Quirrel will actually tell you about the nailsmith in mantis village after you get the claw. In particular he tells you to go there before fighting the mantis lords.
I would also add, the nail smith sign should stick out to you for more reasons. 1. Basic metroidvania /exploration convention, explore left and right sides. 2. In your city of tears map, if you didn't go left from the elevator, that would be a huge hole 3. The nailsmith sign should stick out as extremely important because by now you should have seen bench, new location and stag signs.
I feel like this vid will BLOW UP because you do not know how loyal the HK community is to new creators discovering the game. Great vid! Def earned a sub
Here's hoping haha, but I've seen the silksong sunbreddits so I have an idea how the community is. Seems like a good group of gamers to be a part of so I'm glad to be here
Hearing a fresh perspective on a game I've played so many times made this video a really engaging watch (even caused me to reevaluate my thoughts on certain aspects of the game). Great work!
@@NibbleByteGames_Official To be fair, it's a pretty missable dialog since it only shows up for like one bench instance and you're not even guaranteed to notice them
The point I was mainly trying to make is that it's a steep ramp in skill required after 40ish hours of not requiring that much skill haha. I get that it's supposed to convey how futile the kings efforts were but still
Funnily, I completed Path of Pain but not White Palace. My first play through coming to White Palace, it was just way too hard (I was a noob at that point). A few years later, I wanted to do Path of Pain after watching YT videos on it. I lost my save file so I downloaded a save file with White Palace already unlocked lol. I found the platforming to be amazing. Path of Pain got me into trying Celeste since I never played platformers before. But HK definitely doesn't train you before White Palace. Nail Arts I think are fire. Optional to use, really good in certain scenarios. If you get serious with combat, has awesome use cases.
honestly ive always thought that hollow knight had some of the best platforming and movement out of any game ive played, but i guess it really just comes down to personal taste? either way it was a really good video and its always interesting to hear other people opinions on the game!
Your voice is pleasant to listen to! I do wish your audio was a little higher cause it was hard to hear you initially you def earned my sub tho, rlly interested to see what you do next
Thanks so much! Big confidence boost there haha. I actually had to re-record the audio the day before posting this because I had the mic backwards 😭. Next time I will have more experience, so each video should be progressively better! I look forward to seeing you around!
I agree that prior to the white palace there’s no requirement to improve on platforming skills or utilize the movement abilities in specific conjunction to navigate difficult pathways. I’ve seen a few comments that mention it already, but the real platforming challenge is hidden away behind a secret breakable wall in the white palace (I won’t spoil the exact location in case anyone wants to search it out for themselves). Known as the path of pain, it makes the regular white palace platforming seem like the tutorial to platforming by comparison. “To witness secrets sealed, one must endure the harshest punishments”
Ok, so I found a hidden spot that I missed before, but I noticed something, when I find that cask that says "...SERVE..." if I keeping going right, I eventually end up back in the same spot... either that means something or the devs got lazy... im so lost looking for this thing lol
@@NibbleByteGames_Official one thing to note is that there is no visual indicator that the wall is breakable like many of the breakable walls in the game. It looks like a completely normal wall so you might have to just smack everything until you find it. Good luck brother 🫡
@@NibbleByteGames_Official team cherry doing their best to protect as many people from these shenanigans as possible to avoid the pain and suffering that follows. But apparently we are all masochists so… bring on the pain xD
Hollow Knight was my first metroidvania and I did get lost a lot! A friend of mine really wanted me to play it which is why I didn't give up but I must admit I quit my first playthrough because I couldn't get through the second colloseum challenge. Luckily I came back later and now I occasionally do steel soul 112% runs just for fun. I'm almost at the point where I don't need the compass anymore
Huh I actually find the movement in this game incredibly responsive. Whenever I fall down or miss a jump or whatever, I always feel like it's my own fault, not the games. Jumps are very consistent, the dash is a fixed length and it takes a very short time to get upto speed. Combined with muscle memory this makes me feel like I can almost always manoeuvre the Knight where I want him to be. Also I kinda disagree that the rest of the game doesn't encourage you to be good at the platforming. Sure its not technically required like in the white Palace but it definitely helps navigating and there are several areas that require some platforming to get to (ex the nailart in greenpath). Also pogo'ing. I think the game very much encourages that movement which requires precise jumping and timing on the attack.
@@NibbleByteGames_Official 💯 Would love to hear your reaction to that "true ending" you've heard so much about. Plus some of the other post-game goodies!
When I first played I never really cared about why my character was there, I was interested but I was more thinking about why I am there as a player but interesting to hear your perspective, it's definitely an experience playing hollow knight
Hollow knight lore is so much fun, I really recommend mossbag if you want to know the lore team cherry hid everywhere The real HK endgame is watching video essays of new players, same story with Warframe (but you might just maybe need to sink a couple more than 40 hours into warframe)
Amazing video, i couldn't have agreed more with most of your points. though, as a tip from when i played, If you are struggling to understand the lore, take a minute to do through previous locations and read/interact with things you didn't before; you would probably gain new lore about some aspects. And for the parkour, some areas were made to be hard because they lead to amazing rewards (some may take a while to unlock their true potential). no0netheless an awesome video, cant wait to see more. also gl on delicate flower quest.
hi, first of all, great video. i really appreciate the way you organize and present your thoughts. one minor nitpick: the volume could be a bit louder. i have my sound system turned up all the way and you're still kinda quiet. I agree with your point that this would not be a very good first metroidvania. i am an elderly millennial and have been playing them since the beginning and this felt super familiar to me in that sense and the platforming sense from the start. this is definitely an homage to how the genre began. but, without years of training in that manner it can be dense of obtuse. my brother has never played these and i got him to try, and he didn't really get into it either. however, i disagree with your point about the platforming. i think it's great and the movement is perfect for me. it marries to the combat so well and allows so many options in how to play. and when you master it you can sequence break in crazy ways, intended and unintended. as such, i also like the white palace for its difficult platform challenge and i'm glad there's a place like that in the game. no, nothing else is as difficult to move around in, but once you get a mastery over movement it's fun to be tested. as for the nail arts, i think they're more of a flex than anything else. when i first played, i didn't use much soul for spells since i always wanted it for healing. in subsequent playthroughs when i didn't need to heal so much because i was overall better at combat, i increased my spell usage. at this point, i only use the nail arts in specific battles to flex burst damage from a small risk or if i'm specifically trying to fight while using less soul. the one time i definitely use the nail arts is in the colosseum to use the charge attacks on flying enemies. downing them in one hit, especially when the floor is gone, is super helpful. good luck with the rest of the game! hope you have a lot of fun getting those last few percentage points of completion. and i'll be checking out your other vids.
