#There’s the 10 from Deepnest

[illmoraineakoi]

Adult Ghost walking into the Pale King’s throne room after accidentally time traveling to the past, dumping all the living baby Vessels they rescued from the Abyss into the King’s lap: Happy Father’s Day.

Adult Ghost a second later, plonking down the Radiance’s tail blade, still wet with warm blood: Go fuck yourself.

The Pale King, half way through his morning coffee and who can 100% sense that this Vessel-like thing is actually an outrageously powerful God the likes of which he’s never seen before:

[selfdiagnosedeyemotif]

i do wanna say that Deepnest is perhaps the greatest feat of ambience i have ever seen because they really did nail the vibe they were going for. unfortunately that vibe is one of abject horror and i need to get THE FUCK

OUT OF HERE

[cupcakeshakesnake]

Out of curiosity, what was your route for the 10/5 hour achievements? Did u get extra mask shards or abilities or charms? As someone who recently completed those, I’m really interested in how other ppl did it.

(Btw u can answer this publicly if u want)

This charm setup, plus 1 extra mask and 1 nail upgrade.

More under cut:

Run order:

Crossroads (False Knight, Gruz Mother, Sly, Salubra)

Greenpath (Hornet/Dash)

Fungal (Mantis Claw)

City (Soul Master/D.Dive, Broken Vessel/Wings, Dung Defender/Isma's Tear + detour to Kingdom's Edge for Quickslash + easy geo)

Stag to Dirtmouth, buy lantern

Peaks (Crystal Dash, D.Dark)

Fall to Resting Grounds, get Dreamnail

Stag to Dirtmouth, then Crossroads to Canyon (Monomon)

Canyon to Queen's Station to Fungal to Deepnest (Herrah)*

Stag from Distant Village to King's Station (Lurien)

Stag to Dirtmouth, then THK.

*Guides often told me to get to Deepnest through Queen's Gardens, but I ain't touching the Gardens with a ten foot pole. Screw those mantises.

Other points of interest:

Grabbed relics, geo and bought what I could along the way.

Dive was the only spell I upgraded; I did not get any upwards spells at all.

I already had the muscle memory to one-shot most of the bosses; I put in extra practice for the Watcher Knights in Godhome in a separate save.

Watched guides on YouTube for extra help. (A video on the different pre-attack movements of the Watcher Knights helped quite a lot.)

Benched often and kept track of the map on my phone so as to not get lost (still did, a couple of times...)

Getting all the movement skills before the Dreamers definitely helped.

Prioritized healing over dealing damage in bossfights.

Muting the game and playing calm music helped reduce anxiety lol

[hollownest-whore]

Rewriting a few things, feel free to suggest anything! Or like tell me to do something cooler lol...

In the Neighbourhood AU Ghost and their siblings run away leaving the house life in shambles. Hollow is smothered and locked away inside to keep a steady eye on, and PK (Wyryn) has made all efforts to find his kids. Lemm unintentionally taking in the group having to manage his new unfortunate situation

Shenanigans ensue! Extensive extra info undercut...

Wyryn White, and Lady White. owners of the largest neighbourhood estate, renovating it from its "humble" beginnings to a highly regarded suburban community

Their children in order of age, Hollow [18], Vessel[17], Ghost [16] (Stepdaughter Hornet)[16] and Wilt [10]

Miss Radiance was the previous owner of the neighbourhood "Hallownest" and she now lives in her separate estate, plotting against the White family like a home alone villain

Other important people...

▪︎Uncle Grimm who is trying to help (making it worse)

▪︎Flukehermit (Hermie) lives outside the "Tears" gated area but gets in with grant of her mother being the local waterways authority

▪︎Lurien and [Soulmaster] (the only) members of the Neighbourhood Watch who live together, the former wants to impress Wyryn by finding his kids for him, Soul grows weed/j

▪︎Monomon, principal of the local public school and her good friend/understudy Quirrel, a teacher (Tiso is also a substitute teacher god forbid)

▪︎Herrah, a wealthy woman from inheritance, and is an Investor of the property, worked with Wyryn to rid the previous mistress and had a kid with him (Lady White didn't mind). Has her own "section" of the neighbourhood. And within it, a famous "haunted" forest called Deepnest

▪︎Cloth, Myla, [Godtamer] and Tiso all are in a band called the Yellow Jackets <3 who play music in the lower ends part of the neighbourhood Wyryn doesn't really pay attention too

▪︎ theres a Fight Club called "The Colosseum" ran by "Little Fool" that's known for its brutal consequences

▪︎ the previous community gardens tended too by Lady Unn was renovated into a personal garden's area for Lady White

▪︎dude in the woods that photographs everyone and everything, to keep in a beastiary. Still not as creepy as Lurien

▪︎the horrific amalgamation of lingering regrets from all the neighbourhood inhabitants manifesting into a supernatural force known as void that sucks the life out of anyone who comes into contact with it- it's okay tho it's in the sewers!

As a thank you for reading heres a doodle

[anjumbai]

Hollow Knight: A Masterpiece

"No cost too great. No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams. You are the Vessel. You are the Hollow Knight." Steam Rating: 10/10

Just a random video of "what gaming is like to non gamers" on YouTube lead me to this game. A cute small bug looking creature, wearing a white helmet of some sort seemed as appealing as it seemed cute. A die hard fan of platform fighters made me wanna get into this 2D game.

From the very start, Hollow Knight hooks you with its beautiful art-style, the slow and soothing music, the joy of discovery. The world of Hallownest seemed like a mystery that the child in me couldn't wait to discover.

The knight, the lil bug looking creature we see in the poster is who we control the entire game. The knight is an entity, not a bug, but a being made of void and darkness, found out later in the game. Or at least that's when my dumb brain found that out. He is a vessel born of the abyss, and he has come to Hallownest to fulfill his calling.

I don't write about games I play, nor have I played a lot of games in my lifetime as passionately as I have played Hollow Knight. It's all the little things that makes this game awesome. Like at the very beginning we start the game with no direction. Our Knight enters the fading town of Dirthmouth with no map, no direction or aim. The game doesn't even provide us with a goal, and we're just here exploring the ruins of once a great kingdom. We are stuck in different places of the mouth, but the game not even providing us with signposts of where to go tells us that there has to be some other way. And of course, we are blessed with this passionate cartographer.

