Who he was, who he was, and how he got here, didn't remember the knight. At some point, he realized he was coming. The surprise of the discovery wasn't walking - everybody could move their legs - but what was going on. After realizing one's own existence, questions arose. Seeking to clarify something, he looked at himself: his chest was covered with a strong shell, and there was nothing more in his hands than a weapon. It seems that such things are worn by knights, and he is probably one of them. Not a beginner: both the shell and the weapon, suspiciously reminiscent of a treated nail, covered dents, scratches, abrasions, and notches. The clothes looked simple, every day; no patterns, no gilding, no gilding, and no gems to decorate ceremonial objects with.
Is that really all?
The knight stopped, bowed his head as if he were listening to the world around him.
There were rocks and rocks around him. And the darkness was not coal-black darkness, which was deep underground, but something in between dusk and night. The piercing wind abruptly changed the direction and pushed evil in the face and back. He pulled rare and skinny bushes, flowing boulders, climbing into narrow cracks and buzzing in them, like angry bees, only more Socrates. The wind had been ruling this place for a long time, reveling in power, and he didn't care about the lonely little knight.
...duty...
The word leaked between the gusts of wind, quiet, lost, but clear. It clung to the knight, became one with him, made it clear: the knight has a purpose. It is a pity that the word did not have the strength to explain that the goal was such that it was worth climbing into such inhospitable regions. For a while the knight stood, hoping to hear something else, but in vain. It was as if the wind had found out about the intruder who had bypassed the barriers he had set up, and now the wind was raging, roaring, and muffling other sounds. He was dissatisfied, and the knight went on, never finding common ground with him.
The path led him to the cave. In general, it was no different from what the knight had seen before - the same rocks and rocks, except that the ceiling appeared from above with hanging stalactites, large enough, with sharp, predatory ends. They looked heavy and therefore dangerous. If he falls on his head, he will break to the heels. The cave did not branch in all directions with moves, but it was not straight as a stick. She looped left and right, climbed upwards, and then the knight had to jump on boulders, climb up ledges... in order to descend down natural steps and exactly the same boulders after a while. In one of the hollows, the bug went back to business again. It seems that he was looking for something - maybe he was sniffing the way home or wanted to take advantage of pale blades of grass, which somehow broke through the stone in an incomprehensible way.
The knight waved the nail several times, spraying blood, mucus, and chitin fragments. Basically, it was not necessary to kill - it was easier to jump over or bypass, but, firstly, it was necessary to test weapons, and secondly ... No, the knight did not get any special, sophisticated pleasure from the death of the beetle, but he also did not dislike it. The bug lived, the bug died - and it seemed perfectly normal. Unknown goal - the same duty - can hardly be attributed to the peaceful occupation, and since memory refused, it is worth to train a little, remember the skills and be ready for any surprises. For example, to the strange feeling that something invisible flew out of the carcasses of the beetle, entered the knight - and he became a little bit fuller inside as if in an empty vessel poured water.
Hollow Knight is the story of a true knighthood
In some distance, in front of us, the lights were on. When the knight approached them, he saw a high arch laid with a stone slab. The surface of the slab was decorated with semicircular lines, and a huge beetle silhouette was placed in the center. The stone was not solid: it was cracked, in some places, there were no pieces in it, and warm yellowish pink light penetrated through these holes.
After a careful look at the barrier, the knight found a place that looked weakest, waved a nail and pierced the narrow gap. He pulled it out sharply, turning the brush, and jumped aside, not wanting to be under the rubble. The stove stood still. The knight repeated the action and the slit widened, and small stones flew out of it. After a dozen stabs and blows, the silhouette of the beetle crossed out the crack, followed by another one, and the stove collapsed, raising a cloud of dust.
It died of coolness and fresh air. The knight went through a pile of stones and found himself on the man-made tip of his hand. A flat, gritty floor, open-worked railing - once it was a bridge, but now it left a pathetic splash. What destroyed it? How far did he lead: forward, to a hidden dark point in the distance, or down to the burning lights? The knight came closer to the edge and looked at the bright spot under his feet. Definitely a city. There was a line of lights at an equal distance from each other, in pairs, and inside the light spot they were divided into separate groups - somewhere chaotically, somewhere in the system, somewhere they did not burn at all. The only thing left to do was to go down, and maybe there would be those who could explain what had happened and what it had to do with it.