Part of it had to do with only having the basic nail when I should have had an upgrade by that point. I just didn't like the enemies and map layout as much as the other areas, I got super frustrated a couple times. The benches also felt like they were in more inconvenient locations.
@@NibbleByteGames_Official Once you feel that you are done with the game, you should still check his stuff out. The small or easily missable details really all add up to something magnificent
Great Video! I love Hollow Knight and people discorvering it! And this was a great video about your experience! Just discoverd you through this video and have now subscribed! I actually also started playing dark souls after playing Hollow Knight and had a lot of fun with it. I have not finished yet because then Zelda:Tears of the Kingdom came out so I got sucked into playing that. Then I didn't play for a while but then got back into it. Though then I played Ace Attorney because of the new ports and the new Zelda:Echoes if Wisdom is currently conuming my life but I will play more DARK Souls because it is a lot of fun!(Though Sometimes frustrating but thats a souls like for you)
I don`t know if this is my fault but I missed out on lots of stuff while playing the game. For example I didn`t know there was the hive or white palace after completing the game and I still couldn`t find these places. Should I keep searching the map or look it up?
In my opinion, the hive is very hard to find intentionally. I had to look it up and felt that there was no way I would have found it otherwise. Most people I talk to said they found it by accident
I’m doing my first play through right now I’m at like 103% and honestly the lore was my favorite part you have to pay attention so much to put it together
The early game being really hard is SO relatable, I had never played a game like this before and I wandered around Forgotten Crossroads for so long that I gave up on the game for a year. Then I decided to give it another try and now it’s my favourite game of all time.
heya, if your more into the platforming side of metroidvanias, try ori and the will of the wisps. also surprised this does't have more views/likes, It feels like a lot of effort was put in.
The Ori games are on my list and downloaded haha, it's gonna take me a bit to get to them but I'm excited to try them out! If I include my play time, I probably put about 60 hours into the video, about 10-12 of which was the video itself. I'm hoping this "puts me on the map" ya know? So I wanted to do the best I could. I've streamlined the process a bit now so I'm planning on being faster but maintaining quality for the next videos.
Hollow Knight is also my first metroidvania and let me tell you, I had a really hard time for the first half of this game. I spent sooo much time trying to explore only to find most places I couldn’t traverse and little to no hints on where to find these abilities. Then as I slowly got these abilities I had to backtrack so much that I started to dislike the game. That being said once I found these abilities this game was absolutely a blast to play. Completing the “path of pain” in the White Tower is one of my proudest gaming accomplishments of my life and I really hope you complete and talk about it in your next video! I enjoyed this video man keep it up. Subbed
yeah the lore is incredibly hard to figure out but the basics go as follows: You are a being made of this stuff called void, which is basically a god made of liquid with no color, you were made to seal a moth god who's infecting peoples dreams and turning them into zombies, you were created by a god like creature called a wyrm who can see the future and reincarnate who like making kingdoms for some reason, moth god was angry at the wyrm because he was stealing her followers, the wyrm sealed her in the dream realm, her memory lived on causing it to be able to make the infection. Makes sense? No? perfect. You were one of many failed experiments to create a hollow vessels to seal the moth god inside even better than before , the wyrm, aka the pale king chose one of the millions he created to seal the moth god, also called the radience, inside it. But The pale king's chosen was not hollow because he wanted to make the king proud, this made it so the radience could take over the hollow knight and spread the infection. The pale king placed the hollow knight inside a black egg sealed by three comatose patients. You, the player are a tru;y hollow vessel who was discarded but somehow got free and travelled the world presumably until you came back to the place you came from. somehow the hollow knight community were able to decode all this through details in the game and lore tablets that are so garbled it's as if a 3 year old wrote them. I forgot to metiont, the comotose people willingly went into a coma to seal the hollow knight. each of them wanting different things, one did it because he really liked the pale king, the other wanted a child, (HORNET IS NOT VOID SHE IS PART SPIDER AND PART ELDER GOD), I can't remember what the last one wanted. But that's hollow knight's main lore, there's other rabbit holes to go down. Team cherry packed this game full of lore and stuff
I've watched mossbag and some other videos about the lore, and I've come to the conclusion that the Pale King is the actual villain of the whole story, and by default, the hollow knight is too.
I found this video on shorts somehow, I was surprised when the short didn't end after a minute, so I looked at your channel and found the video... Great video btw ^^
This game is magical, I’ve had it for years and have 111% currently, I suck generally but have gotten pretty good now after having put in so many hours (over 200!)! I disagree with the platforming criticism, I really enjoyed that element too, I still haven’t quite done Path of Pain in the White Palace which has become a notorious challenge in the platforming community. This game was a dream come true for me, getting lost and being rewarded for exploring, getting those abilities and how it opened up the map after feeling lost was a great feeling. Also the sound design and music is wonderful and helps with immersion, the subtle approach to story telling was very effective for me. I could yap about this game forever and why I think it’s special but I won’t. 😅😊
I played Hollow Knight, and then I decided to try the souls games. Dark Souls 1 has this amazing feel of exploration, and really feels like a Metroidvania. Definitely worth a shot. I’ve beat it about 8 times this year trying different builds. I then moved on to 2, beat it, hated it, and now on 3 and I’m loving it.
