Après avoir redémarré mon fichier de sauvegarde, J'ai enfin « compris »’ chevalier sépulcral
Les fonctionnalités de Soapbox permettent à nos rédacteurs et contributeurs individuels d'exprimer leurs opinions sur des sujets d'actualité et des sujets aléatoires qu'ils ont réfléchis.. Aujourd'hui, Jim is finally seeing the Hollow light…
L'année dernière,, I decided to take a break from Les larmes du royaume and pick up a fun-looking, rarely discussed indie which was subject to a tasty little eShop discount at the time. Le jeu s'appelait ‘chevalier sépulcral‘, or something like that, and I put a decent amount of time into it before getting stuck, putting my controller down and never thinking about it again.
In truth, I had a lot of fun with what I played of this game you’ve probably never heard of. I rated the movement, the combat was fun and I was enjoying the sense of exploration. My first 20 hours in Hallownest was a good time, mais c'était seulement a ‘good time’. A life-changing experience this was not.
As it turns out, this forgotten gem is getting itself a sequel — every day’s a school day, eh? - et, as excited anticipation for it increased, conversations started to bubble up about how its predecessor is one of the best of the best, une top-tier metroidvania, something to lose sleep over. [Okay, okay, enough of this pretend forgetfulness! – Éd.]
What I had seen was perfectly neat, but it wasn’t all that. Had I missed something? Was I playing it wrong? Clearly not content to let everyone have their own opinion, I decided that the only thing I could do would be to dive back in and see if I could find this secret sauce that everyone else seemed so hooked on
I am a sucker for a map marker.
I am a sucker for a map marker, so upon being shown the locations of the three Dreamers one year ago, I made that my ultimate mission. I sped past the environmental storytelling, gave newly opened routes the cold shoulder and left anything that didn’t feel absolutely essential in the dust. Playing in such a manner, I ticked Herrah the Beast off the list and then burnt out.
This time, I dropped back into my original save and wandered around for a bit only to discover that I had no idea where I was or what I was supposed to be doing, beyond getting those two other Dreamers. Frustrated that my memory hadn’t retained every nook and cranny of a massive and detailed map after a year of not looking at it, I scrapped that old file and started from scratch.
In case you haven’t guessed already, it was here that I found the secret sauce.
Now I was armed with a different attitude. Forget completion rates, I was here for a good time et a long time. I took things slowly, resisted the urge to run straight to the Dreamers and instead focused on exploring every passage open to me.
My map became a wash with pins — bought from Iselda’s shop in Dirtmouth — as I patiently marked spots that weren’t accessible to me right now, but ones I knew I wanted to check out later. I made sure that areas were thoroughly cleared (to the best of my knowledge) before moving on. Black pins marked spots where the ground shook until I unlocked Desolate Dive, red pins signposted a double jump platform before I found the Monarch Wings, and yellow pins highlighted long gaps in my pre-Crystal Heart days.
The genius of Hollow Knight isn’t in its combat or movement… but in the design of Hallownest itself
I primarily used these pins to help distract me from the three Dreamer icons, but over time they came to serve a much more important purpose: they let me properly explore. Free from the shackles of objectives, I could look deeper into Hallownest and see the beauty therein. The one thing that had completely passed me by originally (and the reason I kept coming back this time) was the worldbuilding and all that lore — so much lore.
The genius of Hollow Knight isn’t in its combat or movement (though they do both slap) but in the design of Hallownest itself. I started exploring every corner of the kingdom not to check off some self-prescribed objective, but to learn more about the infected wasteland that surrounded me — be that via a tablet, Dream Nail text or Wanderer’s Journal sales.
Mentally, I began threading together every nugget of lore that I could get my hands on. Most were nothing but some neat colouring, adding to my image of the fallen kingdom and its inhabitants. Autres (*cough* The Abyss *cough*) had me sitting with my jaw open as my perception of the entire game changed. “Wow, more people really need to play this,” Je pensais, turning a blind eye to 3,684 video essays titled ‘Hollow Knight lore EXPLAINED’.
With this understanding of the kingdom came a deep sadness that had completely passed me by on a first playthrough. Le Kingdom’s Edge music was just soothing one year ago; why does it now make me cry? And don’t even get me started on those NPCs. The lore meat that they bring to the table varies, but good lord was I emotionally invested in their arcs. It’s totally normal to mourn a fictional bug, droite?
It’s totally normal to mourn a fictional bug, droite?
And so, after 22 hours of learning about infections, fallen kings and sacrifices, I finished the game. Au moins, I finished ‘The Hollow Knight’ ending of the game. I think it will be a hot minute until I head back in for some final Dream Nail action to unlock what I understand to be a more satisfying conclusion, but I am perfectly content with where I left things (by that, I mean I am an emotional wreck).
It may have taken me two attempts, but my eyes have finally been opened to Hollow Knight’s true strength: Cornifer its depth.