Meet Cornifer, the passionate map-maker of Dirthmouth who explores the ruins of Hallownest and provides us with half-done, sketchy maps. You can somewhat get by with his maps, but the real fun starts when you buy a quilt from his wife's shop in Dirthmouth to kickstart your own cartography career, inking out new and secret locations. The joy of exploration is found in finding out a new place, having no idea where it leads to and finally finding a bench so you can sit and ink out your own little updated map. The game could've gone for a typical style map, providing us with all our locations. But it didn't, and we can make our own way through the game. For instance, this is what Cornifers maps look like compared to what we expand:

We wander around the vast kingdom of Hallownest, looking for maps, new places, new bosses to fight. The boss-fights are amazing and they add so much to the lore that you find yourself intrigued with this mysterious world. The game loved to challenge your platforming skills and I'm here for it, despite the raging endeavors or the alt+f4's. And when you've played this game long enough, the kingdom of Hallownest opens up right infront of your eyes. Here is a vast animated map of Hallownest:

Whether it be the creeping weavers of Deepnest, the infected bugs of the Crossroads, the overgrown trees of Greenpath or the overly aggressive buzzy bees of the Hive, the game has always something new and creative to offer.

I cannot go on without talking about its beautiful soundtrack. City of Tears, the theme named after the capital city of Hallownest, is a beautiful soundtrack to preserve some peace in your mind. Or the emotionally exciting music that plays when we fight the Hollow Knight, named "Sealed Vessel", which is a personal favorite.

I want to write and talk so much about this. The lore is my favorite part of this whole game. The fights, the mechanics, or the osts are all amazing additions to the game. But a good game is basically how well you can tell an interactive story, combining and refining all of these things along the way.

I'm still at awe when I remember the emotions fighting the Hollow Knight made me feel. He is the vessel of the infection that plagues Hallownest, who has been deemed not strong enough to contain it anymore. Our Knight approaches and fights the Hollow Knight, but we are hit with the realization that its not us against him, but its the 2 of us against the infection. Throughout the fight, the Hollow Knight stabs himself repeatedly with the one hand that's left of him. He is made of the abyss, pure darkness, he has no voice to cry, no mind to think or no will to break. Yet he fights, his will almost shattered and having no voice to ask for help, it keeps on stabbing itself until we finish him with out final blow and become the next vessel. Which is just the first of 5 different endings we can have. 3 of them showing the actual final boss, The Radiance, the plague, the infection itself.

Very cute how lil the knight looks infront of it. But that's just another part of the lore, which deserves a whole post dedicated to it.

Another one of my personal favorites is when I find the Pale King, the king who ran away and abandoned his kingdom, hiding inside the White Palace, and dying of some unknown reason yet for us to fully understand. The knight finds him sitting on his throne, withered away leaving his kingdom to die in the hands of the infection.

I'd love to talk about the full lore someday, even though we don't even fully know the whole story. Thanks to Team Cherry, the only 3 man developer team that made this game possible. They are from Australia, which verifies that indeed, this whole game took place in some Australians backyard. They are a passionate bunch. You can simply tell by the game. The amount of hidden rooms laying waste behind a breakable wall is unnecessary. Makes you wonder if you missed a major character who was probably just laying dead behind a breakable wall. They added so many unnecessary details, not because it was crucial to the gameplay mechanics, but it was just some detail they wanted the players to find out. And Hollow Knight players have made them proud.

Hollow Knight is a game where we learn to take our own routes. The game doesn't lead us by the hand at all and we can just choose our own paths, finding different things in different orders, skipping things as we choose and feeling the sense of accomplishment found through discovery, making our journey that much worthwhile. Hollow Knight has went down as my favorite game of all time, standing with another, GoW.

10/10. Highly recommended.

[dairyfreenugget]

HIIIO GIRL FIRST TEXT AU POST FOR THIS BLOG LETS GO

Time travel sort of au 😎 Almost

Once again incorporated some of @/demonicintegrity 's messages to this since it's from Discord

Been thinking about an AU where PK and WL get a chance to repeat everything with all of their memories of how badly they fucked up and redo everything from the moment PK had that idea about the vessels

Rotating it in my head

Because I realised just how much these two would cherish getting to raise their children normally and just how an emotional moment it'd be when they hold newborn Flower for the first time

Also Flower's twin would be a surprise to them but a very very happy one and they're gonna brainstorm names for their happy little surprise while gushing over how cute and precious both of their babies are

They're over the moon about getting to raise their children, though it's a little terrifying they're determines to give them a good life that they deserved

Hornet still happens but it's due to political negitations with Deepnest and not because Herrah would become a dreamer

I think they'd have ~10 years before they'd have to have their first child so they're on a clock and just planning how to murder the Old Light

PK was considering just making her mortal but I doubt if he'd risk her ever seeking revenge again

Also PK would be shocked how much better he feels physically years before everything, with his void poisoning much milder he's much brighter, energetic and strong than he remembered

Just really hits him "Wow I REALLY fucked up my own health huh"

Probably makes some better choices regarding void going forward, might even decommission his moulds because he sees them as a liability

“Dear?”

“Hm?”

“You haven’t wrinkled as much.”

“Hm? Oh!”

Just wait until they have the kids man is he gonna wrinkle because of them

When he's back he's just gonna touch his stomach for a bit

"? Love what are you doing?"

"I forgot how FLAT and not saggy I used to be"

It’s gotta be so weird to be thrown into your younger body like that

Constantly doing double takes in the mirror cuz thats too young to be you

And they feel physically better too

At least PK does bc he really ran his body into the ground

“Wow I have a lot of energy today!”

“No love you’re just not dying as much”

PK very gently grooming their little tuber like a few days after they're born and WL just starts counting how much he licks them

Eventually he catches on

"What are you doing?"

"Counting how many links it takes to get to the baby's centre, of course 🥰"

"Pff- you're so silly"

Thinking about all the times PK and WL told Flower "I should have/wished I had hold you (implied as a baby) like a father/mother should" during emotional scebes and now they actually get to

They get to hold their precious little newborn Hallow

They definitely cry for the good few first days over their perfect little twins

So overwhelmed and excited about getting to raise their babies, so so in love

They don't leave their sides unless to get them food

Just enjoy their time alone and with their newborns for a good while after, just a happy new family, the government officials and knights can run the kingdom for them for a while it's fine

They just want to spent time with their babies

Imagining Ebur watching the two wiggle around and try to crawl with so so much love in his eyes

He loves his little tubers so fucking much it’s unreal

He chirps and watches Flower try their hardest to wiggle their way to him and they finally reach his hand and just snuggle into his palm, kneading a little, and start purring

He tears up from how cute that is

Gonna marvel at how tiny they are

Even tinier than when he took them from the Abyss last time

Hard to imagine this tiny little thing will grow up to be so fucking tall

Itty bitty little thing

“I remember when you fit into the palm of my hand”

"...No way we were this small"

"You were! You used to come to me whenever I chirped and snuggle up in my hand, it was so cute. And you'd wobble so much while crawling too, the cutest little wigglers!"

