One thing you missed about the tutorial: it starts you off by falling from a great height to the ground, and then makes you jump off another massive ledge to get to Dirtmouth. This tells most players that fall damage simply is not a thing in this game. Great video btw! :)
Prop Feds it takes the metroid-like aspects of the Souls series and enhances them just enough to become the lightest of metroidvania-lite games. But that's still enough to get it lumped in.
I still don't get what part he considers the tutorial. It kinda feels like after every new ability you have a short tutorial that forces you to use it (for example mothwing cloak is followed by small acid pitfalls that you have to dash through to pass)
The elder Baldur you fight in the mound serves a double purpose. Not only does it reinforce how to use Vengeful Spirit, it reminds you about the elder Baldur you probably found near the top of the map. You now know how to kill it, so you’re probably going to try to kill it, leading you naturally to the greenpath without having anything tell you to look for greenpath
Green path is placed in the map makers place so it will make most players curious and will eventually be reminded of elder baldur. Thats what i call good level design!
7:41 this made me genuinely upset when i came back to her being infected, i entered the peak a different way, and then decided to go back some time later to see if she had anything to say, and the silence legit worried me, cause i had a feeling i knew what might have happened, i miss her little jingle *_; - ;_*
I hope she gets cured when I finish the game or something... I'm currently playing my first playthrough and felt the same way when I heard no singing :(
Another really good thing that the game teaches you: bouncing off of invincible enemies/spikes to traverse gaps. Throughout the game, you notice that your attacks knock you back a little bit. So while in the air, you experiment and find out that you can swing downwards for a little bounce. When you reach Greenpath, there's a section where armored enemies that do not attack you move back and forth across the currently untraversable acidic water. You have a nice revelation and realize that if you time your downward swings properly, you can bridge the gap! That had to be my absolute favorite part of the game.
What i also enjoyed is that they teach you about nail bouncing in the fungal wastes, without repercussions of failing since you are just bouncing on mushrooms. Once you learn that, you go to the part you mentioned, where failing means falling in acid, but now you've gotten better so it's easier
There's a similar case in the crossroads, where I learned you could bounce on Spikes, because you had a bunch of platforms all covered in them being the only way to reach the next platform, and it makes you realise, putting together what you said as well, that hey maybe i can bounce on them. And maybe those spikes in the tutorial hidden take somewhere too! It's a great game for these things.
FaustSketcher Yes! In that case its testing your ability to learn quickly to gain a charm or free a grub sooner, or it serves as a reason to come back and test what you've learnt the slower but easier way
yep. When I realized it, oh was it somewhat irritating, like "why didn't i think of it! Now I can't get there until I find some walljump or something!" haha Tbh at that point i hadn't even bounced on an enemy so it didn't even cross my mind that I could spike-bounce ;;;
@@whiteface513abandonedchann8 Grubs are trusted by the time you get to the mimic. The Dream Nailing them is something you might do once or twice, but all grubs have the same nail dialogue. Dream Nailing the mimics is not a natural response to seeing them. There are no particle indicators that tell you to use the DN. I think Team Cherry just wanted to troll the players a little bit. A harmless little joke that makes you a little more suspicious and a little less trusting.
@@whiteface513abandonedchann8 My first one was down in the hell hole that is the royal waterways. I wasn't quite expecting it to be a mimic, but I was in no way shocked when it turned out to try and kill me.
@@icefire6622 well thats a mimic for you. Lol mimics are supposed to that almost alot of games does to chest mimics in enter the gungeon or dungeon games and in the dark souls series and terraria nymphs and more. Whats the point of mimics if you know its s fake one already. Tldr define mimicry
At a time when most videos on RUclips are overdone or practically screaming at you for your attention, this seems both well done and laid back. I didn’t feel like I was being sold your channel, but you still were very effective at holding my attention after the video and making me want to check out your channel anyway. The video was short and concise, yet it also taught me a great deal about what the title promised: tutorials. I really liked how you made this video Adam, I hope it gets more views, it certainly deserves to ^^
this actually comes to show that Team Cherry did their research into the very perfect example of a tutorial that teaches you without telling you how: Super Metroid.
Him: The false knight is a combination of the two husks who you have to fight on the way there. Me, who cheesed the mini boss and the false knight by hiding in the corner: 🤷♂️
Honestly the breakable wall by that geo rock in Crossroads is my absolute favourite thing because it sets up an entire system of hiding secrets without putting it in your face. It's next to the rock because you'll probably hit it while collecting it. It's awesome
The hidden tutorial of the game continues pretty much through its entire length. Even the final boss actually has a precursor to his fight, in the Soul Sanctum.
Almost all bosses and areas that you traverse to is just teaching you how to beat the boss. 1. Traitor lord's wave attack 2. Path of pain's spears 3. Gorb's ring attack 4. Markoth's swords 5. Elder Hu's rings Combine them all together, and you now have the Radiance
Also something I rly liked is that if you pick up mechanics early on, particularly bouncing on ennemies/spikes, there's a lot of skillfull ways to access collectibles that are intended to be obtained thanks to power ups, thus reducing a lot of backtracking and making you feel sooo great
The reason that games are more immersive is that they actually adapt to your skill level. Beat level 1, go to level 2. In school, if you're finished work early you often have to wait. Plus, some students have to be strictly told to do work, while others prosper in a more relaxed environment. So just teaching adapted to each type of student would work much better.
it's easy to do when you're a single protagonist in a very well defined genre played by a specific subset of people. School is an incredibly broad activity done by nearly every type of person that has, is, and will exist. It is something that must accomodate for all types of people. Those that enjoy playing 2d platformers and metroidvanias, to those that enjoy playing top-down RTS games. There is no good way to make school as immersive as this for everyone on the planet. That's why it is made the way it is. It's base formula is designed such that everyone can get the same base information in a way that is somewhat effective. However, it fails massively after ~6th grade when we begin to be taught more complex concepts that our brains tend not to grasp naturally. Some countries solve this by splitting the population in different tiers, focusing in on how their brain works and giving this 'immersive tutorial'. However, the issue remains within those tiers because it is not just those that enjoy that method of teaching that are in there. There are also those that simply do not excel in any other type of teaching method. So you end up with the same issue, where people are in need of a tutorial, but other types just don't work for them, so they are handed a specific type and are told 'deal with it'. You wish for something that is compatible with a small subset of the population, to be applied to the entire population. If you really want to change something, make your own educational method based on what hollow knight does, write a curriculum that completes the country's requirements and allows the students to be recognized internationally, and found your own school. If it works, congrats, you've written one type of tutorial for the game of life and society. Now do it 100x over for all different sorts of people.
I am playing Hollow Knight right now and I am 100% agree with your view, I probably has noticed all the things you said though but knowing other player have the same thought with me I felt very happy. I also like the point that people like learning but not being taught, it's true, and I think it is a job that game designer need to always bring some new idea of how to make it fun and meaningful.
