Fog Canyon Charm Notch Puzzle is too unintuitive

[thehoodedteddy13]

• There are far too many Eggsplosives, which are too close together.
  
• Not enough enemies that are safe to get soul from, either to heal the two health that an explosive takes, or use the ranged attack.
  
• Ranged attack takes out less eggsplosives than you'd expect given that they don't chain react enough and aren't lined up to take out.
  
• The big jellies add even more unforgiving obstacles, because taking them out without either getting hit or jumping into another eggsplosive is damn near impossible given the layout.
  
• This severely breaks from the difficulty curve, for all puzzles before this did less damage per failure, reset you to a safe spot when you took the damage, had unlockable shortcuts, or were so close to a bench that it was trivial to retry. They were clearly possible to get through first try undamaged with the amount of skill generally expected from the player, i.e. without pixel perfect jumps and impossible reflexes

That is my two cents on the counter. I would appreciate if a developer would respond to give me the reasoning behind this gauntlet, or regear it to be easier.
EDIT: Ok, I get the glowing womb, but there is no way of knowing to do that if you didnt have the charm yet, I'd be more likely to suspect another mobility upgrade, as charms have been completely independent of the previous challenges.

[Green Knight]

If you have a charm called the Glowing Womb, it will trivialize the area. The main perk of the trinket will seek and destroy the explosives before you get in range.

[thehoodedteddy13]

That almost makes less sense. I see how that makes it possible, but its completely unintuitive to someone who wouldnt know that charm existed yet, like me.

[Green Knight]

Well, actually, I did the area without the charm itself. I had several other useful things for it though, such as good spells, the Shadow Dash, and several other helpful bits and bobbins. Some of it at least is simple preserverence and attempting to find the spots where you won't take damage, to conserve your health between bouts of explosions.

Also, there are shortcuts in the gauntlet at certain points. I think two? At least one right by the end of it.

[thehoodedteddy13]

I think my problem is that the whole thing is very unintuitive and punishing, where the other challenges in the game were clearly possible, or it was clear what you would need.

[Green Knight]

I'll grant you that, most of the area was me wildly flailing until I made it through. It's not exactly a pleasant trek, but sometimes the only thing you need in this game is persistence and patience.

[thehoodedteddy13]

I get that, but with the 2 damage per messup, which would likely mess you up to take more damage, means you would be only able to take one try per run from the bench, whereas with spikes, it did one damage and reset you , so you could take about as many tries as you have health. All I'm asking for is the equivelant of a darksouls message saying "Try Charm"

[Green Knight]

Unfortunately, there's no such thing like that. The best you can do is experiment with your build and your charms, or come back later with more techniques under your belt.

[HighLanderPony]

This is a tough game, area is fine. You'll die some, whatever.

Protip, use i-frames to skip some 'splosions.

[4thQueen]

I didn't find the area particularly hard, because Shade Soul goes through walls and can detonate the eggs and enemies from a safe distance.

Also, just because YOU had trouble with something, doesn't mean it should be made easier.

I patiently await your thread complaining about White Palace.

[Szaal]

I've no Shadow Dash yet, nor using Glowing Womb charm that moment. My trick?

Well, the devs made the puzzle unintuitive. So I handle it unintuitive-ly as well.
Facetank the eggs.

Oh, and dream nail any jellyfish to maintain my Soul level.

[Wisnoskij]

Ya, you do not need anything special for this part. I stumbled upon this part unprepared. And with the increased soul on hit charm managed to heal as much as I was damaged. Other than falling into Deepnest by accident, it was the most tense ans scary area of the game. But completly beatable.

[Epic_Caesura]

Yeah, I did that part mostly just by eating the damage. The game gives you plenty of healing. If anything, I'd say this part was too easy if it was meant to be a "puzzle." It didn't occur to me to even see it that way.

[CthulhusMonocle]

I seem to be having the same problem as OP, but with the entire game in general. I love the metroidvania genre; but Hollow Knight is incredibly unintuitive; misleading and unclear. I want to love this game so hard; but after six hours of basic gameplay problems it is difficult to find a reason to keep playing something that is pure frustration.

More times than not I attempt something and am left with the impression I need to do a different task, find a different item, grind for items I don't in fact need or find an area I haven't explored yet. If I had some indication I couId actuaIIy do X or Y then hours of life wouldn't be wasted assuming I need an alternative based on in-game experience.

[paladin181]

Huh. I accidentally got the notch not even realizing it was in there. I was just exploring. I won't say it was easy or you should git gud, but I will say it's not impossible or extremely difficult.

[Aeternalis the Abyssal Alchemist]

You can use Descending Dark to dive through the explosives.
You can use Glowing Womb to destroy them.
You can use Shade Soul to destroy them.

You do this "puzzle" multiple ways. You just need to have basic critical thinking skills.

Also, Shadow Dash does not work on explosives.