Hollow Knight |OT| Cute Insects That Just Want to Burrow Into Your Heart | Now on Switch

Mistouze said:

Ugh, Lost Kin is kinda putting a damper on my will to go for the good endings. That pest is just too much for me.

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That fight went from annoying to being one of my favorites once I started seeing those orange ghosts as a Soul source instead of something that's there to make things more difficult. I was basically only killing ghosts as they appeared and firing spells at the boss landing a nail hit on him every now and then when he went for me me with his charges. Avoiding his attacks isn't hard and this way you don't need to chase him to do damage while also making enough space to dodge safely by killing the ghosts.

Septimus Prime said:

Again, hyper aggression is the key. Don't try to split damage; follow one around and kill it, then get its buddy. Once you're down to one, it's easy.

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Thanks - I finally was able to beat it! After like an hour of trying haha.

I know it is the whole point of Metroidvanias but acquiring a new ability and immediately recalling somewhere to use it is SO satisfying.

I got the mantis wall jump last night and immediately remembered half a dozen areas I could use it. Suddenly the map opened up even more and I was discovering new enemies, items, NPCs and locations.

This game, it's so good!

Finished it in 25h at 66%. Glad it's over. Disappointing end stretch, final boss and ending. My opinion on the game went down as I "progressed" (Progression is kind of a generous term in this game).
If I removed the time wasted on difficult bosses, aimless wandering, useless bracktracking and optional content, I would have finished it in about 15h.
When your optional bosses are more difficult than your final boss, you've got a problem.
The main drawbacks where a lack of goal and purpose (What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Who am I?), lack of QoL (Extremely poorly placed benches and tram stations, useless soul retrieving mechanic, boss health bars, etc...), unfair difficulty spikes (Difficult optional bosses you can't tell they're optional), very lame power-ups (The power-ups are just standard moves in other platformers, they're a joke really and never exciting to try), slow character progression and lack of rewards at key moments. The map design isn't exceptional either (Lots of dead-ends and one-way corridors) and the platforming and obstacle design was average.
Its strongest points are the atmosphere and setting. The subterranean insect world was quite cool to discover and having the map unveiled progressively was a clever idea.
I both loved it and hated it. It's been a while a game did that to me. Another victim of the Souls school of game design.
Still a 7/10 for me but not the instant classic I was expecting. I have no will to ever touch it again and that's disappointing.

TJ_Electronica said:

Just bought this game on Saturday and started playing last night. Any tips for beginners? I haven't made it past the intro dungeon yet. I keep running to this giant enemy who kills me in like two hits. I think he might be optional though.

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Got to the actual first boss and he wrecking me. Any tips? The only things I've bought so far are the map and the quill.

30 hours in. The game was a blast until now but I'm feeling that I don't want to spend any more time in this. I'm in the Colosseum now and I'm about to visit the second of those Important sleeping Knight guys. Watcher Knight was a pain. How far am I?

Just lost 1000 Geo. Died, went back to defeat my fallen spirit and died before I got there. Absolutely devastated. :(

IronicSonic said:

30 hours in. The game was a blast until now but I'm feeling that I don't want to spend any more time in this. I'm in the Colosseum now and I'm about to visit the second of those Important sleeping Knight guys. Watcher Knight was a pain. How far am I?

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If you have Isma's Tear, you're just about done. All you need to do is visit all three Dreamers and then the Black Egg Temple.

TJ_Electronica said:

Got to the actual first boss and he wrecking me. Any tips? The only things I've bought so far are the map and the quill.

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I know it's bad advice but git gud :b The first boss is super easy. Just try again and again and again. If you're having trouble, always try to learn their patterns first. Focus less on attacking and more on evading. You'll learn the game's mechanics before too long!

GRW810 said:

Just lost 1000 Geo. Died, went back to defeat my fallen spirit and died before I got there. Absolutely devastated. :(

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1000 is nothing, don't worry about it. You'll be swimming in money in a little while.

Tunahead said:

If you have Isma's Tear, you're just about done. All you need to do is visit all three Dreamers and then the Black Egg Temple.

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I don't have Isma's tear and I didn't knew I need it for complete the game. Does it allow you to walk in the acid?

Maybe I will stop to get frustated by the Colosseum and go straight to finish the game.

Thanks!!

Is anyone else having this problem of the Nail Artes suddenly not hitting ta all? It tends to happen pretty randomly and turning the game on and off fixes it, but it's pretty annoying when it happens, especially if I'm in the middle of Pantheon of the Knight since I still can't beat the final boss of that one!

Playing the Switch version.

Can't believe I'm still finding new stuff in this game ~50 hours in. Just recently fought So happy to have that now. Lordy am I in love with this game <3

Do some of you all really not use Sharp Shadow? I get so much mileage out of it and if I turned it off it'd really throw me off. It really helps keep your momentum up too.