My favourite thing that the game teaches this way is how to use dashes in combat. After you get your dash ability the next bosses you can fight are A) a teleporting wizard or B) quick, deadly mantis queens. Both have lackeys that teach you to use your dash. In the mantis' case by slashing in a much longer arc than you are used to and in the wizard's case by having his attack pattern split into two enemies that both teleport. They both trach you to be quick to dash away and to use it to close the gap while you can. It's so great.
In human-computer interaction, or experience design, we use the term "mental model" to description people's understanding of certain functionality, or rather to say the way we think how things work, of either digital or physical objects. Both designers and the user (player in this case) will have their own distinctive understanding of how certain mechanism of the game works. Designers, knowing fully of the ins and outs of the game, need to deliver this understanding - the ideal "mental model" - to user. And the sound of acid pool, and husk guard's attack pattern meant to prepare you for the False Knight's boss fight, is called signifier - elements planted by designers meant to instruct people of how this world of creation operates. Of course labeling instructions out with a wall of text counts as a form of "signifier", but like you said, a better way to plant signifier is to use in-game elements: environmental sound, behavior of NPCs. Those are called "diegetic elements" meaning narrative or in-narrative elements) in game design. For example, Monster Hunter indicate monster's health by its behavior instead of showing a huge HP bar, or that Halo rife that has ammunition displayed on its back, are other example of diegetic elements. Hope this information is helpful to someone and is not too boring to read.
Directly after the fall in the intro there's a little dip in the ground. At first, I was confused, but having played through the game a few times, I think it's there so that if you didn't immediately look for the jump button upon starting, you have to before you right the first enemy, which I really like because it's so small you wouldn't notice that that's why it's there.
Solution to Oblivion's long intro... Save your game before leaving the sewers. The spot where you change your dude one last time and exit into the wide world. When you wish to play a new character, replay at the save instead of pressing "New Game"
That doesn't solve the problem of having to go through the boring tutorial in the first place, which can put of first time players from actually playing the game.
It's a solution that should be in the game to begin with. A simple "Skip intro" when selecting the new game would be an actual solution, not having the player create a save after the intro
dragonatorul you make it sound like it ruins all of the game's integrity though. It's bad, sure, but it isn't nearly as bad as people say, it's just slither thing people hate because other people say so. Being this tilted over a tutorial in a relatively easy to pick up game (that's okay in the first place, not great but I think it's okay) is sort of silly ((I don't know why I'm typing such a long message to a 4 day old comment, I'm really bored))
Old comment, but the spiky and sharp look on its' back are also a subtle hint that you shouldn't jump on it, with nearly all of the first few enemies you face looking spiky to reinforce that you shouldn't jump on them.
@@somekinnn Guess what, Team Cherry first had a smooth design for the crawlid, but decided it wasnt making it clear enough to new players that you couldnt jump on it, so they added spikes, it still wasnt enough so they added even more to the design
Spoilers! yeah, the player character is A hollow knight but not THE hollow knight then again even THE hollow knight wasnt truly hollow the player character is closer to being the hollow knight than THE hollow knight
@@andy9176 i can't agree to that. I think the Knight (us) is a horrible vessel. We listen to conversations, make friends, have the will to keep throwing ourselves against the BZZZZZZZZ and have a will to stop doing so when it's just too much. I doubt that the Knight is hollow at all, after going through the whole game. Heck, there was no reason to do the Grimm Troupe or the Delicate flower, and the Knight did it anyways.
@@scrwd4568 true, but there's not really a reason not to. The whole point of a truly hollow vessel is basically to meander around the world until you stumble upon the black egg and seal the infection.
I'm actually going to disagree with you about strategy games not being able to teach using subtly. The original StarCraft campaigns are actually brilliantly designed. Each level, you not only get a new unit (or ability), but you're also frequently presented with a task that is much easier if you use the unit in question. For example, the level that introduces the Overlord's Ventral Sacs upgrade encourages you to doom-drop the enemy base by giving you a nice, unprotected ledge that you're bound to walk past vs a winding canyon guarded on both sides by entrenched Terrans if you go by ground. Nearly every level is training you to recognize when to use that unit/ability without explicitly telling you what to do (beyond the first one or two with an explicit tutorial on unit controls).
Agreed. I'm not overly familiar with StarCraft, but WarCraft is similar. Blizzard are good at this. WC3 has a tutorial mission as its first one that comes complete with an annoying narrator (the modern American accent is so jarring against the otherwise brilliant voice acting). The instructional narration is completely unnecessary though because all the visual clues are on screen. And, like StarCraft, you conveniently unlock new units and buildings to suit the level. Need to break through some trees or raise some skeletons? Well, conveniently you now get catapults and necromancers.
The color theory wasn't actually intended. The devs themselves said that they chose orange because it felt right for them. It's a nice theory but devs didn't intend it.
Doesn't mean that the colour theory doesn't apply. Blue and orange are contrasting colours, and as such stand opposite of each other, intensifying their tone
The way they did the game is very interesting. Basically they didn't do any more before the game was well into conception. They kept their full creative freedom when designing and then built the life around that. It was very risky but worked extremely well
Maybe they didn't exactly know itnat the time but that is exactly why they did it. Color theory works for every single human being (yadayada except colorblind and blind people)
i've been playing this game for years and the signs pointing to the bosses is something i've never noticed before. thank you for that charming little detail!
This is all really useful information! In fact I’m making my own game called “Indestination”, and have finished a beta and started working on my alpha, I’ll definitely take note of these key aspects; not to necessarily copy Hollow Knight, But to learn from it, and improve my own game. So thank you for this video, And even if I’ve only seen hollow knight, and it’s gameplay, and never played it, in a special way I can thank the ones whom have created this game as well. Again, thank you, and the creators of HK.
Hollow Knight is one of, if not the, greatest game of the current era of games. Yet it still remains to be so quiet,so subtle. Just like the hollow knight himself. The game lives by itsself, by its own rules. Its truly magical.
on the subject of "the darksouls of darksouls". What many people fial to point out is that Dark Souls is actually part of the metroidvania subgenre. Dark Souls was the first successfull 3D Castlevania. So calling a metroidvania "Dark Souls" is actually the wrong way around.
Although DS is certainly inspired by Metroidvanias, I wouldn't say it's part of the genre. A very important part said genre is your characters gaining new abilities as it explores and discovers new power-ups. In that regard, DS is much more of an RPG when it comes to character progression. You're not just gaining new tools as you progress into the game, you're choosing your weapons and armor as well as the stats you invest in meaning you have a lot more personalised experience.
It's called "Hollow Knight", you're getting 'Soul' from enemies, there's an area called 'The Abyss' connected to a darkness within you, when you die you have to get at least as far again to reclaim your money, the overall story... well, it's not like I understood any of it in either game, but it seems similar. It's not just about the metroidvania gameplay.