"Ugh, dad-"

PK grooming lil baby Flower!! Just squishing their lil chubby cheeks and they get a lil fussy because he grooms them too much. Gonna paw at his face and whine and bite his nose

They're gonna get so so so emotional about getting to be their parents and raise them like they were supposed to

For a good few months of their life especially

Each of them has their moments where they tear up and get super sappy about getting to be mummy and daddy it's really cute

They take turns caring for the twins when they return to full work

Whenever PK doesn't have a too busy day he takes the twins and has them strapped to his chest, carries a little baggie around with their things too in case they get fussy

When WL has the babies he still takes breaks to come see the three of them

It's oddly cute seeing the king and queen being such attentive parents

I think some people would know that they've been trying for children

The 5 great knights definitely did and they're so happy for them when they finally see the king back at work with the two little bundles strapped to his chest

[moonsinkfoxgirl]

multiples of 5 <3

5. Most memorable gaming moment?

that moment in Momodora 2 when Momo finally defeats Dora turned demon queen and jumphugs her to save her is the first thing that comes to mind which definitionally fulfills the question I imagine

10. Game you’ve replayed the most?

hmmm SM64 probably? Celeste on second place perhaps... Helen's Mysterious Castle might also take 2nd place though, it's quite short and I have 30 hours on it on steam

15. Hardest game you’ve ever played?

Touhou Koumakyou ~The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil~

20. A game that made you cry.

if we count visual novels then a whole bunch of Key VNs, like Rewrite and Little Busters! and Clannad had me absolutely sobbing, as for a game game, Shinyomawari/Yomawari Midnight Shadows

25. Favorite environment in a game?

whenever there's an area that sucks super hard if you don't know your way around, like Deepnest in Hollow Knight, or Blighttown in Dark Souls, but then you come back the second time and you know the ins and outs and it feels weirdly at home and somehow more relaxing than a less fucked up level would be? the entire map of the first Yomawari was like that once I had finished the game and was just searching for collectibles, there is something so good about feeling at home and safe in a place that is horrific

30. Favorite aspect of a game (e.g. exploration, combat, fashion/customization, environments, graphics, bosses, roleplaying, etc.)

exploration wins that contest by a mile, the environments/aesthetics do need to be up to par to facilitate that so they probably take second place?

35. Do you own any gaming themed memorabilia? (e.g. collector’s editions, posters, prop replicas, statues, clothing, etc.)

got a Celeste Strawberry pinned to my handbag, a Hornet pin that I don't have anything I could attach it to and I have a Celeste mug in my room, oh and I am literally wearing my Hornet shirt rn; but you would know all that you bought most of them for me <3

40. Best game cover art.

judging from my steam library and my various emulators:

[cosmicfairy]

Small thing in the midst of working

[dromaeo-sauridae]

like 2 hours in and i finally have super dash and double jump i— 🕴

motivated to continue my hk speedrun cuz rt uploaded his stream highlights

[seventeendeer]

How was hollow knight! What was the spookiest part for you, and what was the coolest?

The spookiest part was the part where I found out I'd played the game for 10 hours straight without realizing ... I found it so immersive and so full of Stuff To Do that I completely lost track of the mortal world hahaha

No, but for real, the spookiest bit was the part where I fell into Deepnest from Fungal Wastes. I didn't have the lantern. I had no clue how to get back out. I think I had 5 masks total. No nail upgrades. After a lot of scrambling, I managed to find Cornifer and buy a map from him, and then a little while later I randomly stumbled over the tram pass while just sort of poking my little bug noggin into all the different tunnels to try to find a way out ... I could see there was a tramway at the far end of the map and I figured "oh, so that's supposed to be the way out of here!", so I struggled all the way to the other side of the map, lightly pissing myself the whole time because of all the incredibly loud, creepy ambience and way too strong enemies booking it after me a mach speed wherever I went. Finally, I was able to use the tram pass, get in the nice cozy tram all safe and happy and hit the button to go to the next area ... only to end up in Ancient Basin and the Hive, late-game areas I'd never been to before and had no idea how connected to the areas I was familiar with

After about an hour total of acquiring just piles and piles of fresh new phobias previously unknown to man, I finally went back to where I first fell down into Deepnest, realized I'd been a doofus and there was a totally viable path back up to where I came from, and went back up to Funal Wastes. Worse than any horror game I've ever played. Amazing experience, all things considered. If I ever replay this game from the beginning again, next time I'll remember to mind the giant fucking spider hole. God bless

As for the coolest experience, a lot of stuff was cool, but I think fighting the Collector very late in the game was one of my favorites! I’m not very good at dealing with bosses that employ smaller enemies to help them, so I simply equipped my little baby weavers and the Grimmchild and let them handle the small guys while I focused on the Collector, which made the fight really fun! I was like “oh you got dudes? well, I got dudes. let’s see who got the goodest dudes”

And of course the final boss fight was really epic and probably my favorite in the game. I went for the ‘Dream No More’ ending ... Very satisfying to get to slap the shit out of a certain fluffy bastard.

[actingwithportals]

I have regained the will to live since losing my huge ass post I wrote up about my thoughts on Herrah, so here I am writing out a new one because dammit I love this spider so much and I have THINGS TO SAY ABOUT HER

So to begin, I think Herrah is first and foremost just,,,, the most loving mother. She absolutely adored Hornet and would do anything for her if it was within her power (and honestly she'd still give it a go even if it wasn't). Hornet was someone who meant more to Herrah than anyone, and in her later years much of what she did was motivated by her love for her daughter.

But she wasn't a perfect mother, and I think she knew that. She brought Hornet into the world knowing she was going to leave her someday, far too soon, and she would have known this would only serve to hurt Hornet. But she made the deal anyways, because Herrah could justify that it was for the ultimate good, and that Hornet existing at all was worth the price of future pain she would have to endure. And whether or not Herrah was wrong to do so,,, that's really up to Hornet.

I think Herrah and the Pale King would eventually come to be friends. I don't think the feelings regarding their dalliance were much beyond "this is business and we're both here to get what we want", but between having and raising Hornet, Herrah would probably come to respect PK more, and I think he would feel the same for her. There would always be that sort of teasing nature from Herrah towards him - a need to keep him on his toes a bit because Herrah knew well that she was always playing a dangerous game, attempting to gain equal footing with gods, but it was a game she enjoyed and really he was someone she could grow to care for, as the father of her child and as a respected friend.

