By no means is Hollow Knight an easy game — it is a challenging experience that asks the best out of its players and tests their tenacity, mindfulness, and gaming skills. The high skill ceiling of the game, combined with all the different gameplay elements, has made it one of the best sellers on the Switch.
An indie game with a strong focus on combat, it’s no surprise that Hollow Knight pays a lot of attention to its bosses. While some of the platforming sections can frustrate inexperienced players, the bosses are what make up most of the suffering in the game.
One of the Warrior Dream bosses, Markoth, is a tricky opponent to go against. Unlike other bosses in the game, Dream bosses don’t start the battle until provoked. They can only be fought against after acquiring the dream nail, a key component of the main story.
The attack patterns of this foe are quite hard to follow, at least at first. His circling shield, combined with the nail barrage, can be tricky.
The Watcher Knight is a particularly frustrating opponent to fight for the first time. With a total of six enemies to be defeated, two at a time, this fight is long, annoying, and difficult.
The double tag-team combination of two similar bosses that keep getting reinforcements is incredibly tiring to fight. If you didn’t upgrade your nail before starting the fight, it could drag on forever — testing not only your skill but stamina as well.
The Sisters of Battle are a direct upgrade to the Mantis Lords and can only be accessed from the Hall of Gods. Before, you had to juggle two Mantis Lords at a time in a limited space; now, that number bumps up to three.
With less room to work with and more enemies to worry about, this fight is fun yet challenging. It tests your game mechanics knowledge and makes you use every small advantage you can acquire during the engagement.
Lost Kin is the Dream Variant of the Broken Vessel. It’s a hidden boss that can only be accessed once you have the dream nail and gives a generous 400 dream essence on defeat.
Faster and stronger than its physical counterpart, the Lost Kin is a particularly frustrating opponent to go against. The only easy part of the fight is that you can continue to bash your head against it. It’s a dream fight, so you don’t need to worry about dying.
Soul Tyrant is a buffed-up version of Soul Master. Like the Lost Kin, it is a dream boss faster and stronger than its counterpart. Soul Master on his own was hard enough, but Soul Tyrant adds another layer of difficulty.
The unpredictable attacks come more quickly. Instead of four, the clock attack now has six orbs, and the shockwaves from his attacks are higher as well as faster. So, trying to win this boss fight before getting nail upgrades or new abilities is folly.
The Dung Defender is a friendly and jolly fellow with an unhealthy obsession with fecal matter. After defeating the Dung Defender, the player can enter his dream up to five times; each time, the White Defender deals more masks of damage (one to five masks of damage per hit).
The White Defender is in his prime — he moves faster, his shots are stronger, and his abilities are more refined.
If you’re not careful and go into the fight that you can cheese him like Dung Defender, you’d be right! But it’s much harder and more skill intensive than the Dung Defender fight.
A mysterious figure, the Nailsage, is teased in the game through various NPC interactions and dialogue. All three Nailmaster allude to his existence, but it’s kept a secret until you enter Godhome and challenge the Pantheon of the Sage. These kinds of small details are what make Hollow Knight one of the best adventure games out there.
The Nailsage utilizes all the nail arts that the knight learns in his journey, and to a greater extent. He has better control over them and utilizes them as if he had the Nailmaster’s glory equipped, a charm that he gives to the knight in the first place.
Troupe Master Grimm was a battle-crazy fanatic with a flair for the dramatic. Looking to put on the ultimate show, Grimm is one of the hardest bosses in the game. However, if you choose to dream-nail him, you will come across a nightmare, pun intended.
Each attack is greater damage and comes at you faster. The pattern you spent so long learning is still there, but it’s enhanced such that the Nightmare King takes advantage of every small mistake. The fight is long-winded, it’s skill intensive, and it’s fun.
After his humiliating defeat in the Colosseum of fools, Zote the mighty returns to Dirtmouth and starts to feed his delusions to Bretta, who eats them up. She ends up making a statue of him in her basement, which, when dream-nailed, initiates the Grey Prince Zote fight.
The fight is extremely challenging on its own. If you still wish to challenge yourself, then you can fight him up to ten times; each time, he gains an additional moniker until you get the “Invincible Fearless Sensual Mysterious Enchanting Vigorous Diligent Overwhelming Gorgeous Passionate Terrifying Beautiful Powerful Grey Prince Zote.”
You defeated the final boss of the game, the Hollow Knight, and unlocked the ending. No, wait, actually, the final boss of the game was the Radiance. So, you defeated the Radiance and unlocked a different, better ending. Oh no, the final boss of the game is actually the Absolute Radiance! It’s time to defeat it and unlock the true ending.
Getting to the Absolute Radiance is just as hard as defeating it. The final boss in the Pantheon of Hallownest, the Absolute Radiance is a boss that most players will never even face, let alone defeat. The biggest achievement of Hollow Knight is how well they integrate platforming elements into their boss fights. Weaving in and out of attacks and learning their patterns is essential in getting good at the game. If you’ve fought against this beast and lived to tell the tale, then you are in the top one percent, with skills to match your status in society.
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