@@elvancor As far as the "overall story" aspect is concerned, there's a repeated cycle of sacrifice required to keep a certain powerful kingdom running that, if not maintained, will cause the destruction and downfall of that kingdom with some unspeakable force. Also, the cycle seems to be almost entirely weakened by the time the protagonist enters the game, mostly to fix the mistakes of 1 or more lords/kings.
Great video! And yes, many game devs nowadays should learn from this. Old-school games hardly ever had tutorials, and if they did they were a line of text or an image. I've lost count on how many games I actually got bored and lost interest in just within the tutorial part. It's a lot! We don't need to be spoon fed information. A big part of the fun in games in discovering and learning on your own.
This music... I love the score of this - it really fits your voice and is also a great testament to the beautiful soundtrack that lifts this beautiful gem up even more.
Actually, yes it is. In both business and law that is how Modus Operandi is used. I dunno about "people" though..? I mean if "people" are not using it that way, then they apparently don't know how to use it.
You're very observant. I'm gonna be honest and say that I never noticed how the game preps you for bosses with smaller enemies. It's a really cool detail.
I realized around the point that I got into the first part of city of tears how genius the game is. I realized that as I progressed, the game was gradually teaching me new ways to do things, and I started noticing it happening all over. I started to progress quicker once I realized that even if I was given the choice to do a difficult challenge, it was always better if I did it, because most of the time it was preparing me for something greater. The short beginning part leaves you feeling ready for adventure with some simple ideas of what you'll have to do, and the game teaches you the rest. I love this game.
I knew about the Broken Vessel before I fought it, and when I ran into the Mawleks I instantly noticed how similar their attacks were and knew what was coming up
I feel like a lot of these things can also be said about Ori and the Blind Forest. They tell you the key to use something, and then let you figure out the rest yourself. The abilities also are really impactful in how they feel, and impassible obstacles or unreachable areas make it clear that you need an upgrade of some sort.
This guy might have been around before Mark Brown but I don't feel like doing the research. In any case there are dozens of Game Design ponderers on youtube but a lot of them aren't focused nor prepared in their topics enough to make interesting videos.
I love the exploration in this game. After I had defeated two bosses I started exploring, got into the fog place, waste place...slipped into the scary Deepnest..... It was like a maze... Found the humming map guy, felt the bliss, didn't have enough geo, went to kill a few mobs, got ambushed, died, the fucker left the place and I was pretty much just trying to get out for an hour, got out, flopped on some jumps and died, had to do it all over again, got out, died again, eventually got out again by the time I had found the tram pass and gone to some weird places with the tram for fun... Oddly enough it didn't make me that frustrated, more just made me feel like a dumbass for getting lost but also having that knowledge that a place like Deepnest exist compared to the mild zones I had been in previously within a few hours of gameplay just because I decided to go exploring and got lost Another + is that you're able to basically just go whatever route you want, I accidentally found the tram pass which made me able to get to resting grounds and in terms get the dream nail and a bunch of shit, I basically progressed in the game simply because I went out exploring by myself which is a nice touch.
thats why i love ori and the blind forrest so much. upgrades are super powerful here, to the point where at the beggining all enemies are threat and moving trhough the environment is slow and difficult, but at the end of game you just fly trhough everything with no problems. briliant. and god its level design. and story
@@sirgreedy88 Literally in your linked article it says "I hadn’t actually played much of Dark Souls when we were making the game,” he laughs. “I played a fair bit of it after because people talked a lot about how Hollow Knight was like Dark Souls. I think we were referencing a lot of games that Dark Souls references so maybe there’s a lot of connections there.” So it is true...I don't know how you can misinterpret this so badly.
@@zynstein Sir Greedy tells the truth, didn't play much is still played some, so both are kinda true Can't believe some people misinterpret this VERY badly.
8:00 [Spoiler] : Calling the Knight the Hollow knight is pretty funny to me, because its true at the begeining and the end, but wrong in the midgame ;)
i think the best game tutorial i've ever played is furi, simply tells you the button prompts in a fight against the Chain and shows u how all the attacks u will see throughout the entire game work by just pitting u against a slow and simple boss, while not feeling like a tutorial and still being a challenge on your first times
The game world is literally "little" since the characters are tiny bugs. The world of hollow knight is huge, but if we were to watch it from human perspective, it's tiny.
You're a very talented story teller. I really enjoy your videos. It keeps me engaged throughout the entire piece. I hope to be able to emulate your scriptwriting prowess to improve my gaming channel and be better at it. I appreciate your contents very much. They always inspire me to do better.
@Flybreaker Footage Ohh I get you lol, there was someone who spent an hour on Hornet and then had to download the Easy Mod after I recommended it to them. Good on them for their commitment to the game though
You call things "Modes of Operation" but I believe the game industry already has a term for it: "Verbs". Meaning the actions that can be performed to interact with the world. i.e. Soldiers shoot enemies and Mario stomps Koopas. Correct me if I'm mistaken. Side note. You're videos are awesome and I'm subbed and bingeing your content while developing my game. Keep up the good work!
I don't think "Verb" is industry term (although I don't know the ins and out of the industry itself), it was coined by another Game design RUclipsr - Mark Brown.
"Verbs" is an industry term, although not a clearly defined one, and was not coined by the awesome Mark Brown, but more probably by game designer Chris Crawford in his book "Interactive Storytelling". If you want a more structured definition of verbs in the context of game design, look at Anna Anthropy's "A Game Design Vocabulary", which is btw linked in Brown's video as his source material.
Great video! Keep it up. Your whole production feels pro, except for the drawn little face, which is nice but maybe needs to be upgraded to match the level of every other aspect of your video. Cheers!
Yeah, the story is like: yeah this Hollow Knight, he wasn't hollow enough. Hey you Knight. It is a good thing you are really hollow, unlike Hollow knight. So confusing :D
EXCELLENT analysis. Something tells me you're a teacher (maybe a professor) or a writer. Maybe not, but you've got some of those great qualities. I'll sub and check out the rest of what you've got.
Yeah, a better example of an enemy that trains you for Crystal Guardian is the little bugs with the lasers not far from the boss room, since Crystal Guardian's fight is basically all lasers.
I haven't fought the bench dude & I got everything else in Crystal Peak. He doesn't give you shit but a bench so I skipped him. I had to fight a bunch of the little Crystal dudes. I even have the pale ore from up on top.
Another thing I don’t think you mentioned is that every time you get a new tool or ability the game subtly traps you in a scenario where you have to learn to use it to leave the room
I think the approach of "booting up a new game without a tutorial" works when you've already gained some experience in the genre/games in general. for example i've played a few rounds of warcraft 3 (a realtime strategy game, old but gold) and was familiar with the gameplay of ashes of the singularity in 10 minutes just by playing.
metroidvania games really need to have a hint that you cant progress with your current equipment. i always try to progress at "puzzles" expecting that its just being clever. eg the secret area where you need to use crystal dash in the crystal mines to get through the timed lazers. because you can use your downward attack to jump off the lazer shooting crystals i assumed it was just a surprisingly difficult parkour area only to get to the end of it and find an unjumpable gap.