As the knight expected, paired lights turned out to be lanterns. They reached for the road with cones of light, driving away from the darkness and luring the night butterflies with translucent wings. The insects hovered around the lamps, fought against them, trying to get behind the glass, failed, but did not give up. There was a sense of purposeful hopelessness in their movement. It was as if they understood that everything was for nothing, that they wouldn't succeed, but they couldn't do it otherwise. They probably had a purpose and a duty, too, and they followed them despite the insurmountable obstacles.
Without leaving the road and following from one lantern pole to the other, like bread crumbs, the knight reached the city. The empty streets were well lit, but the windows of the houses remained dark, the doors were closed, and in some places, they were nailed down. The city looked abandoned. Of course, the night wasn't the busiest, but there was a lot of desolation around. The wind was chasing dried leaves, white clouds of fog or dust slid between the houses, and all this was almost silent. No chirping, no ears, no hissing, no clicks, no squeaking, no squeaks - not a single sound that is usually found in the vicinity of the house. Under one of the lanterns, in a circle of light, there was an iron bench, and next to it - the one who met the knight.
The city was called Gryazmut. He who met him, the Elder, was his main and only resident. The rest of them went down. As it turned out, the whole kingdom of Halloween was stretched under Gryazmouth. It, like the city, was abandoned, but for a different reason: the kingdom was in trouble, some residents managed to escape, and the rest ... telling about their fate, the Elder only sighed sadly and shook his head. Everything was happening in a great hurry, and therefore there were many forgotten valuable things, artifacts and, of course, geology. Some residents of Gryazmut went down to the depths for valuable things; others, despising the material wealth, looking for fame, the third moved the scientific interest: they studied, recorded and cataloged what was left of the kingdom. Some of them came back, while others did not. They fell from cliffs, got lost in winding and narrow passages, died of the clutches of wild beetles, disappeared.
The end result is one: the city is deserted. The elder was sure that some of the dirtbags were still alive, but he did not know when they would return or if they would return at all. He just waited, hoped, and therefore rejoiced greatly at the unexpected guest, the first in many days to talk to. The knight listened, tried to understand and understand, and when the Elder, not knowing his name, called him a Knight, nodded silently as a sign of consent. The knight is so Knight. At least his first guess was correct - he really looked like a knight.
After listening to the Elder, he wandered the city, looked around. There was a sign on the door of one of the houses warning of the imminent opening of a shop of maps and related goods. The other one, who was standing on the outskirts of the city, was different from the others - the Knight felt someone's presence inside. He pulled the door handle several times but did not push it too hard: if someone wanted to live as a hermit without showing up to anyone, including the Elder, it was his right. He won't insist.
Well, since there is no one to shed any light on his origin and unclear debt in the Mud, it means that we need to go down to Halloween and find some of the people who have left. Perhaps they know more. The entrance to the kingdom was just a little away from the houses: a man-made hole in the ground, a vertical excavation surrounded by a fence; the walls are lined with stone; a thick chain runs down, located exactly in the center of the excavation. There are no steps, no hollow passages. The depth cannot be determined by eye. The knight found the entrance to Halloween to be original. There may be problems with the descent and ascent, but on the other hand, if he has to do something, he must have been prepared for it. Without further ado, the Knight swung over the low wall and flew down into the darkness.
"Hollow Knight (Hollow Knight) is a video game about bug life in the beetle kingdom.
About love and hatred, about duty and betrayal, about battles, adventures, research, friendship, and enmity. But first of all about duty - too much duty, which lies on the shoulders of too small a knight. But not without reason, there is a proverb "small, yes, he did". The knight is its full incarnation; without fear and doubts, he goes forward, to his goal, and challenges those who are stronger than him, bigger and angrier. Whether he wins or not is more of a philosophical question, because those who want to get a lot of it should be given no less, and there are rare exceptions in this rule.
Genre - Metroid, and this means a decent size of the world, a variety of levels, greater freedom of movement, a lot of hiding places, enemies and artifacts. And no catch: the game is large enough to spend in it from a few tens to hundreds of hours. The journey is for singles (no multiplayer!) and during its existence reached all major platforms and operating systems, which removes a certain binding to the "iron" and software and allows you to play where it is convenient.