Her feelings towards the White Lady were probably similar in that early on things were strictly business but overtime after getting to know each other better they would grow into a genuine friendship and respect. The White Lady was far older and wiser than herself and Herrah would treasure what she could learn from her, and the two probably did find pleasure in time spent together.

But both with WL and PK... there would always be something that Herrah could never truly look past, could never truly just.... pretend away. I don't think PK told the Dreamers at first (except for Monomon), but eventually I think he would clue them in on just what the vessels were, just what Hollow was. And that would strike a nerve with Herrah. Because she's a mother, and Hornet is her world, and the knowledge that PK and WL could take these actions towards their own children.... that would never sit well with Herrah. No matter how close the three would become, how much she would respect them as rulers and allies and even friends,,, she couldn't ever forget that they were killing their children. That they were sending them off to a horrible, eternal fate. And she was playing part in that.

It's an itch that would forever tug at the back of her mind, but ultimately she would look past it. Because she had to make the world safe for Hornet. Everything she had done was all for Hornet. And so she would go down complicit in this crime, just like PK. Just like WL.

As for Herrah as a queen, I think she was well-loved and extremely competent. She led the people of Deepnest well and in earlier days were formidable adversaries against Hallownest. Strength and power were things she held in high regard but they weren't the only things, and those who were weak by typical standards were still considered useful and valuable to the Deepnest society that Herrah hoped to sow. If one couldn't fight then they could weave. If they couldn't weave then they could hunt. If they couldn't hunt then they could care. And if they couldn't care then they could exist and those who did fight or weave or hunted or cared would help cultivate a world where those who could not would be able to exist. But one had to want to survive, one had to be willing to try. Honesty and earnest and determination were things Herrah valued greatly, and that showed in the way she ruled. And I think for the most part, her people respected and admired that of her.

But she wasn't perfect as a queen, either. She was hotheaded and quick to stab before negotiate. She didn't trust easily and her patience wasn't bountiful. She made mistakes and some of those mistakes cost lives that didn't have to be lost. Herrah wasn't born into power, she clawed her way up to it, and so she constantly had to learn along the way. But in spite of her mistakes and her shortcomings, Herrah always tried, and that was something others could respect.

I think she and the old Sire of Deepnest were close. I don't think they were in love, at least not in the traditional sense. I think Herrah loved him and he loved her, but it wasn't quite the same way that PK and WL loved each other, and it took a while for Herrah to realize that (long after he passed on, tbh). He was one of her dearest and most cherished friends, and she would have given him the world (and he to her). Losing him was one of the worst pains Herrah endured, and it would leave a permanent scar, but that didn't mean she Loved him, not like that. But that love was still valuable, still powerful and deep and real, and it wasn't something she would ever forget.

Herrah would have realized the difference in that love once she fell for Vespa. It was unexpected and exciting and for a while a "would they won't they" situation, and that almost added to the thrill, tbh. Herrah fell for Vespa first, in a startling realization of "oh I don't want to stab her I want to win her heart". They would eventually make their feelings known to each other (Herrah made the first move) and from there it would be pretty well known that the two of them were as good as wives. Of course nothing official ever took place, there were too many political hoops to jump through, other world shattering threats to face, the Hive wasn't even one to culturally have much acknowledgement of such unions, so they were married in word alone, and really that suited them well. It wasn't a secret, but it wasn't broadcasted news either, and they liked it that way.

Knowing she would be leaving Vespa behind too was yet another one of Herrah's deepest pains. But she knew she could go to Dream more easily with the knowledge that Vespa would be there to watch over Hornet, and likewise for Hornet to give life and hope to Vespa.

As for Midwife, I think Herrah and her always were and always would be the best of friends. They grew up together - hardly knew a time apart - and both supported each other in their many endeavors in seeking out a life for themselves and discovering who they wanted to be. As queen, Midwife was Herrah's closest and most trusted confidant, and she knew she could always depend on Midwife to be honest with her, even if that honesty hurt. And likewise, Herrah was always ready to offer Midwife the same.

I don't think Herrah had the easiest upbringing, and neither did Midwife. So having always had each other to depend on, even in their darkest moments, there was a bond between them that nothing could really match.

As for personality, I think Herrah is someone who loves fiercely, fights relentlessly, takes no shit but does no harm, fails spectacularly but always rises to try again, and never settles for seconds when she believes she can get what's first. Not just firsts for her, but for anyone who depends on her, whom she is responsible for. And that's part of what made her such a loved queen. I think Herrah is serious and stern and terrifying and fierce, but she's also thoughtful and considerate and fun and tells the worst dad jokes and has a weakness for puns and can't cook or swim wake up early for the life of her, she took years longer than most to learn to weave, math confounds her, and fire makes her skittish in any quantities larger than the candles gifted to her from Vespa.

She's so multi-faceted and I just. I just fucking love Herrah so much and I know that pretty much all of this is my own headcanoning but DAMMIT THAT'S WHAT WE ARE HERE FOR AIN'T IT.

Love Herrah. What a good spooder. 10/10 would live for her.

[flecks-of-stardust]

I Ramble About My Video Game Experiences. Please Don’t Kill Me

i am starkly aware i am swinging a bat at a hornet’s nest here but i need to get the thoughts out okay

anyway tldr this is me rating the video games that ive played and left a lasting impression on me. the scale is from 0 to 10, with 0 being ‘how did this game even get the funding to be produced’ and 10 being ‘this game is amazing and i cannot critique anything in it.’ so neither of those numbers are going to appear, but youll know what my rating mechanic is lmao. without further ado:

Hollow Knight

starting with the bug game that started this blog. probably a solid 9/10 or 8.5/10. yes im biased, shut up. hollow knight’s a really solid game in a lot of aspects: the lore is really well fleshed out and links up well, the gameplay is a delight, the progression is smooth and pretty friendly to players new to the genre (hi), and i like that you kind of have a parallel of the player choosing their own path in tandem with what the knight is doing. its a lovely experience, and how the lore is structured gives the fans Tons of avenues to explore, which is Great.

however. because i overthink everything, the little inconsistencies in lore do bother me (the light shafts?? in greenpath???? what is up with the dirt carvers and the carver hatchers. why do the devouts have scythes for masks. actually, why do deepnest things have masks. because as far as im aware deepnest isnt actually part of hallownest??), and i do wish we’d gotten a Little more confirmation about some lore, but that’s just me. my biggest issue is how deepnest is depicted; im not too happy about how it’s talked about. which, like. i might just be nitpicking, but im rather wary of anything that depicts an external civilization that is also described as ‘brutal’ or beastlike, and being otherwise uncivilized and/or primitive. there Is nuance here, it’s entirely possible a lot of the structures in deepnest broke down over time and the distant village is all that survived, but im still on guard when it comes to this. its no secret that i resent how hallownest/the mantises evidently treated the citizens of deepnest, so im aware im a little biased here as well. but yeah, thats my main issue here.