There's an area like that in the Forgotten Crossroads that you actually can get past without the required item - it's just really difficult. There are two walls, placed pretty close to each other, with 3 patches of spikes placed two on one wall and one on the other. If you have the wall slide, you can just jump from safe patch to safe patch until you succeed. If you don't, you have to BOUNCE on the spikes, requiring a much higher level of coordination than anywhere else in the game up to that point (which I spent about half an hour trying to do), only to realize that there is a mid-game BOSS FIGHT on the other end. I didn't actually make it past the ledge before I found the Mantis Claw, but if I had, you'd bet that I wouldn't be getting that Geo back.
I think that as of the making of this video, this man had not even gotten to the fountain cutscene in the city of tears in Hollow Knight, since he called the vessel by the name of the final boss of one of the endings.
an absolute brilliant game. kind of bought it on a whim but was completely hooked after a few hours. Anyone who likes platformers and metroidvania games with a bit of a challenge. This one is highly recommended.
that's because before you start playing the game, you think character you are playing is Hollo Knight why he would spoil it by not calling it a Hollow knight ?
+ Rhythm Fever There are always some spoilers. Even when you watch a 100% spoiler free video about a topic, you will get spoilered. As soon as you gather information about something, you get spoilered. And besides of that, in this video were really no spoilers. He basically just showed footage from the first hour of the game - the tutorial. (The whole game is between 20 and 40 hours long btw)
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
One thing you missed about the tutorial: it starts you off by falling from a great height to the ground, and then makes you jump off another massive ledge to get to Dirtmouth. This tells most players that fall damage simply is not a thing in this game. Great video btw! :)
I personally don't know any Metroidvania with fall damage, so ha.
Salt and Sanctuary has fall damage.
MrNess640 I considered it as more of a Souls-like than a Metroidvania
It's both
Prop Feds it takes the metroid-like aspects of the Souls series and enhances them just enough to become the lightest of metroidvania-lite games. But that's still enough to get it lumped in.
When I was playing for the first time, I barely realized that it was even a tutorial because it was so well done.
There was a tutorial?
Wait that was a tutorial
I still don't get what part he considers the tutorial. It kinda feels like after every new ability you have a short tutorial that forces you to use it (for example mothwing cloak is followed by small acid pitfalls that you have to dash through to pass)
The elder Baldur you fight in the mound serves a double purpose. Not only does it reinforce how to use Vengeful Spirit, it reminds you about the elder Baldur you probably found near the top of the map. You now know how to kill it, so you’re probably going to try to kill it, leading you naturally to the greenpath without having anything tell you to look for greenpath
I didnt even saw the other elder baldur at the top of the map until i had nothing else to explore lol.
Green path is placed in the map makers place so it will make most players curious and will eventually be reminded of elder baldur. Thats what i call good level design!
Elder bug gives some hints to new areas too if you are so nice and go back to him.
Him: mode of operation
Me an intellectual: *Moo*
I’m so glad someone thought the same thing.
modus operandi
Adam: calls the knight hollow knight
mossbag wants to know your location.
The player character is not hollow. It’s called ghost or the Knight, calling A hollow Knight is just as incorrect as calling it THE hollow knight
I got the impression he did it to not spoil the twist, since most new players assume the knight is the hollow knight
@@AshenDust_ Well. Not really. The shade looks like Ghost, not The Hollow Knight.
@@yawningabyss681 same.
We must summon him using the ancient phrase...
Hornet void
i have 80 hours in this game and i dint noticed the boss signs until this video...
Yeah, there are a ton of subtle visual cues in the game that hint at where to go.
Me too
Thales I saw this video and still didn’t notice them when I played it
I saw so many signs, just didn't know what the hell most of them were.
I hate you tho
7:41 this made me genuinely upset when i came back to her being infected, i entered the peak a different way, and then decided to go back some time later to see if she had anything to say, and the silence legit worried me, cause i had a feeling i knew what might have happened, i miss her little jingle *_; - ;_*
I bymistakely killed her and later realized that she was an NPC :'(
I thought it was one of those miners(becuz she attacked me) and had no dialogue
@@taneev271 After she succumbs to the infection, she is just another enemy with nothing special other than your memory of her
@@Emma-rw8yo if you dreamnail her, she is singing to herself that same song, that is the only difference.
Ikr
I hope she gets cured when I finish the game or something... I'm currently playing my first playthrough and felt the same way when I heard no singing :(
Hornet teaches you how to...
GIT GUD
truest shit i ever read online
I SHAW that part of the game
(It may be a stretch but... you suck)
Megalo Husky hornet taught me to leave then come back with hiveblood
...hornet ring? XD
Hornet teaches you to short hop really
i've played this game for 150+ hours
AND I NEVER NOTICE THAT THE SPEAR IS POINTING TO THE BOSSES OMG
same
Nigh 100 here, haven’t got even 90% yet
@@helios1_ watchout, there's 112% :3
same
I just use the map
Another really good thing that the game teaches you: bouncing off of invincible enemies/spikes to traverse gaps. Throughout the game, you notice that your attacks knock you back a little bit. So while in the air, you experiment and find out that you can swing downwards for a little bounce. When you reach Greenpath, there's a section where armored enemies that do not attack you move back and forth across the currently untraversable acidic water. You have a nice revelation and realize that if you time your downward swings properly, you can bridge the gap! That had to be my absolute favorite part of the game.
What i also enjoyed is that they teach you about nail bouncing in the fungal wastes, without repercussions of failing since you are just bouncing on mushrooms. Once you learn that, you go to the part you mentioned, where failing means falling in acid, but now you've gotten better so it's easier
There's a similar case in the crossroads, where I learned you could bounce on Spikes, because you had a bunch of platforms all covered in them being the only way to reach the next platform, and it makes you realise, putting together what you said as well, that hey maybe i can bounce on them. And maybe those spikes in the tutorial hidden take somewhere too! It's a great game for these things.
FaustSketcher Yes! In that case its testing your ability to learn quickly to gain a charm or free a grub sooner, or it serves as a reason to come back and test what you've learnt the slower but easier way
yep. When I realized it, oh was it somewhat irritating, like "why didn't i think of it! Now I can't get there until I find some walljump or something!" haha Tbh at that point i hadn't even bounced on an enemy so it didn't even cross my mind that I could spike-bounce ;;;
Zenith Tempest I never figured that out until I asked for help lol
Says the grub noises let you know they're friendly.. Yeah lets see how long that lasts
Dream Nail
@@whiteface513abandonedchann8 Grubs are trusted by the time you get to the mimic. The Dream Nailing them is something you might do once or twice, but all grubs have the same nail dialogue. Dream Nailing the mimics is not a natural response to seeing them. There are no particle indicators that tell you to use the DN. I think Team Cherry just wanted to troll the players a little bit. A harmless little joke that makes you a little more suspicious and a little less trusting.