I feel the same about the start of the game. I hadn't played a metroidvania before, and I hadn't played a platformer of any kind in ages. I put the game down after getting stuck on Hornet in Greenpath and I didn't play it for a couple of months. Once I did give it another try and started a new game. I felt like I was going in with a better grasp on what the game was all about, and I ended up really enjoying it after that.
@@NibbleByteGames_Official It's also where the game starts to open up exploration. Once I got past Hornet, I was sick of her leading me around like a puppy, so I staunchly refused to follow her from Fungal Wastes to the City of Tears. Going through Deepnest so soon was misery, but I was determined to do whatever I wanted. It wasn't until then that I feel like I started to understand what the game was all about in terms of exploration.
Paused the video to make this comment: kinda agree on nail arts. The only one I find really useful is the Great Slash, never liked the other two. What I like about GS is its reach and the fact that one strike equals 3 standard nail strikes. Really handy against flying enemies, especially annoying ones like aspid hunters or crystal hunters. I also like the fact that you stop midair during the attack, which is really welcome in some situations. That being said, I only started using it more on my second playthrough. Once you get used to it, there’s no turning back.
I think you made the right call to do this blind both in game play and as a review. You had criticisms of the game that I haven't heard before. I love Hollow Knight. It's my comfort game that I can pick up and enjoy anytime, but I think its gotten a bit of a legendary status to the point people don't always see its flaws. I disagree on the platforming but I'm glad to see someone giving their honest opinion. Compared to a pure platformer like Celest it probably does feel disconnected at points. (I actually enjoyed the white palace.)
There is actually a way to stop the unfortunate event during the Traitor lord fight. It's pretty obscure though so I'd recommend looking it up if it's important to you to achieve it.
I’m glad you played Hollow Knight! Though even when you do get 112% completion, you’ll find that the game still hasn’t run out of things for you to do. Can’t wait for more updates on your progress!
I very well might be in the minority when I say that I loved White Palace. I never felt like the platforming was bad. In fact, I felt that the movement was incredibly responsive and gave you tons of movement freedom. But I am a sucker for challenging areas, and the white palace delivered. There's a particular hidden section within White Palace that is super difficult. Idk if you ever decide to do it. But I loved every moment of that. I'm sure many well disagree. :)
My thought, since it's a dream, is that the saw blades represent the feeling of helplessness and futility the King felt in his final moments. That's evidenced by the "no cost too great" bit. But I'm not well versed in the lore
Arguably your main long-term mission is to stop the infection. You see the infection right from the start, learn that it emanates from the black egg and that you need to find the dreamers to get inside. During the course of the game you get to learn why the infection must be stopped from a variety of angles and learn, that it is what caused the kingdom to fall. But idk
I got that the infection needed to be stopped and that it is why the kingdom fell. The ending I got lead me to believe that the hollow knight couldn't protect the kingdom anymore and that they needed someone to take its place. But I didn't learn that until I noticed that the hollow knight appeared to want to die during the fight
This is such a unique way to review a game! This video was excellent, well done. Personally, I love the “wandering around without a purpose” aspect of the game, because it meant that every discovery I made felt impactful, even if it was just a small one. I also didn’t really know all the lore when I went to fight The Hollow Knight (for the first time, at least. There is much more information you learn naturally as you start to complete the game), but the fact that I was continually learning about Hallownest and the characters in it was what really spoke to me. There’s also a TON of secret or easily missable dialogue from characters like Quirrel or……other……things. For example, if you have beaten Hornet Sentinel before going to dream nail Herrah, she has some extra lines of dialogue that really give insight into her character. You mentioned how impactful each character interaction is, and yeah. That and the visual storytelling are some of my favorite aspects of this game. Really just discovering a new direction to go or a little nook tucked away somewhere no bug has been for years feels so addictive to me. I know a lot of other people in the community feel the same way, which is why we like to find people who are playing/have just played it for the first time. I’m glad you still felt intrigued and excited enough about the game to keep playing, even without the kind of clear goals that a lot of other games have, because I’ve heard so many people say “yeah the combat was fun, but the rest of the game was kind of a walking simulator.” Exploration really is the main appeal of Hollow Knight in my opinion, and that goes for the story as well. Another game that does this kind of thing really well is Rain World, but I would say that game is far harder to get into for multiple reasons, so I have a hard time recommending it even though I love it. The story in that game is so out-of-the-way and most players won’t have hardly any idea what the story is about unless they REALLY take their time and pick up on subtle clues very quickly. Also, “true ending” is a bit of a misnomer as Team Cherry has stated that all the endings are canon, it’s just the ending that feels the most complete and that the fanbase likes the most.
Also, yeah White Palace is kinda a random difficulty spike, so it’s totally fair to dislike it in particular lol. I kinda disagree about Crystal Peak and Queen’s Garden though. I think the character controller is pretty well-tuned for those, and although there are challenging sections, I never thought that it was bad platforming design, especially since the majority of the platforming challenges are one-offs that open a shortcut.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video!, I agree with the discoveries, it was a ton of fun learning what I could and finding new areas to look into. I just found all the grubs so I think ive gotten into most places now. I can see why walking simulator, but there is way too much to do in between areas for that to apply in my opinion./ Rain word is so strange, I've played a couple hours and it really feels like I'm supposed to hate the game. I will push through for a little bit though.
If you look at the last sentence in its description, it says something interesting. Maybe check out somewhere in Ancient Basin with it equipped. Before you get those endings, though, I would highly recommend you find all the essence for Seer, though, as that will make the endings make a lot more sense. Or at least a little more sense depending on your understanding of the story.
20:30 or so. Trust me, I've been learning to speedrun this game for the last month, and the Watcher Knights are straight up the biggest thorn in my side for the entire playthrough. They're difficult lol.
