Hollow Knight DLC Review and Critique - Godmaster

Hollow Knight released early 2017 to critical acclaim. Later in 2017 we got Hidden Dreams and The Grimm Troupe, and now in August 2018 we get Godmaster (previous Gods & Glory). I've reviewed the base game and the other two DLCs, and I figured it would be a great time to review and critique this final DLC
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All music is from the Hollow Knight OST.
Hollow Knight Expands with Free Content
Godmaster - Take your place amongst the Gods. New Characters and Quest. New Boss Fights. Available Now!
Lifeblood - A Kingdom Upgraded! New Boss. Upgraded Bosses. Tweaks and Refinements across the whole game.
The Grimm Troupe - Light the Nightmare Lantern. Summon the Troupe. New Major Quest. New Boss Fights. New Charms. New Enemies. New Friends.
Hidden Dreams - Mighty new foes emerge! New Boss fights. New Upgrades. New Music.
Brave the Depths of a Forgotten Kingdom
Beneath the fading town of Dirtmouth sleeps an ancient, ruined kingdom. Many are drawn below the surface, searching for riches, or glory, or answers to old secrets.
Hollow Knight is a classically styled 2D action adventure across a vast interconnected world. Explore twisting caverns, ancient cities and deadly wastes; battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs; and solve ancient mysteries at the kingdom's heart.
Game Features
- Classic side-scrolling action, with all the modern trimmings.
- Tightly tuned 2D controls. Dodge, dash and slash your way through even the most deadly adversaries.
- Explore a vast interconnected world of forgotten highways, overgrown wilds and ruined cities.
- Forge your own path! The world of Hallownest is expansive and open. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face and find your own way forward.
- Evolve with powerful new skills and abilities! Gain spells, strength and speed. Leap to new heights on ethereal wings. Dash forward in a blazing flash. Blast foes with fiery Soul!
- Equip Charms! Ancient relics that offer bizarre new powers and abilities. Choose your favourites and make your journey unique!
- An enormous cast of cute and creepy characters all brought to life with traditional 2D frame-by-frame animation.
- Over 130 enemies! 30 epic bosses! Face ferocious beasts and vanquish ancient knights on your quest through the kingdom. Track down every last twisted foe and add them to your Hunter's Journal!
- Leap into minds with the Dream Nail. Uncover a whole other side to the characters you meet and the enemies you face.
- Beautiful painted landscapes, with extravagant parallax, give a unique sense of depth to a side-on world.
- Chart your journey with extensive mapping tools. Buy compasses, quills, maps and pins to enhance your understanding of Hollow Knight’s many twisting landscapes.
- A haunting, intimate score accompanies the player on their journey, composed by Christopher Larkin. The score echoes the majesty and sadness of a civilisation brought to ruin.
- Complete Hollow Knight to unlock Steel Soul Mode, the ultimate challenge!
An Evocative Hand-Crafted World
The world of Hollow Knight is brought to life in vivid, moody detail, its caverns alive with bizarre and terrifying creatures, each animated by hand in a traditional 2D style.
Every new area you’ll discover is beautifully unique and strange, teeming with new creatures and characters. Take in the sights and uncover new wonders hidden off of the beaten path.
If you like classic gameplay, cute but creepy characters, epic adventure and beautiful, gothic worlds, then Hollow Knight awaits!
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Hollow Knight on Steam: store.steampow....
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[@ingeniousclown]

I know the first bit of the video makes me sound like I'm being really harsh, but when I say it drags the game down I don't mean it makes the game's overall experience BAD. It's only a peg or two, and that's a peg or two from the game's few hundred pegs. It's like an extra suitcase weighing down an airplane. It's like Goku wearing weighted clothes. Compositionally I think it's worse, but ONLY BARELY. So chill out

[@keithredacted8154]

No need to worry. Its always good to add some bit of criticism, especially for a beloved game like this. Even though its overall amazing, it will unwise to just ignore the little things that could have been made better you know. This is personally my favorite DLC all in all (for other reasons) but I completely agree that the difficulty was just draining and could have been taken down a peg or two... or forty. Great review man.

[@thegrimmestpeace]

fuc absoloot raddance

[@negrostone292]

I stopped the video when you said "it feels more like a fanmade mod". I think you were really disrespectful with Team Cherry. This was a really nice free DLC. I loved boss rush in metroidvanias and personally Godmaster was one of the best ways to introduce a Boss Rush mode in a game. The other games just have an option in the menu. Sorry for my english. Peace.

[@NamelessOne91]

I understand, and I disagree. This DLC only added to the game, Boss rush is something that many people like and was missing from the game. Not only we got that, but also an option to fight any boss at any time, new lore, a new ending, new bosses, new locations. It might not be the kind of content you like, but this DLC only added to the game, and for free. Also, all this content is OPTIONAL, if boss rushes aren't your thing then just ignore it, there's no reason to do it other than the feeling of achievement and the ending, that I can agree that shouldn't be locked behind such challenging content. Overall this DLC was amazing for people that like challenging bosses, I'm one of those and this DLC is now one of my favorite things about this game.

[@net_spider]

I will say I didnt ask for this dlc, even though I dont necessarily hate it. I will say however that team cherry created/announced this dlc due to overwhelming queries by fans to make a boss rush dlc for this game. Now saying that it takes the game down a peg or two? I think that is going a little far. People play the game for different reasons and I think its perfectly fine to add something that not everyone is going to enjoy as much as everyone else, especially when that content is optional...

[@keithredacted8154]

When game developers don't ask for our money... so they just ask for our *_soul._*

[@thebaseandtriflingcreature174]

Aaaayyyyyyyyy

[@accelerator8558]

They can have it

[@joseph1981]

The upload god will punish thee if thy persists in thy act of forgetting to upload memes

[@copyright-hv6en]

Im 800 Also true that

[@articdrugs1061]

Team cherry's giving us a taste of Australia

[@MrBlorp-sf9ye]

I like to think Nightmare King Grimm just wants to dance and perform with you while Pure Vessel actually wants to murder you. Absolute Radiance? It wants to wipe your mask from existence.

[@SpitFyre37]

Ok, I've gotta disagree with you on Sly. He's hard, but I find it fair. There's a clear opening for damaging him after every one of his attacks, and I've found that the Great Slash actually has slightly more range than Sly does, so it boils down to two nailmasters duking it out with the power of the nail arts. It ended up being really fun.

[@DrSilvergun]

Found him really easy myself with long nail and pride. Had more trouble getting used to doing the 2 brothers hitless.

[@SpitFyre37]

@@DrSilvergun same. I find the second pantheon easier than the first one, because the 2 nailmasters at the end of Pantheon 1.

[@equilibrium8887]

In many movies, when 2 great swordmasters fight each other, it ends up being more of a dance than two dudes just duking it out with swords, and I got the feeling that that was what it was supposed to feel like.

[@sprazz8668]

Also you can sneak in attacks after each of Sly’s if you’re able to dodge them. A lot of attacks if you’re using quick slash or mark of pride.

[@baglespelledwrong8159]

or you can face tank him with a damage build like me

[@AshenDust_]

I feel like the other DLC’s offer more of what hollow knight already offers, while Godmaster offers something different. As someone who only started the game after all the DLC’s were released, I prefer the difference that Godmaster brings

[@ew-mb5ff]

34:23 THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MUSIC I HAVE EVER HEARD

[@bluethingys4843]

I've never died to any boss in this game yet. Could be cause I still haven't bought the game though

[@paxtonl1330]

Blue Thingys That just might be why

[@m.s.e.advanced2842]

Godmaster "defeat NKG again" Me: "I can't, not again, I'm not strong enough"

[@blindtreeman8052]

Its really easy after the first time you defeat him. Atleast for me. Radiant difficulty or not they didn't add any new attacks for the guy so flawlessly whooping his ass is completely normal after youve beaten him once or twice. Same goes for pure vessel

[@bryantaylward2316]

@@blindtreeman8052 yeah pure vessel has gotten much easier the more I've beaten him. Nkg is a cake walk at this point

[@duxghost3985]

@@blindtreeman8052 Pure Vessel is far too easy in my opinion, I know that he's probably only before Absolute Radiance for lore purposes but he should at least be a bit of a challenge before the real monster

[@plugshirt1684]

Dux Ghost I found absolute radiance super easy in comparison to pure vessel making the ending disappointing. Absolute radiance should have more moves or phases to make it different from normal radiance

[@duxghost3985]

@@plugshirt1684 now that's where I say no thank you sir!

[@primalaspid21]

Everybody gangsta till someone brings wayward compass into the 5th pantheon

[@Pinksterton44]

Zote has the most beautiful singing voice I've ever heard

[@QuietLionGaming]

Awesome video! I enjoyed your deep and intense analysis of this DLC. I beat the 4th pantheon yesterday, which granted me my 112%. I have no intention of completing the 5th pantheon, but I tried it this morning, only to die to Oro and Mato lol. I do wish that the 5th pantheon was not so brutal, but at the same time, it's cool it is this way for the people that want those incredibly difficult challenges. For me, beating the 4th pantheon and getting the Pure Completion achievement was enough for me. Thanks for the awesome video!