I mean I first saw one in the Colosseum so I _knew_ something was up
@@whiteface513abandonedchann8 My first one was down in the hell hole that is the royal waterways. I wasn't quite expecting it to be a mimic, but I was in no way shocked when it turned out to try and kill me.
@@icefire6622 well thats a mimic for you.
Lol mimics are supposed to that almost alot of games does to chest mimics in enter the gungeon or dungeon games and in the dark souls series and terraria nymphs and more. Whats the point of mimics if you know its s fake one already.
Tldr define mimicry
At a time when most videos on RUclips are overdone or practically screaming at you for your attention, this seems both well done and laid back. I didn’t feel like I was being sold your channel, but you still were very effective at holding my attention after the video and making me want to check out your channel anyway. The video was short and concise, yet it also taught me a great deal about what the title promised: tutorials. I really liked how you made this video Adam, I hope it gets more views, it certainly deserves to ^^
Lol really? the production on this gave me the exact opposite impression
You should watch Mark Brown
I agree, i like it
HEY! WHATS UP GUYS?!!! ITS YA BOI GREEDY,AND TODAY LETS TALK ABOUT HOLLOW KNIGHT!!!! IM ALWAYS HAPPY AND EXCITED, DO YOU LIKE ME YET? PLZ SUB....
The mantis enemies don't explode in orange, they explode in white meaning they aren't infected.
and void entities, including you, explode in black
oh my God I never knew that ty
this actually comes to show that Team Cherry did their research into the very perfect example of a tutorial that teaches you without telling you how:
Super Metroid.
Him: The false knight is a combination of the two husks who you have to fight on the way there.
Me, who cheesed the mini boss and the false knight by hiding in the corner: 🤷♂️
You could even break the wall to the left of the False Knight to skip it lmao
@@alextheconfuddled8983 u could barely notice that on ur first playthrough unless u got spoiled for the game
That’s a tactic not a cheese, since it doesn’t actually excuse you from the fight altogether, just makes it slightly easier.
Honestly the breakable wall by that geo rock in Crossroads is my absolute favourite thing because it sets up an entire system of hiding secrets without putting it in your face. It's next to the rock because you'll probably hit it while collecting it. It's awesome
The hidden tutorial of the game continues pretty much through its entire length. Even the final boss actually has a precursor to his fight, in the Soul Sanctum.
Almost all bosses and areas that you traverse to is just teaching you how to beat the boss.
1. Traitor lord's wave attack
2. Path of pain's spears
3. Gorb's ring attack
4. Markoth's swords
5. Elder Hu's rings
Combine them all together, and you now have the Radiance
Also something I rly liked is that if you pick up mechanics early on, particularly bouncing on ennemies/spikes, there's a lot of skillfull ways to access collectibles that are intended to be obtained thanks to power ups, thus reducing a lot of backtracking and making you feel sooo great
I wish that school would teach in the same immersive way that hollow knight does
It would actually be fun that way
hehe i was thinking about how it could work, as in how the education system to be as immersive as a game. It would make school 100x more enjoyable.
The reason that games are more immersive is that they actually adapt to your skill level. Beat level 1, go to level 2. In school, if you're finished work early you often have to wait. Plus, some students have to be strictly told to do work, while others prosper in a more relaxed environment. So just teaching adapted to each type of student would work much better.
it's easy to do when you're a single protagonist in a very well defined genre played by a specific subset of people.
School is an incredibly broad activity done by nearly every type of person that has, is, and will exist. It is something that must accomodate for all types of people. Those that enjoy playing 2d platformers and metroidvanias, to those that enjoy playing top-down RTS games.
There is no good way to make school as immersive as this for everyone on the planet. That's why it is made the way it is. It's base formula is designed such that everyone can get the same base information in a way that is somewhat effective. However, it fails massively after ~6th grade when we begin to be taught more complex concepts that our brains tend not to grasp naturally.
Some countries solve this by splitting the population in different tiers, focusing in on how their brain works and giving this 'immersive tutorial'.
However, the issue remains within those tiers because it is not just those that enjoy that method of teaching that are in there. There are also those that simply do not excel in any other type of teaching method.
So you end up with the same issue, where people are in need of a tutorial, but other types just don't work for them, so they are handed a specific type and are told 'deal with it'.
You wish for something that is compatible with a small subset of the population, to be applied to the entire population.
If you really want to change something, make your own educational method based on what hollow knight does, write a curriculum that completes the country's requirements and allows the students to be recognized internationally, and found your own school. If it works, congrats, you've written one type of tutorial for the game of life and society. Now do it 100x over for all different sorts of people.
I am playing Hollow Knight right now and I am 100% agree with your view, I probably has noticed all the things you said though but knowing other player have the same thought with me I felt very happy. I also like the point that people like learning but not being taught, it's true, and I think it is a job that game designer need to always bring some new idea of how to make it fun and meaningful.
My favourite thing that the game teaches this way is how to use dashes in combat. After you get your dash ability the next bosses you can fight are A) a teleporting wizard or B) quick, deadly mantis queens. Both have lackeys that teach you to use your dash. In the mantis' case by slashing in a much longer arc than you are used to and in the wizard's case by having his attack pattern split into two enemies that both teleport. They both trach you to be quick to dash away and to use it to close the gap while you can. It's so great.
In human-computer interaction, or experience design, we use the term "mental model" to description people's understanding of certain functionality, or rather to say the way we think how things work, of either digital or physical objects. Both designers and the user (player in this case) will have their own distinctive understanding of how certain mechanism of the game works. Designers, knowing fully of the ins and outs of the game, need to deliver this understanding - the ideal "mental model" - to user. And the sound of acid pool, and husk guard's attack pattern meant to prepare you for the False Knight's boss fight, is called signifier - elements planted by designers meant to instruct people of how this world of creation operates.
Of course labeling instructions out with a wall of text counts as a form of "signifier", but like you said, a better way to plant signifier is to use in-game elements: environmental sound, behavior of NPCs. Those are called "diegetic elements" meaning narrative or in-narrative elements) in game design. For example, Monster Hunter indicate monster's health by its behavior instead of showing a huge HP bar, or that Halo rife that has ammunition displayed on its back, are other example of diegetic elements.
Hope this information is helpful to someone and is not too boring to read.
i can´t say it helped me, but it wasnt boring at all ;)
thank you!
Directly after the fall in the intro there's a little dip in the ground. At first, I was confused, but having played through the game a few times, I think it's there so that if you didn't immediately look for the jump button upon starting, you have to before you right the first enemy, which I really like because it's so small you wouldn't notice that that's why it's there.
Solution to Oblivion's long intro... Save your game before leaving the sewers. The spot where you change your dude one last time and exit into the wide world. When you wish to play a new character, replay at the save instead of pressing "New Game"
That doesn't solve the problem of having to go through the boring tutorial in the first place, which can put of first time players from actually playing the game.
Was it really that bad the first time? I don't think it is all that terrible.
