A Relaxing Stroll Through Hallownest
So, I got sucked back into replaying Hollow Knight, mere days before Silksong releases. But, because I never want to be having fun wrong, I stopped to figure out a route through the game that's ideal for a relaxed, low-intensity playthrough.
The basic premise of this is:
- I will do enough to get the 'dream no more' ending (which in turn requires 1800 Essence, so some significant detours) but I will not do any of the true sicko nonsense like Path of Pain or Desolate Flower. No DLC, either (other than possibly Hidden Dreams to get easier Essence)
- I want to make the game as easy as possible, so I will maximally upgrade the Nail and upgrade it early
- I want to reduce backtracking within reason, so prioritizing getting movement abilities
The basic spine of this route, then, is:
- Following the initial intended linear route to acquire the Vengeful Spirit, air dash, and mantis claw.
- Enter City of Tears and immediately grab the Nail +1 upgrade. Enter King's Waterways, defeat Dung Defender.
- Nip into the Ancient Basin just to get the Pale Ore there in the mawlek nest. Nail +2.
- Resting grounds (through the city of tears elevator), get the Dream Nail.
- Soul Sanctum for the Desolate Dive. Theoretically this could be deferred until later; this is a good spot to also grab the Lumafly Lantern already.
- ...Crystal Peak, for the Crystal Heart.
- Immediately back to the Ancient Basin to fight the Broken Vessel for the Monarch Wings.
- Howling Cliffs for a Nail Art and just enough Essence to get to 220 (from a dreamroot and fighting Glorb)
- Crystal Peak for the Pale Ore at the top and (optionally) the Descending Dark upgrade.
- 200 essence opens the graveyard in the resting grounds, which contains a king's idol and enough Essence to get to 300, at which point we get another Pale Ore for Nail+3.
- Back to Waterways for Isma's Tear
- Off to Kingdom's Edge for the Kingsbrand from Hornet. Hornet is a fairly tough fight and so you could definitely defer this until you have more upgrades, but realistically you're not going to get that much stronger and she is certainly doable at this stage, especially if you know how to exploit her attacks to heal.
- The reward for doing this fight now is a very early Shade Cloak and with it, the full suite of movement abilities – and thus the ability to do Deepnest, Fog Canyon and Queen's Gardens fully kitted up.
- Technically, you could skip Mantis Lords at this point but it's a fun and iconic boss fight so why would you.
- Enter Deepnest really quite late in the game and go fight Nosk for another Pale Ore, as well as the Tram Pass.
- At this point, you may be closing on 31 grubs for the final Pale Ore. Either way...
- ...Queen's Gardens for the Love Key and one half of the Kingsoul from the Traitor Lord.
- Tower of Love and the Collector, optionally, for the last few grubs needed to get a pale ore.
- The last thing for a Pure Nail at this point is completing the challenge at the Colosseum of Fools.
- At this point: Getting missing Dream Warriors or optional bosses as desired for the for 1800 essence needed for the Kingsoul, as well as picking up some masks, charms, notches, fragments, upgraded spells, and so on as desired.
- Now basically fully powered up, a quick round trip of the three dreamers plus the White Palace, back to the Abyss for the Voidsoul, and on to fight the final boss
This isn't exactly a speedrun, but combined with prior knowledge from having beaten the game once or twice already it should be a way to actually play through Hollow Knight (in advance of Silksong) within a reasonable timeframe...