I just did my second speedrun and Shade Soul + Shaman stone makes it so much easier, my goal is to beat THK within 5 hours (to get the achievement) Idk if I'll ever try to really speedrun like Fireborn bc it's so hard
@@MrZombiepvz lol, I can't run like that madlad, but I'm very proud of the time I've managed. I end up using only the Shaman Stone (though I use the Soul Catcher until I buy it, and then swap.) A good deal of practice goes into the bosses you'll have to fight, but I believe you can get that sub 5 hours for that achievement! It takes a bit of bashing your face against a couple of brick walls.
Some of us just built different I guess. Took me 62 hours to figure out I had to use a switch controller, was trying to use my cell phone and was like "damn this game really is hard"
16:30 Oh buddy, if you don't like the nail arts, you really need to practice with them more. Probably the biggest trouble with them is that the skill floor is so high. You're right: this is a game about precision, and you might be able to do more damage with regular attacks in the time it takes to charge. That's your indication that they're situational! There are times in pretty much any boss fight or combat encounter where you can't do damage for a period and that's a perfect time to charge a nail art. Once you get comfortable, you can reliably take a chunk out of enemies once they come back, or take out stronger enemies in one nail art that would have required much more time investment in time critical situations.
There’s a harder platforming section called the path of pain Spoilers: if you want to know where it is keep reading but if not then continue on with your experience If you go to White Palace, take the elevator up go up to the next room. You should be in the room with some Wingsmoulds but don't go up any further. If you go to the left wall and attack the upper part of it you should hear a wall break then you can jump in there and that's where path of pain starts
What do you have against the platforming controls , to me they feel so smooth , white palace for the first time even tho is was stupid hard i had a lot of fun cause i like the controls. Great video tho❤
Honestly, I think I'm going to walk back my comments when I eventually make a follow up video. I think my perception was spoiled by coming to this game straight from Celeste haha
though it may not seem like it initially, cloth's story ended the good way in your playthrough, she desired and intense fight as a true warriors, and she has dialogue afterwards about how happy she is. if she hadnt joined you she just sits in dirtmouth depressed
The White Palace is a Dream Realm reflection of the Pale King’s descent into madness. It has no logic because it’s the product of an ill mind. By the way, the ending you achieved called “The Hollow Knight” is the most basic and easy to get. There are two more in the main game, and two more in the Godhome DLC.
About the "true ending" There isn't a real true ending to this game. Most of the community deem the "Dream No More" ending as the true ending, but according to team cherry, every ending is as valid as the others and they will take every ending into account when they continue the storyline.
@NibbleByteGames_Official Yeah... after you saying you beat white palace and saying the comment about get good and then complaining about how hard the platforming was in was like "there's no way he did path of pain..." lol. Please you need to go try. Try being the main word. It's a special kind of hell that lives in my heart.
The hook is, that you want to find out what happened, to this once great sivilisation, and later who the knight is. You dont know this stuf at the begining of the game, because you lern with the knight
Hollow Knight was my first Metroidvania, and i did not have the issues you did with "getting into it" or getting lost. Sounds like a skill issue to me tbh.
Quirrel will actually tell you about the nailsmith in mantis village after you get the claw. In particular he tells you to go there before fighting the mantis lords.
Welp, I missed that bit lol
I would also add, the nail smith sign should stick out to you for more reasons.
1. Basic metroidvania /exploration convention, explore left and right sides.
2. In your city of tears map, if you didn't go left from the elevator, that would be a huge hole
3. The nailsmith sign should stick out as extremely important because by now you should have seen bench, new location and stag signs.
Not having played a metroidvania prior to this game definitely hurt me haha.
@@NibbleByteGames_Official he talks about upgrading the nail a couple of times.
I feel like this vid will BLOW UP because you do not know how loyal the HK community is to new creators discovering the game. Great vid! Def earned a sub
Here's hoping haha, but I've seen the silksong sunbreddits so I have an idea how the community is. Seems like a good group of gamers to be a part of so I'm glad to be here
18:37 no one tell him you can save her lol
Hearing a fresh perspective on a game I've played so many times made this video a really engaging watch (even caused me to reevaluate my thoughts on certain aspects of the game). Great work!
I do believe there is some dialogue from an NPC about the nail smith.
that is what i am now hearing. I bet my daughter distracted me at the exact right moment for me to miss it lol
@@NibbleByteGames_Official To be fair, it's a pretty missable dialog since it only shows up for like one bench instance and you're not even guaranteed to notice them
idk the platforming is kinda hard, but its REALLY responsive.
sorry abt the edits im writing as in watching.
yeah the nail arts are kinda goofy
The point I was mainly trying to make is that it's a steep ramp in skill required after 40ish hours of not requiring that much skill haha.
I get that it's supposed to convey how futile the kings efforts were but still
Funnily, I completed Path of Pain but not White Palace.
My first play through coming to White Palace, it was just way too hard (I was a noob at that point). A few years later, I wanted to do Path of Pain after watching YT videos on it. I lost my save file so I downloaded a save file with White Palace already unlocked lol.
I found the platforming to be amazing. Path of Pain got me into trying Celeste since I never played platformers before. But HK definitely doesn't train you before White Palace.
Nail Arts I think are fire. Optional to use, really good in certain scenarios. If you get serious with combat, has awesome use cases.
honestly ive always thought that hollow knight had some of the best platforming and movement out of any game ive played, but i guess it really just comes down to personal taste? either way it was a really good video and its always interesting to hear other people opinions on the game!
Ah the community grows
Love to see it
Your voice is pleasant to listen to! I do wish your audio was a little higher cause it was hard to hear you initially
you def earned my sub tho, rlly interested to see what you do next
Thanks so much! Big confidence boost there haha. I actually had to re-record the audio the day before posting this because I had the mic backwards 😭. Next time I will have more experience, so each video should be progressively better! I look forward to seeing you around!