Sharp Shadow is among my least used charms.

Got it fairly late in my first run, as it requires shade dash after all, and then 1x Nail dmg every 3s or how many it takes for shade-dash to recharge doesn't seem like much. Though it's probably rather good if you play carefully, especially against enemies you don't know too well yet.

Late game, it's all about Unbreakable Strength, Quickslash and then whatever. I like to add Mark of the Mantis and Long Nail to max out the Nail.

NaDannMaGoGo said:

Sharp Shadow is among my least used charms.

Got it fairly late in my first run, as it requires shade dash after all, and then 1x Nail dmg every 3s or how many it takes for shade-dash to recharge doesn't seem like much. Though it's probably rather good if you play carefully, especially against enemies you don't know too well yet.

Late game, it's all about Unbreakable Strength, Quickslash and then whatever. I like to add Mark of the Mantis and Long Nail to max out the Nail.

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Interesting. I play very fast and try to maximize damage so dashing through enemies often begets new opportunities to hurt them, plus the little bit of damage the dash itself does it nice. The recharge time is a tad slow but once you're used to it, it becomes second nature.

Also, the fourth pantheon is way less stressful than the third, IMO. Sharp Shadow is so good against the first boss in particular.

I like it, but I won't give up Sprintmaster, and I'd rather not downgrade Mark of Pride to Longnail.

Septimus Prime said:

I like it, but I won't give up Sprintmaster, and I'd rather not downgrade Mark of Pride to Longnail.

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My tried and true loadout for the pantheons is

Sharp Shadow
Mark of Pride
Unbreakable Strength
Thorns of Agony
Unbreakable Heart/Grimmchild

1upsuper said:

My tried and true loadout for the pantheons is

Sharp Shadow
Mark of Pride
Unbreakable Strength
Thorns of Agony
Unbreakable Heart/Grimmchild

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No Quickslash?

Septimus Prime said:

No Quickslash?

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I've never tried it. Maybe I should try swapping Thorns and UH or SS for it just to see.

Edit: Holy shit, I just swapped Thorns and SS for Quickslash and completely melted the
Now I'm thinking I want something like this:

Sharp Shadow
Quickslash
Unbreakable Strength
Mark of Pride

Edit 2: I still get a lot of damage out of Sharp Shadow so while the extra slashes with Quickslash do seem to usually overcompensate for its absence, they're really great together. The extra two HP just aren't worth 2 badge points IMO, especially when you're facing the enemies that do double/quadruple damage anyway, so long as you aren't sacrificing more than 1 hit by removing UH against them.

For reference, on a typical win against PV, I dash through him about 16 times, which is a respectable amount of damage with SS. And I jump 0 times. :P

So that speedrunner I linked a while back put up a run of him beating the pantheon in 27:17.

Holy fucking shit.

Full boss spoilers of course.

After watching some videos of fights against PV, my strategy is way different than most. I should try to film it somehow.

what the fuck do I do in the greenpath long room under the lake

on Switch, the framerate goes in half, which ain't bad, but the input lag is what...half a second?

makes that section impossible

I killed the first insect to see if that helps. nope

do I later gain the ability to move like a fucking helicopter? cause I cannot imagine going through this section

ElFly said:

what the fuck do I do in the greenpath long room under the lake

on Switch, the framerate goes in half, which ain't bad, but the input lag is what...half a second?

makes that section impossible

I killed the first insect to see if that helps. nope

do I later gain the ability to move like a fucking helicopter? cause I cannot imagine going through this section

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There's barely any input lag on switch.

And well yeah just like most Metroidvanias you will get new abilities the more you play and you will go back to areas that were previously inaccessible to you. But no, there's no helicopter skill.

I beat the first boss finally. It wasn't hard once I started focusing on dodging instead of being aggressive and dealing damage.

Working my way through Greenpath now. I found the map already and am wrapping my way around the level now. I also went ahead and bought Stalwart Shell which has been super helpful.

I think I'm about to drop this game and I really don't want to.
I'm at the soul sanctuary and this area feels like five times worse than anything before. I even killed the boss after numerous attempts... and then died to his second phase.
The worst part is the long walk up to the boss and these ridiculous teleporting mages. What's with the room that had three of them in it?

I don't understand why Metroidvanias don't just put saving points right in front of boss fights.
Anyway, If the boss has a third phase I`ll take a break for a few days.

Chopchop said:

So that speedrunner I linked a while back put up a run of him beating the pantheon in 27:17.

Holy fucking shit.

Full boss spoilers of course.

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Damn, totally forgot about dreamnailing stunned bosses for soul :s

And lmao at immediately diving into the Dung Defender before he even introduces himself.

