Hollow Knight Guide: Top Tips for a Total Beginner

By Sam Quirke,

Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition's PlayStation 4 release has been highly anticipated, and it's not hard to see why. It's already a front runner for Game of the Year on the Nintendo Switch for many outlets. It's a beautiful metroidvania and well worth checking out, but it can be a difficult game to understand and master. Here's some starting tips for your journey.

Comparisons to Dark Souls aren't always helpful

While there are a few similarities between Hollow Knight and From Software's famous Souls gameplay template, it's an unfortunate label to give Hollow Knight when trying to sell it to a beginner. For starters Hollow Knight's world is a little less oppressive and stressful to navigate — the game ramps up much more slowly to the kind of intense difficulty that Dark Souls offers out of the gate. There are no obtuse RPG mechanics to deal with from the start; there are no factions vying for your attention or stats to set up before you understand what they are. Apart from the fact that the game's currency (Geos) needs to be retrieved from your point of death if you fall in combat and the save points (Benches, rather than bonfires) are where you upgrade skills and equipment, the game's similarities to Dark Souls are really just features of a Metroidvania which Dark Souls borrows some elements from.

This is a pretty and melancholy 2D platformer with a large open world, full of shortcuts and traps and multiple branching pathways. As with most Metroidvanias, you will find new pathways open up as the game progresses depending on the abilities you pick up along the way, so exploration and doubling back are both encouraged. You have a single weapon — a Nail — and no armour sets to assess or weight to worry about. While there are some tricks to using the Nail, combat and poise are far less difficult to get your head around. Don't be afraid to explore around in the game's opening sections — unlike Dark Souls, you won't be as severely punished for being curious.

Prepare to Get Lost

Getting completely turned around is likely to be as much of a frustration as a premature death in this game. There's no map available immediately, and even if you want one you have to put several elements of it together yourself. Be prepared to make mental or even physical notes as you explore beneath Dirtmouth. That said, one of the game's delights is in finding a new shortcut or secret area, or running directly into an unexpected and powerful new enemy. Each time you enter a new screen the enemies and traps will respawn, so bear in mind that backtracking through previous areas isn't necessarily a quick path to safety.

If you want a map, you'll have to collect some of the game's currency, Geos — dropped by enemies or found in small piles — and take those to Cornifer. He can be found very early on in the game and frequently later on as you explore. Cornifer is a cartographer and he will sell you a map of the areas he has explored. There's a couple of issues with the map though — firstly, you can't see where you are in relation to the map. Secondly, there are no markers. Thirdly, it won't automatically update as you explore beyond its edges. To fix all of these issues, you need to head back up to the starting village of Dirtmouth after speaking to Cornifer for the first time. Here you will find a newly opened shop. Iselda will sell you the items you need. The Wayward Compass will place a pin on the map indicating where you are. The Quill will allow you to make additions to the map in places Cornifer has not managed to reach. You should get two of Iselda's pins, too: The Bench pin will show the location of any Benches you find. The Vendor pin will place a pin on the map whenever you come across vendors in your travels.

By the way — make sure to double-tap on the Map once you have one to get a much closer view of the surroundings and work out your next move.

The Nail is More Versatile Than It Appears

The Knight's Nail is the only physical weapon you have in the game, but it's a little more nuanced that just a blade to swipe at enemies. Firstly, it's worth getting used to the balance of the thing — swipes will often knock enemies back but they will almost certainly knock your little hero back as well. Take advantage of creating some immediate distance from a foe but also watch out if you're fighting near a platform ledge — your own attacks can push you off. Early on you'll find that an upward slash is an excellent way to clear enemies from a platform's underside or flying enemies that are too close to jump and lunge towards. Even more useful is the downward slash. Some enemies will be shielded or otherwise difficult to attack from the front; if you jump above the enemy you might be able to strike downwards onto a soft spot. Because the Nail is strong enough to knock the player back with each strike, you'll actually launch upwards from a successful downward strike. It's possible then to use enemies as a platform — it'll become necessary in some areas to use the backs of enemies to traverse an inhospitable floor or pool of water. If you time it right, you can even save yourself from a plunge into spikes by striking down at them, or reach high platforms by effectively pogo-sticking off of bouncy mushrooms. The game never holds your hand in terms of the abilities and strikes available to you, so make sure to experiment in safe spaces.

Face Yourself in Death

Health and magical power are tied into one meter in this game. You have five lives as standard and lose one every time you are struck by an enemy or deadly obstacle. You can refill these lives at any time by draining your Soul meter. Fill that Soul meter up by defeating enemies. You'll need to keep an eye on this manually — if you're running low on lives, escape to a safe space and drain your Soul meter to slowly restore your stock of lives. A full Soul meter can restore three of them.

If you perish, you will reappear at the last Bench you reached and your Geo count will be reduced to zero. To get those back you'll have to return to the point at which you died. Unfortunately it's not just a matter of collecting the Geos from your corpse; you have to fight a shadowy version of yourself. The shade of the Knight is not too hard to beat, but you need to be ready; it can attack you as soon as you enter the screen in which you previously died. Your Soul meter will be capped at 66% until you defeat this shade, so there's a lot of incentive to do so. If you don't kill the Shade before you die again yourself, the Geos he originally carried will be lost for good. If you're struggling to get back to your Shade, you can give a Dirtmouth vendor (in the far right corner) a Rancid Egg to have your Shade immediately returned to you.

Explore and Enjoy

Like many Metroidvanias, the joy of Hollow Knight is in exploring and finding new ways to explore. The best approach to this game is to go in relatively blind, seek out challenges and undocumented paths, and backtrack to try out new abilities that you have discovered. It's a tough game to master, but it's a beautiful one to wander around in. Enjoy the journey.

More Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition stories:

Game Guide PlayStation 4

Written by Sam Quirke

Sam has been a Newshound since 2016 and is now the Editor for both TrueAchievements and TrueTrophies. He loves gaming on all devices and in all genres. He remains a stubborn Assassin's Creed and Pokémon fan.