoughWatcherscough), I could just go do something else. The mechanics are wonderfully explained via environmental storytelling - the only one I had to look up was pogoing when I became stuck in Fungal Wastes, and that one is kind of on me, too - and not hard to learn either; hard to master, certainly, but not hard to learn, and that's something I really appreciated. I also appreciated that they didn't just chuck everything at me immediately because I learn things slowly and too many things to handle from the start makes me anxious - I cannot agree more with your point about dashing being unlocked later on (and as a reward, at that), not just because of the pace it sets, but also because you could just go to Fungal Wastes and skip a significant portion of Forgotten Crossroads, which would make no sense because that is very much a soft tutorial area.
The combat in this game is exquisite. It's hard, but it's fair, and it forces you to utilise different builds for different bosses, develop your own style of handling some of the more notorious bosses (looking at you, Gatekeeper Sly). Tanking and high DPS is not always the answer. Aside from couple fights, I love all of them in one way or another. The Mantis Lords are a good example; the sense of accomplishment I felt when I finally beat them and they bowed to me was immense. I treated it as a genuine achievement. The funny thing is, I remember that the first time I played the game, I had no clue the mantises have a secret stash that only unlocks after defeating the bosses, so I literally defeated them for the bow (and access to Deepnest, but I just peeked in and noped out), and it was _enough._ More than enough, even. Grimm is a similar story. NKG left me drenched in sweat after I beat him for the first time. Watcher Knights were frustrating, and now it's one of my favourite fights. Broken Vessel remains my favourite fight for so many reasons. Not a single being in the entire game - not even Pale King or the Radiance, or even the Seer, who could have theoretically prevent all of the game from happening - feels just _bad;_ their actions are understandable, which perhaps makes them even more tragic. I have never grown so attached to a character with so little personality.
This game legitimately changed me, and hard carried me through some of the most uncertain times of my life. If I were forced to keep only one game, I too would pick it.
I know I am late, but I love how he starts the video by saying “the community is so welcoming to new players. I haven’t heard a single git good” when “get good” is one of the biggest memes in the community
Btw, the grub father didn’t eat his childrens. They will evolve to gruberflys
I know this video is a few years old at this point but! I wanted to point this out
If you have the Monarch Wings before going into the den in the Hidden Village, there’s a secret passage in the ceiling you can use to avoid the bench trap and skip 90% of the following section! Just climb up the wall on the right, Crystal dash (or jump and dash left) for a short distance, and use the Wings to jump up into the ceiling. It might take a few tries, but once you hear the low bell sound you’ll know you’ve got the right spot. Usually when I’m trying to do a 100% speedrun I get to the village just to unlock the Stag, and then return after getting the Monarch Wings. It saves a lot of frustration!
TLDR you can get rewarded for using your head, but it’s MUCH harder than just recognizing the threat. You have to think like a spider and find an entrance only they would be able to get to!
I enjoyed this video a lot, especially the way you talk about the psychology of the game design and the music!
Idc that this is atleast 3 years old, but its pretty funny that this game's insignificant characters are easily remembered, while some shows and whatnot I find it so hard to remember even the protagonist's name.
Like how the f do I remember Willoh and almost forgot the name of the second JoJo when I have a stand as my pfp?
I would encourage you to complete PoP and the Pantheons if you get time. PoP in particular gets significantly easier with practice. The first time it took me 2 weeks and then I died near the end and had to start over. Then it took me 45mins to get back to the same spot.
24:51 Yes I want to “be Hornet” too… Soon… soon… I BELIEVE.
And thanks for this video. A really good comprehensive analysis of a game that’s a true masterpiece.
Great video!
For me the only gripe with the game is that I had to beat the hollow knight before facing the radiance
I just couldn't do it (partly because I died to the Radiance every 10 secs)
I'll be honest, Hollow Knight is the most incredible game I've ever played that I simultaneously HATED playing. When I got past the Mantis Lords, I was so happy that the toughness that I'd felt so far with Hornet etc. was paying off into skill. Mantis Lords, to me, are one of the most perfect bosses ever made. Insurmountable at first but you can tell it isn't unfair and you just need to practise. In fact, it's the ONLY boss in the game like that other than Hornet. Every other boss from then on felt like banging my head against a wall until I got lucky. NKG and Radiance genuinely felt like I just didn't have the reaction time to do it. I have beaten every Soulsbornekiro, struggled a lot on some bosses but only took a few goes by the last game I played (DS3) to beat the endgame bosses. Hollow Knight destroyed me with almost every boss. And the White Palace and shit like that. Fucking hell. I LOVE this game. I'm just not good enough at 2D platformers for it. Didn't touch Godmaster.
Is it confirmed we’re visiting godhome when we enter the dreamer’s dreams? I assumed it was just one layer of the dreamscape, like the white palace and godhome.