NaDannMaGoGo said:

Damn, totally forgot about dreamnailing stunned bosses for soul :s

And lmao at immediately diving into the Dung Defender before he even introduces himself.

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Speedrunners ain't got no time for pleasantries!

Wohoo, did that Pantheon 5 successfully first try today (on the beta patch, though, where the last boss has less health).

Neat cutscene! They really shouldn't hide that behind beating that entire Pantheon without checkpoints, though.

edit:

I just found out about the secret Zote challenge. Lmao, Team Cherry has done some of the best comedic relief with that guy and this mode is just the cherry (heh) on top!

Just got to the City of Tears - really having fun so far, but I get stressed out playing it, though most Metroidvanias do that to me.

My main issue so far is I find some of the level design a little too punishing. For example, if I jump down from a platform, I'm not sure if I'll land safely or if there's a lake of poisonous liquid waiting at the bottom. I've also lost a lot of health to some really awkward jumps.

Regardless, I love getting wrapped up in this world. It's a real treat.

You can look down by holding down.

Septimus Prime said:

You can look down by holding down.

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I know, but even then it's not 100% reliable - can't look down while wall-jumping, or I'm taken by surprise by enemy knockback and get bumped off a ledge. And you can only look down so far.

It's a small nitpick in the grand scheme of things, but it's just one of those frustrations that takes me out of the game.

Can someone please explain what I'm doing wrong in trying to access the last pantheon? Edit: Nevermind, I guess. Quitting and reloading seems to have fixed it. Phew.
Edit 2: Holy shit, that

Kaban said:

I know, but even then it's not 100% reliable - can't look down while wall-jumping, or I'm taken by surprise by enemy knockback and get bumped off a ledge. And you can only look down so far.


It's a small nitpick in the grand scheme of things, but it's just one of those frustrations that takes me out of the game.

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What does that mean, "takes you out of the game?"

1upsuper said:

What does that mean, "takes you out of the game?"

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When I make a mistake in a game, it's normally because I struggle with an enemy or have trouble timing a tricky platforming section. That's OK, because I have no problem losing to a fair (or even an unfair) challenge.

If I get knocked off a ledge and fall into a section of the map that may or may not kill me, it just feels like I'm fighting the game itself and that can make me lose a sense of immersion. Some people don't feel that way and that's fine, I'm just saying stuff like that takes me out of the game.

Kaban said:

When I make a mistake in a game, it's normally because I struggle with an enemy or have trouble timing a tricky platforming section. That's OK, because I have no problem losing to a fair (or even an unfair) challenge.

If I get knocked off a ledge and fall into a section of the map that may or may not kill me, it just feels like I'm fighting the game itself and that can make me lose a sense of immersion. Some people don't feel that way and that's fine, I'm just saying stuff like that takes me out of the game.

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Gotcha. I wasn't trying to be inflammatory or anything. I don't think I experience immersion in games.

1upsuper said:

Gotcha. I wasn't trying to be inflammatory or anything. I don't think I experience immersion in games.

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no harm done :)

Got two more questions for ya'll. They're endgame endgame spoilers:

Got this on sale on Monday. The last Metroidvania I played to completion was the original Shadow Complex, so it's been a while.

Right out of the gate, the presentation is very impressive. As silly as it might sound, the thing I found most impressive was being able to change the menu color scheme according to each DLC. It's one of those things that most people won't care about, but they did it anyway because it was cool. I just love seeing stuff like that.

In terms of gameplay, it was immediately apparent that this is a smartly designed game. You have "infinite" healing, but it requires that you play above a certain standard of skill to achieve it. Love that. You have to get pretty deep into uncharted territory before you're given a map. And even then, the map does not update in realtime, so you're never fully grasping where you are. Fantastic. Juuuust when I've seen enough enemies to wish I had a bestiary, they give me one. That kind of impeccable timing is by design.

I've gotten up to the Soul Master in roughly 4-5hrs of play. Nothing has seemed insurmountable thus far, and I hope it stays that way for the most part. I was lured here by an NPC to upgrade my weapon to fight the 3 Mantis dudes, but I totally could've done it without the upgrade (probably). And now that I've unlocked various ways to leave, I gotta see this boss to its end first. I'm liking how many different unlockables there are. Charms are well designed in that you have to lock in a loadout at a bench. I've got a spell, two extra movement options, and a piece of soul. It's varied enough that I have no idea how far they'll go with how many abilities I can tack onto myself, and that's a great feeling.

If I had to nitpick, I'm still not convinced that knocking myself back on hit is good or not for the game. I get that it makes some platforming sections more precarious, but it's at the cost of me always micro-calculating my knockback in every encounter. Not sure if worth. I know there's a charm that reduces it, but that doesn't seem worth it atm.