It's a solution that should be in the game to begin with. A simple "Skip intro" when selecting the new game would be an actual solution, not having the player create a save after the intro
Grim1952 A valid point and not a bad idea.
dragonatorul you make it sound like it ruins all of the game's integrity though. It's bad, sure, but it isn't nearly as bad as people say, it's just slither thing people hate because other people say so. Being this tilted over a tutorial in a relatively easy to pick up game (that's okay in the first place, not great but I think it's okay) is sort of silly ((I don't know why I'm typing such a long message to a 4 day old comment, I'm really bored))
Normal People: Modes Of Operation
Me: MOO
4:27 my instinct tells me to jump on top of it.
Old comment, but the spiky and sharp look on its' back are also a subtle hint that you shouldn't jump on it, with nearly all of the first few enemies you face looking spiky to reinforce that you shouldn't jump on them.
@@somekinnn *finishes listening to DM/GM's advice.
"Ok yea but I jump on it".
Here, Team Cherry subtly punishes you for playing a game by one of their competitors. Big brain capitalist move.
@@BunsGlazing768 lmao
@@somekinnn Guess what, Team Cherry first had a smooth design for the crawlid, but decided it wasnt making it clear enough to new players that you couldnt jump on it, so they added spikes, it still wasnt enough so they added even more to the design
3:50 "Modes of Operation" sounds like someone just dumbd-down 'modus operandi.' (But I like it!)
Wouldn't say "dumbed down". More like anglicized. That to me is a good thing. Screw this pretentious usage of latin terms in english!
Aren't "Modes of Operation" just... Gameplay Mechanics?
just to remind that the playable caracter is a vessel, but not THE Hollow Knight
Just gonna say that's a reveal later on down the line in the story.
Spoilers!
yeah, the player character is A hollow knight but not THE hollow knight
then again even THE hollow knight wasnt truly hollow
the player character is closer to being the hollow knight than THE hollow knight
The playable character is meant to be referred to as the knight
@@andy9176 i can't agree to that. I think the Knight (us) is a horrible vessel. We listen to conversations, make friends, have the will to keep throwing ourselves against the BZZZZZZZZ and have a will to stop doing so when it's just too much. I doubt that the Knight is hollow at all, after going through the whole game. Heck, there was no reason to do the Grimm Troupe or the Delicate flower, and the Knight did it anyways.
@@scrwd4568 true, but there's not really a reason not to. The whole point of a truly hollow vessel is basically to meander around the world until you stumble upon the black egg and seal the infection.
I'm actually going to disagree with you about strategy games not being able to teach using subtly. The original StarCraft campaigns are actually brilliantly designed. Each level, you not only get a new unit (or ability), but you're also frequently presented with a task that is much easier if you use the unit in question. For example, the level that introduces the Overlord's Ventral Sacs upgrade encourages you to doom-drop the enemy base by giving you a nice, unprotected ledge that you're bound to walk past vs a winding canyon guarded on both sides by entrenched Terrans if you go by ground. Nearly every level is training you to recognize when to use that unit/ability without explicitly telling you what to do (beyond the first one or two with an explicit tutorial on unit controls).
Agreed. I'm not overly familiar with StarCraft, but WarCraft is similar. Blizzard are good at this. WC3 has a tutorial mission as its first one that comes complete with an annoying narrator (the modern American accent is so jarring against the otherwise brilliant voice acting). The instructional narration is completely unnecessary though because all the visual clues are on screen. And, like StarCraft, you conveniently unlock new units and buildings to suit the level. Need to break through some trees or raise some skeletons? Well, conveniently you now get catapults and necromancers.
The color theory wasn't actually intended. The devs themselves said that they chose orange because it felt right for them. It's a nice theory but devs didn't intend it.
It sounds like they were at least subconsciously thinking it, based on that wording.
Doesn't mean that the colour theory doesn't apply. Blue and orange are contrasting colours, and as such stand opposite of each other, intensifying their tone
The way they did the game is very interesting. Basically they didn't do any more before the game was well into conception. They kept their full creative freedom when designing and then built the life around that. It was very risky but worked extremely well
It felt right *because* of color theory my guy
Maybe they didn't exactly know itnat the time but that is exactly why they did it. Color theory works for every single human being (yadayada except colorblind and blind people)
i've been playing this game for years and the signs pointing to the bosses is something i've never noticed before. thank you for that charming little detail!
And then there's pokemon where the tutorial is
the whole game
This was super informative! You pointing out how the enemies in Hollow Knight were secretly training me for the bosses blew my mind!
This is all really useful information!
In fact I’m making my own game called “Indestination”, and have finished a beta and started working on my alpha,
I’ll definitely take note of these key aspects; not to necessarily copy Hollow Knight,
But to learn from it, and improve my own game.
So thank you for this video, And even if I’ve only seen hollow knight, and it’s gameplay, and never played it, in a special way I can thank the ones whom have created this game as well.
Again, thank you, and the creators of HK.
Have you finished the game yet?
if you're still working on it good luck! :D
Hollow Knight is one of, if not the, greatest game of the current era of games.
Yet it still remains to be so quiet,so subtle.
Just like the hollow knight himself.
The game lives by itsself, by its own rules.
Its truly magical.
on the subject of "the darksouls of darksouls". What many people fial to point out is that Dark Souls is actually part of the metroidvania subgenre. Dark Souls was the first successfull 3D Castlevania. So calling a metroidvania "Dark Souls" is actually the wrong way around.
What does the storytelling have to do with that?
Although DS is certainly inspired by Metroidvanias, I wouldn't say it's part of the genre. A very important part said genre is your characters gaining new abilities as it explores and discovers new power-ups. In that regard, DS is much more of an RPG when it comes to character progression. You're not just gaining new tools as you progress into the game, you're choosing your weapons and armor as well as the stats you invest in meaning you have a lot more personalised experience.
It's called "Hollow Knight", you're getting 'Soul' from enemies, there's an area called 'The Abyss' connected to a darkness within you, when you die you have to get at least as far again to reclaim your money, the overall story... well, it's not like I understood any of it in either game, but it seems similar. It's not just about the metroidvania gameplay.
@@elvancor As far as the "overall story" aspect is concerned, there's a repeated cycle of sacrifice required to keep a certain powerful kingdom running that, if not maintained, will cause the destruction and downfall of that kingdom with some unspeakable force. Also, the cycle seems to be almost entirely weakened by the time the protagonist enters the game, mostly to fix the mistakes of 1 or more lords/kings.
@@elvancor hollow knights story is literally just a parallel to dark souls story
Great video! And yes, many game devs nowadays should learn from this. Old-school games hardly ever had tutorials, and if they did they were a line of text or an image. I've lost count on how many games I actually got bored and lost interest in just within the tutorial part. It's a lot! We don't need to be spoon fed information. A big part of the fun in games in discovering and learning on your own.
“False knight is a souped-up version of regular enemies”
*what?*
This music... I love the score of this - it really fits your voice and is also a great testament to the beautiful soundtrack that lifts this beautiful gem up even more.
