{"id":132499,"date":"2023-03-16T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-146418"},"modified":"2023-03-16T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T14:00:00","slug":"soapbox-why-i-love-deepnest-hollow-knights-most-divisive-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/03\/16\/soapbox-why-i-love-deepnest-hollow-knights-most-divisive-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Soapbox: Why I Love Deepnest, Hollow Knight’s Most Divisive Area"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Hollow<\/a>
Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today<\/em>, Alana thinks back on a divisive part of a beloved game as she peers into the middle distance, rocking back and forth,<\/em><\/em><\/em> mumbling ‘Silksong, Silksong, Silkso\u2014<\/em>‘…<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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I’m a pretty reactive person. I\u2019m anxious, I hate spiders, and I don’t like scuttling and scratching noises. But I absolutely love Hollow Knight<\/a>‘s Deepnest.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve played Hollow Knight, then this area might elicit one of two reactions. You may be me and get excited at the idea of scrambling through mazes of dark tunnels and corridors, or you might feel the complete polar opposite and absolutely loathe<\/em> it.<\/p>\n

Deepnest is a pretty divisive area. Most of us can agree that City of Tears is a highlight of Hallownest, an incredible area with beautiful, melancholic music, tough enemies, and a map that\u2019s extremely fun to explore. Queen\u2019s Gardens is lush and full of spikes and traps, but the challenge is offset by its sheer beauty. Deepnest, however, comes nowhere near the top of the pile for some, but for others (like me), it\u2019s quite the opposite.<\/p>\n

\"Hollow<\/a>
After Greenpath and the Forgotten Wastes, Deepnest is a stark contrast. \u2014 Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why? Because it nails exactly<\/em> what it\u2019s trying to convey. Claustrophobia. Isolation. Fear. Hollow Knight, like most of my favourite Metroidvanias, understands the importance of atmosphere, but Deepnest is Team Cherry demonstrating its mastery of the unsettling, abandoned, and oft devoid-of-hope world of Hallownest. The genre has always toyed with fear and uncertainty, after all. Don\u2019t tell me you weren\u2019t unnerved the first time you stepped foot into the Wrecked Ship in Super Metroid<\/a>. And Axiom Verge<\/a> is full of some pretty unsettling alien creatures waiting for you.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t get around to Hollow Knight until early 2020, right before the pandemic. At the time, I was in the process of moving house, and I found Hollow Knight\u2019s eerie insect kingdom to be joyous. It was great at distracting me from stress because I could direct that stress to something that wasn\u2019t related to packing up boxes and shifting my entire life from one location to another.<\/p>\n

\"Hollow<\/a>
The Mantis Tribe is quite different from the Spiders. \u2014 Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Late one night playing Hollow Knight, I beat the Mantis Lords, a pretty masterful boss fight that\u2019s available fairly early in the game and equal parts exciting and educational. I honestly felt like I could defeat anything after getting past this challenge \u2013 I died a handful of times but perfecting the rhythm of the fight was so satisfying.<\/p>\n

After beating them, I had a choice: I could either backtrack and head to City of Tears, or go left through a newly-opened door. Brimming with confidence, I went through the brand-new door. That, however, proved to be a mistake.<\/p>\n

On the next screen, I was greeted with a dark, grey screen with only the residue of mist from the Fungal Wastes brightening the area. A pile of dead insects (Dirtcarvers and Weaverlings) lay atop each other, impaled by spears. I carried on walking, the name \u2018Deepnest\u2019 faded in, and I could feel all of that confidence begin to melt away.<\/p>\n

Darkness swallowed almost everything around The Knight as I kept walking There was no music, just some ambient sound and some squeaking and rattling. I saw small pits of squirming, spiky creatures between platforms. As I pressed on, giant centipede creatures were burrowing through tunnels, while other bugs started crawling out of the ground. I panicked, and with no health or nail upgrades, I was soon scrambling for the exit, only to die by falling into a spiky pit.<\/p>\n