I don't know that I even want to bother with the 5th Pantheon. I think I could do it, but it seems like such a huge time sink if you fail late in the gauntlet.

Finally turned it off in anger. Fuck this broken vessel and fuck this dog shit performance on the switch. Shit runs like a god damn slide show the second he starts pumping out blobs of orange stuff. Unplayable bullshit.

As someone who 100%ed Hollow Knight and loved every minute

Fuck this DLC content it is bullshit and not fun

Got the true ending tonight with my kids. My 5-year old was pretty sad it was over.

A couple of weeks ago he wanted a Knight toy, so we made him one. I shared that pic in another thread. Tonight we made him the Knight's shade. He's been carrying that Knight everywhere since we made it. We'll see if he can juggle both along with him.



I rarely say this about a game, but Hollow Knight is a masterpiece. I loved everything about it, and I'm deep in lore theory now. Haha.

Got this game last night using my Nintendo Gold Coins and i'm very impressed!

20 hours in and I'm kind of hoping the game ends soon, but it's just so long. I don't think it's my cup of tea but I want to complete it.

Ugh I got so close to beating the Hornet last night and then I died because of dumb mistake.

Kaban said:

I know, but even then it's not 100% reliable - can't look down while wall-jumping, or I'm taken by surprise by enemy knockback and get bumped off a ledge. And you can only look down so far.

It's a small nitpick in the grand scheme of things, but it's just one of those frustrations that takes me out of the game.

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If there's a wall nearby, hug the wall and slide down. That way, you have some time to wall jump back up if you see yourself sliding into a pit or something.

Develop a habit of being ready to downslash if you're falling. Hitting an enemy doesn't just pogo you back up, but it resets your airdashes too. You can pogo off spiked pits as well.

Having said that, sometimes there really isn't much you can do, depending on where you're falling and what you're falling around.

Okay, I'm not so mad today but I just spent almost an hour and I cannot beat the Broken Vessel on the Switch. I'm not amazing at the game but it runs so unbelievably poorly that I can't do it. When he spawns the orange dudes and shoots all the orange blobs out it is dropping to single digit fps for at least 15 seconds or so, meanwhile I'm getting hit over and over and over. I've tried docked mode, hoping maybe the power bump will help. I'm at a total loss here. Until now the most I've had to redo a boss is twice. This dude is going on three hours and frankly I'm about to delete the damn game.

evrythngwastakn said:

Okay, I'm not so mad today but I just spent almost an hour and I cannot beat the Broken Vessel on the Switch. I'm not amazing at the game but it runs so unbelievably poorly that I can't do it. When he spawns the orange dudes and shoots all the orange blobs out it is dropping to single digit fps for at least 15 seconds or so, meanwhile I'm getting hit over and over and over. I've tried docked mode, hoping maybe the power bump will help. I'm at a total loss here. Until now the most I've had to redo a boss is twice. This dude is going on three hours and frankly I'm about to delete the damn game.

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I never got that performance issue against any boss on Switch. Maybe reboot the console?

evrythngwastakn said:

Okay, I'm not so mad today but I just spent almost an hour and I cannot beat the Broken Vessel on the Switch. I'm not amazing at the game but it runs so unbelievably poorly that I can't do it. When he spawns the orange dudes and shoots all the orange blobs out it is dropping to single digit fps for at least 15 seconds or so, meanwhile I'm getting hit over and over and over. I've tried docked mode, hoping maybe the power bump will help. I'm at a total loss here. Until now the most I've had to redo a boss is twice. This dude is going on three hours and frankly I'm about to delete the damn game.

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Saw a post (with video) about your issue on Reddit.

The OP redownloaded the game and says it runs smoothly now. Another person says he just restarted his switch to get it running right.

Nabs said:

Saw a post (with video) about your issue on Reddit.

The OP redownloaded the game and says it runs smoothly now. Another person says he just restarted his switch to get it running right.

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Septimus Prime said:

I never got that performance issue against any boss on Switch. Maybe reboot the console?

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After I posted I started looking up YouTube videos and found a comment saying his ran like shit. Dude who made the video said "just restart the game"

Sure enough, it worked. Beat the fucking boss on my first try.

I feel both stupid, annoyed and relieved. It should have been the first thing I tried. Hopefully it resolves the other numerous bouts of slow down I've had with the game too!

Sitting at 96% completion now and I'm ready to say this is probably my favorite game ever. I rarely even complete games anymore, so to go for full completion in Hollow Knight is really something for me.

I just completed , so I'm going to grab the last of the collectables that I missed before going for the true final boss. My goal is to get to 107% since the boss gauntlets of Godhome sound more like a chore to me.