I bought the game on a whim for the switch, but I feel ill prepared. I don’t usually play heavy action games like this and I hear it’s especially hard for what it is. But I want to try.

  • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    33
    ·
    1 year ago

    Hollow Knight is a solid contender for my favorite game, so good choice! I’m going to try to keep things spoiler-free as much as I can since a huge part of the experience is exploring and slowly unraveling things. Here’s a list of (hopefully spoiler-free) tips that I think might help.

    Not much will make sense at first.

    Hollow Knight follows the Dark Souls school of lore: You don’t get an exposition dump in the beginning giving you the whole background behind what’s going on. It’s perfectly fine to be confused about what you are doing and why. In fact, I’d say that’s an intentional choice that winds up making a ton of sense after a certain point in the game.

    Careful looking up info

    Because of this fact and how long it’s been out (as well as how popular it is), it’s unfortunately very easy to spoil things. Be careful with that, and make sure to tag on “spoiler free” to any searches you do on the game.

    It’s difficult, but fair

    You’re likely going to die a lot, that’s true. That being said, there aren’t really any situations that I can think of where I had no way to avoid dying. The nice thing is, the game sort of sets itself up in a way that you (hopefully) learn different techniques over time, and the fact that it’s a metroidvania means you get upgrades drip-fed to you, so you don’t have a million things to try to learn at once. I’m not great at games nowadays, but I did still manage to beat the game. I never completed the boss rush stuff, but that’s more because I’ve never been a huge fan of boss rushes in general.

    It’s methodical

    You don’t have a time limit during fights. Feel free to take your time learning an enemy’s attacks; there are generally tells you can keep an eye out for so you can prepare to react appropriately. Don’t be afraid to keep your distance as much as you can while in a fight.

    Don’t forget your Soul

    Soul is the game’s “magic” system, and it’s a pretty big help in keeping you from dying. You recharge it a bit each time you hit an enemy, so as long as you’re able to run in, hit an enemy, and get away without getting hit, you can recharge enough for another use. There are also generally minor enemies in each area that are relatively easy to deal with - these are basically prime candidates for recharging Soul if you’re low.

    Be sure to explore

    There are going to be quite a few dead ends during your journey. These are usually places you just don’t have the tools to deal with yet, so if it seems like you can’t progress, try somewhere else and come back later! Another thing to keep in mind is you’ll sometimes hear or see weird stuff on your journeys - it can be worth putting in some extra effort to see what the source is. Something that I would say is important for this is the map and quill you can buy in the shop in the first town. It updates when you sit down at a bench, so don’t worry if it doesn’t seem to “work” right away.

    If you’re having money troubles…

    Grab the “Gathering Swarm” charm from the store in the first town, go sit on a bench, and equip it. It won’t make your money problems disappear, but it’ll help.

    Enemy spawn mechanics

    Enemies only respawn when you sit on a bench. Yes, that goes for the entire map. Yes, I have cleared a significant number of enemies across multiple zones without sitting on a bench and verified this (it was to help me finish a specific side quest). No, bosses will not respawn.

    Hopefully this gives you a decent set of tips to get you started! I hope you enjoy your journey as much as I did when I played the first time!

      • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        My pleasure, I hope it helps! Just don’t get discouraged if you’re having trouble - there’s one platforming challenge (completely optional, don’t worry) that took me something like 2 or 3 days of 8-hour sessions to finally get through. Like I said, I’m not really a great gamer nowadays thanks to not having much time to keep my skills sharp (I used to play Kaizo Mario hacks on a regular basis when I was younger), but it was a compelling and enjoyable enough game to motivate me to keep going.

      • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’m so glad to hear it, and I hope you enjoy it if you do decide to pick it up! As for payment, my Hollow Knight evangelism is strictly because of how much I enjoy talking about it; the only payment I would ever accept is the team finally releasing their next game (Hollow Knight: Silksong).

      • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        I really am a huge fan of how you get tossed into this weird world, but slowly unravel what’s happening. Come for the cute bugs, stay for the weirdly compelling story of what’s going on with those cute bugs.