I agree that prior to the white palace there’s no requirement to improve on platforming skills or utilize the movement abilities in specific conjunction to navigate difficult pathways. I’ve seen a few comments that mention it already, but the real platforming challenge is hidden away behind a secret breakable wall in the white palace (I won’t spoil the exact location in case anyone wants to search it out for themselves). Known as the path of pain, it makes the regular white palace platforming seem like the tutorial to platforming by comparison. “To witness secrets sealed, one must endure the harshest punishments”
Ok, so I found a hidden spot that I missed before, but I noticed something, when I find that cask that says "...SERVE..." if I keeping going right, I eventually end up back in the same spot... either that means something or the devs got lazy... im so lost looking for this thing lol
@@NibbleByteGames_Official one thing to note is that there is no visual indicator that the wall is breakable like many of the breakable walls in the game. It looks like a completely normal wall so you might have to just smack everything until you find it. Good luck brother 🫡
I found it... dear lord that was a dumb spot. No visual indicator that the wall even broke lol... either way... pray for me...
@@NibbleByteGames_Official team cherry doing their best to protect as many people from these shenanigans as possible to avoid the pain and suffering that follows. But apparently we are all masochists so… bring on the pain xD
Hollow Knight was my first metroidvania and I did get lost a lot! A friend of mine really wanted me to play it which is why I didn't give up but I must admit I quit my first playthrough because I couldn't get through the second colloseum challenge. Luckily I came back later and now I occasionally do steel soul 112% runs just for fun. I'm almost at the point where I don't need the compass anymore
Huh I actually find the movement in this game incredibly responsive. Whenever I fall down or miss a jump or whatever, I always feel like it's my own fault, not the games. Jumps are very consistent, the dash is a fixed length and it takes a very short time to get upto speed. Combined with muscle memory this makes me feel like I can almost always manoeuvre the Knight where I want him to be. Also I kinda disagree that the rest of the game doesn't encourage you to be good at the platforming. Sure its not technically required like in the white Palace but it definitely helps navigating and there are several areas that require some platforming to get to (ex the nailart in greenpath). Also pogo'ing. I think the game very much encourages that movement which requires precise jumping and timing on the attack.
I really hope you make another video when you do eventually complete the game
I just hit 100% only 12% to go lol
@@NibbleByteGames_Official 💯 Would love to hear your reaction to that "true ending" you've heard so much about. Plus some of the other post-game goodies!
When I first played I never really cared about why my character was there, I was interested but I was more thinking about why I am there as a player but interesting to hear your perspective, it's definitely an experience playing hollow knight
Hollow knight lore is so much fun, I really recommend mossbag if you want to know the lore team cherry hid everywhere
The real HK endgame is watching video essays of new players, same story with Warframe (but you might just maybe need to sink a couple more than 40 hours into warframe)
Amazing video, i couldn't have agreed more with most of your points. though, as a tip from when i played, If you are struggling to understand the lore, take a minute to do through previous locations and read/interact with things you didn't before; you would probably gain new lore about some aspects. And for the parkour, some areas were made to be hard because they lead to amazing rewards (some may take a while to unlock their true potential). no0netheless an awesome video, cant wait to see more. also gl on delicate flower quest.
Delicate Flower quest is a special layer of hell that Dante forgot
@@lzrshark617 he will soon know >:D
hi, first of all, great video. i really appreciate the way you organize and present your thoughts. one minor nitpick: the volume could be a bit louder. i have my sound system turned up all the way and you're still kinda quiet.
I agree with your point that this would not be a very good first metroidvania. i am an elderly millennial and have been playing them since the beginning and this felt super familiar to me in that sense and the platforming sense from the start. this is definitely an homage to how the genre began. but, without years of training in that manner it can be dense of obtuse. my brother has never played these and i got him to try, and he didn't really get into it either. however, i disagree with your point about the platforming. i think it's great and the movement is perfect for me. it marries to the combat so well and allows so many options in how to play. and when you master it you can sequence break in crazy ways, intended and unintended. as such, i also like the white palace for its difficult platform challenge and i'm glad there's a place like that in the game. no, nothing else is as difficult to move around in, but once you get a mastery over movement it's fun to be tested.
as for the nail arts, i think they're more of a flex than anything else. when i first played, i didn't use much soul for spells since i always wanted it for healing. in subsequent playthroughs when i didn't need to heal so much because i was overall better at combat, i increased my spell usage. at this point, i only use the nail arts in specific battles to flex burst damage from a small risk or if i'm specifically trying to fight while using less soul. the one time i definitely use the nail arts is in the colosseum to use the charge attacks on flying enemies. downing them in one hit, especially when the floor is gone, is super helpful.
good luck with the rest of the game! hope you have a lot of fun getting those last few percentage points of completion. and i'll be checking out your other vids.
why is crystal peak so low? i love that area (mostly its soundtrack)
Part of it had to do with only having the basic nail when I should have had an upgrade by that point. I just didn't like the enemies and map layout as much as the other areas, I got super frustrated a couple times. The benches also felt like they were in more inconvenient locations.
If you are struggling with the obscure lore I strongly recommend watching mossbag’s videos
I'm not struggling with it, I actually think it's cool that is a little ambiguous :)
@@NibbleByteGames_Official Once you feel that you are done with the game, you should still check his stuff out. The small or easily missable details really all add up to something magnificent
I will definitely do that. I want to complete the game blind and then partake in the lore
Great Video! I love Hollow Knight and people discorvering it! And this was a great video about your experience! Just discoverd you through this video and have now subscribed!
I actually also started playing dark souls after playing Hollow Knight and had a lot of fun with it. I have not finished yet because then Zelda:Tears of the Kingdom came out so I got sucked into playing that. Then I didn't play for a while but then got back into it. Though then I played Ace Attorney because of the new ports and the new Zelda:Echoes if Wisdom is currently conuming my life but I will play more DARK Souls because it is a lot of fun!(Though Sometimes frustrating but thats a souls like for you)
Ah, man! I would've loved to watch your playthrough.