[@indiefruit]

I think with the hindsight of knowing that Team Cherry have been working on a brand new Hornet game, I think Godmaster is the perfect bit of love required to completely round off the game. The ultimate Hollow Knight challenge, and gives everyone the tools to practice and master the bosses of the game.

[@zandensterner3918]

"4y ago" the pain is real.

[@Wiwiwab]

Video: "Hollow Knight was always about the exploration not the bosses! Who would want to fight bosses for the sake of the bosses?" *I take a breath and start raising my finger* Comments: "Yeah he's right! Well said!" *I slowly take a step back hoping no one noticed me* I might be a masochist.

[@fenrisshade236]

Or just like challenges, but it seems like that we're a rapidly dying breed of gamers considering the states of games and how much people are complaining about difficulty levels in a lot of games that (from my own experience) are maybe a slight challenge at best.. seems people just feel more and more like challenges aren't fun anymore, which i find really depressing, cause it's getting harder and harder to find any game that actually poses a challenge which the community isn't literally trying to nuke from orbit if they actually need to master an aspect of or worse yet die more than 5 times

[@moose-mancer]

I don't live forever, so I'm not gonna waste my time on shit that might take me months to actually finish.

[@pelieskola5708]

@@fenrisshade236 i like a reasonable challenge. Hollow knight without counting godmaster is that for me.

[@fenrisshade236]

@@pelieskola5708 and for me the game before godmaster is a laughable challenge (i still love the game mind you it's amazing). which is the problem here, cause there is less of us who learn patterns incredibly fast, notices all small hidden details, learn to combine mechanics faster than average, we are not being catered to, and when it finally happens "completionists" who NEEDS to 100% a game no matter what will start complaining non-stop until the challenge is taken out, which is what i hate.. If you want to 100% a game + optional stuff that are CLEARLY made for a challenge and not progressions sake (stop the BS about the lore it's so BS). then "git gud" as the undying words of DS players. first time i played through the game it was fun, and a SLIGHT challenge and even though i completed it long ago i decided to replay the whole thing with godmaster, and NOTHING is a challenge anymore. basically i'm tired of people who think they like challenges but when presented with real ones, that again are optional, they start to screech in unison because their image of themselves as "pro-gamers" is tarnished and ripped apart. it's all a matter of perspective but TOO often are games catering to people who are basically just not good at the game instead of the other way around. as a disclaimer i know fully well most people don't feel this way because they don't feel like they got time/patience/whatever but honestly then find another game to play instead of ruining the fun of the people who actually loves challenges, who loves to push themselves. In MMO's (change of genre still relevant) i'm the kind of person who will on purpose overwhelm myself by throwing myself into hordes of enemies who are stronger than me (if the game is using a dodge/skillbased system rather than "tab and smash buttons") to force myself to rapidly improve and teach myself the advantages and disadvantages of my class. whereas most players doesn't understand the simple premise of staying out of the enemies' attacks, or that they can't really deal any damage/succeed if they die. and honestly it's those kind of people who are literally murdering the entire gaming industry, because if the game is easy to overcome it will become trivial extremely fast, you won't have any sense of progression within the game/yourself/whatever you wanna call it, but the ones who are the worst at games are the ones who are screaming the loudest, because.. why comment on something if you think it's awesome, when you are fully aware your voice will do nothing, better just enjoy the challenge while it lasts until it gets nerfed to the ground and yet again become trivial. i remember when games where supposed to be an experience AND a challenge, part of the experience was overcoming yourself, teaching yourself how to do this, some of it was unfair sure, but we managed to beat it anyway, but today if something kills people 2-3 times they become so frustrated that they would rather screech at the game calling it bad than try to look at it from a different angle.

[@pelieskola5708]

@@fenrisshade236 i'm just not gonna say anything to your pretty straight statement of lore but in anything else i can relate. First i kinda little struggled in game but then i learned to play well and this became a peace of cake for me. What do you think about white palace? It has gotten a lot of negative review. I tried to watch two peoples gameplay walkthroughs recently. Another one from Hutts. Another one from Volx. I couldn't watch one from hutts... i gor on episode five. He was always complaining about no time to heal. While in reality he did always heal right on the faces of enemies. Ironically enough he plays a lot of roguelikes where getting health is never quaranteed. And now when he has quaranteed health source he used it horribly. He basically wanted a little spot on every boss room where he could heal. Pathetic. Learn to use it i basically screamed all the time. And then volx. He didn't even try to avoid damage and related too much on focus. Waaay too much... and then i remeber how he got to the soul sanctum where he found first enemy he just couldn't spam to death. Soul twisters. And he did sy they were unfair bull shit. There i lost it and stopped watching them. Imo i can't find even one actually good walkthrough. At god home i'm stuck at sly. That dude is the hardest thing i have ever fought against. Funny enough i can bsically beat him without too big problems at hall of gods but at pantheons peak something always goes wrong.

[@fuzzyd1436]

29:54 that beam of light tho..

[@TheLastGhostLegendario]

This is the FINAL DLC from *Hollow Knight* like our protagonist and i NEVER saw a better ending DLC for a title , why? Because u need to MASTER the game to clear it , isnt a "hey i will put a history really cool and THE END" is like "Hey , this is the end if u really like so much this game become a GODMASTER clear the game to know the future of himslef" and in that way is brilliant, only the chose ones can clear the game and i thing i never saw a better thing for an ending before like this.

[@nachovennedictus6492]

Maybe Dark Souls 3 Final DLC? That one was fucking great too, with the ending boss being some kind of mix between all the good fights in the saga (Artorias, Gwyn, Nameless King) And also giving us one last Dragon Boss, which was epic and difficult has hell. Man, I love both Hollow Knight and Dark Souls, they're so goddamn great

[@thepotato3902]

TheLastGhost Legendario just by reading your comment i can already guess you didnt even try it

[@robloxplayer0003]

I will never get over how he talks about how boss fights are cool, complex, and fun to fight. While fighting massive moss charger.

[@a1l0p]

Yes Huge skill issue

[@shadowsstep6188]

I know my timing with comments isn't the best. But I will say that the Pure Vessel is my favorite boss. That is because of similar reason to nkg. They both are really aggressive bosses and punish you really hard for one mistake. But I love the Pure Vessel more because you have much less time to heal and are more reliant on doging. This very boss helped me understand when to save my healing and use spells instead (or hit and doge).

[@ingeniousclown]

I will say I came out of that fight with a much better appreciation of my spells.... or at least my hadoken

[@christophercatoe3410]

When I was doing the pantheons, after getting to a new boss, I would do what you could call a trial by fire. I would go to the hall of gods, find the boss, put it to ascended, then just throw myself at it until I beat it. It was like learning how to walk before learning how to crawl. I essentially tricked myself into thinking that the ascended versions were the normal versions, and the attuned versions were the easy ones. This was incredibly helpful for me with Pure Vessel and the Nailmasters. I can't say I recommended it but it helped me a lot.

[@jarodtate3451]

Idk if you knew this, but iirc, after beating Absolute Radiance, a new statue shows up; “Void, Given mind”

[@armandog4u]

At 4:20 you don't have to jump over that bug, just hit him till it dies, he'll knock back everytime you hit him, so it won't reach you.

[@FourEyesYT]

I mostly agree with your sentiment on this DLC, but given how much I love bosses and boss rushes, this game mode filled my needs perfectly for a solid week or so. The only saving grace for Pantheon 5 is, honestly, your reaction to being able to beat down Absolute Radiance after you beat her. That just couldn't leave any better satisfaction in my mind

[@korokseed1619]

I really have to disagree with you on Sly. I beat him on my first try, and he really isn’t that hard or unfair (at least in my opinion)

[@lennethomega6731]

The name of the true final boss is enough to give shivers to anyone who managed to beat all the pantheons for the first time.

[@nicholasali3566]

Godmaster was personally my favorite DLC. Grimm Troupe was ok, and I loved the grim fights. Also Weaversong. Path of pain was pretty fun too. Hidden Dreams was cool, but small. I loved Hollow Knight’s boss fights and really love boss rushes. So this DLC was perfect for me

[@ploxyemortem4656]

Here's the thing though, it's FREE, first of all, and second, it's completely optional

[@michaeljohnson5167]

If your main problem is healing between attacks, I recommend Shape of Unn, Quick Focus, and maybe Sporeshroom for some damage. This goes incredibly well since QF makes you go faster in Unn form, and if you pair this with Grubsong and Weaversong, you get lots of free damage and free soul. Add in Grimmchild or Sharp Shadow if you want even more damage.

[@hackmcgraw]

As it turns out I didn't know about that statue room, and was going to pass on playing godmaster because I didn't feel like wasting my time with fodder bosses just to attempt a new boss. I watched this video to see what I was missing, and I'm glad because now I'm actually able to enjoy it a bit. Thanks for that. So after trying it out, I can't really agree with your dislike for Pure Vessel. In my opinion pure vessel is actually pretty fair, and while fighting it the only times where I get hit and feel that it was bs is when either he teleports above directly above me and slams down while I was high in a jump (it's too quick to react to if you're in the air already), or if he uses tendril/knife attack off screen (after he starts using tendrils). The audio cue for tendrils isn't pronounced enough imo, so it's hard to tell if he's throwing knives or using tendrils. Granted both of those attacks are dodged easily by staying at a distance, but I don't like not having a chance to attack him for that attack. As for lore being locked behind this pack, I agree that it sucks. There definitely shouldn't be any endings locked behind this, but oh well, what can you do.

