Oh, I definitely did at least enter the White Palace. Not really sure if I finished it though, I don't think I ever got Kingsoul. Maybe I missed the White Lady? Void Heart definitely seems like the big thing I was missing though, I can conclusively say I never got that and that was the major piece of the puzzle I still had left unsolved.
I mean. I don't know if it would have helped with understanding the story, but like. Properly finishing the game. Seems kind of important for that.
ahhhh okay, so you know a fair bit
I wasn’t even talking about the White Palace at first, more the Abyss and Shadow Dash
Kingsoul is important, both halves. You do NOT have to do the Path of Pain, that’s just a little bonus to clarify the uh. “idea instilled”
you’ll know if you get the part of Kingsoul in the White Palace. it has something of an unmistakable source.
Kingsoul leads to Void Heart, and the complete description has hints on what to do
getting Void Heart in the game clarifies a ton of the story
and so does the uh. end fight
frankly part of why I love it so much is because
if you don’t know why you’re fighting, you can never break the cycle
in other games I’m less pressed about “True Endings.” Hollow Knight made me seek it out because
the game knew why it was happening but I still didn’t.
figuring it out was absolutely my biggest
holy shit process in the entire medium, I think
like the game really gave me the impression that all the things happening in parallel that I didn’t entirely understand were
part of something big, something tangible, that the game knew but I as a player
didn’t
but instead of feeling like they were just withholding the information to be vague, it felt like
they knew and the answers were at my fingertips
I mean. you enter this world as an amnesiac bug with a detachable ghost. the obscurity is an invitation.
what really solidified it for me was beating the Hollow Knight the first time. Like… paying attention to those animations… they’re trying to tell you something important. It does NOT feel good winning against a foe who is
forcing you away to stab themself more.
And then
just being a replacement? after everything you’ve seen?! no way. that doesn’t feel right.
That was really my “oh. ohhhhhhh shit there’s way more to what’s going on here and I can
find out what makes this all make sense” moment
but at the same time, I’m glad I did that first, because the tragedy of everything hit even harder as the layers of hubris peeled away.