The main actors: The Knight is a bug, mysterious as a superagent after a loss of memory; the characters you can talk to all at once; the kingdom of Hallownest; why it was left without direct translation, while the other names were translated - a mystery covered in darkness, like Hallownest - the darkness of the dungeon).
Due to circumstances, the Knight cannot speak, but he listens perfectly. Monologues of characters are one of the ways to present the plot. It also includes video inserts, monoliths with letters, monuments and a hunter's magazine, or rather, descriptions of the bosses in it. For example, if one of the serious opponents died, a certain amulet was found, the right amulet was equipped, a new ability was obtained, the task was completed - monologues of some characters are updated and supplemented.
In general, the story is revealed gradually, but sometimes jumps forward and opens the veil of the mystery before time, but in some places, on the contrary, hides, waving implicit hints. It is easy to understand the main plotline, to understand all the details and nuances - it is more difficult, because there are many of them, and there are still several forks, and it will not be possible to go through them in one pass.
For a long time beetles worshipped Radiance, the deity of light, and in its dazzling rays lived collective consciousness. And then the Pale King came from a kind of worms, ancient creatures, extinct, as it was believed, long before the appearance of Halloween. The king was reasonable and wanted the same from future subjects. With his help, the beetles gave up their collective consciousness and found their own. Concerned about the welfare of the people of Halloween, the Pale King developed science, technology, and trams, elevators, and Rogachev tunnels appeared in the kingdom, and beetles learned and developed. Soon he was joined by moths, a tribe whose ancestor was Radiant. The half-forgotten deity, from whom even the most loyal subjects, the flesh of his flesh, turned away, did not want to put up with the current state of affairs - and came a period of confrontation between the Radiant and the Pale King: in Hallonest came the Plague.
The birth of Radiant Beetles captured the minds of beetles, subordinated them to the will of a deity, and enlivened and controlled dead bodies.
The King used the power of the Void, the unknown origin of the substance worshipped by ancient peoples, to fight the Plague. He connected it with the particles of his own soul and created vessels. Externally they looked like beetles, inside they were empty. According to the plan of the Pale King, the best of them, the ideal one, had to absorb the Radiant, to keep it in itself. So it happened. The deity of light was locked in the Vessel, and the Vessel was chained up, placed in a temple created from the Void and sealed. But the case intervened: the Hollow Knight, the ideal vessel, was not perfect, it was flawed, and Radiocentricity took advantage of it, captured the consciousness of the knight and continued to subjugate the will of other beetles. Those who escaped, those who did not, fell under the influence of light, and the Pale King, along with all his castle went into the world of Dreams. The reasons for his deed are not mentioned in the story. The kingdom was empty, and after a while, the Knight came to Mud - the result of a failed experiment, one of the thousands of defective vessels, which the Pale King threw into the abyss, the abode of the Void.
The long corridor was changing: dark currents - water - appeared on a naked stone; after a dozen steps the uneven greenish spots began to meet - and the farther the knight walked, the denser the surface was overgrown with moss; at some moment it pulled the fresh air with an admixture of floral aromas, the walls were distributed to the sides, opening a wide, covered with thick green space. Nature, whose place at the top, under the sun, loved the dungeon and, judging by the lush growth, did well without sources of natural light.
On the new map - never folded, with barely dried up ink - the corridor ended with an unknown and arrow with the inscription "Green Trail". Then we will have to guess again. Conifer, the cartographer beetle, warned him honestly that he knew about the trail, but he would take it after studying the Forgotten Crossroads. In the Knight's opinion, the work on the Crossroads, the area in which he got through the passage in Gryazmouth, and so was done a lot: marked in many moves, separately marked dead ends and dangerous places, and to navigate through them was not difficult, but some white spots, apparently, still remained.
What made us happy was that Conifer was not the only bug.
His wife opened a shop, sold amulets, writing utensils and promised that soon there would be cards in which the husband scrupulously brings the ruins of the kingdom. She did not seem to be very enthusiastic about her husband's work, but, as a decent wife, she supported him and waited for him to return. Among the abandoned houses and stone-covered idols, there was a half-living bug named Sly - he was delirious, muttering something inaudible, but still came to his senses and went to Gräzmut, taking a promise from the Knight that he would come to him if possible.
