just a little bit too much "smashing head in2 wall" stuff and id be happy if i never fought no eyes again but overall its a hype and fun experience. The new bosses were really really hype and the boss refight hall is a great idea. Theres no way im doing that pantheon with every boss in the game back to back. I already theoretically beat it just out of order and one at a time during the course of the rest of my playthru

im gonna rereview hollow knight with all the completion and secret ending stuff and give it the thorough, overwritten 50 page review that the game truly deserves. Keep an eye out for that!!!!!!!!

After completing the base game and the three previous DLC packs, this is the first bit of Hollow Knight content that broke me. There's a level of skill (or masochism) beyond my comprehension that's required for this kind of Boss Rush mode. Just like the other DLC, it's gorgeous and meticulously crafted, but it is

JUST.

SO.

HARD.

Ich liebe alles an diesem Spiel, das von nur zwei Entwicklern und einem Komponisten kreiert wurde: Ari, William und Christopher - Ihr seid einfach großartig!

Die Lore ist philosophisch, detail-verliebt, poetisch und umfassend.

Die Graphik scheint von den Figuren recht minimalistisch, aber die filigranen, mannigfaltigen Hintergründe mit all ihren Verzierungen, die individuell zum Levelareal passen, und in Talismanen, Rüstungen und Gegenständen wiederzuerkennen sind, machen es zu einem visuellen Spektakel.

Die Musik von Larkin ist inspirierend, atmosphärisch, mitreißend, zerreißend und bei genauem Zuhören lassen sich wiederkehrende Leitmotive erkennen. Obwohl die Figuren keine Stimme geschenkt bekamen, hat jeder (wichtige) Charakter seine eigenen Floskeln, die sie noch liebenswerter oder in manchen Fällen auch widerwärtiger machen. ;)

Die Steuerung ist sehr sensibel. Z.B. ist die Stärke und Dauer des Sprungknopfdrückens oft entscheidend über Leben und Tod. Das macht es herausfordernder, aber zugleich gibt es einem auch mehr Freiheiten die richtigen Kampftaktiken zu entwickeln. Diese Kämpfe sind in meinen Augen von solcher Raffinesse, dass sie einen oft entzücken lassen. So kann man bestimmte Reaktionen aus einzelnen Bossen kitzeln, die sie furioser oder nobler parieren lassen. Demnach findet man nicht nur Poesie in der Lore, sondern auch in der Hitze des Kampfes.

Es gibt auch unzählige Builds für den kleinen Ritter: Unterschiedliche Talisman Kombinationen, haben besondere Auswirkungen. Manchmal gibt es Talismane, die einem den Kampf erschweren und man an der Rechtmäßigkeit ihrer Existenz ehrlich gesagt zweifelt, aber schon alleine, um das Fenster vollständig zu bekommen, weil es ästhetisch hübscher aussieht, sammelt man sie natürlich.

Als Metroidvania gibt es unheimlich viel zu entdecken: Die Regionen sind in ihrem (farblichen) Design und in ihrem herausfordernden Plattforming Layout sowie ihren kleinen und großen Einwohnern individuell und abwechslungsreich. Alles ist stimmig, da selbst die jeweiligen Themes diese Designs wiederspiegeln. Die Bosskämpfe sind (in meinen Augen) schwierig, aber immer fair, weswegen ich nicht aufhören konnte und sie letzten Endes gemeistert habe. Es gibt einige, sehr unterschiedliche Enden und ich kann mich auch nach ca. 140 Stunden an dieser Welt nicht sattsehen und liebe es, Hallownest immer wieder aufs Neue zu erkunden und neues Verborgenes zu entdecken.

Chapeau Team Cherry <3

I think it's the expansion that made me really love Hollow Knight since I love to optimize boss fights, finding a way to be better, see the flaws of what I'm doing.

Pantheon of Hallownest was tedious at times since it was a bit frustrating to start from the get-go after being defeated by a boss like Oblobble when I was not careful enough and just wanted to get to the end (shit boss by the way) but you really feel your progression as a player, you become more constant, and you feel the pay-off when you beat Pantheon of Hallownest.

I spend 60 hours on this dlc (a lot more than it took me to beat the normal ending) and it was a blast, it reminded me the feelings I had when I tried to beat Bloodborne with a LvL 4 character, the feeling of overcoming a really difficult challenge.

The expansion also add Pure Vessel, probably my favorite boss of the entire game, or at least my co-favorite, I can't decide between him and Nightmare King Grimm since I think Pure Vessel is more interesting since the rhythm is more difficult to master and I also really enjoyed the very melancholic mood of the fight, but Nightmare King Grimm is more spectacular and epic while being a fight giving you less creativity than Pure Vessel in the way you are playing (since it's basically a dance with him).