Bug Fables

the other bug game! 8/10. lovely story, great gameplay, stunning writing of the characters, very interesting premise. i definitely found the gameplay in bug fables a lot easier to pick up than that of hollow knight, but that’s kind of a given with how the combat is structured in bug fables. there’s a lot of complexity that i was not aware was going to be in a game that looks the way bug fables does, which i adore. i also Really like the meta details scattered throughout the game, but im just a sucker for those asdkfgkjs

i have similar complaints for bug fables as i do for hollow knight, but its even worse in bug fables. i resent the way the devs handled the leafbug tribe, and i do not understand the way the lore about them was set up. there was frankly no reason for them to ambush team maki and team snakemouth when yin was emerging from her pupa, and as a result that mission just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. the whole thing reeks of barely veiled racism and anti-indigenous sentiment. i really wish the devs had taken more of a ‘they dont understand what’s going on, particularly with the language barrier’ route instead of just. ooga booga fight these random bugs that showed up for no reason other than the fact theyre convenient antagonists. :/

the lore of bug fables is also a little... odd. it works out well enough, but when you poke at it a little too much it crumbles a little. mainly the timeline of things seems. off? but, whatever. that’s more nitpick territory. i still love the game (even if i highly distrust the devs)

Ori and the Blind Forest

my first platformer! blind forest holds a very special spot in my heart because of that. id never played anything like this before blind forest, and honestly im very glad this was my first platformer; it probably would have gone Really differently if it had been hollow knight instead lmfao. id pin this as 9/10, for all the lovely things about it: the smooth gameplay, the graphics, the story, and. fuck man. ori’s cute FDKGJSKJ for a game with limited dialogue, the story ties together really well, and the lore doesn’t have many loose ends that i can think of. the concept of the spirit tree is really interesting too.

the major thing id complain about would be the combat, something i think basically everyone has bitched about at this point. you wanna fight something? button mash until your finger falls off. and then sein kinda zaps whatever it is. thats it. you can also attack with stomp and i think charge dash, but you dont get stomp until pretty far in and charge dash is... clunky. dash isnt even a required ability. blind forest does focus heavily on platforming though, so i cant complain too hard. i also have to specially mention sorrow’s pass, because wow i fucking Hated that area! i died so many times!!!!! playing on keyboard in sorrow’s pass Sucks! but the love i have for the ginso tree escape sequence makes up for it sfkjgjks

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

i was reluctant to start will of the wisps after blind forest but holy Fuck am i glad i did. its... i have to say its a better game than blind forest in a lot of ways. moon studios really improved on a Ton of things that blind forest lacked in. id probably pin this as 9/10 as well, but i have to rave about the combat. i mean at least compared to blind forest, the combat is an absolute fucking Delight. slashing with spirit edge really feels like you have a sword, and the heft that spirit smash has when ori swings it is just,,,,,, mwah. so good. and those are just the two weapons im most fond of; the spike, while not the best in terms of energy cost, is really fucking cool as well.

special mention to the various glitches people have discovered for this game >:3 or more like exploits, its not all glitches (though there was a whole thing people dedicated to glitches a while back and it was Amazing. wotw is horribly easy to glitch and its Hilarious), and sentry jump is more of an exploit. like who needs launch when you can sentry jump?? you get more height than launch too in some cases i think, and you can get it Really early on. hell yeah. ori go YEET

its 9/10 because of a few gripes i have with the story. i do wish that shriek had gotten a happier ending; i do understand the message that was woven into the story, but still. baur paints it as like... he almost says its impossible for her to change? which. bleh. that’s not true, and its a little icky with the background i have. id have loved to be able to show shriek the love and care she so clearly craved, even if she outright rejected it. i dont think stopping seir from fucking blasting her into cooked owl counts, really, though i guess that could be argued about.

the other gripe is ku’s wing. i cannot find the words to describe the sheer delight i felt at the clear depiction of ku as disabled. her wing is busted, and she can’t fly. and she wants to, so so desperately, but she can’t. that sort of narrative is,,, disgustingly rare? and i was so excited about it. but then in the end they had ori do a magic tada! wing fixed! on her and :| i just wish it had been something like. ku learning to accept that loss, while also working to find some sort of accommodation that would allow her to fly for short periods. i mean if the feather worked well enough to let them fly to niwen then damn, im sure gumo could figure something out with a leaf or some shit. but no, just. magic away the disability. :/

i still adore the game though. the story that will of the wisps tells is a little cemented in, and the gameplay is pretty linear (though a little less so than that of blind forest). so i guess these two things wouldnt have fit in too well, but idk. i just wish, yknow.

Oriverse (both games as a whole)

not gonna say much here, but i did want to put this in. still 9/10 for the franchise in its entirety. there Is the weird,, protag gets amnesia and loses all their abilities that sequels to games like these have, but eh. its fine. ori just got a concussion /s the story connects pretty well across the two games, even if the worldbuilding is pretty different. the deal with seir is a liiiiiittle odd, but it works well enough. the graphics are just,,,,, holy god will of the wisps is so beautiful. but blind forest isnt far behind!

just. idk. i love this franchise so much. and its my first ever, so im biased. i highly recommend playing them both, but uh. wotw might fry your computer if its not strong enough. the graphics are just that powerful asfkjdgkjkjs

Rain World

this is where im probably gonna have people breathing down my neck but. 7/10. and i have very specific reasons why.

gameplay wise? wonderful! rain world really drives home that feeling of being hunted and being small and weak and defenseless. it advertised that and it fucking delivered it, and its great. theres also a lot of complexity to what you can actually do in the game; turtle toad’s videos have me in constant awe and slight fear. the design for slugcat is pretty unique, and honestly i really love that we’re canonically crawling through pipes. it adds a lot of realism and i guess staying power to the world, which is already fascinating and nicely fleshed out. the combat is very interesting too tbh. lots you can do with just a rock and a spear. its just... it sure is a survival sim. it sure fucking is, and i love it for that

however i have Big issues with the way the difficulties are structured. im not gonna comment on hunter, especially since ive never even finished hunter, but i will complain endlessly about monk. it’s supposed to be the easy mode, and its definitely much more of a breeze than survivor. but i resent that the lore pearls get their data wiped. the canonical explanation for that is that too much time has passed between survivor and monk for the data to remain, but then couldnt the same be said of hunter and survivor? unless those two did their journeys back to back, which i kind of doubt considering how much more aggressive the creatures in hunter are. it just feels like theyre punishing people for playing on easy, and im not a fan of that.