I have like 50 hours in game at this point, would be a long play through haha
I don`t know if this is my fault but I missed out on lots of stuff while playing the game. For example I didn`t know there was the hive or white palace after completing the game and I still couldn`t find these places. Should I keep searching the map or look it up?
In my opinion, the hive is very hard to find intentionally. I had to look it up and felt that there was no way I would have found it otherwise. Most people I talk to said they found it by accident
I’m doing my first play through right now I’m at like 103% and honestly the lore was my favorite part you have to pay attention so much to put it together
It’s a masterpiece, the gameplay is so tight and fluid, with satisfying combat and movement.
One of my biggest criticisms of Hollow Knight is the slow start so i definitely relate lmao
The early game being really hard is SO relatable, I had never played a game like this before and I wandered around Forgotten Crossroads for so long that I gave up on the game for a year. Then I decided to give it another try and now it’s my favourite game of all time.
Sounds like personal taste ont he platforming.. Its super tight and precise. Not very floaty or momentum based like ori or celeste.
I've changed my stance a bit since this video, and I will be giving an updated take on it once I complete the path of pain.
heya, if your more into the platforming side of metroidvanias, try ori and the will of the wisps. also surprised this does't have more views/likes, It feels like a lot of effort was put in.
The Ori games are on my list and downloaded haha, it's gonna take me a bit to get to them but I'm excited to try them out!
If I include my play time, I probably put about 60 hours into the video, about 10-12 of which was the video itself. I'm hoping this "puts me on the map" ya know? So I wanted to do the best I could. I've streamlined the process a bit now so I'm planning on being faster but maintaining quality for the next videos.
Hollow Knight is also my first metroidvania and let me tell you, I had a really hard time for the first half of this game. I spent sooo much time trying to explore only to find most places I couldn’t traverse and little to no hints on where to find these abilities. Then as I slowly got these abilities I had to backtrack so much that I started to dislike the game. That being said once I found these abilities this game was absolutely a blast to play.
Completing the “path of pain” in the White Tower is one of my proudest gaming accomplishments of my life and I really hope you complete and talk about it in your next video!
I enjoyed this video man keep it up. Subbed
yeah the lore is incredibly hard to figure out but the basics go as follows:
You are a being made of this stuff called void, which is basically a god made of liquid with no color, you were made to seal a moth god who's infecting peoples dreams and turning them into zombies, you were created by a god like creature called a wyrm who can see the future and reincarnate who like making kingdoms for some reason, moth god was angry at the wyrm because he was stealing her followers, the wyrm sealed her in the dream realm, her memory lived on causing it to be able to make the infection. Makes sense? No? perfect. You were one of many failed experiments to create a hollow vessels to seal the moth god inside even better than before , the wyrm, aka the pale king chose one of the millions he created to seal the moth god, also called the radience, inside it. But The pale king's chosen was not hollow because he wanted to make the king proud, this made it so the radience could take over the hollow knight and spread the infection. The pale king placed the hollow knight inside a black egg sealed by three comatose patients. You, the player are a tru;y hollow vessel who was discarded but somehow got free and travelled the world presumably until you came back to the place you came from.
somehow the hollow knight community were able to decode all this through details in the game and lore tablets that are so garbled it's as if a 3 year old wrote them. I forgot to metiont, the comotose people willingly went into a coma to seal the hollow knight. each of them wanting different things, one did it because he really liked the pale king, the other wanted a child, (HORNET IS NOT VOID SHE IS PART SPIDER AND PART ELDER GOD), I can't remember what the last one wanted.
But that's hollow knight's main lore, there's other rabbit holes to go down. Team cherry packed this game full of lore and stuff
that is... a lot lol. Im going to need to read that a couple times to get it straight haha
I've watched mossbag and some other videos about the lore, and I've come to the conclusion that the Pale King is the actual villain of the whole story, and by default, the hollow knight is too.
I found this video on shorts somehow, I was surprised when the short didn't end after a minute, so I looked at your channel and found the video... Great video btw ^^
This game is magical, I’ve had it for years and have 111% currently, I suck generally but have gotten pretty good now after having put in so many hours (over 200!)! I disagree with the platforming criticism, I really enjoyed that element too, I still haven’t quite done Path of Pain in the White Palace which has become a notorious challenge in the platforming community. This game was a dream come true for me, getting lost and being rewarded for exploring, getting those abilities and how it opened up the map after feeling lost was a great feeling. Also the sound design and music is wonderful and helps with immersion, the subtle approach to story telling was very effective for me. I could yap about this game forever and why I think it’s special but I won’t. 😅😊
I played Hollow Knight, and then I decided to try the souls games. Dark Souls 1 has this amazing feel of exploration, and really feels like a Metroidvania. Definitely worth a shot. I’ve beat it about 8 times this year trying different builds.
I then moved on to 2, beat it, hated it, and now on 3 and I’m loving it.
I'll have to check it out. Makes sense to start with the OG
I feel the same about the start of the game. I hadn't played a metroidvania before, and I hadn't played a platformer of any kind in ages. I put the game down after getting stuck on Hornet in Greenpath and I didn't play it for a couple of months. Once I did give it another try and started a new game. I felt like I was going in with a better grasp on what the game was all about, and I ended up really enjoying it after that.
Honestly that hornet fight was a tipping point for me too, I felt like I understood how to play the game after that fight
@@NibbleByteGames_Official It's also where the game starts to open up exploration. Once I got past Hornet, I was sick of her leading me around like a puppy, so I staunchly refused to follow her from Fungal Wastes to the City of Tears.
Going through Deepnest so soon was misery, but I was determined to do whatever I wanted. It wasn't until then that I feel like I started to understand what the game was all about in terms of exploration.
