General questions about the game location order and new areas

[FastJoker]

Hey-o,
so, I've already spent 12 hours into the game, and i've decided to try getting all of the endings in the game, so I have a couple of questions,

1. What is the location order because I've already went Forgotten, Greenpath, Fog Canyon (without map), Fungal Wastes, City of Tears, Crystal Peak, then Royal Waterways, Resting Grounds, and I'm stuck at Ancient Basin. I heard that I should come back to Deepnest when I'm better as a player, and when my knight is upgraded.
2. Can i copy my save file before doing an ending, so I can come back to it and do a different one, and If yes when should I do it?
3. Any tips related to completing the game for the first time?

[Kurobon]

There's no order; there's 3 hidden "dreamers" or seals that you need to find in any order. City of Tears, Deepnest, and Fog Crayon. To access most of the dreamers, you need most game abilities, except swimming in acid. Most vanilla bosses / needed tasks are very easy to do, and you don't need to be stronger to go to the Deepnest, except the lantern they sell you at Dirtmound. You can easily finish the game with one or two upgrades of the nail.

You can get all endings in one save file. Just ensure you get the first vanilla ending, which is finishing the game when you open the Black Egg without an obvious detour you will notice is part of the story that happens at Kingdom's Edge.

[Noborus]

You can complete every ending on the same save file, and you will still be able to play the game and get different endings after you have beaten the game. There is 1 ending that is possible to lock yourself out of though. Get the 3 dreamers and beat the game before getting Void Heart. Besides that, there are no endings you can get locked out of (of course you aren't getting completely locked out of it, but just on that save file. You'd have to make a new save file to get it).

[kanna]

1. As mentioned above, no order. If you feel like you're in over your head, turn back. If you don't and you enjoy the potential challenges that come with the joy of discovery, press on. I'll add to this: don't be that scared of Deepnest, it's not so bad. On a first playthrough it's not a bad place to go in the mid-game. Until you're more comfortable exploring, just stay in the areas with a light source at first (even if you have the lantern).

2. As Coco said, no need. All endings are possible on one file. I will say though, aside from the earliest accessible ending being missable if you wait too long to get it, it is also technically possible to miss the 4th unlockable ending if you meet a certain requirement (but it's really unlikely without probably knowing what you're doing anyway, although I have seen someone get locked out of it in their main file in a let's play recently).

3. My tip for first completion of the game (and not something I would say for most games by any stretch): just don't wait too long to do it. Once you've met the basic requirements, you should already be at a good level to just give it a shot. In a lot of ways, Hollow Knight's story only *begins* making sense after you start seeing endings and comparing slight differences between the more similar endings. (Cryptic dialogue and mysterious names might start to become just a bit clearer, for example, if you're interested.)

[🉑 rezno[R].technology]

1. At the beginning of the game, the rough order is Crossroads - Greenpath - Fungal Wastes - Mantis Village. Then game opens up more and you can discover your own order of areas to explore.

2. You can do all endings on a single file. One achievement is missable if you do too much.

3.
✅ Every time you sit on a bench this respawns all enemies
✅ Quit to Menu saves all progress, fully heals and returns to last bench/checkpoint
✅ Use Dreamnail a lot, on everything. Using it on easy or stationary enemies gives you free unlimited soul for infinite healing.
✅ Hit every wall with your nail, walk into every wall or jump into every ceiling
✅ If you play on headphones, it will allow you to hear the secret audio cues much better and discover much more secrets just by listening
✅ Spells are really powerful. DD gives short immortality.
✅ I liked using Grubsong + Thorns of Agony combo, increases survivability a lot
✅ Use custom map pins to mark locations
✅ Double tap the map button to open a larger map much quicker