        • dog@yiffit.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          right? xD the soundtrack is what enticed me to stay the most, tbh. it’s phenomenal

          • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            Absolutely! I wound up getting the vinyls because of how good it is. What’s your favorite song? Mine is probably Reflection (the song that plays in rooms with healing springs)

            • dog@yiffit.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              that’s mine, too :3 and ofc, the title is super entrancing 💙

              • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Absolutely! I’m a sucker for leitmotif, so hearing it towards the end (avoiding spoilers still because of the number of people here that don’t seem to have played yet, but I think you know where) gave me tons of feelings after all of the other places it makes an appearance

    • Saga@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I thought “souls like” just means it’s hard as fuck and there is no easy mode.

      Whenever I see the “souls like” tag I just hard pass.

      • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s unfortunately become a catch-all phrase meaning “this is hard and you’ll die a lot, git gud lol.” In this case though, there’s a lot of parallels between Dark Souls and Hollow Knight on multiple levels: Themes, gameplay and design philosophies, how lore is dispersed… I can’t really elaborate without going into a ton of detail and spoiling things, but needless to say, there’s an actual reason for that tag here. I would also say that, while there isn’t a specific “easy mode” to switch to, there are different ways to tweak the difficulty while you play. Charm loadouts, putting extra time and effort into finding hidden power-ups (health expansions, for example), and the fact that some of the most challenging portions of the game are basically optional unless you’re looking to experience every piece of the lore personally.

        I personally don’t see any problem with just looking stuff up after playing the game if you’re satisfied with the experience you had, but your mileage may vary there - I don’t have as much time to spend on gaming, so my tolerance for grinding or bashing my head against a challenge repeatedly is directly tied to how fun the actual gameplay is for me. I was much more tolerant of the difficulty in Hollow Knight because the controls are so tight and responsive that it’s just fun for me to play and improve in.

      • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Thank you! Like I said, Hollow Knight is possibly one of my favorite games, so if there’s a way I can possibly make it more accessible for more people to experience without also spoiling that experience, I’m going to take it. I could gush on and on about how great everything about it is (art, music, story, mechanics, design, etc.) but it’s one of those things where it’s best experienced for yourself.

        • UprisingVoltage@feddit.it
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          A friend of mine started playing it some months ago (it was her first game of this kind). After the first boss they went “YAY! I’ve beaten the game”. I let them enjoy the feeling for a second before revealing the truth lol.

          They eventually dropped it because it was becoming too difficult (which it is, especially if you’re not used to hold a controller), but I plan on convincing them to give it a second chance

          • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            Oh, that’s heartbreaking lol, I can’t imagine the sorrow they must have felt!

            If they don’t take to it after trying to convince them again, maybe you could offer to stream it for them? I did that for a friend of mine who isn’t great at games - we sat on the couch together, I played through, and we talked about things as they were happening (and I gave chunks of lore as they became appropriate to discuss). I like doing that for games I really want my friends to experience if they aren’t interested in playing themselves, since you can kind of be a tour guide and make sure they get to see things that you might have missed your first time playing through, and you get to spend time hanging out with that friend. I’ve done similar with Undertale to great effect!

            • UprisingVoltage@feddit.it
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              Unfortunately it’s not really my cup of tea (I enjoy watching it too, but it’s not one of those game I’d like to play if I have time to). I’ll try with other games I enjoy more though

  • groggy@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    1 year ago

    There’s been some great advice in this thread. In the future though here’s a shout out for one of my favorite wikis out there, the before I play wiki .

    It’s great and has useful tips for all kinds of games. Good luck in Hollownest!

      • groggy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        No problem! Don’t forget to contribute if you think you have some good spoiler free tips 😁

    • Deebster@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      What a great resource; I love how it’s just the information in a neat bullet list - it’s like how the internet was meant to be.

  • nadiaraven@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    If you find yourself in a fight that you keep dying to, you may try exploring other areas to make progression elsewhere before coming back and trying again.

