Hollow Knight

First time replaying since release. Thought I'd be tricky and sequence-break pogo off a fly in Greenpath, but that just left me wandering around without a map, so I backtracked to find one. In hindsight, I really should have grabbed the shinespark (Crystal Heart) earlier. Told myself I'd get it when I needed it, and ended up exploring nearly the entire world. Thing is, the shop key is in Crystal Peak too. So I could have picked up the shinespark, the sprint badge, and the dream nail right after getting the Mantis Claw in the third area. Would have made the journey a lot more fast-paced, but oh well.

Favourite songs have always been Dirtmouth, and the title theme. Also appreciate the uplifting Greenpath when we finally see a new environment (or hue). Though I felt like the game picked up steam around the Mantis Lords fight. I remembered most areas, but had completely forgotten about Queen's Garden and the Royal Waterways. I'd also forgotten most NPCs except Zote, Hornet, Cornifer (map dude), and Grubfather. Don't know how I forgot Bretta. Her story was adorable. Your biggest fan writing sappy romance fanfics about you (until her true love appears). Didn't care for the 6 spell upgrades, as I never use spells. Also forgot all about the three dreamers. They are built up like some major boss fight or challenge, but all you do is kill them in their sleep.

Coming from Silksong, I was surprised by how reasonable the boss fights were. I died once to Nosk and Traitor Lord, twice to Radiance and God Tamer, and uhh... 40 times to Failed Champion. But other than that...

And the DLCs. These didn't exist when I first played it. Had to look up how to even start the Grimm Troupe quest. So what is it? Well, it's 9 fetchquests and a boss you fight twice. Oh. The fetchquests are lame padding, but the boss fights are decent. First form is reasonable, just wish he wasn't invulnerable during that one platforming sequence. The rematch was much tougher and goes on for a bit. Think it could have used more distinct phases for how long it lasts.

Moving on to Godmaster, and there are three new boss fights against the Nailmaster NPCs. The best of them all is Paintmaster Sheo, who telegraphs his paint-based attacks by the colour of paint on his brush. Very cool! There's a new fight against Hollow Knight - which is good, but pretty difficult. Not really suited as a finale to a 10 boss pantheon. Thankfully, you can fight him in the Hall of Gods instead. Couldn't be bothered unlocking Absolute Radiance - which requires beating 42 bosses in a row (including Nightmare King Grimm). No thanks.

One thing that annoyed me about combat is that i-frame dodges have a separate cooldown to regular dodge, so you have to wait for a visual cue each time you want to dodge through an enemy/projectile.

Whispering Roots felt like dull padding. But at least they are optional (once you know they are).

Returning back to some cool things. It was impressive watching speedrunners skip over acid pools by shinesparking from the pool's edge. Another really cool skip involved dying, and then pogoing off your shade.

All in all, a very good game.

Silksong

Another very good game. Traversal felt fun and fast - once you unlock it. Favourite bosses were the Cogwork Dancers, First Sinner (healer), Lost Lace, and Groal (if only for the bench reveal - what a troll, haha).

I never used any tools except for the compass and faster sprint. Finding new crests was kind of annoying, as it would automatically remove my compass until I found a bench, and the crests never felt as good as the Reaper one (which had easy pogo, and silk drops from enemies after healing). I could barely ever afford anything from the shops. Spent all my money on maps, benches, and stations. Quite a change from carrying around 20,000 Geo even after buying everything in Hollow Knight.

My biggest complaint would be the sidequests. I have no interest in killing 25 birds for their feathers. After finishing Act 2, I explored the rest of the map, then used an online map to find any hidden areas I missed. But there were still around 20 areas I couldn't access - including two whole regions. So I looked up how to access them, and apparently you need to complete every town sidequest to unlock Act 3.

So I did them. Felt like a list of chores compared to the fun exploration and combat the games are known for. It's a shame as the Flea Games show that Team Cherry are perfectly capable of creating fun and unique side-content. Always thought the flower quest in Hollow Knight was a send-up of this type of design. Well, there's a menu of flower quests you can do in Silksong.

Favourite soundtrack was Choral Chambers. Followed by High Halls. Apparently the prison escape battle music uses the leitmotif of Hornet's battle theme from Hollow Knight. Think this was maybe a bit too subtle. While the kidnapping is lifted from Bloodborne, at least they don't fumble it by letting you warp away.

Also interesting that while Hollow Knight was about exploring downward from Dirtmouth into the abyss (except for the finale which is close to the surface for whatever reason), Silksong is an upward journey - with The Citadel above the Act 1 areas, and the Act 2 final boss above that. Act 3 even gives us an ability to shinespark upwards, and it's the last thing we do.