[@zandensterner3918]

Pure vessel is my favorite boss in the game, it achieved the same flow for me that sisters of battle did. For me the key was keeping them on screen at all times. As for absolute radiance, I agree that they're pretty unfair. The beam burst should have a little more startup, and the homing orbs, just like every boss that had homing projectiles, are very unpredictable and annoying. However, I didn't see you mention descending dark at all, it is easily the best spell for this fight (especially during the second phase) because it gives you I-frames. I want to believe you just happened to not mention it, because for me doing the fight without it sounds like hell.

[@LuxrayLloyd]

I feel like the Godmaster DLC was essential for people who grew an attachment to bosses they couldn't fight anymore

[@purplepotato2612]

It is said that the pure vessel had to complete the path of pain before breakfast every day

[@spikeruth1674]

You beat Absolute Bullshit without the lifeblood from completing the bindings? Damn dude, you're committed.

[@radikalernapoleonfanatiker1570]

The Absolute Radiance is the dream form of the boss named ,,Radiance"

[@steelram4098]

Wooo here we go!!! Thanks man!

[@brug6110]

"For us completionists its hard to find the new content" Hidden dreams: giant statue in brettas room marked by a large glowing pad also just dreamnail dung defender Grimm troupe: its kinda hard but if you explore howling cliffs and are curious enough youll find the grimmkin bug and dreamnail him for dialogue not knowing it triggered the dlc Lifeblood: more of a bug fix but yknow the whole bee boss isnt hard to find since hes in a giant fucking arena you can just stumble into Godmaster: literally just explore to the right of under the CoF and kill the dude then use the key on the giant coffin which is the only object of interest in that entire junk pit area which is not hard to miss if you have eyes

[@jackthorndyke3390]

I personally really enjoyed this DLC. I'm a big fan of the bosses, and I loved even the most challenging ones because of how great it feels to have mastered the move sets of extremely fast-attacking bosses like the Pure Vessel and Absolute Radiance. Radiant difficulty being there made me so determined to perfect the bosses that I learned more about things like parrying in the game and overall had a great time with everything. Now I can consistently beat Pure Vessel without taking any damage, or maybe 1 hit, simply because I know exactly what to do at each moment. Mess up your dash? Just parry the triple slash instead. Accidentally go for damage when the Absolute Radiance is over spikes? Just pogo off of them and dash to safety. I do agree that this content pack might not have been what a lot of people expected, and having that crucial final ending cut off by a challenge too difficult for many players, it could have been done differently and improved for sure.

[@articdrugs1061]

For the first bit of the video, this DLC is simply created for a boss rush over anything the base game and previous DLCs has offered, which is why there was no explanation. This entire DLC is basically an extra mode for the gamers that have completed this game before for challenge or a new ending or new players looking for challenge. But i agree with the rest of your opinions in the video. Espescially that such little of lore are only achievable through such madness. The DLC's ending itself felt like a weak teaser for a big DLC sequel. The entire DLC would've worked better as a hard or Boss rush mode, tbh.

[@lordzeus2056]

Funnily enough, the Pure Vessel became quickly my favorite boss, to the point where it was actually fun for me to attempt Radiant difficulty. It also seems on par or maybe a bit easier than NKG. Now I need to say that I wasn't even some god gamer when I started out with this game, and definitely not a god gamer when I started the DLC since the normal Radiance was actually challenging for me at that point. When I started the game, I was fresh from my third run of Undertale Pacifist, a pretty easy game, and I had no experience with any other games. As I went through the pantheons, I discovered during Pantheon of the Sage that actually bosses appeared in the Hall of Gods after you encountered them. To me, every boss was a set of moves to think about and strategize, I just had to become like them in speed and movement, and learn opportunities. Sly first confused me because even NKG had some sort of opening, but turns out Sly has them too, they are just really really small and only slightly bigger in time than his nail swings. I just became better and better and better, and went from someone who found Hornet in green path pretty hard to someone who regularly no-hits Grimm and Pure Vessel. I will agree with you on the Absolute Radiance though, that thing is hell. It starts attacks when others are going on, creates literally almost undodgeable situations, and just is a pain in the butt. But after a while, even it started becoming at least in some way easy, because before starting the fifth Pantheon after discovering it I already was trying to beat it on Radiant difficulty. And that mad emy victory against the Pantheon pretty easy, after I learned not to be too cocky with Grimm and Pure Vessel even though I can no-hit them. In the end, I literally in the game and metaphorically rose up from a scrub to a god. I won, saw how the god-seeker died and felt sorry, but then saw also how I freed my brother THE GREAT PAPYRU- The Hollow Knight to live it's life free of responsibility and child-killing fathers. But then I realized. During this journey, I bested and beat up all the gods, proving I am superior in every way, and ascended beyond the limits that Hallownest gave me in my ability. But in leaving Hallownest behind in skill and challenge, I also left behind my love. The game when I started, filled me with such a sense of wonder, I had so many things to discover and do. Even after I beat the Hollow Knight and the Radiance I still had attachment and joy in playing it. But now, after I ascended above this world, coming back to it just fills me with... sadness. I've done everything. I've grown homesick while attempting to beat the fifth Pantheon, but my home wasn't my home anymore. It was a lonely kingdom, filled with husks and enemies, with no friends, and feeling me with loneliness. These bugs that I just loved became characters on a screen that I tried to get any ounce, any drop, any crumb of that original feeling of passion and happiness this game once gave me. But to no avail. Hornet no longer is exciting to see, just standing there, wishing I can get comfort from her. The Nailmasters are adamantant as always in staying where they are, never talking to their brothers and filled with anger and shame. I found some niche lore I guess, that I saw in KZbin videos already. But everything has been drained of what it once was. The godhome is my home now. Not Hallownest. I now only felt the ongoing for something more, because I felt this couldn't be over yet. So I set out on my epic quest to defeat the Hollow Knight and the Radiance again, the vanilla ones. But they are so pathetic compared to me when I actually try and use my usual loadout. I'm not able to even give a satisfying conclusion to this story anymore, nothing to signal that I finally have done it, and that I should move on. I am now pulled back by this prison called godhome, because turns out you can get an update to the Void Idol page in the journal if you complete every boss on Radiant difficulty, and I also can maybe try to do bindings to fully 100% complete the game. But... I just feel like I have no more strength anymore, no mind to think, no will to fight, no drive to suffer. I... feel lost. I genuinely feel alone and sad writing this, not wanting to tear up. I just long to go back to how it was, I was a brave explorer who knew nothing, but everything to love. But maybe one of the most useless achievements by my friend's opinion, passing of the age, can make Mister Mushroom convince me to move on. I learned while trying to get his achievement that Mr. Mushroom speaks to the player in a way, if only in references. And maybe that isn't Mister Mushroom's lesson, I feel like the ability to move on also might be a subject of his ramblings. Mister Mushroom readjusts to every new age, leaving behind old ones once they have run their time. It isn't useful in any way to long for the past, so you should remember your experiences to move on. But it hurts. I wish I knew whether I should move on. I love this game, and I never want to leave it, but I only really have one thing left to do. It's to stop playing.

[@grimmisascorchmain9486]

For the love of God don't use shade soul on absolute radiance, your abyss shriek hits more, does more damage, and is much bigger. Going into the fight with full soul means you can spam abyss shriek can get you almost to the end of phase 1 with at least vanilla radiance

[@fishqueen1702]

All of your points are valid for the absolute radiance with it being not fun and too difficult but think of what your fighting, a literal god. No other game that I have played has actually made a god boss feel like a god except this one. So yeah it’s unfair and a pain in the ass but your fighting a being on another level of existence.

[@xaytana]

The ending of Godmaster clearly leads into the upcoming Hornet DLC. I also wonder if Mr. Mushroom will have anything in his DLC, since there's a post credit scene if you find him in every location with the spore shroom charm. I'm really hoping it's more than just a gimmicky easter egg, and that he has more content later. Also, is Hornet confirmed to be the last DLC, or is there more content coming after Hornet?

[@JasperLaFortune]

Team Cherry: we're adding free DLC! Me: does it make the game more accessible? Newbies: does it make the game more accessible? Disabled gamers: does it make the game more accessible? Casual gamers just here for the atmospheric storytelling: does it make the game more accessible? Team Cherry: ... did you hear something? I swear I heard someone say "harder boss fights"

[@poltec8386]

*Me:* *Sees 'hollow knight' and 'critique'in same video title *Also me:* You are the enemy

[@ASquared544]

I mean, you have to account for the fact that ALL of Godhome is 100% optional. You don't need to dabble with any of it to beat or complete the game, nor get you some new item. It's just there if you want a challenge.

[@Agenta-df3gb]

Wrong. VERY clearly wrong. Godmaster has a lot of interesting lore, much of it DIRECTLY involving us. Pantheon of Hallownest ALSO guards 2 endings. One of which is all-but-confirmed to lead into the Hornet DLC, aka the PAID-FOR expansion.

[@Meesvenema12]

@@Agenta-df3gb i want to say you're wrong but you're not.. still i dont think its that bad to just look it up.

