The Pale King just likes buzzsaws, ya know? It’s his hobby.
Before founding Hallownest, the Pale King was briefly governor of Texas.
Maybe Hallownest could’ve weathered The Radiance better if the Pale King didn’t spend 300% GDP on saw blades.
If it makes you feel better, there is only one area in the game where the platforming is comparable (in fact, it’s a good deal harder), and it offers literally no reward except a cutscene, so you can just ignore it if you’re frustrated enough by this (I know I was). Everything else, every hidden item and such, is much, much easier even when it’s just as far into the game.
Didn’t you know? Hollow Knight is Every Game
no fishing minigame but nice try
Fuck, you’re right. I revise my opinion on HK now and it is a trash tier game
I’m so out of touch… Is this that silk song thing? Can someone more with it explain why it’s so popular?
It’s Hollow Knight as BeanisBrain said, and it is the original game that Silksong is a sequel to. Here’s my little mini essay to answer your question:
It was a little indie metroidvania released in 2017 that fairly quickly ballooned in popularity, building up a surprisingly large fan base, becoming something of an indie sensation. Hollow Knight is now widely considered to be like the quintessential modern metroidvania, the name that always comes up whenever the genre is discussed. Even people who don’t really play MVs tend to know about Hollow Knight. Personally I think it’s a little overhyped myself and feel that there are other MVs just as good, on occasion even better, but it is undeniably a fun, addictive, and well-made game, with good reason for being considered a new classic.
The studio that created it announced that they were making a sequel to the game in 2019, naming it Silksong and saying they had intended it to be a DLC at first but that as it grew they decided it needed to be a standalone sequel. They included some impressive gameplay footage in that 2019 announcement, which made it seem like the release wouldn’t be too far off. Because Hollow Knight had become such a massive viral success, the hype for Silksong was unsurprisingly immense. But as the years went by with no word from the studio about progress, a lot of fans started getting frustrated and there were jokes and rumors that it wasn’t real, that it would never be released, that it was the new Half Life 3 (if you know about that saga). The “Silksong when?!” memes and vocal anticipation became almost as legendary as the original game.
Then just back in August, the studio put out the release trailer and gave a September 4th release date and people went nuts. A bunch of other games that had been slated for a September launch were postponed, their studios openly stating that they did not want to compete with Silksong and that magnitude of hype. The hour that Silksong released, Steam along with all of the console stores crashed from too many people trying to download the game. But now everyone who tried to download it upon release has it. And so e’erbody be playin’ it. Those who aren’t playing it, are playing the original, either as a replay to refresh their memories and prepare for playing the sequel, or for the first time, so as not to miss out or to learn why it’s the sensation that it is.
what are the MVs you’d recommend over it?
Sorry for the late response, but I would recommend Aeterna Noctis over Hollow Knight. When I said there are other metroidvanias on occasion better than HK, that’s probably the only one I would firmly plant there. There are many more that I think are just as good and may be arguably better, as in they’re better in some ways and Hollow Knight is better in other ways, but Aeterna Noctis is just in its own category for me. It’s definitely one of those games that is not for everyone though. I love it so much because of the platforming design, some of which is extremely difficult, but brilliant. If you don’t like difficult platforming, then you probably won’t gel with Aeterna Noctis. In many other ways it’s fashioned after Hollow Knight, like you can really feel how much HK inspired the mechanics of AN, though AN is even bigger, on a more grand scale than HK. Other games that are up there along with Hollow Knight in my opinion are Ender Lilies and Ender Magnolia, more so the latter. I would say that Grime is up there with Hollow Knight. The original Castlevania: Symphony of the Damned for sure. Possibly The Last Faith, maybe. Since BeanisBrain mentioned it, I agree that Axiom Verge is up there. Blasphemous is great too, like Frivolous_Beatnik said but I’d put it below Hollow Knight, and I would put Blasphemous 2 below the original (edit: they are also right that Silksong is harder than either Blasphemous game, by a mile). I would say I enjoyed Salt and Sanctuary as much or more than I enjoyed Hollow Knight, but I wouldn’t try to argue it’s better. There are plenty more I could recommend that I don’t think get the credit they deserve, but aren’t necessarily in the running with Hollow Knight.
Thanks. I will probably check these out. I really like cvsotn, and enjoyed bloodstainedrotn a lot. Hollow knight is one of my all time favourite games.
I bounced hard off ender lillies. Which is to say I adored it until it became very hard around 10 or 15 hours in, similar to blasphemous 1 although I think I got closer to the end. I have arthritic hands and not the best reaction speeds anymore.
Salt and sanctuary is a game I really want to like because the good bits are wonderful but my god it’s bleak and janky at points
I don’t know about recommend over, but I found Axiom Verge and Hero Core both very enjoyable. Axiom Verge is impressive in particular for being a solo effort, and Hero Core is free.
I’m obviously not her, but I can rec my recent art obsessions, Blasphemous 1 & 2. They’re beautiful games - like interactive Goya paintings with mechanics and style much closer to the “traditional” metroidvania. The second is a tighter game over all and it’s not necessary to have played the original.
(Funny that despite Blasphemous 2’s penitent self punishment theme and grim vibe, I’ve found Hollow Knight: Silksong to be much harder game, sometimes to a frustrating degree)
blasphemous 1 was too hard for me :(
I can’t personally say if the second is much easier but I’ve heard it said - it certainly seems much better balanced and more fluid; less clunky/jank.
The choice of three weapons gives you more options in combat and the big censer-flail is very easy to get used to and is a more forgiving, good beginner weapon that can serve well for most challenges.
Original Hollow Knight.
Hallow Knight is just a very good game that people got a little crazy waiting for the sequel, Silksong.
check the King of Hallownest’s steam account he has all the achievements and 500 hours of playtime
I was playing through the part before with the nice music thinking it was the hardest part of the game and then the music got sour