Paused the video to make this comment: kinda agree on nail arts. The only one I find really useful is the Great Slash, never liked the other two. What I like about GS is its reach and the fact that one strike equals 3 standard nail strikes. Really handy against flying enemies, especially annoying ones like aspid hunters or crystal hunters. I also like the fact that you stop midair during the attack, which is really welcome in some situations. That being said, I only started using it more on my second playthrough. Once you get used to it, there’s no turning back.
Yeah the end of the Traitor Lord fight hurt
RIP Cloth :(
Going in circles around the false knight is so real
nail art is only for god home nail binding and some of the dream boss that you need extra attack range
I think you made the right call to do this blind both in game play and as a review. You had criticisms of the game that I haven't heard before. I love Hollow Knight. It's my comfort game that I can pick up and enjoy anytime, but I think its gotten a bit of a legendary status to the point people don't always see its flaws. I disagree on the platforming but I'm glad to see someone giving their honest opinion. Compared to a pure platformer like Celest it probably does feel disconnected at points. (I actually enjoyed the white palace.)
Thanks! I personally like going into things as blind as possible so that my opinion is as much my own as I can, and I'm glad I did so here as well.
how tf do you only have 86 subscribers?? This video is very well edited and th quality is really good too.
I have 92 now so, progress at least haha
The game dev are known for designing first the art assets then implementing the gameplay
I love the story of Hollow Knight. But I had no idea what it was the first time I finished the game.
There is actually a way to stop the unfortunate event during the Traitor lord fight. It's pretty obscure though so I'd recommend looking it up if it's important to you to achieve it.
I’m glad you played Hollow Knight! Though even when you do get 112% completion, you’ll find that the game still hasn’t run out of things for you to do. Can’t wait for more updates on your progress!
Im at 102% now, that blasted trial of the Fool is currently kicking my butt.... I will do another when I hit 112% though it might be a bit haha
With HK as my first metroidvania, I'd definitely recommend Steam World Dig 2 for newbies, not HK. And I love HK!
I very well might be in the minority when I say that I loved White Palace. I never felt like the platforming was bad. In fact, I felt that the movement was incredibly responsive and gave you tons of movement freedom. But I am a sucker for challenging areas, and the white palace delivered. There's a particular hidden section within White Palace that is super difficult. Idk if you ever decide to do it. But I loved every moment of that. I'm sure many well disagree. :)
The white palace is definitely one of the prettiest places in the game, it also gives a rare break from the beaten down vibe of the rest of the game.
@@NibbleByteGames_Official I will agree that the sawblades make no sense lore-wise. Even HK lore experts get stumped by that one.
My thought, since it's a dream, is that the saw blades represent the feeling of helplessness and futility the King felt in his final moments. That's evidenced by the "no cost too great" bit. But I'm not well versed in the lore
@@NibbleByteGames_Official no way, you did find a theory that most HK theorists never thought about
Arguably your main long-term mission is to stop the infection. You see the infection right from the start, learn that it emanates from the black egg and that you need to find the dreamers to get inside.
During the course of the game you get to learn why the infection must be stopped from a variety of angles and learn, that it is what caused the kingdom to fall. But idk
I got that the infection needed to be stopped and that it is why the kingdom fell. The ending I got lead me to believe that the hollow knight couldn't protect the kingdom anymore and that they needed someone to take its place. But I didn't learn that until I noticed that the hollow knight appeared to want to die during the fight
I literally understood nothing of HK lore until mossbogs video. Clueless people exist XD
This is such a unique way to review a game! This video was excellent, well done.
Personally, I love the “wandering around without a purpose” aspect of the game, because it meant that every discovery I made felt impactful, even if it was just a small one. I also didn’t really know all the lore when I went to fight The Hollow Knight (for the first time, at least. There is much more information you learn naturally as you start to complete the game), but the fact that I was continually learning about Hallownest and the characters in it was what really spoke to me. There’s also a TON of secret or easily missable dialogue from characters like Quirrel or……other……things. For example, if you have beaten Hornet Sentinel before going to dream nail Herrah, she has some extra lines of dialogue that really give insight into her character. You mentioned how impactful each character interaction is, and yeah. That and the visual storytelling are some of my favorite aspects of this game. Really just discovering a new direction to go or a little nook tucked away somewhere no bug has been for years feels so addictive to me. I know a lot of other people in the community feel the same way, which is why we like to find people who are playing/have just played it for the first time.
I’m glad you still felt intrigued and excited enough about the game to keep playing, even without the kind of clear goals that a lot of other games have, because I’ve heard so many people say “yeah the combat was fun, but the rest of the game was kind of a walking simulator.” Exploration really is the main appeal of Hollow Knight in my opinion, and that goes for the story as well.
Another game that does this kind of thing really well is Rain World, but I would say that game is far harder to get into for multiple reasons, so I have a hard time recommending it even though I love it. The story in that game is so out-of-the-way and most players won’t have hardly any idea what the story is about unless they REALLY take their time and pick up on subtle clues very quickly.
Also, “true ending” is a bit of a misnomer as Team Cherry has stated that all the endings are canon, it’s just the ending that feels the most complete and that the fanbase likes the most.
Also, yeah White Palace is kinda a random difficulty spike, so it’s totally fair to dislike it in particular lol. I kinda disagree about Crystal Peak and Queen’s Garden though. I think the character controller is pretty well-tuned for those, and although there are challenging sections, I never thought that it was bad platforming design, especially since the majority of the platforming challenges are one-offs that open a shortcut.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video!, I agree with the discoveries, it was a ton of fun learning what I could and finding new areas to look into. I just found all the grubs so I think ive gotten into most places now.
I can see why walking simulator, but there is way too much to do in between areas for that to apply in my opinion./
Rain word is so strange, I've played a couple hours and it really feels like I'm supposed to hate the game. I will push through for a little bit though.
as to the different endings, do I just fight the hollow knight at different points of completion? or are there different routes to find them?
@@NibbleByteGames_Official Well, it sounds like you’re pretty close to two more endings if you already have Kingsoul.