In one of the caves, which attracted the attention of the audience with its smooth outlines and signpostela, there was a station, which had been cut down right in the rock. There were burning lanterns, the ceiling was supported by thin - obviously for the sake of beauty - columns, the floor lined with slabs flowed into the platform and ended with a fence in the form of railing with twisted balusters, the bench for waiting and rest was an exact copy of the one that stood in the Mud. A tunnel stretched on both sides of the fence. The geo machine, which was darkened from time to time by the bronze box on the exact column, was working - that's all and it was necessary to throw coins into a narrow slot with rounded edges. When something snapped in and the side covers of the rifle cunningly turned, the knight saw a copper bell and slowed down a second and hit it with the flat side of the nail. A thin, soft ringing filled the station, went deep into the tunnel. No sooner had he gone silent than a new sound appeared - the clatter of six strong joint paws. A bug of giant size ran up to the platform. His head was tilted forward, the tip of his horn shining in the light of the lamps, his gray mustache was clutching, he carried a fabric-covered metal frame on his back, holding it in place with wide straps stretched under his belly, and two armchairs and a bag of things attached to it from above.
This is how the Knight met Rogachy. This hard-working man, along with his relatives, drove passengers through Halloween on short roads. When the kingdom collapsed, there was no one to drive, and the Rogachians, who were left without business, split up who was going where. For a while, they kept in touch with each other, and then a thin thread broke off. For a long time Rogac did not receive news from his relatives and seriously thought that he remained the last.
He was old, sat down, but as soon as he found out that someone needed his work again, he was inspired, as if he had swallowed water from the fountain of youth. Alas, the vivacity of his spirit did not affect his memory in any way: during the years of forced idleness he had forgotten the location of the stations and the way to them. However, he assured that his hearing was excellent and he would hear the ringing of the bell, no matter what part of the kingdom he was in...
The knight carefully curled the parchment from the lines and badges and hid it.
Carefully went deep into the green thickets, waiting for a trick on either side. He became convinced that the ruins of Halloweenest were no place for carefree walks, and probably the further he moved, the more often he would meet wild beetles with bright orange flames in his eye sockets. The villagers who returned to Gräzmut said different things, but they agreed that someone had taken over the beetles' minds, ruled them, and agreed unanimously. The unknown puppeteer generously endowed the novices with strength, speed, contempt for death - but was such a reward proportionate? The Knight did not get the answer to this question in any way, he flashed in his head with fragments of thoughts, slipped away, it was worth to concentrate on it.
Too little he's learned. Cornifer, Iselda, Sly, Rogach - all of them helped as much as they could, but did not possess full information, and the Knight continued to wonder who he was and what he was doing in Halloween. Each time he returned to Gräzmouth, he saw an inevitable revival of the city: more often the light in the windows lit up, trade was going on, meetings were held, discussions were initiated, and grunting was heard. Against the backdrop of a revival that he himself had contributed to, the knight felt like an unguarded soul without a corner. And it meant exactly the same thing as before - the search continues.
In the kingdom of Halloween there was a place for lifeless plateaus, green forests, gloomy pits with spiders, caves and lakes. There is even a full-fledged city, with houses made of stone, elevators, glazed windows and discharged courtiers. Levels flow smoothly into each other, connected by several transitions - according to the genre, the part is open at once, to overcome the others you need to either bypass them and open from the opposite side, or get the ability to use it to climb up a high wall, swim on the acid lake, pierce the floor, fly to the platform.
At first, in each new level you have to wander blindly, without a map. To correct this shortcoming, the mapmaker must be found; for a nominal fee, he will sell the level map, and the missing elements that the Knight did not have time to examine before the meeting, will appear as the surroundings are explored. The cartographer is a great traveler and can be found here, there, and in the farthest corners of the kingdom.
Some murdered enemy creatures are reborn as they move from level to level, and stationary dangers like thorns, thorns, rotating platforms, and holes in the floor, which, by the way, appear in the most sudden way, and so remain in place. To reduce suffering and overall ease of life, there are several types of rapid movement, organically woven into the game world.