Absolute Radiance is also an excellent fight even if too reliant on RNG (the boss can be hell or very easy depending of the RNG), it's a very fun boss to try to master since there are so many combinaisons of patterns, you always have to adapt to the boss. I fought her countless times and never a fight was similar to another one. The Nail Masters were also a very nice addition, Sly being my favorite with the Brothers.

It's just a shame that some bosses are poorly balanced, I already spoke about Oblobbles but Markoth without floor is boring, No Eyes is not really a hard boss on P5 but the boss can be really annoying to get stuck in places you just can't hit. Sometimes I'm wondering if the dream bosses in P5 were tested before the extension was released.

I can't rate it alone (like Grimm Troupe DLC) since it's part of Hollow Knight for me, but I really loved it individually and for how it impacted my Hollow Knight experience despite the flaws I wrote about.
It's only a DLC for really dedicated players who love to tryhard, I don't think it's a fun DLC if you don't like this kind of challenge.

Team Cherry ostensibly felt sorry for the Royal Waterways in that there was barely any reason to return to it after reaching the Ancient Basin from it for the first time. Hence, why they gave The Knight a sacred key to open the realm of the Godmaster located at the western outskirts of the the City of Tear’s sewer. If you thought the Colossum was the peak of endurance tests in Hollow Knight, the fourth and final DLC pack will make you forget about it in seconds. The golden, regal throne of the Godmaster involves The Knight fighting a gauntlet of the game’s bosses from both the base game and other DLC packs. There are a range of difficulty tiers like those seen in the colosseum, and the collection of bosses coincides with their relative range of formidability (ie. the first one includes the Mosscharger and Venegefly King). The Knight is provided a hot spring with a bench before the gauntlet begins, but can only heal manually with their juice supply between bouts. The Nail Masters are pleasantly surprising as the final fights of each gauntlet, so Godmaster actually provides more than enough new content to entice the player. Godmaster was a fun challenge until the third or fourth gauntlet where Nightmare King Grimm was grouped with Grey Prince Zote AND an advanced version of the final boss called “Absolute Radiance” who is a mercilessly fast as NKG is. In the mortal words of Three Six Mafia, fuck that shit. I am content with being a mere mortal man and do not wish to entertain this charade that seems to be convinced that I’m some kind of divine being.

------
Attribution: https://erockreviews.blogspot.com

Every other part of this game, from the base game to the DLCs to Lifeblood, are all 10/10. So what's with the one star less for this DLC? It's not that I didn't enjoy the first four pantheons, and the new bosses are genuinely incredible.

So why only 4/5?

Markoth.

Well, also Pantheon of Hallownest as a whole. I must've tried this pantheon about 40 times and I haven't gotten past that bitch-ass moth motherfucker. The fact that you have to fight Zote and Failed Champion right after him with no breaks is just disheartening. The last time I attempted this brutal fucking death march I died to Traitor Lord. I have not played the game since, because I have done LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE THERE IS TO DO aside from this one final challenge and Steel Soul. It's just too, too much I'm sorry. This is coming from the guy who played the Old Hunters and found Ludwig and Laurence manageable.

Pantheon five should've either been:

A). Just all the new bosses and the super hard alt bosses like NKG and the Dream variants. Still a tough challenge.

B). Make the bench actual checkpoints . You could implement a system where you have 3-5 tires per checkpoint before kicking you all the way back so that way, players are still on their toes. Make the no checkpoints shit A BINDING, and make that the super duper secret 5th ending.

I loved the new bosses and mastering them in the Hall of gods was a delight. Again though, I've beaten all the fights on Ascended at least aside from Obobbles and Markoth. I've done the Path of Pain. I've delivered the flower to Elderbug. I've learned the lore about that one random Cowardly Husk in the Watcher's Tower and seen Mila die. A man can only do so much before breaking, and Pantheon of Hallownest was my breaking point.

This was a beautiful shitshow at launch.

Shoutout to pre-nerf Uumuu messing with everyone.

Wish more games had something like Godmaster.

The fifth pantheon is a nightmare with 90% of the bosses beeing "filler" i consistantly did up to NKG no fail, but always failed in abs rad or pure vessel with each run up to 40+min this pantheon is an journey apart. you literally have to study the bosses and master them, dying in anything past markoth or gpz hurt your soul but by the end even pure vessel will be pathetic, but dying to abs rad is even worse my god... i love this game but i will not come back to this pantheon NEVER AGAIN.
10/10 dlc. 10/10 game.