[@Paikerchu13]

4% of the game’s completion percentage tracker is tied to the pantheons as well as two endings.

[@2yoyoyo1Unplugged]

I think you are not really seeing the reason for the boss rush in lore if you think it’s stripped of meaning. Contextually, you’re *choosing* to fight the strongest bugs that exist to ascend. And it’s optional.

[@pixels_and_plants]

That daft punk cut in earned a like.

[@shiroko7330]

Actually, is there a end to The Eternal Ordeal ? Or do Zote have the biggest ego of all time (at least big enough to get the same boss title screen as Radiance and NKG), that's the question I have about this DLC.

[@lazarlazarteam1033]

I spent like 6 hours strait beating sisters of battle radiant but now i can beat pure vessel and sisters of battle radiant pretty easily!

[@warferno1957]

I thought platinum on from software games was hard enough... love this game so damn much but this dlc is going to be one hell of a ride to fight through and I have to complete this game 100%

[@mr_tete]

The Traitor King/Lord (Mantis Lord) does 2 damage as well or does this boss came after this video

[@zachshore1318]

I mostly appreciate it for simply being able to refight bosses, but I share you hatred for Absolute Radiance. It would be one thing if Pantheon of Hallownest was simply a top tier challenge like path of pain, offering nothing that the player feels forced to get, simply a challenge for those who want to test themselves. Unfortunately, 2 endings and achievements are locked behind it which sucks. Still though, I hope I’ll be able to conquer it someday.

[@ntsazazel]

No mention of the new uumuu fight? before it was nerfed heavily and became trivialized, it was pretty much the hardest fight...

[@steph4668]

6:36 "The first rush isn't much of a challenge" Excuse you, it took me over 10 tries XD

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

I died five times total and four of these times were to the last brother, after already having survived the two brothers at once... Turns out the nailmaster who does the cyclone slash has significantly faster attacks than the other one, so that's why it doesn't feel like the begining of the fight at all. So in the end the second pantheon was easier for me. The third pantheon, on the other hand... First I died like 10 times to the godtamer for some reason(despite practicing in hall of gods). Now my brick wall is grey prince zote, and I gave myself a break by doing a second playthrought, where I got a few achievements and tried sequences breaks. It was so much more fun.

[@elricstormbreaker349]

I know this comment is pretty late but i just bought hollow knight voidheart edition for about $10, and I've never played a metroidvania type game in my life. Since I've never played such a game, as you can guess my skill level is pretty bottom of the barrel and I've played I say for about an hour into it or so. Just looking at this footage gives me a headache so when I eventually complete this game, which may be never considering my skill level I think I'll just skip this entirely, with me being pretty bad, I also have very have very little patience and get frustrated very easily. Maybe the game is just not for me and it's a great game I won't disregard that but it will take me quite awhile to beat this. Anyway thanks for the video keep up the good work!

[@notaseagull3320]

Sorry, I couldn’t keep watching after the Massive Moss Charger fight around 4:00... why would you fight it like that?

[@ingeniousclown]

Sorry, that's not the focus of the video. It's a clip from my first playthrough of the game, of course I didn't know how to fight it.

[@notaseagull3320]

@@ingeniousclown haha only joking! sorry if that wasn’t obvious :)

[@XonixDerps]

I feel like you went into the DLC hoping it was a new expansion rather than what it was planned as someone said in the comments: A mode/area for the hardcore boss rush players. ( Though with secret upgraded bosses/story but hey they deserve something including you for going through all that challenge lol) But I want talk more on that because someone already left a big ass paragraph. The DLC with exploration etc will come later with Hornet o: and im stoked for it honestly. I dont mind paying for it since it will be priced /

[@TheMetalOverlord]

Well, some of the problem people have with the Godmaster update is that they cut one of the two big part of the original Gods & Glory update. We got the Gods part, but they cut the Glory, the gorified charms that they designed as a reward for the final challenge of the game. So for people that were interested in some new progression to do in the game, they were left with nothing, just a bossrush with no reward, reward that was hyped for months.

[@XonixDerps]

@@TheMetalOverlord ya that part sucks :(

[@TheMetalOverlord]

The good thing is that there is a mod, called Exaltation, that basically try to do what glorified charms should have been. They even get exalted in packs after every completed pantheon. Look at it if you are interested in that feature.

[@AndroidHarris]

Yeah I hate the radiant fights. Radiant Markoth and Radiant Absolute Radiance are the worst things to exist in this game.

[@bananonymouslastname5693]

I agree with the general sentiment of this video. Godmaster drags the game down for me personally. I did it on PS4, and I did manage to clear all 5 pantheons and get the platinum trophy. I think the base game has become an all-time favorite for me, and I enjoyed all of the other DLC included in the Voidheart Edition. Godmaster, though, became tiresome in the Pantheon of Hallownest. I play a lot of games. I don't like to spend too long on one game just practicing, no progress in my playtime. I have other priorities in life than games, but they're my favorite way to spend my hobby time. I didn't mind the first 4 pantheons. 10 bosses is difficult, but didn't feel unfair. Over 40 takes too long per attempt, and isn't accessible for most players. 1.8% of players have managed the platinum trophy on Playstation. That means a very, very tiny fraction of folks have managed to earn the remaining endings. For many of us, that feels like we didn't really finish the game unless we complete all of the pantheons. Being an old guy in his 40s with a wife and kids that are more important than my play time, I feel fortunate to have played enough games in my life that I could get the 112% completion, clear the Path of Pain, and all 5 pantheons in about 44 hours all told. I feel like a lot of the folks who call it easy are people who don't mind grinding a game away for days, but not all of us are streamers or obsessive enough to get past the frustration of getting to Pure Vessel or Absolute Radiance, just to lose after 40 minutes and have to stop and be an adult. There has been a trend of catering to the most hardcore fans and adding obscene difficulty to games. Of there wasn't lore and endings stuck behind it and it was just a challenge mode for those folks, it wouldn't bug me in the least, especially with bosses this well designed. I just feel like they took it too far. Also, screw them for Radiant Markoth.

[@blobbything2986]

I haven't made it to PoH yet but I'm dreading the collector fight with primal aspids and such

[@user-xb8ts3rc9g]

I wouldn't even really call these DLC since they're free, they're more like massive updates to the game so the only way anyone can actually fault them, is if they make the game experience marginally worse, and since they're completely out of the way of the main campaign experience i dont think it's fair to say that they do, besides the one cinematic that casual players might miss, the only complaint that you could realistically have is that the developers didn't spend their time making more content for casual players in their already insanely big game for free and i don't think that's a fair argument to make, i think the entire purpose of these expansions were as a nod to the hardcore players like you in order to just say thank you for finishing our game and loving it enough to keep playing and i think that's pretty fucking awesome concidering the state of gaming nowadays and i feel like any complaints towards that might be discouraging and counter-productive.

[@Crootcovitz]

The first two pantheons took me 1 or 2 days to beat each. The third was a week of struggling. The fourth took me 20 days. I tried the fifth, got to the sisters of battle and got anihilated. I had some fun with them in the Hall of Gods, then I decided to take a stab at Ascended Markoth. And then I gave up on the DLC completely. But fighting the first bosses again after beating the fourth panteon does feel like playing in slow motion, it's weird. :D

[@Adamsandlertherealone]

*me at 109%, "only 3% more and 10 more achievements! " can't be THAT hard, can it?" *the pantheon of Hallownest* "Im about to end this man's whole career."

[@shyne5928]

i mean, it was kinda just... that. it wasnt aiming to be anything else. it was just "fight em again if ya want."

[@nicholasiverson9784]

... you have to do all that, without getting hit to bring a flower to the final boss? or is that flower quest different somehow to the one in the game to begin with?

[@ingeniousclown]

Nono, you just bring the flower to the NPC in the Junk Pits. No boss fighting required, that'd be nuts!

[@nicholasiverson9784]

@@ingeniousclown Ah thanks for the clarification haha, hopefully they don't see this and get ideas x.x

[@WrathNebula321]

Funny enough, I had a hard time with the Radiance's second phase on the story path, and that was mostly the reason why she gave me more trouble than Nightmare King Grimm. I can't imagine Pure Vessel and Absolute Radiance when I finally get to them, its downright monstrous and annoying.

[@gianrhose]

Have you already seen the silk song?

[@EXstormDragon]

So what you're saying is, this dlc lets me fight Nightmare Grimm as much as I want. Good lord man why did you just say that. I spent an hour or so, last night, figuring out his patterns when I was fighting him initially and when I was done, I was actually a little bit sad. I didn't realize that over that course of time that I had grown to really love the boss fight and wanted to fight it more.

[@ingeniousclown]

That was my first reaction to beating NKG for the first time, too. Frustrating at first, but once you get to the point where you can beat him it's like an elegant dance.

[@kingtreedede7303]

Does the zote music ever disappear

[@lerogi4962]

Hornet is made of screen transitions.

[@hylachusphobiae]

the knight *him* self you say

[@henryallsup5771]

Well once you defeat a really hard challenge you probably should get a well deserved reward

[@DementedDuskull]

For PV and AR I highly recommend Baldur Shell.