theres a smattering of other things too. the map is. weird. and kind of difficult to use. also i dislike the bare bones of a tutorial the game gives you (seriously, why are you not told how to switch items from hand to hand or how to use the stomach pouch? i dont understand the reasoning for leaving those to be discovered on your own), but i guess you could argue that it adds to the survival simulator experience, idk. my biggest issue would probably be the lore, actually. this is me nitpicking about writing, but the progression of the story confuses me. you’re presented with a world that is not built for you, and youre just surviving the best you can as a little animal. youre told repeatedly, through the gameplay, that you are not the protagonist. you are barely even a speck of dust in their story. you are irrelevant in every way, and yet. you make your way into five pebbles’ chamber, and he tells you in no uncertain terms to do what he cant: find the void sea and leave this world, with its endless cycles of death and rebirth. and its like. im just. im just an animal. why are you angsting at me?? and now the story takes a weird left turn where youre now suddenly relevant, and its your goal now to find the void sea? like what happened to ‘this world is not built for you?’ and idk its just weird to me. it works well enough, its just. five pebbles you are talking to the equivalent of a rat. what the fuck, dude.

i cant rate rain world Too harshly though, even if theres a bunch of things that i hate about it (cough the part of the community that insists that people just need to ~get good~ at the game. disabled people exist, fuck you <3). its still a lovely game and a very unique experience, its just definitely not for everyone. im glad i got to experience it, anyhow. i just have beef with certain things askdjfgkjs

Celeste

this GAME. MAN. this girl is so plural and trans, you have no idea. 9.5/10, i adore it. im sure others have raved about the accessibility of this game already, but i am So so grateful the devs added it, holy shit. this is honestly what i hope all games have? sure, im not playing the game as the devs intended, and they warn us of that on the assist mode screen. i just really like the agency that we as players are given to adjust the gameplay. so what if i slap invincibility mode on and just play it for the story? is that a bad thing? and also i will say that being given the ability to do that makes me Way way more likely to go back and play the game as intended. what’s easy for other people could be what’s difficult for me, and vice versa, and being able to set the difficulty level gives me way more room to practice and get better. hollow knight kind of does it similarly, with how it teaches you the combat, but its more of an indirect ‘pick your own difficulty’ sort of game. celeste is just... its your choice, in its entirety. and it is so liberating.

and then theres the story, which is Amazing. i got the game for the story only, tbh, and i dont regret it. the depiction of madeline’s anxiety is really nice tbh, and it was all handled really well, particularly with the character development of both madeline and badeline (also again: plural!!!!! holy shit!!!!!!!!!!!!) i know this story was written at least partially from personal experience though, i think? which just makes me appreciate it more honestly, and im glad that people are making this sort of media. im driven by very similar things with my own creations, and its nice to see others getting this sort of success with their work.

theres no real gripe i have with the game tbh. just minorly complaining that its really difficult without assist mode, but like. honestly that’s not really a bad thing, i just suck at platforming LMAO. it Has been a while since ive played through the game though, so idk. celeste is just so good

in any case, highly recommend!!! celeste my beloved <3

Oxygen Not Included

and last but not least, oni, the game that ive sold my soul to at this point. oh shit im nearly at 420 hours NICE

but thats 400+ hours ive sunk into this game, and im never getting them back. and im planning to put More in. it scratches so many of the itches i have: its a very science based game, very logic based one, i get to oversee a little colony of fucking idiots that KEEP TRYING TO FENCE THEIR HEADS INTO BLOCKS, but i love them so its. okay. i guess. and i also get to decorate and design and Create. it keeps me on my toes, but its never always in my face, and its like. infinitely replayable? which is So Good. im a sucker for anything cute, but this is cute and sciency and lets me have free reign over what to do. i love it. i love it So Much

theres honestly nothing i can find to critique it on. i havent even found all the lore yet, which is Wild. theres always stuff to do in this game and probably the only complaint id have is my own damn fault anyway? like if i launch the game and start playing im going to be there for at Least three hours. guaranteed. it just sucks me in so hard sfkghjks

i will say that its probably not for everyone? im just a nerd and i love games like oni, but its by no means an easy game. its a really fucking difficult one, actually, and ive had to look up so many tutorials to even get to where i am now with my abilities. the designs people come up with to do all sorts of shit are amazing, and when i finally figure out how to make my own im gonna feel really accomplished :)

10/10. i honestly cant shit talk anything about this game. it has my entire heart, please check it out askdjfgjkjk

tldr ive spent so much time on video games, oh my god. please someone play these as well so i can scream about them with you

[ruthlesslistener]

Did some quick painting eye studies with Hollow Knight gijinkas! Did with and without text because the textless looks better tbh

Transcription of the text under the cut

Hornet:

-Her dad’s illusion passed to her, so she has white sclera naturally 

-Very piercing gaze

-Spider eyes above amplify light/dark contrast and movement vision/tracking (so she can hunt you in the tunnels of Deepnest even if you’ve blinded her)

-Has the ability to enthrall mortals with her gaze but usually doesn’t because she’s usually too busy hunting them down and trying to kill them (and her mask hides it)

-Pupils do the weird cat thing and it’s adorable

Pale King:

-Because this guy is barely-human passing (if at all), he has multiple different eye types 

-Alt 2 was the initial transformation’s eyes

-They’re wyrm eyes, so they had high light/dark/ contrast sensitivity and almost no colour vision. Additionally, he was vastly farsighted and had issues focusing on things on a scale that wasn’t made for giant godly dragonkin

-Alt 1 was the modification he made to his eyes early in his reign, and technically the one he kept

-This eye type has better nearsight, detail vision, and can see colour, though it’s a little warped and far too much for him, so he still prefers monochrome decor

-Unfortunatly they’re still terrifying so in the later Hallownest variant he slapped on a powerful white sclera illusion to hide it on the rare occasions he had to go maskless, though his tampering in Void showed in his eyes soon enough

-All variants glow unbearably bright white when he’s looking far into the future

-ALL ARE INTENSE AND AS SCARY AS ALL HELL. The spellbound black fabric covering the eyeholes of his mask are woven with spells to prevent mortals from the power of his gaze, an inversion of a mask’s usual purpose

-Dunno if you can see it but he has the King’s Brand and soul motes in his eyes

Quirrel:

-Blue Lake themed :)))

-A native to Hallownest, so the ambient magic rich in the air shifted his eye colour from the natural dark brown to blue in early childhood, steadily getting richer and richer in colour the more he interacted with heavily magical areas (The Archives)

-This is normal in magic-dense areas of Hallownest; the effect is barely seen in Dirtmouth, for example. Those humans born with high magic also tend to have altered eyes at birth, liiiike Lurien:

-City of Tears/Celestial themed

-Deeply magical, and his eyes reflect that (still human though)

-One of the few people in the City with the gift of foresight/allsight, though it is in no way clear like the King’s; his is closer to a traditional prophet’s, where he is struck by flashes of verse and occassional visions of things that may yet come to pass

-Has a third eye that looks into the Dream Realm that I didn’t draw here

-Usually keeps masked bc his eyes glow faintly in the dark and that’s a little unnerving sometimes, especially if you’re a gay artist with social anxiety

Tiso:

-Not a Hallownest native or magical, so he has normal eyes

-Fun fact I used my own eye/my brother’s eye as a reference for him bc I use Middle Eastern influences for him and it was hell. 0/10 do not recommend, 11 year olds cannot stay still for the life of them

-This is what they’d look like with light hitting them bc mmm golden sparkles

Vessel (adult):

-Can look concave or convex depending on the light, since their eyes are really just Void that’s been specialized to work as vision centers in that spot

-The Void that makes the eye writhes. You can see it if you get too close; for some, it’s comforting. For others, it’s terrifying

-Their inner eyelids blink sideways

[datastate]

im basic but like,, hk for the ask game please?

you’re fine! thank you :]

favorite character:

objectively? probably quirrel! i love how his story and ghost’s intertwine, and the scenes with him throughout the game on your first playthrough really do add a lot more. hollow knight does such a good job mixing both game and story elements; you can tell in his first interaction that he is going to be an important person simply based on his location, and it becomes so much clearer later on as well. the scene w monomon... literally made me go “hold on a second man. hold on a second.” because... pain <3 love it tho

second favorite character:

hornet!!! her whole deal makes me SO sad. herrah gave her life for hornet, thinking that even after she was gone that the most duty hornet would carry would be ruling deepnest, but instead hornet has to take on both of her parents’ mantles and she doesn’t take it lightly. herrah’s sacrifice was for nothing, but hornet still acknowledges that her intentions were good. the realization that hornet is herrah’s child is just. gd. it hurts me. you go into herrah’s dreamnail dialogue saying “for her,” and then hornet saying she doesn’t blame herrah for leaving her..... idk. i have a lot of thoughts between hornet’s situation + herrah’s intention and how they think of each other now, but i am not articulate rn ahbvsmdg it just hurts me

least favorite character:

willoh scares me

no but really moss prophet can go fuck themself boo i hate that clown you had it coming you’re like every christian preacher i’ve ever met. you’re literally soul master before he went on that killing spree

the character i’m most like:

laughs nervously in thk

favorite pairing:

ZE’MER AND THE TRAITORS’ DAUGHTER... i know we have almost nothing on them in-game that isn’t fucking depressing bc ze’mer’s been reduced to the grey mourner, but just. they’re a really big comfort for me. whenever i see art or writing of them, i just

also sheo / the nailsmith... happy couple indeed. ik these r just the canon gay pairings but it’s still. it’s really nice having that rep and it’s done well!!!! considering that most of hallownest has gone to hell ahbvsmdgs

ALSO also. and ik i’m just listing all the canon couples at this point, but i love iselda/cornifer... the potential in their stories?? iselda’s wanting to travel w cornifer again. idk. ijust. <3 and i have ideas on how they met w cornifer being THE smartest dumbass and her being genuinely experienced. i love these two so much. they r my mom n dad

least favorite pairing (other than usual condemnable shit):

can we all agree grimm/pk is weird as hell. you literally got a “i only tend to dead / dying kingdoms, putting them to rest so something new will be able to grow in its place” while pk is like “if i don’t craft / unite a kingdom from nothing i WILL die. again.” i get they’re ‘opposites’ and they’ve both got the rebirth thing going on, but like... c’mon... their ideals directly contradict each other and neither one is gonna change anytime soon, it can’t even be enemies to lovers.

favorite moment:

seeing hornet after killing herrah.

rating: 10/10!!! one of, if not THE, best games i’ve played in years

[lost-kinn]

fun facts from the wanderer’s journal

- geo is “fossilized bug shells,” (pg 11) with different shells denoting 1 geo, a different shell for 5 geo, and another shell for 10 geo. ellina writes that “even the toll machines accept [the geo shells],” (11) meaning that the pale worm can build a better vending machine than whichever human clown built the piece of shit vending machine outside my office

- chests are cash stashes made by wealthier bugs when hallownest was in its prime, which apparently explains why there’s chests attached to walls and in the middle of a mechanical crushing machine in crystal peak

- about geo deposits: “geo is a naturally-occuring fossil throughout the caverns of hallownest,” (11) which makes me wish that human money could also be found cemented to the sidewalk

- ellina writes that “applying and removing charms is a bit of a tricky process,”  12) and that “a single ill-fitting charm is said to place the wearer’s safety in danger” with such seriousness that i presume that taking charms on and off while walking is ill-advised in the same way that it’s ill-advised not to perform open heart surgery on oneself while walking

- longnail “expands its wearer’s aura,” (13) rather than physically increasing the size of the nail, which sounds a bit like fighting with nails are 50% physical metal and 50% naruto ninja chakra

- ellina refers to hallownest as “hostile bug-infested lands” (15) as if she herself and basically everyone else in the cast are not also bugs

- benches are wide enough to seat two people and taking up the whole bench is considered “rude” (14), which explains why the player knight felt the need to murder the Crystal Guardian for manspreading on public seating

- a lot of forgotten crossroads public infrastructure and carts are confirmed to be made of “shells” (18), which i presume are not sea shells. ellina is also rather perturbed by how many shells are in the shaman’s burial mound (22), double confirming that a lot of hallownest is made of corpses. reduce reuse recycle, apparently

- ellina speculates that the husk statues lining the crossroads might be fossilized husks, which is such an oddly specific detail that it makes me think she’s onto something

- whispering roots can apparently induce “bewildering, vivid dreams” (23) if you sleep under it, which i know is supposed to be a reference to the radiance but also. yknow. blaze it

- salubra confirmed to use she/her pronouns in the event anyone was wondering (24)

- husk guards apparently cause shockwaves just by slamming their dummy thicc asses on the ground hard enough to kill you (28)

- there is still no explanation as to why massive moss charger is in godhome

- ellina writes “the pale king apparently took great interest in civil engineering” (57) at which point i lost my SHIT for ten minutes straight because the fact that they even have the phrase “civil engineering” implies that they have enough types of engineering to specify “civil,” and also that there’s enough bugs going to civil engineering school for that to even be a term?? is there a bug SAT to get to engineering school?? do yall have to take bug calculus to qualify?? yall have bug higher education???? do bugs stay up at night worrying about whether their bugs letters of recommendation will land them their bug nine-to-five engineering job in a bug cubicle??????

