So...What's my objective exactly?

[CCore]

Don't spoil anything.

I'm actually really enjoying this game. But for 95% of my time so far, it seems like I've just been walking around aimlessly? The game doesn't tell me who I am, or what I'm doing, I'm just going around killing stuff and saying hi to some bugs.

There doesn't seem like there's an overarching story. It's like the game is just a free-roam type thing? Which is okay, but I'm constantly left thinking "Should I even be here yet?" "Am I going the right way?" "Where the heck am I going", cause the game hasn't even given me a main objective.

Is it like this all the way through?

[Charm Shade]

That's why is called metroidvania, your main objetive at the start of the game is explore the area 'till you find the first boss and gain the habilites, once you found a hability you will now be able to pass a new area that you couldn't pass before

[TheQuestion]

No but a little yes.

[CCore]

Originally posted by Charm Shade:

That's why is called metroidvania, your main objetive at the start of the game is explore the area 'till you find the first boss and gain the habilites, once you found a habilities you will now be able to pass a new area that you couldn't pass before :shadeknight:

Yeah I know that. The only other metroidvania I've played are the Ori games. Both of which had clear objectives. Hollow Knight just drops me in the game and is like, here ya go? No story? No objective? Nothing? I've reached the deepnest area, and I still have no idea why I'm there, or if I'm even supposed to be here.

[Mr. Raider]

Whenever you wonder if you should be there yet, you reached it therefore you should.
The game is freeroam, yes, but whatever you do you're making progress towards the final objective. Be it obtaining a new ability, a new item, beating a boss or just discovering a new area.

[Noborus]

Yup, getting lost is part of the game. As long as you're constantly finding new areas, you're playing the game as it was meant to be played, and by that i mean there is no intended way to play it! Just do whatever and have fun :D

[Mr. Raider]

There is indeed an overarching story, and a very damn good one too. I see you have almost 10 hrs, by now you're still not supposed to know much more than when you started. You will soon begin to get more and more bits of lore until you have a big picture of what's going on.

[GekkooNTH]

It's really hard to explain without spoiling. Make it simple you are a stranger and something is calling you to come to the kingdom. When you jump into the well you realize that resident they are no longer themselves So basically you're going to find out why people are like this and maybe find a solution to the cause.

[🉑 rezno[R].technology]

Originally posted by CCore:

Is it like this all the way through?

Hollow Knight is about adventure and discovery. It's a bit... different than other games.

It doesn't tell you what to do. At least not explicitly in the forms of "to-do" lists. Because there are clues everywhere. In the game world. Environment. Sounds. Music. Art. NPCs dialogue.

There are no objectives or quests. Not in the usual sense.

You are doing what you think is right at the moment and go wherever you can at the moment. You are like a detective, trying to solve a mystery. Or many mysteries.

Let yourself be free of typical game experiences, that always tell you what to do, give you a checklist and where to go, and try to loose yourself in this weird and mysterious world 🙂 You won't regret it. At the beginning it might be hard to give up on what you are used to from other games, but it gets better with time.

As the game developers themselves put it on the Steam Store page:

Originally posted by Team Cherry:

Forge your own path! The world of Hallownest is expansive and open. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face and find your own way forward.

[CCore]

Originally posted by 🉑 reznoR.technology:

Originally posted by CCore:

Is it like this all the way through?

Hollow Knight is about adventure and discovery.

There are no objectives or quests.

You are doing what you think is right at the moment and go wherever you can at the moment.

Let yourself be free of typical game experiences, that always tell you what to do and where to go, and try to loose yourself in this weird and mysterious world 🙂

As the game developers themselves put it on the Steam Store page:

Originally posted by Team Cherry:

Forge your own path! The world of Hallownest is expansive and open. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face and find your own way forward.

Yeah I am a fan of freedom in games. It's the reason I love breath of the wild so much. But at least it tells you why you're there, and what your objective is right from the start. Then it gives you the paraglider and is like - go on then.

Hollow knight hasn't told me anything. 10 hours in and I still know absolutely nothing, other than this whole place has been ruined, which the elder told me right from the get-go. That's all the information I have. People have said you start to learn more, but in my current place, after having a good amount of time on the game already, it doesn't seem that way. Is it all just condensed lore at the end or something? Cause it hasn't done a very good job of drip-feeding me any lore so far.

[Mr. Raider]

Originally posted by CCore:

Hollow knight hasn't told me anything. 10 hours in and I still know absolutely nothing, other than this whole place has been ruined, which the elder told me right from the get-go. That's all the information I have. People have said you start to learn more, but in my current place, after having a good amount of time on the game already, it doesn't seem that way. Is it all just condensed lore at the end or something? Cause it hasn't done a very good job of drip-feeding me any lore so far.

Originally posted by Mr. Raider the laziest animator:

There is indeed an overarching story, and a very damn good one too. I see you have almost 10 hrs, by now you're still not supposed to know much more than when you started. You will soon begin to get more and more bits of lore until you have a big picture of what's going on.

[🉑 rezno[R].technology]

Originally posted by CCore:

Hollow knight hasn't told me anything. 10 hours in and I still know absolutely nothing, other than this whole place has been ruined, which the elder told me right from the get-go.

Maybe you didn't pay too much attention to the dialogues, environment, art, texts, audio etc. I had a similar problem when I first played the game. Only on my second playthrough I started noticing so many things, that before I didn't pay too much attention to.

Generally, yeah, it can be vague at the beginning, especially for newcomers.

[Hydrasent]

theres a lot of lore and you kind of have to piece together whats happening. you do get an actual objective like halfway through but i dont want to spoil it

[Goga Boga]

There is indeed an objective, you'll eventually learn what it is.
Keep exploring new areas and backtracking old ones.

[Boksha]

Honestly, I barely got anything of the story on my first playthrough. It took a second run to realize that all the important bits are there, but they're nigh impossible to pick up on in the order you usually find them. Kinda makes sense given that 1. you're an amnesiac, 2. you literally don't have a mouth to ask questions with or even tell the other characters you're an amnesiac, and 3. all the written-down lore is just jumbled all over the place.

Doesn't help that some important plot points are mentioned only once, in a short sentence in the middle of much less important things. (especially true for the Seer in the Resting Grounds area, who rambles a lot but basically summarizes the game's plot in a few sentences if you complete the associated sidequest and pay attention)

You practically have to go back to put all the pieces in the right order to make sense of it all.

[Whiskra]

Originally posted by CCore:

Originally posted by Charm Shade:

That's why is called metroidvania, your main objetive at the start of the game is explore the area 'till you find the first boss and gain the habilites, once you found a habilities you will now be able to pass a new area that you couldn't pass before :shadeknight:

Yeah I know that. The only other metroidvania I've played are the Ori games. Both of which had clear objectives. Hollow Knight just drops me in the game and is like, here ya go? No story? No objective? Nothing? I've reached the deepnest area, and I still have no idea why I'm there, or if I'm even supposed to be here.

Ori isn't a metroidvania really. It's an extremely linear platformer where you go along a set path and can only sometimes slightly deviate from the set path to find bonus items, only to return to the set path immediately afterwards. This way, the game can also tell you a very clear and obvious story since you can't explore or sequence break the game. The only thing the game has in common with the genre is that you need to find upgrades or abilities to progress past certain obstacles on the map. But you never need to worry about what obstacle to clear when you find new abilities since the game is designed to take you right back to where you can use your new ability to progress as soon as you've acquired it.