[@c3p0worksatburgerking35]

“If i had to describe slys boss fight in one word, its this” *doesnt say anything*

[@lordcabbage4931]

Man I wonder why they didn’t add more exploration, it’s not like there’s an entire new game coming... nah that’s not it

[@Robert-vk7je]

This is Hollow Knights version of "Getting over it".

[@dandyspacedandy]

ironically i feel like godmaster's biggest failing was in having too much lore at all. locking 1, technically 2 endings behind what's essentially a trial for technical players rather than story driven players feels unfair. if team cherry had decided to keep it simple and treat it like what it is, a challenge mode and nothing more, then i would absolutely love godhome knowing i dont have any plot relevant responsibility to see it through. But thats just my take on it i suppose

[@septimustache6359]

I don't agree, the bosses are amazing, wouldn't ever call them "not much". But you can have your opinion

[@Itzsfo0]

Hey Ingeniousclown Gaming, you've reviewed and talked about everything from all the metroidvanias and Hollow Knights, and Binding of Isaac (one of my fav games ever) and all of that. I wanted to know what you thought about that little gem on Nintendo Switch called: CELESTE ? What is celeste considered ? I love that game right now...I just got it recently. Is CELESTE a metroidvania or ? just a platformer (classic puzzle platformer) I heard someone say "BRAID" is a Puzzle-platformer with a unique mechanic...so i ask what does that make CELESTE ? a girl climbing a mountain ? lol its got a great story too. and Owlboy vs Celeste I heard someone say "Celeste is one of the finest/greatest games ever made" (that may be quite a statement) but just wanted your opinion. Gotta admit CELESTE has some real charm.

[@ingeniousclown]

Celeste is great! I didn't have time to finish it but loved every minute of what I played. ABSOLUTELY not a metroidvania though. Just a platformer.

[@Itzsfo0]

I'm hearing good things about 2 games. 1) Ghost Song 2) Timespinner Ghost song especially (from matt white - from columbus, ohio) where there is a thriving indie development scene check out the links below: www.ghostsonggame.com/gs/about/ www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192311215/ghost-song-a-journey-of-hope

[@Itzsfo0]

Ghost Song has been in development for 5 1/2 years....and while some ppl can complain about the content creep (and his redesigning) the game...there is alot of positive BUZZ around Ghost Song...I saw it featured about 16 months ago...and I was blown away, if any game will give AM2R or Super Metroid a run for its money (in the metroidvania department) in the open-world structure w/ back-tracking and overall permanent progression within a hand-crafted enviroment (I was pretty harsh on other posts about CHASM) I argued that hand-crafted isn't always good, but like MUSIC, video gaming comes with personal taste & opinion (and those tastes change with our moods) I would like to clarify I do like a good hand-crafted, atmospheric, metroidvania (and yea I know CELESTE isn't a metroidvania, its a level/chapter-based platformer) a good one, very good one indeed (I recommend finishing it btw, it does what most platformers DONT, unlike the twitch-masochistic platformers like Super Meat Boy and La-Mulana and 1001 Spikes which sort of "rub your nose in failure" Celeste, builds you up...I keep hearing that...success through failure...and always learning something new about the "area" and "layout"..which is what I like....and it has one charming ass/funny story to boot (about mental illness). It's quite DEEP for such a cheap small platformer. And quite challenging. But Ghost Song...mhmmm..I cant say enough about Matt White, see he flat out says "Im not trying to INNOVATE" hes NOT trying to do something new, he is making a game HE would want to play, a classic 16-bit era SPRITE based (not pixel) Metroidvania (in vein of those 16-bit early to mid 90s SNES titles). He is a life-long gamer, and has been doing game design give or take for 16- years. It's a passion project 100%, and he has been working (and talking with) Thomas Happ (a name I'm sure you know). The guy who created Axiom Verge. They are friends. Matt has been chronicling his GHOST STORY development since 2014. It started off as a STENCYL based game (a flash project) then he realized his ambitions were far too large for a flash based HTML game. He went into Unity, then Unity 2.0...and has progressed since 2013/2014. The game feels MORE like a Metroidvania THEN most so-called metroidvanias, its a lonely, isolated world...a crash landing on Planet Lorian V....you are CONSTANTLY stalked by these creatures (think: PSX era "Clock Tower" meets "Rain World") you are NOT the ultimate power, you are constantly being stalked, you get a sense that previous generations of people have tried to "populate" the planet...but unsuccesfully, there is a deep back story, its full of atmosphere (lonely, isolation, dark, and always on the edge of anxiety b/c your constantly being threatened by a stalker or err group of stalker creatures). In his own words: Ghost Song was born as an ambitious flash game in 2012 using the Stencyl game development tool. At the time entitled “Project Soul”, the game was the result of my infatuation with Super Metroid and my frustration with there not having been a 2D Metroid game in ten years. While the game was originally conceived with primarily Metroid on the brain (and aspects of this remains in the game to this day, as evidenced by the generally square shaped terrain and somersault jumps), as development went the game took on a life of its own. I started looking to other games for inspiration, including Dark Souls and Phantasy Star Online, as well as coming up with my own more original ideas. At some point I realized my dreams were too big for where a Flash browser game could take me. I wanted to make a full featured game. Doing this would mean basically starting from scratch and completely rebuilding the game in a higher resolution. To facilitate this, I launched a Kickstarter with a modest $15,000 goal. The campaign ended up raising $54,000. Plans grew, designs grew, ambitions grew, and that lead me to where I am today. Ghost Song is the embodiment of everything about game design I’ve learned that I like or dislike in a lifetime of playing video games. While I’ve been influenced by a great many things and have a particular love of old school survival horror, my modern design sensibility has been most strongly influenced by two games: Super Metroid and Dark Souls. I know it may sound played out at this point to say that one’s indie game is like Super Metroid and Dark Souls, but, in this case, there’s no more succinct a description. Anyone who plays Ghost Song for 15 minutes will see it. This isn’t a game that leads you by the nose. This isn’t a game that stands over your shoulder and makes sure you “discover” everything. This isn’t a game that particularly cares if you discover everything. (This is the KEY to his mentality as a developer and long-time gamer) Quote: I don’t believe innovation for the sake of innovation matters. I don’t care about reinventing the wheel. I just want to make the game I’d want to play, and that’s what I’m trying to do. That’s at the center of it all. Created by Matt White of Columbus, Ohio, the game remains mostly a one man operation Studio: Old Moon Games Platforms: Confirmed for Steamworks PC, Mac, and Linux. Console versions are in the plans but not officially announced or confirmed Release date: TBA 2019 Explore a large, connected, lonely world full of valuable secrets and interesting discoveries Lonely, isolated theme Fully voiced NPCs Acquire many new powers and weapons, many of which are never required to finish the game Touching story of family - Courage, redemption, closure Feed ingredients to your pet that lead to mysterious and varying evolutions based on its diet Challenging combat against varied creatures, zombies, and hunters (Since that post on his page) he has done alot of updates over the past 3 1/2 years. He has people that have been following him since 2012...6 1/2 years and he also did some work on FEZ with Phil Fish back in 2006/2007 era. SO hes got the experience, the know-how, hes got the fan-base, what few that have (early backers) that have demo'd / played his game are really impressed, and say its exactly what a TRUE metroid fan really wants. It's imitation at ITS FINEST. As big as Hollow Knight, as atmospheric at SOTN, and has that Metroid feel, it hits all the right spots. I have alot of faith in GHOST SONG. I dont wanna be one of those you know "hyping up to the extreme" people, only to be let-down upon release, but every now and then I get a good feeling about a game...and in my 30 years of gaming....most of those good-feelings turn out to be true...I had a good feeling about CHASM (and some people love it) others...meh...I like the DEAD CELLS (roguevania) combination, I agree its more ROGUE then vania...but thats fine by me...I've always felt the hand-crafted appeal works for some, the procedural generation WORKS for others....what makes Binding of Isaac great, is the ROGUE aspects...what makes Hollow Knight great is the metroidvania (pure and simple) aspects. Large interconnected world. GHOST SONG Is a pure metroidvania 100%. (Some more info): GHOST SONG: A Journey About Hope A beautiful 2D sci-fi metroidvania about love, hope, and redemption. Gameplay influenced by Super Metroid, Clock Tower and Dark Souls. My name is Matt. I'm an artist and designer, and I'm a huge fan of all things metroidvania. For the past year I've been planning and working on a game that combines everything I love about video games: Eye catching art, challenging action gameplay, oodles of atmosphere, and emotionally resonant themes. Ghost Song is a 2D "metroidvania" style game that not only gives players that feeling of isolation and minimalism Super Metroid fans long for, but also delivers an emotionally powerful story. This story is told not through pages of exposition or long cut scenes, but through being in the game, being in the moment, and observing events as they unfold. It's a highly ambient, atmospheric approach to story that falls somewhere between Super Metroid and Dark Souls in its tenor. Large, open ended world to explore Challenging and rewarding gameplay Precise, responsive controls Obtain a range of new abilities to unlock progress to new areas Optional hidden weapons and abilities that that are not required to proceed, incentivizing exploration Large and challenging bosses and mini bosses A slinky, resourceful foe who stalks you throughout the game Atmospheric and lonely tone Initially for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux, with other platforms possible in the future

[@Itzsfo0]