Not only enemies are revived, but also the surrounding objects. Destruction in the "Hollow Knight" is not complete, but to walk around is where: the wave of the nail - and objects of the background dashingly scattered around. Breaking stones, cutting grass, rolling lanterns, breaking crystals, bending spears and swords stuck in the ground is a pleasure, because it is easy and looks beautiful.
There are separate arenas for bosses and mini bosses. As a rule, you can reach them by different ways, including cuts, a short road, and they are located near the point of preservation. Exceptions occur, so that a couple of bosses, if they are not dead in the first collision, have to go almost longer than to fight with them.
The structure of levels becomes more complicated gradually.
First it is smooth roads and small jumps on steps and platforms, then there are gaps in the roads, the number of platforms increases, their location changes, and the further, the more time the Knight spends in the air. It comes down to the fact that one of the locations is fully dedicated to jumping, dotted with spikes and saws. We will have to jump over them, under them, between them, and try not to fall, because the floor under their feet will not always be.
For special connoisseurs developers have made a separate location with a lot of obstacles and a small amount of preservation. There is almost nowhere to stand, ninety-five percent of the time - movement in the air. The location is not obligatory for passing, the entrance to it, in general, is not transparent, is located without prompts, so to run by and not to notice easier. For the passage of such a symbolic award that only after completion comes the understanding of the true meaning of the name - "Path of Pain". But to train your feet and finally praise yourself: "I'm good - the location is perfect for this.
Dark hors d'oeuvres and other secrets are spread evenly - there's always something to learn nearby. On the one hand, walking between points of interest without having time to lose enthusiasm on the way is an absolute plus; on the other hand, the hiding places with the most useful objects are tied to game events and abilities, so there is a regular need to run around the studied area and discover what was hidden. And if you play as expected, without instructions and advice from the Internet, sometimes you get such marathons that other athletes and did not dream.
However, here it is possible to carry out conditional division of levels into the basic subject part and additional. Everything that relates to the plot, is allocated quite unambiguously - defined visually or is located by unambiguous hints of characters, friends. The rest is optional, if desired. Wandering, looking out, tapping the walls, crawling along the burrows and all the forgotten paths - and finding valuable objects that will facilitate the way forward. If you thoroughly explore the kingdom there is no desire, it is no big deal: you can pass the "Hollow Knight" with a partially filled map and a minimum of equipment.
It's not an easy thing to chase yourself! I'm sure the thoughts are the same, they agree, and the copy runs definitely the same speed as well. But no, a little faster - out, from time to time stops and stares, turning back, waiting. The knight felt something like excitement. He wanted to catch up with himself, find out what he was doing here, why he was running away. And the lower the spider's holes went, the more itchy his chest and legs got - hurry up, hurry up, hurry up! Having caught an unusual desire, the Knight stopped. This had never happened to him before, and it seemed as if someone else was pulling it from the outside, like the music you hear and succumb to her charms, starting to dance to the brisk rhythm.
I wanted to go all the way up to the foolish end, but the Knight took only a tiny step. Having buried the excitement in a remote corner of his soul, he moved on, and now carefully looked around, remembered the road, tried to determine where it had taken him. Where is it! Norms are burrows, only native inhabitants can orientate themselves in them, monotonous ones. In a good way, we should have come back before it was too late. It is unreasonable to go far in this way, in darkness, and without a map, but knowledge is what the Knight was in dire need of. It was worth the risk for them.
Looks like the question of return is settled and we'll have to go the same way.
The copy was on a small hill. She twitched, and her long paws, covered with sharp nodules and short black hair, came out of her, the orange belly fell out, and then she attacked him abruptly, without delay and without greeting, as they do in a fair fight. The knight dodged himself, jumped on a hill, and fled to the opposite side. The creature - no longer a drop like him - easily climbed up the wall on the ceiling, ran and jumped, clearly trying if not to grab it, then ask the masses. And again, she missed it. She was terribly fast, but she was moving straight ahead, not taking apart the road. For some time the Knight was careful, dodging attacks, hitting back, inflicting light wounds, and staying out of a direct collision. I was waiting for the right moment. And when it came to that, he stuck a nail in the base of the enemy skull, separating his head from his body. The head slammed against the floor, and the body exploded from the inside, and the orange slurry that filled it was scattered around, hissing and evaporating right in the air.