Erm... You didn't make up "Modes of Operation" actually... :x. The term is "Modus Operandi" and means exactly what you are trying to say.
Modus Operandi is the Latin term that translated is exactly that, "Modus" = mode, "Operandi" = to operate
Yes, which in english and meaning means "the way in which you carry out you carry out tasks."
that's not at all how people use the term Modus Operandi
Actually, yes it is. In both business and law that is how Modus Operandi is used. I dunno about "people" though..? I mean if "people" are not using it that way, then they apparently don't know how to use it.
i love internet arguments
You're very observant. I'm gonna be honest and say that I never noticed how the game preps you for bosses with smaller enemies. It's a really cool detail.
This is a great analysis! I love learning about how to make tutorials
I realized around the point that I got into the first part of city of tears how genius the game is. I realized that as I progressed, the game was gradually teaching me new ways to do things, and I started noticing it happening all over. I started to progress quicker once I realized that even if I was given the choice to do a difficult challenge, it was always better if I did it, because most of the time it was preparing me for something greater. The short beginning part leaves you feeling ready for adventure with some simple ideas of what you'll have to do, and the game teaches you the rest. I love this game.
I knew about the Broken Vessel before I fought it, and when I ran into the Mawleks I instantly noticed how similar their attacks were and knew what was coming up
I feel like a lot of these things can also be said about Ori and the Blind Forest. They tell you the key to use something, and then let you figure out the rest yourself. The abilities also are really impactful in how they feel, and impassible obstacles or unreachable areas make it clear that you need an upgrade of some sort.
Mark Brown the Sequel
ive never seen this guys videos before and i thought he was parodying mark brown at first
This guy might have been around before Mark Brown but I don't feel like doing the research. In any case there are dozens of Game Design ponderers on youtube but a lot of them aren't focused nor prepared in their topics enough to make interesting videos.
this is the dark souls of mark brown
I love the exploration in this game. After I had defeated two bosses I started exploring, got into the fog place, waste place...slipped into the scary Deepnest..... It was like a maze... Found the humming map guy, felt the bliss, didn't have enough geo, went to kill a few mobs, got ambushed, died, the fucker left the place and I was pretty much just trying to get out for an hour, got out, flopped on some jumps and died, had to do it all over again, got out, died again, eventually got out again by the time I had found the tram pass and gone to some weird places with the tram for fun...
Oddly enough it didn't make me that frustrated, more just made me feel like a dumbass for getting lost but also having that knowledge that a place like Deepnest exist compared to the mild zones I had been in previously within a few hours of gameplay just because I decided to go exploring and got lost
Another + is that you're able to basically just go whatever route you want, I accidentally found the tram pass which made me able to get to resting grounds and in terms get the dream nail and a bunch of shit, I basically progressed in the game simply because I went out exploring by myself which is a nice touch.
4:39 BUFFERING...
oh wait...
haha u got me
thats why i love ori and the blind forrest so much. upgrades are super powerful here, to the point where at the beggining all enemies are threat and moving trhough the environment is slow and difficult, but at the end of game you just fly trhough everything with no problems. briliant. and god its level design. and story
no one in team cherry had played dark souls when the base gameplay elements were being worked out!
this isnt true. www.mcvuk.com/when-we-made-hollow-knight/
@@sirgreedy88
Literally in your linked article it says
"I hadn’t actually played much of Dark Souls when we were making the game,” he laughs. “I played a fair bit of it after because people talked a lot about how Hollow Knight was like Dark Souls. I think we were referencing a lot of games that Dark Souls references so maybe there’s a lot of connections there.”
So it is true...I don't know how you can misinterpret this so badly.
@@Supernoxus the op said nobody had played it. the link says they did play it.("hadnt played much")
@@Supernoxus sometimes people are just stupid :)
@@zynstein Sir Greedy tells the truth, didn't play much is still played some, so both are kinda true
Can't believe some people misinterpret this VERY badly.
the best tutorials, are the ones where you don't realize you have a tutorial, like hollow knight, or dark souls
8:00 [Spoiler] :
Calling the Knight the Hollow knight is pretty funny to me, because its true at the begeining and the end, but wrong in the midgame ;)
How is it true early game?
i think the best game tutorial i've ever played is furi, simply tells you the button prompts in a fight against the Chain and shows u how all the attacks u will see throughout the entire game work by just pitting u against a slow and simple boss, while not feeling like a tutorial and still being a challenge on your first times
"chewtorials. are. tricky."
awesome.
what a great video , honestly this is one of the best videos i have ever seen in my life !!
"Little game"...? This game is larger than 70% of AAA games. This game is HUGE. What make games little in your opinion mate?
I think he meant it by popularity
I think he said little, because the box it comes in is smaller.
The game world is literally "little" since the characters are tiny bugs. The world of hollow knight is huge, but if we were to watch it from human perspective, it's tiny.
It doesn't come in a box though -_-
then he probably said little because the developers are a team of midgets
You're a very talented story teller. I really enjoy your videos. It keeps me engaged throughout the entire piece. I hope to be able to emulate your scriptwriting prowess to improve my gaming channel and be better at it. I appreciate your contents very much. They always inspire me to do better.
Noooo, I thought this wouldn't have spoilers since it's about the tutorial and I'm 8 hours in. Why does Myla have to get infected :C
It’s because the crystals in Crystal Peak reflect light, so bugs residing there are very vulnerable to being infected.
Oh no I gave you more spoilers
@@cereiul I think it's safe to assume that HunterDSpammer here completed Hollow Knight before you posted your comment.
@@cereiul Wouldnt she be getting more drawn to it and feel like she is forced to infinitely mine away until she slowly succumbs to the infection
@Flybreaker Footage Ohh I get you lol, there was someone who spent an hour on Hornet and then had to download the Easy Mod after I recommended it to them. Good on them for their commitment to the game though
Watching this and the MegaMan sequilitis back to back is trippy. Great video.
You call things "Modes of Operation" but I believe the game industry already has a term for it: "Verbs". Meaning the actions that can be performed to interact with the world. i.e. Soldiers shoot enemies and Mario stomps Koopas. Correct me if I'm mistaken.
Side note. You're videos are awesome and I'm subbed and bingeing your content while developing my game. Keep up the good work!
Moo.
I believe that "Modus Operandi" fits here perfectly even if it is used mostly for other things. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modus_operandi)
I don't think "Verb" is industry term (although I don't know the ins and out of the industry itself), it was coined by another Game design RUclipsr - Mark Brown.
It's Moo now.
"Verbs" is an industry term, although not a clearly defined one, and was not coined by the awesome Mark Brown, but more probably by game designer Chris Crawford in his book "Interactive Storytelling".
If you want a more structured definition of verbs in the context of game design, look at Anna Anthropy's "A Game Design Vocabulary", which is btw linked in Brown's video as his source material.
