Everything is done- every ending, every achievement, everything save for the madness that is every radiant boss (which is not happening). And I feel empty.
I’ve spent 250 hours with this game, it’s frustrated me to the point of being physically incapable of playing (there’s a post on here from when I was stuck on hornet 2). But it’s also brought me so much accomplishment and happiness.
I’ve overcome things I never thought I would. At first, the goal was to beat the game. That was it. I thought broken vessel would stop me, then hornet 2, then the watcher knights. I did banishment in my first playthrough without even trying NKG because I completely ruled him out as a possibility. My first playthrough stopped at 108%- I beat the first pantheon and decided that was enough- I’d go clean up some achievements (speedruns, hunter’s mark, alternate choices) and possibly give NKG a go. But that would be it.
Well, my 13hr 100% run was a whole lot of fun and that save file continued. First NKG, which I thought wouldn’t be possible but I gave him a shot and decided to spend a day or two on him and I did it. I was so proud of myself. Then I managed to beat the radiance and that ending threw me into lore diving headfirst- I spent a while digging myself, and then bingewatched mossbag’s entire channel. I now know a little too much and I could write better essays about this game than my English GCSE set works. After that rabbit hole, I returned to the pantheons. At this point all I had left to do in the game was steel soul, the speedruns, ToF and the Pantheons.
I figured I’d give the first few a go. Pantheon of Hallownest was ruled out entirely. Well, I beat the first again. And then the second, and the third. Pantheon of the Knight opened up and it’s assortment of dream bosses had me convinced this was the place I’d stop.
And I did for a bit, opting to leave godhome for a bit to give the Trial of the Fool a go. That took a while, but I managed it somehow. I resolved to give the pantheon one shot and pack it in.
Well, I didn’t. I got to pure vessel after about 3/4 attempts (and a lot of godhome practice) and got pulverised, but within 30 minutes I had my first hall of gods victory. I was ecstatic- 112% was going to happen. That thing I had ruled out back when I was pessimistic about even making it to the final boss was within reach.
And sure enough, 2 pantheon runs later, I had my 112. And a desire to give the final pantheon a go.
I at least wanted to make it to AbsRad initially. That is, until I made it to markoth. 3 times in a row. And died to his bullshit arena. He was the one thing in the game that made me the closest to giving up. Some abuse of nail arts later, however, I got past him for the first time and stumbled my way through NKG and PV, getting down to 1 mask multiple times in both fights. But I did it, I made it to AbsRad.
She was a beast that took days to overcome in the hall of gods. Just getting through phase 1 took an hour. But I knew that if I could make it to AbsRad, I might just be able to actually beat the Pantheon of Hallownest, which seemed like wishful thinking.
But I was right. The first hall of gods victory came and I slowly got more consistent. I interspersed some NKG and PV into my attempts for a little variety, and over time those two became deeply ingrained in my muscle memory.
And 2 attempts later, I did it. I beat the pantheon of Hallownest. That ending was absolutely incredible to watch for the first time with an understanding of the lore. The cut to black at the end was so good. Of course, I immediately watched mossbag’s god master video after that.
Then came the SS speedrun, which went by in a flash. I was resolved to get my 100% and stop there. I have all achievements then, after all.
Of course I didn’t though. I went right up to 112%, for completions sake, but mainly to spend just a little longer in Hallownest. Nothing can be more satisfying than strolling into godhome and beating the first 4 pantheons in a row.
Beating pure vessel for the last time made me initially excited, but immediately sad. It was over.
For old times sake, I went onto my first save and back into the black egg to do “dream no more” one final time. Fighting the Hollow Knight and OG Radiance felt incredibly strange and it was so satisfying to see how much I’d improved since I last fought them. The sadness hit on the laser climb upwards. I did it. And it was really over. I sobbed during the credits. I don’t want to leave this game behind. I’ve never felt this for a game before- but it’s a bittersweet feeling.
This game isn’t leaving my memory any time soon. I’m still going to be listening to Mossbag videos like podcasts, and I’m probably going to enter a huge wave of creativity off the back of this game to keep it alive in my head for a little longer.
When I beat undertale I literally went on to arrange every single piece from the soundtrack for orchestra over half a year. I could name every track by number. I already feel something like coming on with hollow knight if I’m being honest. Being in Y11 sucks though, so I’m just going to have to keep myself up at night with all the ideas for arrangements I have whirling around in my head instead of acting on them.
This game is a masterpiece. And I can’t wait for silksong.
Submitted November 02, 2019 at 01:26AM by MusicalBrit https://ift.tt/2WATwKX
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