A community for fans of Team Cherry's hit indie Metroidvania game Hollow Knight
I'm still playing through the late game, but a couple things come to mind:
My favorite boss fight, from late Act 2...
I absolutely loved the First Sinner fight - very fast paced but not too punishing, perfect for getting you into the flow state where you feel like you are just kicking ass.
And a moment from early Act 3 which I just went through today...
In the fight with the Bell Eater, when Bell Beast comes to your rescue... and then meeting the Bell Beast babies <3
Tap for spoiler
I thought Eira had mutated at that point and I was fighting her. Imagine my relief.
Oh yes, both are great moments to experience.
Regarding the first boss fight: I also really liked it, even though I died multiple times. It had the same feeling as Nameless King in DS3: hard, but well telegraphed attacks, so I could only blame myself for not evading and getting hit.
I loved the entirety of the game but two specific points come to mind:
End of the Slab
I love how Hornet breaks the neck of the bug imitating her and her original theme starts playing.
Leaving the lowermost region of the map the first time
The build-up to the first trailer music (and the main part too, of course) when escaping the Abyss felt otherworldly.
Yeah, the whole Slab was such a well done experience. I'm not sure I will like it in subsequent playthroughs, but experiencing it for the first time? Wonderful!
Hornet slapping NPCs! :D
I was debating if I should put it in my top 3 moments, because yes, it's so satisfying to see somebody not taking shit for once. And the first and second time was surprising, the third one I expected with giddy anticipation. =D
Ant boss
The fight against a certain singing boss was amazing. I didn't like act 3 all that much, but that was a great moment.
Yeah, it helped making the multiple attempts much less aggravating to have the wonderful song.
And I'm curious, what did you not like about act 3?
It felt a bit aimless compared to the previous acts. I wasn't really given much direction besides going back to old areas, and what I found there was a bit underwhelming at times.
I think it will be much better once Team Cherry adds some DLC, like they did in the original. Right now, it just doesn't feel quite as good as the previous 2.
There were a lot of great moments, but just like in Hollow Knight, I think the final cutscene of act 3 was so good, it outshines everything else before it.
For me there were many wonderful moments, but if I need to name the top 3 the following come to mind:
Red Memory
I love that they kept the idea of daughter of three queens. Seeing hornet growing up was great to see and little hornet was just too adorable. And the lore implications are also fascinating. Playing through this part I was practically giddy the whole time.
Finding out what the Needoline does
This one is just a personal one, but it exemplifies why i love the way Team Cherry does game design.
When I gained the Needoline, I immediately thought about the weavergates, even before it appeared in the tutorial, but I did not realise that it's the dream nail equivalent. So I just thought: hey, new power. And the hermit below Bellhart was dissing me for being a slave. Let's show him my new power. Maybe something new will happen.
And then of course there was a lovely singing from him, but I thought that was only a special interaction there. I then went to Halfway Home and while seeing the barkeeper I thought, hey, I'm in a tavern, let's play some music. And then I realised: Ooh, it seems all NPCs are singing when I play, nice. I still somehow didn't understand that it's the dream nail equivalent though.
That came when I left the tavern to the right, where you go into the tunnel. The pilgrims on that side are singing there when idly and that made me stop and say: wait a minute! And then I finally learned what this thing does.
That would not have been possible if they simply said in the beginning: oh and it let's you see peoples thought.
Ending of act 2
I'm a sucker for video game unique mechanics and that they updated the UI to show the power that Hornet was stealing from grandma was such a genius way of accomplishing that. They didn't need to do it, but it's just that little bit of extra that makes me love Team Cherry.
Regarding your third point,
Using a glitch that at present remains unpatched, you can actually steal that ability and keep it semi-permanently, with weird gameplay altering implications. Alas it doesn't make you invulnerable as the health bar masks would suggest, but it does allow you to accumulate silk infinitely with the only upperbound limit being your patience in farming for it.