The story of the game weird to fully explain as the game does not conatin any dialogue spoken in englih and all the lore can be found in cryptic dialogues with NPCs, Tablets found in the world, website, the artbook and
the archives found within the in game journals. However the community of Hollow Knight made a fantastic effort to analyse everything to learn as much as possible and form a lore,which is party correct based on team Cherry
responses. To give a very brief explanation,we re introduced to a bug kingdom known as Hollownest where a godly being called the Radiance began to control and brainwashed the bugs. Another godly being called the Pale King
rescued Hollownest by sealing the Rediance in the dreamworld. He then had the idea of trapping it within a hollow vessel called the hollow knight who was then sealed away and locked in a black egg sealed by 3 dreamers
who volunteer to be sacrifised as they admired the pale kings work. Two of them volunteer without anything in return while the third one queen Hera requested for the king and her to have a child to which he agreed.
By doing so, the Radiance was now sealed within a dream, trapped within the hollow Knight where it couldnt influence anyone, who was also trapped within the black egg which was also sealed. Everything was peacefull
for while up until the Radiance influence began to re appear in the world of Hallownest. This is pretty much the backstory of the game.(Stuff that the game states in dialogues and ancient tablets). The game then begins
by introducing our playable hero the knight who arrives in Hallownest. Its up to the player now to venture inside Hollownest, to break the 3 seals and pay a visit to the Hollow knight in order to see what is happening and why
the Radiance is influencing and polluting the world again. Needless to say the game contains 3 endings based on the players choices and adventures. The game basically "tells" the player,that based on how much they want to invest in
the game the more they 'll get to learn about it and it's story. Moreover Team Cherry released 4 free DLC expansions for the game. Some just introduced new area new foes and quality of life mechanicks , while others released post game
content alongside two different additional endings.Most known ones are the Grimm Troupe and Godmasters. Both of which will be looked more into down below.
The game begins by placing the player in Howling Cliffs. The player gets to control the knight, whose adventure begins once he arrvies in Dirtmouth and proceed to the well.
Being a metroidvania it means that the Knight will have plenty of abilities HOWEVER most of them are obtainable while proceeding with the game and exploring every location within the map
Some of the abilities are given directly to the players by pointing them to the direction they need to proceed while others can be obtain even after succesfully beating the final boss. Venturing around hallownest
is very relaxing, sure danger is everywhere but the world design is beautiful. There are benches and chairs everywhere around the world for the Knight to rest. Each bench the knights rest, will update the map
and at the same time act like a checkpoint, for the player to respawn. Most of the benches in are likely to have a quick travel system that the knight can use to change location. Each time a player visits a new location
they should seek the map maker in order for them to unlock the map. Death in the game can be very scary, if the knight hasnt rest ona bench in a while. When the knight dies, his Soul, alongside his Geo
are left behind, for the knight to return and re claim. The player dies, when an enemy strikes their last heart (hearts are located to left), drop on an instant death trap and in general hit from the maps traps.
The difficulty of the game is everywhere, it requests the player to always be on the edge, as traps and enemies can appear from everywhere, The only time the player is safe is next to a bench. When it comes to the boss battles
every boss can be succesfully beaten after certain deaths occur. They all have certain patterns that will most likely get the best from the players when they first fight them. most of the bosses deal one heart of damage
but some also have attacks that deal two hearts of damage. Moreover each some bosses also have Nightmare fights which are basically the upgraded version of the same boss.Lastly there's plenty of platforimng challenges
that await for the Knight to take on. Once again treasure every bench you can rest on.
The game has plenty of collectables for the players to venture around and collected. Hallownest has a treasure hidden in every corner waiting for the knight to discover. First things first, in order to power up the knight the
player will need to find plenty of items. The first type of collectibles are the Mask Shards.There's is a total of sixteen(16) shrads, each time a player collects a total of four(4), they gain one extra life point. The second form of
collectible that power up the knight are the vessels fragments. Theirs a total of nine(9)and each set of three(3) reward the player with an extra set of container that stores soul for the player to cast spells. The third and fourth form
of collectables are the three nail arts and the spells with their respective shade form.
Moreover there are the Charm Notch. There is a total of eleven(11) of them and they are used to store the other collectable which are the charms.
theres a total of fourty-two(42) Charms. Each of them have their own abilities and its up to the players to experiment in order to find the combination that they prefer. Some of the charms, power up the mellee or the spells, some grant
summoned allies that fight alongside the Knigh, others help restore soul or Heal faster. Some grand extra blue lives or help the knights manuvering abilities. Theres plenty of them and some of them can even combine with each other wich
increases the ammount of combinations to be tested. An extra form of collectable are the grubs. The grubfather lost fourty-six(46) grubs and request the knight to help him find them. Each time the knight frees a grub the grubfather will
reward the knight with plenty of geo(money), mask fragments and charms.Last but not least theres plenty of collectable items such as maps, materials you can exchange for money, items to see in the dark and others.
There is a location known as the Colosseum of fools where the player can challenge themselves in a set of three colloseum fights. These are waves with diferent mobs that are attaccking the player while also having to balance life
mana managment and platforming skills.Hollow knight's free expansion also introduced plenty of postgame content. For example the Grimm troupe. Grimm gives the player a pet and tells them to venture in Hallownest in order to kill
a set of three enemies in order for a ritual to take place. Each set of three the knight kills while equiped with the pet allows that pet to grow. Each time a set is complete report to Grimm. On the second set, Grimms boss fight,br>
is unlocked and on the third set the Utimate Grimm Fight is unlocked known as the The Nightmare King. It's a very interesting DLC that also has plenty of lore hidden behind it. The Godmasters DLC is known as boss rush content.
In the first three panthenos, the knight fights in an arena of 10 rounds. Each pantheon has boss batlles that were not in the actual game. The pantheon of hallownest the last of the pantheons request the player to fight all 48 bosses,
including the final two in their more powerful form. Last but not least the god home also has a museum where the player can chalenge each boss individually and also chalenge themselves with
tasks like, one shot kill, no health recovery,less soul casting, less damage ouput and so on. The god home also introduced two different alternative endings.
The music and the graphics are unique to the game. The music knows how to set the mood. Whether you venture inside a wild forest,a bee hive or inside a spider nest the music keeps the sound calm and the sound effects used from
the enemies creates the horrific event of what awaits the player in the other side of the room. During the boss fights the music becomes wild and intense , to join in the action that is happening in the boss room. Needless to say
the chaos that occurs inside the room is fantastic. A very nice detail is that each time the knight is striked down the bass boosts indicating the hit that occured. Other details that can be seen is from area effects. Burned enemies
leave a battle cry while they re on the gorund burned with somked effects, and enemies that drop in toxic waters melt inside leaving a powerfull effect. As mentioned above every bech has a very beautiful view of the environment
with a very calm and relaxing music. This is top tier, as it matches the saying, calm before the storm. Each bench is very close to an elite soldier or boss room. For a game its size the game has plenty of unique map designs, each very
different from the others. At the same time the game has around 177 enemies with 47 being bosses.
This is a video of me reviewing the game