Lorian V is a place of myth and legend that many have attempted to explore and from which few have returned. There are numerous theories about what this moon actually is, but the most important thing to know about it is that when people end up there the result always seems to be the same. Death. The moon is haunted by the souls of its victims; ghosts who linger on while their twisted bodies roam, no more than empty vessels of chaos and aggression. A ghost can only be freed from this existence if his or her physical remains are destroyed, and this is central to the game's story. Freeing those you care about, freeing the innocent. Maybe even freeing yourself. This is a world with a long and troubled history. By exploring we will finds artifacts from past exploration and colonization attempts, slowly piecing together centuries of history and myth. We will also encounter the living. In our journeys we will occasionally run afoul of NPCs with stories and struggles of their own. The Super Metroid influence is instantly apparent by observing the game. What's less immediately apparent is the Dark Souls influence. Playing that game was an extremely formative experience for me as a game designer, and has caused me to rethink everything. I've learned some things that aren't supposed to be okay really are okay. For example: Putting a large, stunning, noteworthy portion of the map behind the most unlikely illusionary wall. I also have my own "Siegmeyer of Catarina" inspired character, the robust and eternally curious Saymund of Ayon 9; a scientist on a mission of discovery. I don't mind including subtle (or occasionally not subtle) homages to the games I love. Despite what my frequent Dark Souls name dropping may lead you to believe, the game is not intended to be punishingly difficult or overly merciless. I'm subscribing to a "tough but fair" philosophy for most areas of the game, with optional areas that may be a bit harder. The purpose of this is intrigue. This game started out relatively small. Humble in scope, I merely wanted to make a basic metroidvania and publish it as a Flash game on popular portals. Over time, the project became more detailed, more ambitious, and more fleshed out. It evolved to the point where it no longer seemed very practical to continue it as a Flash game. When you make a game destined for browser play you find yourself very concerned about file size and memory constraints, and making constant compromises because of those things. I have now set my sights higher. I want to make the game bigger, better, with high resolution graphics, more graphics, more sound, more everything. No limits. To do this I need a little help. Not only is it going to take more and more time, but I need to bring on a partner. My friend Roger Hicks, also known as Rekcahdam. He's an amazing programmer and an audio wizard. We worked together on Pulseboy, and previously he created Celestial Mechanica. He will program the game in Unity and I'll be able to focus all of my energy on matters of design and artwork. With him locked in, I will no longer have to worry about how to make something work or whether I can get it to work -- I can just design. Roger's on top of it. The main purpose of the funding is just to live and spend our time working on the game, since between us we have art, programming and music covered. Both of us, Roger in particular, take various jobs to keep ourselves going financially. There's no way we can both commit most of our time to this project for 6 months or perhaps even longer without some financial assistance. And if we're so fortunate as to surpass our goal, there are things we can do to further add to and improve the game for our backers and future customers (this will be detailed if and when we approach our funding goal). I have the idea completely fleshed out. Every detail is burned into my mind. I live it every day. We have the skills necessary to make all of it real. We just need a little help from you guys to make this happen. It will be something special. (Info end). Check out the link to the (most recent) game-play footage. vimeo.com/72660711 ANd this is the (coolest link if you ask me) its the original trailer released in 2017. The atmosphere, the feel...everything tell me that doesn't give you chills down your spine. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKGngGp4j7eoaJo and the last link (to a short gameplay footage where you can see the "wisps" of the dead souls that float by you...and fighting one of the centaurs that chase you). I can see this game being MORE horror/survival/metroidvania (clock tower meets super metroid) kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5elf3eLqbimhqc

[@StyleSnivy]

This DLC was actually awesome for me, although I played after all DLC were added, so finding everything went perfectly. However my point mostly is the final pantheon was an incredibly amazing challenge for me. The first half of my play through s were exploring the world, getting the speedrun endings in steel soul, all that stuff. But the final pantheon was the second half. It took hours of mastery, but mastery was fun! However mastery is great, but I am a completionist. That’s right. Final pantheon all bindings at once AND all radiant bosses. This pretty much took up half the time of ALL the time I spent on this game.I would rank the radiant bosses much easier than the final pantheon will all bindings though, because with the use of charms I was able to complete everything and use skills and strategy and charms where I struggled! Markoth the absolute radiant and grey prince zote… took a long long time, many weeks in fact for the absolute radiance, but it was incredible completing it. BUT the real challenge, the final pantheon with all bindings. THATS were I struggled, and when I say struggled I don’t even mean like it took weeks. I mean it took a YEAR. Yes I didn’t spent every waking moment on hollow knight, but the time it took between the beginning and the completion took over a year, with (according to my switch) was 605 hours of hollow knight. Yes only around 200 hours of that was the final pantheon, but it’s still Insane, at least to me. The final pantheon when you have all bindings was probably my most proud moment ever (and soul crushing I died at the final part of the absolute radiance while doing this challenge and it broke me. I even have a picture of that moment in my switch so I could for that time have proof that I at least made it there XD. My main problems with the final pantheon (when all bindings some of these bosses are great without them) are the collecter, grey prince zote, markoth, and the absolute radiance. Now the collector will need some explaining… the collecter with all bindings SUCKS! You can no longer one shot his minions, which would be fine, but he has PRIMAL ASPIDS. Now, these little buggers have 3 main problems. First they can shoot the moment they fall, meaning charging up a great slash and immediately trying to kill a minion when they come out of a jar, sometimes just results in a hit. Second they, when more than one, are just painful to avoid the projectiles anyway. Third they don’t get to close. The baldurs roll towards you and the squits hurl themselves at you, but I have to go out of my way to beat a primal aspid, which sucks when I should be focus on three collector. I sware half of my attempts somehow ended at this guy for the longest time, and he’s not even supposed to be that hard type boss, at least not in my head. It’s sorta embarrassing to die to a laughing void clown over and over. Grey prince zote is easier, but his minions also take two hits (when you have all bindings)Also he is sorta hard to predict. Markoth is sorta just the same. I got good at him in the hall of gods, and he didn’t kill me as much as the others but I don’t like them lol. And the absolute radiance. This god is terrifying. I’m not even gonna explain. You know why. I beat her with all bindings. SHE IS TERRIFYING WITHOUT THEM!!!!!!!! My most soul crushing defeat was to this monster. If I could have just won then I could have beaten the final pantheon a month sooner. Argh. But despite these few bosses, the bindings really made all the bosses much more fun! I had a blast stone cold becoming a perfectionist with all bosses. Stacking lifeblood (you unlock this by completing the previous pantheons with all bindings) throughout each rest zone felt satisfying, and was sorta necessary back when the collector was the absolute death of me (now I learned to use descending dark and stuff in his fight, I’m a bit better now). I do hope that Silksong has a pantheon of sorts, because it was one of my favourite moments, completing this challenge. I felt like a game finally REALLY challenged me, not to a point where I struggled, but to a point where I sometimes didn’t know if I COULD beat it. It’s my most proud gaming moment. THAT BEING SAID….as much as i loved the bindings…. I wish the charm binding was not there, because it really took away strategy. Maybe just half the charm notches? That way it could still retain the insanity, but I could at least give myself strength for the collector and grey prince zote so their minions aren’t the death of me. But… I loved it. There is my uh…wow this is a long comment. I was about to call it my “two cents” but this is just a story at this point

[@ingeniousclown]

My main problem with the DLC isn't that its JUST a boss rush, its more that it just doesn't feel well-integrated to me. I would have preferred it as a side mode that isn't actually a part of the world, but making it part of the world just kinda cheapened the world for me a bit somehow. Hard to explain, but I had a lot of fun fighting through it. Not with the bindings though. You've got some godlike patience there, congrats on your win!

[@StyleSnivy]

@@ingeniousclown Actually I agree with you here! It would be nicer as a side mode. And thx for the compliment lol. (:

[@nimoes]

Didn't you wish you could fight NKG once again?

[@PaladinJackal]

Okay am I the only one who's getting TWO different thumbnails? One with the Knight looking normal and the other with his eyes edited to be angry.

[@scaryhours2220]

Dude Ive Platinumed Bloodborne, 100% The Old Hunters, ive beaten Dark Souls 3 seven times I beat Dark Souls 1 all the dlc's Sekiro and Nioh twice. I say that to point out the fact that none of those experiences can compare with the brutality of this game. I got this game because of the cool art style and quirky characters but everytime I play I feel like im going to burst into flames with absolute ferocious anger. Lol i cant believe a game where a dude throws poo at u is so vicious.

[@Requiem100500]

True reason why the DLC is free: "Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need."

[@JP-yq8nd]

Voltaire. Good one sir.

[@danielegargiulo2051]

voltaire reference ?

[@candyghost1009]

Freaking Voltaire over here. I loved that song.

[@gavindillon1486]

Because even Team Cherry are a little bit evil.

[@johnzhengphotographychannel]

You have 666 likes and I’m too afraid to like

[@twilo1015]

The extremely simple reason why I like this content pack so much is that you're able to refight bosses without having to make a new save file. It allows me to show my friends why I like this game so much, and it allows them to attempt certain fights that I struggle and watching their overconfident asses fail horribly

[@xelic1996]

I also love it for that reason because I speed run the game and refighting bosses to find the fastest way to beat them is just a joy. I actually held the world record for the 5th pantheon.... for like 4 hours before someone else beat my time. I love having boss rushes in games like this that have a lot of fair challenging bosses and have been screaming for one in this game since launch, so seeing it come out brought so much joy to my soul.

