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Also knowns as: I don't know how to title a thread to save my life! What is this game? Hollow Knight is a metroidvania made in February 2017 from Team Cherry, an Australia-based dev team. With a kickstarter goal of $35k and a final budget of $50k, Team Cherry worked for roughly 3 years on this game with relatively no fanfare or even basic advertising. Now out on Steam and planned for the Nintendo Switch and maybe the WiiU, this game made its debut with critical acclaim so far. And rightfully so too, because this game is drat gorgeous and incredibly designed from a gameplay standard. Hollow Knight chronicles the tale of Hallownest, a once-sprawling and advanced city network for bug civilizations up until it all mysteriously went to ruin. While the metropolis slumbers below, something within it rouses with an overwhelming anger. You play as a small beetle-like bug with no name, wandering through life until he finds his way to the town of Dirtmouth, which lays above the ruins of Hallownest. Spurned on by the drive for adventure and the general emptiness of Dirtmouth, our protagonist dives into the well that leads to the mysterious lands of Hallownest, seeking some goal that we are entirely unaware of. Gameplay-wise, Hollow Knight draws a lot of inspiration from classic metroidvanias such as Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid, but doesn't directly rip from them. You will spend most of your time exploring areas, collecting various powerups and fighting bosses to advance the plot. Naturally there will be all the tropes such as Double Jumps, Air Dashes, Charge Attacks, and even a psuedo-Shine Spark later on. Combat is very basic action platformy hack & slashy, with more of an emphasis put on reacting to whatever enemies throw at you rather than stringing sick combos together. You also have a "Focus Gauge" that you build up from attacking enemies and spend on either healing or other abilities to help keep the pace of exploration going while you're within the ruins. So. What sets this game apart from the pile of every other indie game ever? Hollow Knight is one of those games where it doesn't really innovate but rather polishes the design model to a mirror shine. This game is so huge and engaging that when I first picked it up I didn't put it down for the longest time. Exploration is fast with no real breaks in pace for resupplying, and each zone has its own unique flair to it that makes it stand out. Combat starts out simple but evolves with the game as you get mandatory unlocks and optional badges that wholly change the dynamic of the game system. Level design is probably the biggest thing that impressed me about this game, with several levels providing a decent challenge without ever breaking the atmosphere and world-building from the game's art direction. Finally, the game is gorgeous. This game only had two animators and a salaryman's budget, but it art direction and animation quality rivals that of most popular animated series' nowadays. Plans for this LP: Joining me for this LP is BigTUnit1 providing blind commentary and really good inquiries about the game. This is also my first-ever LP at 1080p/60fps. The LP itself has two goals: -100% the game. While this sounds like a simple thing, my first blind playthrough ran about 40 hours long. This LP will not last nearly as long, but the game's got content pouring out of its eyesockets. -While this may sound insanely petty, I'm really hoping this LP will convince people to buy the game. Now I won't be obnoxious about this at all and plug its purchase at every opportunity, but these devs are entirely dependent on viral marketing from online superstars and I'm hoping this LP will help get the word out about the game and how fantastic it is. -Though this isn't really a goal, this game is sprawling and doesn't gate you out of areas. While I've already kinda missed the first chance, I will try to find points to poll the audience on where to go next. This should make for a more dynamic exploration of the game that's outside of my comfort zone. Table of Contents Episode 1: The Forgotten Crossroads Episode 2: False Knight Episode 3: Greenpath & Hornets Episode 4: Exploring Greenpath & Beyond Episode 5: The Fungal Wastes Episode 6: Highwang Dies in Acid Episode 7: The City of Tears Episode 8: The Soul Sanctum Episode 9: The Royal Waterways Episode 10: The Resting Grounds Episode 11: The Crystal Caverns Episode 12: Isma's Tear Episode 13: The Ancient Basin Episode 14: The Kingdom's Edge Episode 15: The Infected Crossroads Episode 16: Deepnest Episode 17: The Hive Episode 18: The Queen's Garden Episode 19: The Tower of Love & Colosseum of Fools Episode 20: The Howling Cliffs Episode 21: The King's Brand Episode 22: The Abyss Episode 23: The 1800 Brain Knife Episode 24: The White Palace Episode 25: The Cleanup, pt 1 Episode 26: The Dreamers Episode 27: The Escort Quest Episode 28: The Radiance Episode 29: The Grimm Troupe Episode 30: ?????????? Appendix A: Zote's Precepts Appendix B: Colosseum of Fools Appendix C: Grubfly Cleanup Appendix D: Dream Trees Fanart! blankd liked our ideas for editing cards and hooked us up with custom art!   Fish Noise demonstrates why I loathe lore with rad art.   
