Hollow Knight: Best Ways To Shake Up A Second Playthrough

While Team Cherry’s indie Metroidvania darling can be a grueling experience to complete for those unprepared their first time, many players wish to explore the world of Hallownest again and again. As such, keeping the experience fresh is integral to replaying the title.

From finding and defeating all of Hallownest’s hidden bosses, to adapting the mechanics of the game itself; Hollow Knight is a title that is full of player-led and fully developed systems to enhance a second playthrough.

8

Download Mods

Change Things Up — From Skins To Co-Op Play

Although only available for fans on PC, community-created modifications are one of the go-to ways of altering Hollow Knight’s gameplay and aesthetic to fit each player’s particular wants and needs.

Although they ultimately reshape Team Cherry’s vision for the title, mods can also act as a natural extension of Hollow Knight‘s already successful format. From changing the game’s visuals to incorporating much-desired features such as cooperative multiplayer, Hollow Knight‘s avid modding scene has encouraged players to forge a brand-new experience every time they boot up the game.

7

Work From Memory

In Ditching A Game Mechanic, Players Can Enhance Their Immersion

Part and parcel of Hollow Knight‘s Metroidvania genre is the existence of a sprawling world of interconnected locations and puzzling seeming dead-ends. While players will earn abilities and an understanding of the game’s systems that will aid in their traversal of Hallownest, Cornifer’s cartography skills also allow them to slowly map out the game’s many biomes and locales.

However, upon a second playthrough, many players may feel that — after a 30-or-so hour long initial playthrough — they know this world like the back of their hand. As such, an easy and accessible way in which players can enhance the mystery and discovery of a second playthrough is to forgo the lovable weevil-esque bug’s maps and either forge their own or venture around the game without one.

6

Try A Speedrun

Incorporating Player-Led & In-Game Systems

While the world of Hollow Knight is undoubtedly “vast, beautiful, and full of mysteries,” much of a player’s exploration and appreciation of Hallownest’s various locations most likely occurred in their first playthrough of Team Cherry’s acclaimed title. As such, many Hollow Knight players have gone on to utilize the systems and exploits of the gameplay to run through the game’s content as quickly as possible.

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Bolstered by its Metroidvania genre and a formal in-game timer that is shown to players upon game completion, Hollow Knight is incredibly well-suited to such a player-generated challenge. With various achievements for incremental levels of completion quickness, and a prospering speedrun community, a rapid second attempt at completing Hollow Knight is not only impressive but actively encouraged.

5

Fully Utilize The Charms System

Collect & Experiment To Enhance Combat & Exploration

Although Hollow Knight‘s core gameplay is tight and fluid, arguably most players will bolster their combat and exploratory prowess with the use of the game’s extensive charm system. As such, many players will seemingly opt to use charms such as the ‘Wayward Compass’ to aid in their initial playthrough’s expedition around Hallownest and simply play around with various combat alterations.

While such charms are still just as useful on a second playthrough, with 45 of them, Hollow Knight allows for an incredible amount of diversity and can even create some truly destructive experiences. In collecting and experimenting with the charm system, a second playthrough of Hollow Knight can allow players the freedom to hyperfocus on a certain style of play and experience Team Cherry’s title in arguably a brand-new way.

4

Look Into Side Content

Explore & Assist A Range Of Hallownest’s Inhabitants

Although exploring the world of Hallownest — and defeating the eponymous Hollow Knight itself — is what many players will most likely see as the core function of Hollow Knight‘s campaign, that is not to say that Team Cherry’s world is devoid of other goals for players to work toward.

With a deeper understanding of and curiosity about Hallownest that goes hand in hand with a player’s wish to start a second playthrough, the opportunity to fully explore the requests and demands of the world’s residents can come to the forefront of a replay. From rescuing helpless grubs to hunting down Geo-stealing elders, Hollow Knight‘s world is filled with side content for players to unearth and enjoy.

3

Hunt Down Bosses & Side-Bosses

Challenge Yourself To Seek & Destroy Them All

While the bosses of Hollow Knight are undoubtedly difficult to slay, especially for those unprepared, it remains that they are “not just tests of skill but encounters woven into the lore and mechanics” of Hallownest. As such, it may be a surprise to some that a relatively minuscule number of the game’s 47 different bosses are mandatory.

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Be it to expand their understanding of the world, or to offer up a grueling combat challenge, one way in which players can enhance a second playthrough is to seek out these boss fights and prove their worth by defeating them. Considering the vast number and diversity of Hallownest’s bosses, it remains arguably expected that most players going into a second — or even third — run of the game are still due to give some of Hollow Knight’s behemoths a challenge.

2

Experience All DLC Content

Experience All That Team Cherry Has Funneled Into The Game

While the initial proposition of Hollow Knight’s 2017 release remains arguably one of the most content-rich experiences of the last generation, developer Team Cherry has bolstered the game’s mechanics and lore extensively in the time following its release.

Bestowed to players for free from August 2017 to August 2018, the ‘Hidden Dreams,’ ‘Grimm Troupe,’ ‘Lifeblood,’ and ‘Godmaster’ DLC packs have been woven into the fabric of the base game and as such are relatively indistinguishable from core content to those uninitiated. Introducing new bosses, mechanics, and aspects of lore to Hollow Knight‘s world, depending on when a player first completed their adventure in Hallownest, there could be a whole slew of new content waiting for them.

1

Play With A Player-Led Or In-Game Challenge

Make The Tough-As-Nails Platformer Even Harder

Although the near-limitless breadth of content, and the development of mods on PC available in Hollow Knight is breathtaking, there is much to be said about the pure act of making things just that little bit harder for yourself. Be it through self-imposed challenge runs of the game or utilizing Team Cherry’s own ‘Steel Soul’ mode, made available immediately after a completed first run, Hallownest can turn from a forgiving abode to a monstrous environment in no time.

Considering that combat and traversal difficulty are core to Hollow Knight‘s mechanics and gameplay cycle, enforcing such a natural extension of those systems is an easy yet extensive way to enhance the title’s enjoyment.

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Released

February 24, 2017

Developer(s)

Team Cherry

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Publisher(s)

Team Cherry

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OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

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