Topic: Hollow Knight

How long is the game? I am still on the fence of buying Hollow Knight or Shovel Knight (I still hope for a physical release). I played through the main / first campaign of Shovel Knight on Wii U and loved it. Took me 7-8 hrs .

@LilVoidBoy
thanks, you convinced me! I bought it yesterday and played for 3-4 hrs. Great game, couldn't put it away

Didn’t expect too much from the game but bought it because hype.. and now I can’t put it down. One of the biggest surprises for me in 2018. Never heard of it before.
I had a few frustrating deaths and losing many Geo which resulted with rage quitting but this game just kip calling me back.

And I can’t believe it was made by such a small team! They released 3 free DLCs already and one more coming soon! Even Zelda had paid dlc and this guys not charging for dlc.. that’s rare these days.

Wish you luck Team Cherry and kip making games, you’re doing great!

Same here - lost 1000 Geo because I wanted to check out an unknown area before putting it in my account - I died and before I could reclaim my soul, I died again.

oh man - this game is really great. I just can't put it down. There is always something to explore and after visiting 11 areas and having the maps, I still miss some abilities to progress any further in some areas. I still can't access areas that are protected by a crumbling floor, or I can't dash upwards or swim in waters (if possible) or pass through pouring water. This world is really big and some villains are really difficult. Just love it! It is definitively worth the money!

Could be true but I rarely buy games I don't know much about. This time I am quite surprised of the quality for such a cheap title. It is so well done. Nintendo should buy that company or make them create more games for switch. Everything is just so well crafted (art style, World map, the way you progress). It feels like a triple A title

Yesterday evening, I finally got the power up that let my reach higher platforms. But man, fighting Lost Kin the dream world was a pain in the ass. It took me almost 2 frigging hours to win this fight but ultimately I did it. Felt great even when the reward was not that great.

I still miss a lot of charms. Not really sure where I will get all these because I have the feeling that I visited quite a lot of areas already. There are a lot of character I met that didn't do much except for talking. But we will see.

If I had to compare that game with Metroid Return for the 3DS - this here is much better. And way more difficult which is a good thing.

I still don't get why people call it a Metroidvania style game and not just a Metroid like game. Some Castlevania games adopted Metroid's exploring approach but it wasn't a new kind of genre.

I notice a few people saying it's taken them a few hours to get into this, and I can see why. So many 'metroidvania' type games just drop you in and leave you to wander aimlessly until something clicks, and that's how this has started for me. I know there was some brief intro stuff that probably set me on my way, but 5 minutes later and that's forgotten and I'm just wandering around.

It seems the environment and the enemies respawn every time you leave the room, so you can't easily see where you've already been. So with no clear destination to head for or objective, I'm just having to look at the pretty pictures.

I was sold on the art design of this the day I saw it on Steam, but I just wish I had a bit more sense of purpose to get into it.

Guacamelee is probably the best metroidvania I've played, because failing everything else you look at the map and it tells you which direction you should head in, if nothing else.

Finally started playing it for first few hours and managed to defeat around two bosses!

It's really fun and easy to just relax on bed and play it, glad I double dipped and stop playing PC version for this one

@Tsurii I played a bit more earlier this morning so now I have the first map and the charm for displaying my position, thanks. But it wasn't a fun process. When I first started I went in the opposite direction to where the map guy is. Then I eventually found him and he wants money, so I have to get some geo. Then I have to go back up top to the shop... to only find out that I need a fair bit more money to buy the charm, so back down I go and start collecting geo. I then got the required amount but died on the way back, so got put back on the bench at the top and had to go back down and try and remember where my ghost would be. Then go back to the top for the charm... it just kinda felt a bit too grindy and like busy-work.

If they'd just been a character at the top explaining that the cartographer is somewhere down there, and then the cartographer was able to tell me the prices in the shop, and you didn't get sent back to the bench if you died, then it would have been a smoother, less frustrating introduction for me.

Just picked this one up, can't wait to get started on it.

Good lord, I hadn't had much of an issue with any of the bosses until now, but the Watcher Knights were incredibly annoying and killed me close to ten times.

I finally discovered that the Weaversong charm is AMAZING for this fight, as they do pretty much constant damage to the bosses, allowing me to focus on dodging and healing.

The Quick Focus charm is also REALLY good when you buy it from that flamboyant grub... thing. Allowing much quicker healing is always a great boon, especially if you're struggling with certain bosses and need to take them down in a more methodical fashion.

Although, I find that if you play aggressively with charms that foster that like quicker and wider/longer nail slashes, the game becomes much more manageable to deal with than slower, careful play. Just me though.

Also, one big tip for all bosses: watch carefully what everything does and learn it by heart. There's always some sort of pattern, no matter how subtle it is. When you learn it all, nothing can stand in your way.

I am always using this one in battles

@EvilLucario Quick Focus was a necessity for me. I barely found opportunities to heal, even with it equipped, considering they only stop for a second or so before rolling or bouncing across the screen again. I ALMOST got them by going full agro with Thorns of Agony, Fragile Strength, and Spore Shroom, but I ended up dying and breaking Fragile Strength. Same with another Fragile Charm on a different attempt.

In the end, the winning combination for me was Weaversong, Quick Focus, and Soul Capture.

@NintendoPete Yeah, I think I'm leaving it permanently equipped now. It's way more effective than Spore Shroom or Thorns of Agony.

@Ralizah On my first playthrough, I camped Quick Focus like nothing else because I was still learning the enemy patterns and I needed an easy way to recover while I learned. But after knowing how mostly everything acts, I stopped using it to instead get different charms that increased my attack power.

Alternatively, if you can't ever find a way to heal mid-battle, there exists a charm that boosts your health by a lot, but removes your ability to heal.

okay - so yesterday evening I managed to open Black Gate but didn't enter because I still miss the skill to go through the black bleeding gates or whatever. I thought the King's brand would do the trick but it didn't. After walking around aimlessly for hours I caved and looked up online. Seems that I already visited the area and did everything there so I marked it as complete. Maybe after getting the King's brand you got a hint that I forgot.

Even though I am almost through the game I have no idea where to sell stuff and I miss one attack skill. At the beginning I never used markers on the map. That was probably not the best idea.

Watcher knights are kicking my butt. I can't beat the last two for the life of me. I could leave, but I refuse to leave and go grind more.

I love this game but I never need to hear metroidvania ever again.

Man - I was so stupid. Actually the location you need to see after receiving the King's brand is quite easy to find when you pay attention to the location's names I am now at the point where I could go battling the last boss, but before I would like to do more stuff. Right now I am at the Pale Palace to get the second white fragment. Then will do the next side quest where I have to deliver a flower from the very east to the very west. After that I will take a look at a wiki to see what else there is to discover. So much is there that can be easily overlooked or that I forgot - especially from the first couple of hours. And I still haven't found a way to sell stuff I won't bother collecting all essence but managed to get over 1800 for the awakens nail. Some boss fight are really challenging so that it take me more than an hour to beat specific bosses. I like this kind of challenge.

Every time I thought I have seen everything in this game I discover something new. Really well done and rewards players to explore everything and finding further power ups that you do not need necessarily to finish the game.

I would also like to upgrade my nail but the Smith wants 3 ores but I only have one left and don't know where to find the rest.