Great video! And also very neat Hollow Knight head transition between scenes actually! :D
7:39 I think you meant to say that nothing happens to this character and she is fine.
But is she tho
@@jacksond7956 Ikr
I love these types of vids. Intelligent, informative, interesting, and entertaining. Thanks Adam. I subbed! Just started HK and I’m loving it.
Great video! Keep it up. Your whole production feels pro, except for the drawn little face, which is nice but maybe needs to be upgraded to match the level of every other aspect of your video. Cheers!
Good vid! I like the lack of major spoilers for people who havent played through the game yet
Is that sarcasm? I feel like that's sarcasm.
The character isn't the Hollow Knight, though you mentioned him as Hollow Knight some times.
well, not at the beginning of the game, at least
And ironically, given the lore of the game, the title of Hollow Knight is more apt for The Knight than the actual Hollow Knight
Yeah, the story is like: yeah this Hollow Knight, he wasn't hollow enough. Hey you Knight. It is a good thing you are really hollow, unlike Hollow knight. So confusing :D
(Possible spoiler, but if you already read this thread it's too late)
Well, the knight isn't _really_ hollow until you get the void heart.
Augstin Perez Herrera hmm i interpreted that more as discovering what he really is instead of becomming hollow at that point.
I fucking love video essays and this is one of the best I've ever seen. Congrats
brilliant LITTLE game... 20h later, congrats you reached the 30% mark!
160 hours later: Ahah, finally beat Troupemaster Grimm. Wait, I can dreamnail hi-
DANANANANANANANANANA DANANANA DNANANANA *death sound*
EXCELLENT analysis. Something tells me you're a teacher (maybe a professor) or a writer. Maybe not, but you've got some of those great qualities. I'll sub and check out the rest of what you've got.
Oh, so I didn't even get to the first boss of Hollow Knight before getting lost.
W H Y A R E Y O U E V E R Y W H E R E
first time in my life i didn't skip a video like this
That example of an enemy training you to fight crystal guardian is actually wrong. You have to fight crystal guardian BEFORE those enemies.
Yeah, a better example of an enemy that trains you for Crystal Guardian is the little bugs with the lasers not far from the boss room, since Crystal Guardian's fight is basically all lasers.
I haven't fought the bench dude & I got everything else in Crystal Peak. He doesn't give you shit but a bench so I skipped him. I had to fight a bunch of the little Crystal dudes. I even have the pale ore from up on top.
Another thing I don’t think you mentioned is that every time you get a new tool or ability the game subtly traps you in a scenario where you have to learn to use it to leave the room
I think the approach of "booting up a new game without a tutorial" works when you've already gained some experience in the genre/games in general. for example i've played a few rounds of warcraft 3 (a realtime strategy game, old but gold) and was familiar with the gameplay of ashes of the singularity in 10 minutes just by playing.
The revelation that the fundamental interaction of Hollow Knight is hitting things with a nail feels so right.
Portal is just a bunch of tutorials and then a boss fight
I havent finished this game yet and i already freakin love it
metroidvania games really need to have a hint that you cant progress with your current equipment. i always try to progress at "puzzles" expecting that its just being clever.
eg the secret area where you need to use crystal dash in the crystal mines to get through the timed lazers. because you can use your downward attack to jump off the lazer shooting crystals i assumed it was just a surprisingly difficult parkour area only to get to the end of it and find an unjumpable gap.
There's an area like that in the Forgotten Crossroads that you actually can get past without the required item - it's just really difficult. There are two walls, placed pretty close to each other, with 3 patches of spikes placed two on one wall and one on the other. If you have the wall slide, you can just jump from safe patch to safe patch until you succeed. If you don't, you have to BOUNCE on the spikes, requiring a much higher level of coordination than anywhere else in the game up to that point (which I spent about half an hour trying to do), only to realize that there is a mid-game BOSS FIGHT on the other end. I didn't actually make it past the ledge before I found the Mantis Claw, but if I had, you'd bet that I wouldn't be getting that Geo back.
Speedrunners: am I a joke to you?
You can actually cross that gap if you have the double jump. This trick is often used in randomizers.
I think that as of the making of this video, this man had not even gotten to the fountain cutscene in the city of tears in Hollow Knight, since he called the vessel by the name of the final boss of one of the endings.
I literally did not notice any of those signs at all.
Thx a lot for your work, as a game dev it's mean a lot !! I will check you other video, i'm sure i will found many more good advice ;)
IM STILL IN THE TUTORIAL WHAT HOW LONG IS THIS GAME
my main save has over 120 hours, its pretty long
@@andy9176 it is long but not THAT long wtf have you been doing 🤣🤣
@@Cellyestial my best
An average playtime is like 20-30 hours, but 112% is more like 60 or so depending on playstyle and skill
Depends on what you define as tutorial. You can even come back to the section before Dirtmouth, so...
Hornet Teaches you how to beat the final boss.
Plot Twist: the whole game was a. Tutorial for Silksong
thanks for making my Hollow knight expirience even better
it's so cute how he referred to this game as "little" just because of its cartoonish style.
Super cool how I didn’t even notice any of these things and yet I was very familiar with the feeling of each. They did a really good job
Goddamn, I wanted to just learn about the tutorial :(.
why does every single hollow knight video seem to have to include spoilers
an absolute brilliant game. kind of bought it on a whim but was completely hooked after a few hours. Anyone who likes platformers and metroidvania games with a bit of a challenge. This one is highly recommended.
I think the HK shade looks like Mimyku
Very well put together video. And interesting too.
Well, Crystallized miner spawns a lot far than crystal gurdian. This is mistake.
Also, the jelly fish have none of the mechanics of uumuu
@@jakes1566 Probably not intentional as Godmaster is a DLC, but they prepare you for the Uumuu fights in Godhome
It is possible to find a miner before the crystal guardian. I think I did.
great essay about tutorial of the Hollow Knight which is one of my favorite games right now
The only things that troubles me is that he calls the knight “hollow knight” even though hollow knight is a different character
*b r u h*
that's because before you start playing the game, you think character you are playing is Hollo Knight
why he would spoil it by not calling it a Hollow knight ?
1:01 that room does NOT have a wandering husk in it
too many spoilers :/
but otherwise a really good video
What spoilers
+
Rhythm Fever
There are always some spoilers. Even when you watch a 100% spoiler free video about a topic, you will get spoilered. As soon as you gather information about something, you get spoilered.
And besides of that, in this video were really no spoilers. He basically just showed footage from the first hour of the game - the tutorial. (The whole game is between 20 and 40 hours long btw)
@ i have 60 hours on my 112% file so yea like 60 hours
@ He did show footage of The Infected Crossroads, which is pretty spoilery.
i love how you kept pointing out the final boss without even spoiling anything
I cringed so hard when you said you “made up” modes of operation. Ever heard of “modus operandi” aka modes of operation lol.
Mike
You laugh at your own joke, yet fail to realize he was making one...
Amazing Video
Beautifully explained!