- the old stag is specified to have “strong legs” (58) which personally kills me specifically, a person who is co-writing a fanfic called “stag beetles and broken legs” based off a central metaphor in which stag beetles have fragile legs

- the mantises apparently pre-date hallownest, and outlived hallownest too (60)

- relic seeker lemm offered to buy ellina’s wanderer’s journal for 200 geo to her face without even waiting for her to die, which is like the real-life equivalent of paying someone 200 bucks to read their diary while they’re still alive and also right in front of you

- watcher knights are confirmed to be corpse-shells reanimated by infected flies, which makes me feel some type of way about getting my ass kicked for four hours straight by a bunch of flies

- ellina writes that “the web-walking critteres [denizens of deepnest] seem to have little trouble traversing [the holes in deepnest’s path],” which implies to me that their method of public infrastructure was “git gud”

- confirmed that only the elite of the elite could ride on the tram due to needing a pass from the king himself, which feels like a segregation of public transportation i’ve seen before 

- a specimen called “little weaver” is shown to be wearing a red cloak like hornet (91)

- ogrim confirmed to train by throwing balls of dung around all by his damn lonely self and apparently still manage to have a good time (99)

- pg 136 pretty clearly specifies that the teacher’s archives were specifically meant to house, preserve, and record all of monomon’s knowledge, not spread that knowledge or even have that knowledge be used, which is a fun characterization of monomon that i’m just going to ignore

- ellina writes that the hinged platforms in the queen’s gardens “come in handy for gradual descents” as if she doesn’t know damn well that those sons of bitches are the second hardest platforming challenge in the game

- ellina infers from the size of gorb’s head that “it must have been a genius” (149) further proving that ellina is a 100% reliable narrator whose speculations are always correct

- ellina implies that since there’s eggshells found in the depths of the abyss, it’s not so much that the pale king hatched his child-vessels on the ground level and threw the unsatisfactory vessels into the abyss, but that they were all born in the abyss, like a giant breeding petri dish, and the pale king only saw fit to bring the “pure vessel” out of the abyss. this might only be ellina’s inference, but that does explain why the player knight’s egg is in the abyss and the player knight had to crawl their way out.

- ellina writes on page 158 that the void liquid “seems to have a mind of its own, and lashes out at intruders, either to push them away or to pull them under,” confirming once and for all that the void is, at its heart, a tsundere

- although the journal never uses they/them pronouns for any character, there’s several characters that are only referred to as it/its. in some cases, this seems like a clear denotation that they’re considered “sub-human” (for lack of a better phrase) such as the baldur (32) or infected husks. some characters that you’d think would have a gender are referred to with it/its, such as gruz mother (33) and flukemarm (101). other characters are referred to with it/its even though they don’t typically classify as “mindless bugs,” such as steel soul jinn (9), the hunter (41), soul warrior (75), crystal guardian (83). every character with a he/him pronoun or she/her pronoun from the game obviously retains these pronouns, even in cases where the gender wasn’t well-identified in the base game (e.g. willoh, she/her pronouns, page 57; soul master, he/him pronouns, pg 75).

10/10. beautiful. wonderful. excellent work

[cabopineforest]

My tumblr is broken, it doesn’t show pictures, everything is annoying, sorry for deleting the post, I’ll post it again. 

So, ask meme. From anon. Sorry, anon

Divine: Did you get all the unbreakable charms?

Yep. Fun Story Time. My first charm was Unbreakable Strengh. I had such a day: I played in the morning, and at noon I reached the second Hornet bossfight, but battles with her were always difficult for me. I tried to defeat her for 2-3 hours with no sucsess. I gave up, summoned Grimmchild and went with him for the nearby flame. Died to Grimmkin a couple of times. I got angry and went to the Colosseum to try the first trial and get a notch so that it would help me in the battle. Several more deaths. I got even more angry and stopped playing. 4 pm. I can’t stop thinking about how I suck. 6 pm. Still can't stop thinking. I decided to return to the game, collected the flames, went to Grimm and got a bossfight against him. I defeated him in a half an hour, which is very good for me. I don't suck! Then I found myself near Divine's tent and had a thought. 11 pm. I take the laptop to bed and descend to Deepnest to find geo. I don’t know why I decided that geo is easiest to find in Deepnest :D 1 am. I finally got 15k geo, went to Divine and got the charm. Then I went to fight with Hornet and defeated her the first time on my first attempt. 2 am. Dark. Quiet. Everybody sleeps. I am under the blanket. And I slowly and carefully descend into the Abyss. At this time and after such labors, it was a very exciting and frightening moment :D

Nightmare King Grimm: Which boss battle was the most intense for you? The most satisfying to defeat?

Hornet 1 and 2, Pure Vessel, NKG; Soul Tyrant and Lost Kin when I fought them during my challenge run with the worst nail and without half of charms; Pantheon 3, Pantheon 4, everything past No Eyes in Pantheon of Hallownest (I haven't completed it though) (but my hands are shaking every time I get there)

Pure Vessel: What game achievement are you most proud of?

100% Steel Soul in 10:51 hours. And all of my progress in Pantheon of Hallownest.

Godseeker: How far have you made it in Godhome?

Since I can’t add pictures for some reason...

I did 8 bindings in both of my main save files: nail, shell and soul in the first and second pantheon and nail in the third and forth pantheon. Because of lifeblood. It helps. 

In the first save file I got almost every boss at ascended difficulty, including NKG and Pure Vessel.

In the second save file (officially called “Fuck Zote”) every boss is still on attuned difficulty, there is no Grey Prince Zote, but I got to the Radiance in Pantheon of Hallownest. But I never defeated her :D

Lord of Shades: Have you earned all the endings? Which one do you think is the best?

I got everything except for Embrace the Void. And I consider Embrace the Void (without the flower) the best possible ending. Yes, I naively believe that Shade Lord just escaped to the Abyss, or even turned back into Ghost. So I'm not satisfied with my playthrough yet, but I still have time before Silksong comes out, right? Right??.

ask meme