  • croobat@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    Man I envy you so much right now, just go blind. You may get lost a little bit but just enjoy the ride. I won’t exaggerate but it may be the greatest game in human history :)

  • Rhabuko@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 year ago

    Don’t look up walkthroughs until you’re really stuck for a long time. Discovering stuff is a huge part of the game and part of the fun.

  • chaNcharge@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    You’ll get lost and die a lot, maybe even take a break for a while then come back to it. But that’s the best part

  • Alkalyon@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    Getting lost is part of the experience.

    I got lost on where to go countless times. The initial response of your brain is This is not fun. I braved through it and instead said I need to get lost less so I invested more time to getting maps and mark dead-ends or impassable places and it made the game one of the best games I’ve ever played.

  • bbbhltz@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    Die and retry… I made it to 98% but it goes to 112% I believe.

    Also, it is gorgeous and the music is awesome and those 6 beetle things still haunt my dreams.

  • Linnce@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    Know that you can pogo (attack down on spikes, enemies and mushrooms) and get a little boost up. I didn’t know this on my first playthrough which made navigating through the jumping platforms sooo much harder than it should.

    • DarbyDear@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is definitely a great technique to bring attention to and I considered mentioning it too. I opted for a more general batch of tips, hopefully the “tutorial” for pogoing hits its mark… There’s a room with floating spike chunks that leads to either a money node or a collectible (can’t remember which offhand), and that’s supposed to be a hint that you can pogo on spikes. I only tried after my third time passing it though, since I thought maybe there was a power-up later that I could use until I decided to say screw it and gave it a try.

  • treeantlers@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    I LOVE Hollow Knight. It’s one of those games I wish I could erase from my mind and play from scratch again. As someone relatively new to gaming (when I started playing), it was infuriatingly hard at times. But it definitely made me a better gamer – probably moreso than any other game I’ve played.

    My advice would be to definitely pick it up and give it a try. Don’t be too intimidated. The music and art are gorgeous and it’s an absolute blast once you get into it! And if you get frustrated, take a break and come back a little while later. I had so many occasions when I immediately succeeded after a 30-45 minute break.

    Also: I agree with what everyone says about not looking stuff up unless you have to. Spoilers make the exploration aspect way less fun and exploring is one of the best parts.

  • TheiaTheMoonMaker@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    I was in the exact same boat you are now before I played. I almost never play platformers, and so even though I owned Hollow Knight, I always left it for some imaginary day when I felt up to it.

    By complete coincidence though I also owned Steamworld Dig 2, due to loving Steamworld Heist by the same developer and wanting to see more of the world they’d created. Not feeling as intimidated by Steamworld Dig 2 because it didn’t have the same difficult reputation as Hollow Knight, I gave it a try.

    It couldn’t have worked out better. Not only is it an amazing game in its own right, but the difficulty curve was absolutely perfect to prepare me for Hollow Knight. After finishing Steamworld 2 I was still craving more gameplay of that type, and was able to jump right into Hollow Knight and the difficulty just felt natural and achievable, since it was relatively close to the difficulty Steamworld 2 had ended on. The games are similar enough that my skills carried over, and I honestly think it helped me get the most out of Hollow Knight as a player who never played similar games prior.

    That was my experience, and I’m always glad it worked out that way because now I love Hollow Knight and it’s one of my favourite games. So for anyone who has any doubts about their ability to play Hollow Knight due to their inexperience with the genre, playing Steamworld Dig 2 first may set you up perfectly to tackle Hollow Knight. It did for me, and I had a blast with both games.

    • Dream_state@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Dude this is so weird. I started Hollow Knight a week ago, couldn’t beat the first boss and quit. I saw Steamworld Dig 2 and having loved the first one on Vita I booted it up on steam. Hard but chill, so when I finish that I’ll go back to HK :)

      • TheiaTheMoonMaker@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s kind of amazing. :) I hope it works out for you the same as it did for me.

        I’ve never had an experience like that before where one game prepped me to be better at and have a better time with another, and I always just thought it was really neat that it worked that way.