Hello, gamers. Welcome back to my blog.
We are still trying to figure out the mysterious and uncharted lands of Hollownest. After collecting the "City Crest" by defeating the False Knight in our previous session, my hopes were high for finding a suitable slot for this item.
I was yet to go through every possible path so I set out to the edges of the "Forgotten Crossroads". Most of the enemies spawn back in the room as you re-enter after exiting. So, it doesn't feel boring revisiting already explored parts of the map. Each kill also gives you precious "Geo" which is super useful, especially in the early game.
On the far right of the map, there were a few paths which I was yet to explore so I got there first. One of the rooms took me to a strange-looking building. It had a slot so I was hoping I could fit my "City crest" here but that didn't work.
This was a dead end as well. So, I had to track back, I feel like I need to defeat another mini-boss or something to get an item which would fit here and unlock this door.
There were still many rooms to explore and one such room was particularly interesting. It had a platform with spikes and if you take damage you reset to the base platform.
After a couple of tries and losing half the health, I thought it can't be done yet. I was thinking that I might need an ability here but I accidently discovered an interesting mechanism.
You can bounce off of these spikes by hitting your nail downward as you are just about to land there. If you do it correctly it will push you upward and you can jump like this.
There was no tutorial for this mechanic and I guess this room serves as a tutorial only. But there is a prize on the other side. That green caterpillar-like bug. I don't know what they are called in the game but they are like collectibles which you have to collect and when you visit another special room, their parent rewards you with coins.
A few rooms away, there was another interesting room with complete darkness. Now I know why Sly, the shopkeeper was selling a lantern for freaking 1800 Geo. That's way too high a price for me, but I will keep collecting until I can afford that lantern and see where this room leads me to.
Almost adjacent to that dark room was a room with completely different aesthetics. This was more purplish than the blueish tone of the previous areas.
What secrets this area holds I wonder?
There was a passive and friendly mob working in the mines. Her name is Myla, she is mining here and trying to find some magical crystals or something. Didn't seem like a very important character to me. The path ended on an area with a crumbling floor but I couldn't break the floor just by walking and jumping over it. I might need to come back here after some power-up or abilities.
This was the farthest I could go in the east and I still had to go to the west as there are still some uncharted places there. So, I came back to Dirtmouth to buy something from the shop.
I bought a mask shard for like 500 Geo, which was the only thing I could buy except a not-so-good charm.
This popped up an animation filling another part of the mask, now the mask is half complete and I still need 1 or 2 to increase my health permanently by 1 mask.
Finally, I reached the place where a monster with a strong shell (can't deal damage with nail) was blocking the way. Luckily, I learned a new spell recently which is perfect against this guy.
I took the fight a bit lightly and got down to the last mask health. The game screen will have more animations focusing on the center of the screen. I felt slightly nervous at this point but I recovered my health after killing the smaller rolling guy and using soul gained to regenerate my health back.
Phew! That was a close call, I should have been more careful there. Anyways, after a few hits from my spell, this monster died leaving a huge cluster of coins on the ground.
This opened the new section of Hollownest, called the "Greenpath". As the name suggests, this part of the kingdom is lush green but it has its challenges.
A poisonous river flows at the bottom which makes it even more challenging. While the music and ambient sound are nice, the bugs here are different. Plants wait patiently to bite at you as you walk by, while some enemies after dying leave a poisonous cloud behind which deals damage.
I am liking Greenpath so far, and although I have to collect the map of this region separately, it is fun to explore on your own. There are multiple paths that branch off to so many directions and traversing all will take a lot of time.
Luckily, I found a bench not so far from where I entered this area. So, I can respawn here in case I die and don't have to come all the way from Dirtmouth or Forgotten Crossroads's bench.
That's all from me this time, I look forward to finding the boss/es of this area. Enemy and boss design in particular is top-notch in this game.
Thanks for reading...
Until next time...
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