If you look at the last sentence in its description, it says something interesting. Maybe check out somewhere in Ancient Basin with it equipped. Before you get those endings, though, I would highly recommend you find all the essence for Seer, though, as that will make the endings make a lot more sense. Or at least a little more sense depending on your understanding of the story.
"No other place required you to be good at platforming"
White Palace: Am I a joke to you?
This guy: what who are you?
20:30 or so. Trust me, I've been learning to speedrun this game for the last month, and the Watcher Knights are straight up the biggest thorn in my side for the entire playthrough. They're difficult lol.
I just did my second speedrun and Shade Soul + Shaman stone makes it so much easier, my goal is to beat THK within 5 hours (to get the achievement) Idk if I'll ever try to really speedrun like Fireborn bc it's so hard
@@MrZombiepvz lol, I can't run like that madlad, but I'm very proud of the time I've managed. I end up using only the Shaman Stone (though I use the Soul Catcher until I buy it, and then swap.)
A good deal of practice goes into the bosses you'll have to fight, but I believe you can get that sub 5 hours for that achievement! It takes a bit of bashing your face against a couple of brick walls.
@@rumasai I just beat the game in 2 hours lol
got the achievement
@@MrZombiepvz congrats! I knew I was right to believe in ya lol.
@@rumasai I died once to THK bc of PV issues, then I beat him. Shaman Shade is op.
i just showed up, your subcount magically hit 100, will stick around for more content!
must be good luck!
This is a good video, I will admit hollow knight had a bit of a slow start! It took me 40 hours before I realised you could jump lmao
Some of us just built different I guess. Took me 62 hours to figure out I had to use a switch controller, was trying to use my cell phone and was like "damn this game really is hard"
@@NibbleByteGames_Official you played Hollow Knight on your phone? You know that's illegal, right?
Don't tell anyone, I'm taking a huge risk just sharing this video online
@@NibbleByteGames_Official okay, I won't
You actually can save cloth from the traitor lord
only 90 subs i thought u had like more than 1k
16:30 Oh buddy, if you don't like the nail arts, you really need to practice with them more. Probably the biggest trouble with them is that the skill floor is so high. You're right: this is a game about precision, and you might be able to do more damage with regular attacks in the time it takes to charge. That's your indication that they're situational! There are times in pretty much any boss fight or combat encounter where you can't do damage for a period and that's a perfect time to charge a nail art. Once you get comfortable, you can reliably take a chunk out of enemies once they come back, or take out stronger enemies in one nail art that would have required much more time investment in time critical situations.
I'll admit that now that I'm at 103% complete. I have definitely found a use for the nail arts.
@@NibbleByteGames_OfficialColiseum?
Yep, and the grim troup
That was the charm build you use for trader lord.
hmm, I think I was running Dash Master, Quick Focus, and Mark of Pride I think
30 tries is pretty reasonable, especially if you don't play lots of soulslikes. And it led to you figuring something out, so thats really cool 😎
There’s a harder platforming section called the path of pain
Spoilers: if you want to know where it is keep reading but if not then continue on with your experience
If you go to White Palace, take the elevator up go up to the next room. You should be in the room with some Wingsmoulds but don't go up any further. If you go to the left wall and attack the upper part of it you should hear a wall break then you can jump in there and that's where path of pain starts
I have discovered it recently and am now properly suffering
What do you have against the platforming controls , to me they feel so smooth , white palace for the first time even tho is was stupid hard i had a lot of fun cause i like the controls. Great video tho❤
Honestly, I think I'm going to walk back my comments when I eventually make a follow up video. I think my perception was spoiled by coming to this game straight from Celeste haha
wait till he finds out about the path of pain
though it may not seem like it initially, cloth's story ended the good way in your playthrough, she desired and intense fight as a true warriors, and she has dialogue afterwards about how happy she is. if she hadnt joined you she just sits in dirtmouth depressed
This video isnt done, though. I want to hear your take on the R. Ending. And I would love to see if you make it to AbsRad. (No judgment, Isure didnt.)
I can assure it, it is in progress. I'm at 103% completion and standing toe to toe with the Path of Pain.
I wish my voice was this buttery...
I drink melted butter before bed each night. kidding obv but thank you! Never had my voice described like that before haha
The White Palace is a Dream Realm reflection of the Pale King’s descent into madness. It has no logic because it’s the product of an ill mind.
By the way, the ending you achieved called “The Hollow Knight” is the most basic and easy to get. There are two more in the main game, and two more in the Godhome DLC.
Now do pantheon 5!
Please, don't do this to me... I already have no free time 😭
About the "true ending"
There isn't a real true ending to this game. Most of the community deem the "Dream No More" ending as the true ending, but according to team cherry, every ending is as valid as the others and they will take every ending into account when they continue the storyline.
Mossbag.. that's all ima say BTW great Video❤
Thanks!
You're gonna hate the path of pain
Well now I'm curious lol
@NibbleByteGames_Official
Yeah... after you saying you beat white palace and saying the comment about get good and then complaining about how hard the platforming was in was like "there's no way he did path of pain..." lol. Please you need to go try. Try being the main word. It's a special kind of hell that lives in my heart.
I dont even know how to find half of this stuff lol, I'm at 96% completion. I just beat troup leader grimm
Is somebody going to tell him about Path of pain?
I'm already dreading it lol
im your 92 sub
The hook is, that you want to find out what happened, to this once great sivilisation, and later who the knight is. You dont know this stuf at the begining of the game, because you lern with the knight
Hahah I love mystery
well, i played 203 hours of HK, think of me what you will
Hollow Knight was my first Metroidvania, and i did not have the issues you did with "getting into it" or getting lost. Sounds like a skill issue to me tbh.
What an interesting, funny, and all around helpful comment. If only all of us were as talented and witty as you.
a
Talking like he really played Hollow Knight and doesn’t know that his purpose is to save those adorable grubs 🥲/s