Hollow Knight

The music may be key to this game. I read somewhere that the design team was super small but they decided to splurge on an outside composer, which was smart.

absolutely. Crystal Peak might have ended me without the music

I believe u all but I have been playing this one on mute/listening to podcasts a fair amount

I stumbled into the City of Tears and crawling without a map was some stressful stuff!

All of the audio design in this game is A++; the music, the sfx, the way the volume momentarily cuts out when you get hit, (my favorite) the wonderfully expressive gibberish voice-acting.

Yeah the voice acting rules.

Geo, kalala!

the sound of opening up a hidden passage with your nail is so satisfying

Ok I went back and found the Mantis Lords. Haven't gotten through it yet but I can see how it's done.

The Mantis Lords are surprisingly easy once you get their pattern down. The Watcher Knights on the other hand...(I'm still stuck here)

^ hit the Watcher Knights the other day and while I know tanking up isn't really the solution to these bosses I had no real ideas about them

Are they the four or five knights that sort of roll around in pairs? Make sure you have upgraded your nail at least once or twice before you fight them. There's also a trick to get the chandelier to kill one of them...

What constitutes tanking up in this game, upgrading your masks and getting cool charms?

My nail is on upgrade 2 and I've done the chandelier trick as well. My biggest problem seems to be dodging one's roll attack and getting hit by the other's bounce (or vice versa), or getting smacked while healing. I've tried all kinds of peculiar charm loadouts to help. I think I just have to git gud as they say.

I want to say that/those boss/bosses gave me the hardest time. Oh, wait, there is a magic ground smash attack that I think helped, I forget what power that was ...

Ok I beat the Mantis Lords and it was extremely satisfying.

I tried my hand at the Mantis Lords unsuccessfully. Am I right that they attack too quickly to heal? I got as far as the 2-vs-1 portion and then their double projectile attack pwned me hard.

Then I tried to fight the Soul Master. He can kiss my butt.

0 for 2 against bosses tonight.

I used a key I found on a random door, and it opened up an empty "house of pleasure" which seems to be for world building -- then I found a breakable wall and got into two new zones, wtf.

*sigh* bapanada

I found that the projectile attacks were the only chance to heal, especially when there were two of them (they descend more slowly, and if you stand in the middle they'll just miss you much of the time). But then again I was using a Quick Focus charm that I bought from the large slug lady.

But then again I was using a Quick Focus charm that I bought from the large slug lady.

I *think* I've found her but the charm is apparently 800 geos, and instead I splurged on a simple key. :\

fwiw I put off fighting the Mantis Lords for a really long time. There's a ton of other stuff you could do first

I'm not sure where I'm 'supposed' to go now, I guess back to poking around in the City of Tears? I did beat that Soul Master boss down there.

you have a few options iirc, though that might depend on whether you've bought the lantern yet or not. But even without that, the ability you get from the Soul Master should lead you to some new area(s)

I'm having fun just wandering around, filling in small portions of the map.

I bought the QF charm and that was all the difference -- beat both the Mantis Lords (which makes traversing Mantis Village so much easier) and Soul Eater!

I love the gibberish voice acting on this. So diverse and silly.

I think I'm pretty far into the game. I just got the upgrade that lets you deal with those shaky floors. None of those 3 boss icons have been dealt with, though.

I'm around the same place and feel like I've barely cracked the surface.

Shaky floors? You mean what lets you slam through them? I love the violence of that and a few other upgrades. You bounce and hop around, but a few on them are like BLAM, out like a bullet.

Got my double jump, acid immunity, and second nail upgrade yesterday!

I love how there is no specific order for the upgrades.

Watcher Knights ugghhhhhhhhhhh I even cheated and looked up where to get a Pale Ore because I hadn’t found any and that helped but not enough. Trying the same boss for two hours is the woooooorst

I finally got the poison water immunity, somehow I missed it (and the map) when I went through its area. Also got the extra jump and the third sword upgrade.

I tried to beat a hard boss but died over 10 times. Think I'll explore some more. Got to remember to use that teleport sword power more often -- I've wasted a lot of time moving back to places I die.

There's a way of preemptively killing one of the Watchers, if you haven't tried that. Otherwise, try to isolate the Watchers because when they do different rolls at the same time from the same direction, it's virtually impossible to dodge. Also, get good at down slammed.

I had Defenders Crest and the thorn charm equipped too to do as much damage as possible.

I don't think I ever got a sword teleporter!

watching this thread has gotten me back into this game! i've put 18 hours into it and i'm way behind everyone else. i definitely haven't gotten a sword teleporter, and i only have the double-jump, not the triple.

I got nowhere with the Watcher Knights for a long time, couldn't even beat one. So I went off and did everything else I could (including looking up a whole not-very-obvious area and getting the reward for finishing it) and came back and then beat them on my second go. The upgrade from the very bottom of the map was the one that made the biggest difference.

Also, get good at down slammed.

This should read down slash.

Thanks for the tips, I didn’t actually get what Defender’s Crest did before. I beat them!

Here’s a fun thing, try having the Womb and Defender’s Crest on at the same time. It buffs your bugs! At least I think that’s what is doing it.

Just found the watcher knights myself. Even with the nail upgrades it was hard.

What charms are you guys using? I use a bunch of cheap ones, the sprint (I think this is DLC), dashmaster and mark of pride (aka really long nail). For bosses I put in quick charge.

I almost always used the map, long nail, quick focus and a couple of the smaller ones I can't remember. the one you get from the bee Knight or whatever is useful for some specific tasks.

If I'm just wandering around I use the compass, Grubsong, Longnail, Soul Catcher, and something else, usually Baldur Shell, though Quick Focus is great and Steady Body is kind of a must in some spots. I recently got a fun one that makes three little spider friends who attack enemies and gather soul for you, but I don't use it much since in certain environments they are useless. Stalwart Shell has been useful in a few specific situations.

I am bad at bosses and often have to use weird charm combos on them. Just beat this dude in Royal Waterways by maxing out my spell power with at least two charms and then just blasting it with Shade Soul. Other times I've used a few passive-damage ones like Defenders Crest and Dreamshield. Shamefully, I accidentally beat the mantis lords posthumously with this technique.

I do wish you got more notches more easily just because it's fun to experiment, but I can't imagine ever sacrificing three slots for, say, Flukenest even though it sounds intriguing

Dreamshield! I used that a lot.

I'd probably use it more but it's a little distracting. def a go-to when trying to crack a boss fight

I used Dreamshield a bit and it fit my play style of moving around rapidly and randomly hitting enemies -- but 3 slots was too much.

For normal wandering, I use Wayward Compass, Gathering Swarm, Longnail, Thorns of Agony pretty much all the time, and I fill out the rest of my notches with stuff like Steady Body (which really helps when you need precision jumping with enemies around).

For bosses, Quick Focus is a must, and if I'm resorting to cheese, Thorns of Agony and Defenders Crest. I might try Dreamshield on the current Warrior Dream that I'm stuck on.

So for the boss that you fight more than once, it's still remarkably hard even despite all the upgrades I've gotten!

It seems I'm way closer to the end than I realized! Is there a point of no return, or can I keep roaming around after beating the game?

I think it's the latter but I'm probably about at the same spot you are