Highwang fucked around with this message at 15:57 on Feb 6, 2018 |
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Apr 24, 2017 19:54
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 09:47 |
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Are there mosquito enemies in this one too?
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Apr 24, 2017 20:19
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This looks pretty cute and cool! It also helps you know what you're doing. That always helps
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Apr 24, 2017 20:41
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A very good game. As long as you don't mind bugs, of course. There are a couple of areas that make my skin itch.
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Apr 24, 2017 20:53
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That opening screen makes me think of the poster for My Neighbor Totoro.
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Apr 24, 2017 21:42
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I should really play more of this. I love the art design and the overall aesthetic of the game so I bought it pretty much right as it came out, but I only played about 6 hours of it. Got to a part that frustrated me a bit and just never got back to it.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:00
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A friend just gifted me this game so I think I might try a simultaneous playthrough.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:08
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Add another "I have this game and you should totally also have this game" recommendation to the growing pile.
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Apr 24, 2017 23:15
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Play this game. Now. Just do it already! This may well be the best metroidvania I have ever played.
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Apr 25, 2017 00:26
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I like the game a lot but I've run out of patience with metroid-like backtracking, it seems, so I've stalled out. Highwang will probably pull ahead of me pretty fast.
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Apr 25, 2017 01:08
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loving beautiful game, I beat it in around 20 hours and at 75%. I'm interested in seeing how you go about 100%ing it compared to where I said gently caress it and gave up in pursuit of plot. Definitely recommended for anyone who like the genre
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Apr 25, 2017 03:59
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the protag is a stag beetle so your name is right this is a Hercules beetle 
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Apr 25, 2017 06:05
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This game is a far better 2D Dark Souls than Salt & Sanctuary. Everyone should play it. Edit: I'm glad that Quirrel gets to be on the promo image. He's really likeable and I don't know why.
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Apr 25, 2017 07:29
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I really like this game and seeing more people discover it is pretty great, hope your lp goes well 
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Apr 25, 2017 08:52
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Are swords called nails because... all the characters are insects, and thus are small, so they actually use nails as swords?
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Apr 25, 2017 13:04
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Yes 
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Apr 25, 2017 13:14
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I had no idea that this game existed, but it's right up my alley, so I guess I get to be the first to say that this LP made me buy this game. You were talking about trying to nail the nature of the contrary tone, and the closest I can think of would be something cheerfully dismal like 
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Apr 25, 2017 16:10
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EDIT: Double post, sorry!
dancingbears fucked around with this message at 16:14 on Apr 25, 2017 |
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Apr 25, 2017 16:09
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Hollow Knight is incredibly good and I've been shamelessly attempting to badger my friends into purchasing it. I'm sitting at 92% completion and about 30 hours, myself (blind playthrough).
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Apr 26, 2017 00:06
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Aw, the little disappointed sounds the silkworm made when you couldn't make the jump over.
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Apr 26, 2017 03:45
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Very pumped about this - I'd had my eye on this game!
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Apr 26, 2017 04:17
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This game seems really cute, and it seems like it controls well. Is it friendly to filthy casuals like me, or is it more like shovel knight where if you didn't grow up playing Megaman you should probably pass on it?
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Apr 26, 2017 04:27
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PoptartsNinja posted:This game seems really cute, and it seems like it controls well. Is it friendly to filthy casuals like me, or is it more like shovel knight where if you didn't grow up playing Megaman you should probably pass on it? It's overall pretty forgiving. Until you reach an area late in the game,where it suddenly decides you're gonna have a bad time.
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Apr 26, 2017 04:38
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VolticSurge posted:It's overall pretty forgiving. Until you reach an area late in the game,where it suddenly decides you're gonna have a bad time. That area certainly makes up for lost time though. I'd say it's tougher than any part of Shovel Knight. That said, the rest of the game is pretty forgiving, at least critical path stuff is.
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Apr 26, 2017 04:56
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By the end of the game, you should be so familiar with those tight controls that it works out. And you can straight up cheese some of the bosses with the right set up. I really want anyone who's on the edge to give it a shot. It's so incredibly good! It's actually kinda sad that the thread in games has only one page.
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Apr 26, 2017 06:35
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Much like Grimrock 2 and Darkest Dungeon, your LP will likely decide for me whether I buy the game or not.