[@pelieskola5708]

I also like it. There were so many bosses i did win with something like two masks left and i felt always shame for it and i wanted to learn actually fight agains them. This did give me that change.

[@bigred6137]

I love it for the same reason too. I’ve always wanted a similar thing in Dark Souls and Bloodborne because it’s a chore having to do another playthrough just to experience a boss fight again. The hall of gods is awesome

[@FabriSlv]

I think that Hollow Knight deserved a boss rush, and a way to refight old bosses, and yay for the new ascended difficulties! But locking the real ending behind 82 bosses AFTER you beat what was supposed to be the "true enemy" to get what was supposed to be the "true ending" is REALLY annoying to us "commoneers" of videogames.

[@snatch6129]

@@FabriSlv bruh its not 82 bosses i think its 42

[@GeneralJaydonius]

I mean, we kinda neglect the fact that Team Cherry said, and quote: "We are trying to learn how to make good DLC before we make them paid." All we are doing by critiquing and criticizing will just show them what us as a player base want, and soon we will be able to, and hopefully, reward Team Cherry (with either cash or sales) when they finally do decide that their DLC is worth charging for.

[@OfficialCrowMauler]

General Jaydonius Except this DLC was worth buying. All Metroidvanias deserve a boss rush mode but this was so well executed that I’m angry they gave it away for free. IMO there’s so much replayability in this entry and the difficulty keeps you playing, which is what the game truly needed.

[@TheGauges420]

@@OfficialCrowMauler exactly, *this* specific DLC pack may not have been much about the story/lore/exploration, but I'd argue that at least each DLC was different and themed as such, as there were story/exploration based DLC, and they were all 3 free, so I say it's much better to keep getting fresh ideas for DLC and they all be worthwhile instead of all being the same thing as the original game you bought just expanded on slightly (don't get me wrong I can't wait for a Hornet DLC/game though lol)... I think Team Cherry did an absolutely amazing job on this entire game and all the DLC released until now (granted I haven't even put but 6-8 hours myself into the game thus far), and I believe they should have charged for it, but I also do know that it was Kickstarter promises being kept, so good on them, and let's stay excited for the next new stuff to come.

[@OfficialCrowMauler]

Seth Kauffman That’s awesome, man. It’s great to see people are still enjoying this title. I never knew that the free DLC was a Kickstarter promise so I’ll retract my statement regarding that but all in all I’m glad you agree that the DLC, in all of its diversity, were so solid all round.

[@xaytana]

Godmaster leads into the Hornet DLC, that's obvious by the 'ending' scene. Looking at the kickstarter page, they promised 4 new quests, 3 of which we have and the upcoming Hornet DLC, which will fulfill the second playable character goal also. There was an unreached goal called Colosseum of Fools, which was a challenge arena, 4 new bosses, and, "solve the mystery of the colosseum," which sounds like what Godmaster became. Godmaster gave a slight prologue to what Hornet should give us. The second playable character goal also stated they'd have their own quests and abilities, and with new quests, they should have their own story. I'm hoping it's not going to be a new game + with a different character, that seems a bit of an easy way out. Other unreached goals were a third character, PS Vita release, and, "The Abyss," which is, "A massive new expansion for only the hardiest of adventurers," with four new bosses, then there's just, "???," after that. I have a feeling that Hornet will have their own storyline that leads into a new character that's playable by time Abyss takes place in the story. With the potential size of complete new story lines, quests, and abilities, it'd be worth the price of a paid DLC. The unreached goals, and the ??? beyond, are the only things that make sense for paid DLC. While I'm all for a large, single game with tons of story, I have concerns that it'll become too much; at what point should you make a sequel, with it's own unique story, rather than add onto the existing game? I guess it all depends on how they incorporate Hornet's DLC, I'd assume third character and Abyss would follow in the same way. There's also the post-credit scene, when finding Mr. Mushroom in all locations with the spore shroom charm equpped. I'm hoping that's more than just a 100% easter egg, and will eventually add to the story in some way.

[@TheGauges420]

@@OfficialCrowMauler oh yeah no doubt. I've now put 25+ hours into the game, and while I'm currently slamming my head against the wall trying to beat the second Crystal Guardian, I still feel I got it too cheap, so I'm buying the Best Buy bundle of Hollow Knight with a plush of our Knight for $20. It comes with a digital code for the game, which I don't need since I own it, but I may just get it for Ps4 in that case if its available so I can play it on both systems, but I will probably get the Switch version so I can have a physical case with it. Yeah I absolutely feel like they could have charged $5-$10 for each content pack, and it would *still* be more than worth it.

[@grfrjiglstan]

The reason Nightmare King Grimm seems so easy compared to Pure Vessel and Absolute Radiance is that Grimm plays 100% fair. Once you figure out what you have to do for each attack and get good at it, you've won. You never have to worry about positioning, since he always teleports to the same position relative to you for each attack. The arena is completely flat, so you don't have to worry about anything there. You always know how much health he has, since his ball attack serves as a perfect milestone, but his attacks don't get harder as the fight goes on. He only ever uses one attack at a time, and there is no ambiguity about what you need to do in each attack. Is he using his uppercut? Dash through and hit him. Is he using the dive? Jump over it and slash down. It's all perfectly controlled, you'll have your shade cloak ready practically whenever you want, and he'll rarely give you a reason to panic. All of the other bosses in the game want to kill you. Grimm wants to make you become someone who can kill him.

[@sdgdhpmbp]

It really is more of a dance. Also, while very useful for the fight, you don't even need the shade cloak to avoid attacks. The uppercut's charge can be avoided by dashing back, and counter just before he uppercuts and you'll most likely be safe from the flames anyway. By far, it's my favourite fight in the game.

[@plusminusducky5488]

If this is all actually planned by the developers, it is so damn genious boss desing honestly

[@karasuarez5509]

unpopular opinion i thing NKG is easier than sly

[@presidenttogekiss635]

You can also heal in the NKG fight when he sends his little red flying monsters, which you cant do as cosistently against Pure Vessel.

[@TheHeavyModd]

@@presidenttogekiss635 you can consistently heal when Pure Vessel is knocked down and when he does the white aura AOE in his second phase

[@SuperInkLink]

I feel the comparison between PV and NKG relies on what skill a player is better at. NKG relies on precise movements and endurance, while PV relies on lightning quick reactions. Absolute Radiance combines the worst of both worlds.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

AR also is pure luck.

[@plugshirt1684]

legrandliseur tri it’s not pure vessel is much harder than absolute radiance. Absolute radiance has no time where it is unfair and can be beaten consistently. The only unfair fight in the game are radiant oblobbles and radiant markoth

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@plugshirt1684 To be fair I haven't fought AR, it's just that normal Radiance was already a horrible fight. It wasn't even that hard because I did it after nightmare king Grimm and path of pain, but it felt so ridiculously unfair and rng that I can't imagine how a harder and faster version of that doesn't suck. I also can't say anything about Pure vessel, I'm still in the third pantheon, grey prince zote made me start a new playthrought because I wasn't having fun anymore. I've seen radiant Markoth on youtube and that does look quite horrible, but radiant obbloble doesn't seem too bad as long as you stay away from them.

[@plugshirt1684]

legrandliseur tri radiant oblobbles is very unfair because it Shoots at you in a way that is very rng a lot of times and phase two is even worse with how fast it is. Absolute radiance and radiance I will admit seem unfair at first but after a little bit of practice you realize that all of the moves are fair and even have healing windows more often than any other boss and now I have more trouble with normal radiance because the timing is off. Zote is pretty rng but I’m pretty sure he has learnable patterns I’m trying to beat him on radiant now and he seems unfair but I hope it will end up Working out. Also when you get tot pure vessel it is one of if not the best fight in the game so I hope you can get there to experience it though it is really hard.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@plugshirt1684 I've actually decided not to listen to Pure vessel's battle theme until I make it to the fight, so that will be a nice additionnal motivation for me. I've definitively not given up forever, it's just that I wanted to take a break from combat and enjoy exploration& platforming again, which are my favorite aspects of the game anyways.

[@OneLynnK]

Path of Pain: boss rush edition

[@haydeng3316]

Does not even begin to describe it lol

[@coolguy7742]

Fight the ultimate radiance in the path of pain

[@clauu212]

How about you calm down, Satan! :))

[@liver1865]

Oh no

[@ceciliogarcia5247]

This is bad

[@Ronin11111111]

I relish the opportunity to fight NKG again. This DLC is definitely worth it for that.

[@mileswilliams4807]

It's so satisfying fighting him without getting hit. He is such a well designed boss. The first 100 times I fought him he destroyed me haha. It felt so good to get good at that fight. Pure Vessel still destroys me though.

[@raiyano7436]

25:26 "they manage to be extra frustrating when they spawn in certain places" you know... such as *O N Y O U*

[@WilloftheNinja]

I liked this DLC because since I didn't want to play the whole game again, being able to re-fight the bosses lets you appreciate how good they are (most of them). I will probably never beat all the pantheons but I still had fun with what I could accomplish.