The creature lived alone. Apart from her, there was only a pile of dried-up corpses in the lair. They were hanging everywhere, fixed with a web, a thickness in a middle rope; among them, there were both local inhabitants - with their relatives the Knight repeatedly collided while sneaking through local holes - and strangers, strangers. Those who were unlucky enough to obey the excitement did not manage to stop in time or were not strong enough.
Among the strangers, the Knight saw some very similar to himself. He came closer, touched them with a nail, and nothing. They did not have paws, wings, or bad orange eyes; they were about to sway and were not about to transform themselves as the master of this lair. Dead bodies, dead - and so important! Their presence clearly indicated that the Knight was not alone, at least not before. His comrades or comrades-in-arms traveled through Halloween and did... what? They could defend, study, collect, hunt, observe, watch - there were many options. Is it possible that this was somehow related to the Knight and his duty?
Certainly, the study of the lair was not useless. There is new food for thought, which, like its faithful companions, will have to be dealt with, and this is much better than not having any information at all. We couldn't do without replenishment of the material stock: behind the false wall, there was a tiny stash with a rare stone, which is unknown why the creature was saved. The knight shoved the stone behind the cavity, approached the exit. The black ribbons disappeared and the path was open. The only thing left to be done was to find the one that would lead home and not to get into a new trap on the way...
There are more than a hundred opponents in the game, among them twins and older brothers - like, for example, small and large fleas, which differ in size and only a little bit - behavior - but mostly the differences between them are stronger. This applies to both the appearance and the attacks (and someone does not attack at all - frolicking or even running away). Wild beetles can be hunted, not only satisfying the bloodthirstiness, but also the hunter's instinct. At the first death of a particular enemy, a note is added to a special magazine: an image, a brief basic description and additional information, which is closed at first and will open after the murder of a number of the same enemies - from one for bosses to two or three dozen for ordinary beetles. Obtaining complete information, with rare exceptions, happens by itself, and difficulties may arise only in case of purposeful avoidance of battles.
The difference between the bosses is more obvious:
- in addition to their appearance and behavior
- they have separate locations
- musical accompaniment
- and some have characters in their dialogues and actions
And at the same time, they have one thing in common: you can't give in to greed in battle with them. In the realities of the game, this means that there are practically no bosses in "Hollow Knight", who can be caught off guard, pressed, stunned - and won. At best, they will lose a third of their health, while the Knight will lose everything. There are, of course, and those who turn their feet back, but they are few, and to crush them can only be after pumping weapons and equipment with amulets that do not fall from the sky, and lie in remote hard-to-reach corners. Most of them need to be treated with care, leisurely: wait for the moment - to strike - to wait for the moment - to strike - to strike - ... In other words, to act on the tactics.
One of the most serious enemies the Knight may face is the Mighty Zot. Not only does Zot regularly get into trouble, unable to cope without help, but for salvation, he awards a portion of grumbling, grumbling, and discontent - if he stays alive, he will act as the boss and "ingratitude" will take the Knight's admirer, hanging her noodles on her horns. And let the admirer be a selfish twirl, which is not necessary for a decent beetle for nothing, you can sleep with foul words in his address. This is what makes it so scary.
Without going beyond the necessary details, revealing the storylines, it remains only to note that the opponents are not limited to the dumb creatures. There is a place for everyone here: the reasonable, those who act against their will, the irreconcilable enemies, and those who eventually become friends will help with word and deed.
Non-playing characters (who are immediately positive or neutral towards the Knight) are encountered throughout the journey. They are scattered throughout the kingdom, and to find them sometimes as difficult as the artifacts. Some return to Gräzmouth, others remain in their places, while others wander the world in parallel with the Knight. Each character can learn a piece of history, and not all the answers are open at once. To get the full information it is necessary to fulfill some conditions: to meet at a certain time, to fulfill the task, to put on an amulet. Not always the conditions are obvious, and for their understanding, it is necessary to look at both and listen, because in many ways the stories of characters overlap - some characters point to others, and vice versa.
Continuation should be...