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Apr 26, 2017 07:43
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Definitely the best Metroidvania I played in years, probably competing with Aquaria for my favorite one period. Super glad someone is LPing it, more people should know about this game. e: The awesome thing about the spike bounce is that you'll most likely discover it when falling to your death and trying everything not to. I know I did. The Dark Souls parallels when it comes to a storytelling work... A bit too well in my opinion, but we'll get to that much later. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 11:07
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Highwang posted:Dirtmouth You have my attention. And now that I've watched the video, you still have my attention! This looks neat, and yeah, even from what we've seen thus far it looks like a skilled player could snap this game over their knee with movement tricks. vdate fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Apr 26, 2017 |
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Apr 26, 2017 16:57
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Nice intro video for the LP! Looking forward to more. I love this game. I finished my first playthrough at 80% completion and 40-odd hours and the least-good ending a couple days ago and am now collecting more things and aiming to try to get the better ending(s). Re: Difficulty, I found the boss battles pretty challenging (and some took quite a few tries), but the game is pretty fair in the Dark Souls sense -- moves are telegraphed, you can learn them, and you also can go get more skills, charms, etc, which help tip the tables in your favor as well. The first boss that I had a really hard time with is, I'm guessing, going to be the second one we see in the LP, and I made it way way harder for myself by a. not realizing there was a much closer bench to "save" at and b. not realizing at first that the battle cries were not specific attack cues, but *animations* were. When I started ignoring the sound and paying more attention to the boss's motion it suddenly got *way* easier... Re: Common weapons being referred to as "nails"... I'm not entirely sure if it's "nails like claws" or "nails like small pointy metal things" or a bit of both. Probably a bit of both?
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Apr 27, 2017 11:20
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Could also be "nails like cut off and discarded tips of human nails". They're bugs, who knows what their weapons are made out of.
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Apr 27, 2017 14:45
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Given that a later enemy has a weapon referred to as a needle and thread, it's the small metal pointy things.
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Apr 28, 2017 00:54
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This game is insanely good and isn't getting nearly as much attention as it deserves, everyone should buy it now.
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Apr 28, 2017 05:36
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SirSamVimes posted:Given that a later enemy has a weapon referred to as a needle and thread, it's the small metal pointy things. Plus, a bug that comes into contact with a nail (or more correctly, a pin) is probably dead and about to be nailed to a board. The relation nail=death seems pretty obvious.
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Apr 28, 2017 12:39
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Okay, I'd heard about this game but had no idea what kind of gameplay it had. Now I'm really tempted to buy it despite not having funds right now. Definitely putting it on my wishlist, though!
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Apr 29, 2017 03:11
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Thread title should clearly be This game has too many bugs. mateo360 posted:the protag is a stag beetle so your name is right Well uh, not quite. This game plays it pretty fast and loose with entomology. VolticSurge posted:It's overall pretty forgiving. Until you reach an area late in the game,where it suddenly decides you're gonna have a bad time. I'd say the opposite if we're talking about mandatory stuff. The game is really hard when you're starting out, but gets way easier as you go. Then you get to the optional endgame content...
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Apr 29, 2017 11:59
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Never heard about this before, but a atmospheric, well polished Metriodvania is exactly my poo poo. I'm probably not going to watch anymore videos, since I want to run through it blind, but, hey, you convinced another buyer.
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Apr 29, 2017 23:03
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Having just bought this the other day, and spending my entire sunday playing it, I'm eager to see how a skilled run of this goes. I got owned so hard when I got to a few specific areas. This game is so loving good, it's very much in my top five games of 2017 already. Far, far better than any of the past several metroid games, and definitely better than the Castlevania's in year's past.
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May 1, 2017 18:46
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New Update - Episode 2: False Knight Today we finish off the forgotten crossroads, which is a pretty huge area for a tutorial zone. I kinda like the size of the area at least, its just big enough for players to experiment with their controls and get used to the game alongside setting the atmosphere of this giant bug city that everyone forgot about. False Knight is a boss that can be surprisingly tough, mainly because of how little you realize you can do at the beginning of the game. He's got a halfway decent mixup game with his jumps, and not knowing about the projectile advantage from the falling debris can make the fight rather dire. I am curious about what the heck happened with that glitch though. We also get a cool new ability that I make great use of as the LP goes on. I do enjoy risk/reward options, and I feel like this new ability is an appropriate amount of reward for the healing you sacrifice.
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May 1, 2017 19:10
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The false knight was the 3rd boss I killed. When he fell I didn't chase him the first time and went through the gate that you can break. I was pretty dang confused on where to go like 5 hours later.
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May 1, 2017 20:09
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 09:47 |
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I'm fairly sure that bit about fast traveling to benches is a lie... Or did I miss something really useful and obvious?
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May 1, 2017 20:18
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