[@thepotato3902]

WilloftheNinja if they take out markoth poh would be so much more fun

[@christytrisshoffner9697]

the potato and collector

[@anonymousperidot7446]

@@christytrisshoffner9697 and fulkmam

[@TheRodentMastermind]

I think it's also that you can try the bosses with the full move set. A lot of the time you only have the Shadow Dash for Radiance.

[@shyamsingla716]

@@thepotato3902 true, in p5 i never died to markoth but he will always bring me to 1 mask without fail that also multiple times in the fight making zoat much more challenging than what he already is

[@isaaccrumpler6045]

Nobody: Absolutely nobody: Team Cherry: What if Zote had an anthem?

[@ilmu011]

Eternal Ordeal?

[@lordofshades9852]

@@ilmu011 I beat it a few days ago

[@ScarletEmber64]

@@lordofshades9852 good job

[@primalaspid2843]

Lord of Shades Shade lord. You seem unsettled. Happy to see me?

[@PerpetualNoob]

I agree with a lot of your analysis of the Godmaster DLC. If you like bosses then this is the content pack for you. If you like Hollow Knight for the story/lore/world-building... :/ And then there's story/lore behind the craziest boss rush.

[@Barmem]

For me Hollow knight about exploration and this dlc feels like huge disapointment

[@SpitFyre37]

Yeah, Hollow Knight caught my attention because of the sprawling world and deep lore. I loved the Grimm Troupe, because you actually got to explore and learn a story. Godmaster just doesn't quite have that. Honestly my favorite part of the Godmaster content was exploring the abandoned area behind the Colesseum of Fools.

[@casulgamer1499]

I feel like it was made like that to make the ending a bit more cannon. Since to overcome it you literally need to have godlike skills and also beat every single boss in a row. It basically shows that in that playthrough the little knight is a force that even the gods need to be afraid of. Since in the normal game you can win by cheesing some bosses, or just by getting lucky, but here you prove that you are basically a Godslayer.

[@SpitFyre37]

@@casulgamer1499 i mean, I understand what you're saying, but the fact that the true final ending doesn't take place in the temple of the black egg just makes it feel... Disconnected.

[@Averell64]

well, there is that other lore bit that is kinda hidden in this dlc.... hidden behind the god damn wall of having to defeat every boss in radiant mode....

[@localfoolthecreature]

new uumuu sucks, let’s all be honest

[@Azleur1]

Definitely harder and the first time I spent forever waiting for Quirrel to appear, but I personally found it a fun challenge once I got used to it.

[@meganinja456]

I like the nerfed version of Uumuu with a lot less health.

[@kamileon7065]

Really!? I loved being able to actually control when it’s vulnerable

[@h1ll3634]

Uumuu always sucks..

[@Edgeperor]

It’s nice to have control, but having an actual character fight alongside you who has his own abilities was such a fun experience. I guess that Traitor Lord does that too, but having Cloth fight with you didn’t change anything at all.

[@madengineerkyouma]

I'll just say one thing that makes this DLC a 10/10 The Eternal Ordeal

[@jeonghunoh208]

That theme song tho, lol

[@thefknguy12766]

Yea that one's a fuckin banger

[@Agenta-df3gb]

As a quick addition you forgot: If you beat ALL bosses in the Hall of Gods (Abs-Radiance included) on Attuned difficulty, you get a special statue, which adds some interesting lore, and a hunter's journal entry, which adds even more interesting lore. If you beat all bosses on Ascended (Absolute Radiance included) you get a new special statue, which adds even MORE interesting lore, and another hunter's journal entry, which isn't that interesting. If you beat ALL bosses on Radiant (Absolute Radiance included) you get a EXTREMELY special statue, which has some lore crucial to understanding the Shade-Lord during the Embrace the Void (Pantheon of Hallownest ending), and another Hunter's Journal entry, that adds some VERY interesting lore that helps you under the Shade-Lord during the Embrace the Void (Pantheon of Hallownest ending). Oh and there is also Godseeker mode, which lets you do everything you did in Godmaster again all for some more lore from the Godseekers, some of it being very interesting. Oh, and there is also a VERY interesting piece of lore, which explains a LOT about the Godseekers and how Godhome works, that requires beating all of the Pantheons (Pantheon of Hallownest included) with bindings. Thankfully you do not need to do all bindings at once. So yes, if you want lore, you better have some INSANE skill.

[@smugmode]

I like it a lot.

[@a_lethe_ion]

thats a bit shitty :(

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

"So yes, if you want lore, you better have some INSANE skill." ... or youtube ;-)

[@bowserjjumetroid3645]

@@MatthijsvanDuin Or Wikia... Or Reddit...

[@TwistedMarshmallow]

Do you need this for 112%

[@oyeh8908]

Radiant Absolute Radiance is steadily chipping away at my soul. Send help.

[@imtilde]

so... it's been six months. Did you run out of soul or were you victorious

[@Ilari390]

@@imtilde Hes probably dead

[@joshthejay6682]

Ay yo did you win yet?

[@Thebes]

oyeh Yo man. I achieved it, how ‘bout you. Hope it went well.

[@akramyasser7609]

@@Thebes HUUUUGE W

[@Dropleto]

“Oh look! I enjoyed almost all the bosses in hallow knight, so I’ll probably enjoy this dlc a lot!” * sees the watcher’s knights * shit

[@currypenguin]

I know this was posted a year ago but The Watcher Knights are so damn easy

[@mrman502]

@@currypenguin once you git gud as hornet demands of us he stupid easy especially with quick slash strength and the pure nail and thats not even including spells plus shamon and shade cloak

[@GodlikeGamersz]

Godmaster isn't the final DLC. It's the final free content pack. They'll be paid DLC in the future, something to do with Hornet I believe.

[@ingeniousclownletsplays3480]

Whoops, meant to write that into the script but it slipped my mind.

[@jamesw3036]

*W H A T*

[@GodlikeGamersz]

Yeah I figured you might have when you referred to it as a content pack. Good video overall though! I enjoyed your Hollow Knight critiques, keep at it.

[@accelerator8558]

Yes they annaunce it and i will pay for it whit a happy smile

[@tnecniw]

I just imagine.. if they release this for free... how glorious will the paid stuff be ;)

[@TheManofThings777]

"The bosses are great because they're a gate. What makes them exciting is that they're a milestone, an entity standing between you and exploring the rest of the world." I disagree entirely. Don't get me wrong, your video is really good, but I feel like you don't really have a good read on the audience here. For a lot of us, the bosses ARE the cake. The exploration is the icing that puts things together. This is why people make boss rankings and all boss speedruns. For people like myself, this dlc gave us the opportunity to play the best parts of the game without going on the various errands that precede them if you don't want to start another playthrough. For us, the exploration is the gateway to the boss fights. And on my first playthrough, what kept me going a lot of the time was the thought of "I wonder what boss is at the end of this level."

[@madmaxim3965]

Since you spoke on behalf on what the entire hollow knight fan base I think I should just say some fans(myself one of them) favorite thing about hollow knight is the exploration world building and the process of “leveling up” your character , in this game being new abilities and charms . Boss fights are the icing on the cake for me and based on what I see KZbin videos on, I feel like The fan base is almost spilt between your ideals and the other. Your def not wrong at all but i thought i just might throw that in for good measure

[@riley4767]

Really interesting to actually see this perspective written out. All I want to do is explore, platform, and get absorbed in the world-building. When the bosses are a part of that narratively, it's really cool - like the Hollow Knight, or even Hornet. But having to yeet through so many in a row is completely draining for me. I really hope Team Cherry doesn't look at the positive response to the Godmaster DLC and take that as "we should make Silksong have more, harder bosses!", but maybe that's just a personal gripe. Having it as a DLC is great in my opinion because it allows for players like you to get loads out of the combat, and that's great. I'm glad it doesn't really affect the base game, but it does mean I will probably never 112% the game or get all of the achievements thanks to the fact that I simply don't want to keep charging through all of the bosses as it just isn't fun for me. I'm sad I won't get either of those lore endings, either. I spent close to 6 hours getting through Path of Pain, and really enjoyed the delicate flower challenge (it took 2 tries) - but fighting in either the Trial of the Fool or the later Pantheons for more than half an hour just isn't any fun for me. But again - it's cool to see that people do enjoy it.

[@ilovecody7514]

I like exploration and interaction with things way more than just the bossfights. Progression and growth matters way more and is the main reason I and a lot of others play these types of games. Cool that you don't think so though.

[@raikk3975]

The problem with this DLC is that the Game stops being a Metroidvania, resources wont matter at all and research is not needed anymore, it is pure fighting with a set of rules, this wouldnt be a problem if it wasnt because Phanteons are needed in order to access story content, forcing the player to go trough not a different a Game but a different dynamic. Tough it isnt bad at all, is clearly not what Made us play this Metroidvania for so long

[@kaytschumps7863]

I disagree with this comment and I believe the community does, you have to wonder why lore channels and other more casual channles have such good success and consistent views whereas speedrunners who have one popular video from people in awe of there skill but no other videos close to that success

[@highvoltage7559]

Pure Vessel is easily one of my favourite bosses now. The fight has such a nice pace to it.