source: https://socel.net/@konato/116750078764371043

first time posting something and I have no idea how to make the image work like an image instead of a link 🙃

Okay, so what we know about the Shade Lord is mainly due to Godhome/Godseeker dialogue. To quote Godseeker: “Shame beyond shame! We failed to perceive such obvious truth. Punish us, o Devourer! Crush us! Rain nail and lash on Our pathetic being. We welcome such divine vengeance!”, while speaking to the Knight, talking as though the Shade Lord was/is some vengeful and angry god, a force of destruction and wrath. The ancient void civilization, just like Godseeker, worshipped the being. While they seem to see it as this almighty god, everything else in the game treats it like a demon, Hallownest's devil. But when the void civilization died out, it seems the Shade Lord was forgotten after a while, resulting in it returning to a shapeless form, with only animalistic instincts fueling it, it seems. I believe that The Knight is the direct reincarnation of the Shade Lord. Our player character is shown to have more of a connection to the ancient being than any other being, including other vessels. When the Pale King made the vessels, they were all given the power of void. But, only the Knight seems to be able to do certain things. They are shown to be able to mix soul spells with their own void abilities, making them stronger. The Pure Vessel, who is meant to be thye strongest of all the vessels, couldn't even do that, and was only shown using void tendrils in one of their moves. The Knight has been shown to do that, and more. How we obtain Void heart also adds to my theory; the Knight confronts the void, remembering and accepting the circumstances of their own birth, and coming to terms with any trauma left by the Pale King. When we obtain Void heart, it is stated that the Knight "reunited the void", and all void-based enemies stop attacking us, even though all the other vessels still have unresolved trauma, therefore are not "reunited" like our player chracter. Our own shade, the siblings, they all stop attacking us, as if they see us as something beyond them, almost like we're royalty to them. During the final fight with the Radiance, she refers to us as "...ANCIENT ENEMY...", so The Radiance clearly knows we are composed of void. In Pantheon V, the void rises to the heavens, and it is the Knight who descends into the void before the Shade Lord appears, implying it was a sort of transformation, or ascension to true divinity. To furthur this, the statue of the Knight in Godhome turns into a statue of the Shade Lord, with the text, "Void given focus", as though it was not just given shape, but intentionally focused into a specific form. To add, the King soul charm is the charm that becomes Void Heart, going back to the quote from the Pale King, "born of god and void", a charm made by gods, consumed by the power of void. The charm is stated to become a part of the Knight, as well, shedding the paleness, and becoming something far stronger. Another thing about Godseeker's dialogue, is that they seem to see us as scum, lowest of the low, as if we were a monster/demon, which is what the Shade Lord is usually described as. It is only when the light is consumed, that they refer to us as "the god of gods". By the end of the game, we didn't just reunite the void, but reunited OURSELVES. And then, to add, the last time we see the Knight, the "Sister of The Void" ending, where we see flashes of the Shade Lord in the Knight's place, furthering this deep connection between these two chracters. Not to mention, if the Shade Lord was this force of nature as it is described, it would not have ever bothered to save Hornet, but it did, because that isn't the Shade Lord. The Knight cares about their sister, proven by Winged Nosk taking the form of Hornet, and as we know, Nosk takes on the form of loved ones to lure victims in. The Shade Lord is long dead, but reborn as the Knight. The Shade Lord we see in the game is not the original, but a manifestation of the Knight's potential being realized to the fullest extent, as the Knight takes on the physical form of their past life. This could very well be false, but I have been thinking/speculating about void for a good minute

some1else45 | XCancel

I've been completely obsessed with Silksong since it came out, and although I've never really done any speedrunning, after getting 100% completion I decided to go for it. Managed to beat the game in under 5 hours, on my fifth attempt (including a couple I ended very early).

I mostly followed this guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3569566036

Also helpful to use a full map like this one: https://www.polygon.com/hollow-knight-silksong-interactive-map-full-pharloom/

A few changes I made to the above route, mostly to make later boss fights I was having trouble with easier:

• There's a craftmetal you can pick up in The Marrow (big room west of the Hunter's March entrance), which is a lot easier than the Underworks one.
• For my fifth run, I didn't buy any maps, which is helpful to save up for some of the stuff below. After a few attempts, and with the above references, they weren't really necessary.
• While in Deep Docks I visited Forge Daughter to buy a crafting kit.
• After getting the wall grip in Shellwood, I picked up enough mask shards to get an extra mask before the Widow fight. You should already have one from Far Fields, and there's one in Shellwood you can pick up while there. I then went back to Deep Docks to get one near the west entrance (which needs wall grip), and then from Shellwood west to Wormways to get the one west of the Craggler room.
• Also while in Shellwood I did the quest to get the Pollip Pouch.
• While going through Sinner's Road, I did Crull and Benjen's quest to hunt Muckroaches, to get the Tacks tool (great for the Forum fight).
• Once the Songclave wish board appears, I did the Wandering Merchant quest to get Jubilana back, to buy Ascendant's Grip (useful in the Forum fight). While rescuing him you can stop by Whiteward for the Injector Band.
• Once you have 400 rosaries, head back to Pilgrim's Rest to buy a tool pouch and a memory locket.
• In the final descent in High Halls, I stopped by the room on the left to get the Cogfly weapon (needs 1 craftmetal).
• It may not be necessary, but I picked up a few other tool pouches and crafting kits before the tough fights at the end. You can get one from the dagger throwing game in The Marrow, and one from the craw killing wish at Halfway Home. I think they were worth it for me, because I managed to beat the Forum on my first attempt, which was not something I expected to be able to do.

Final loadout was Pollip Pouch, Injector Band, Ascendant's Grip, Cogfly, and Tacks.

I hope somebody finds this helpful!

Next up is Steel Soul I guess?

Done by Onionsu

Deservedly in my opinion, but I am also biased. Honestly a lot of really good games released this year, the other nominees would have also been good choices.

But congratulations to Team Cherry!

cross-posted from: https://piefed.zip/c/lego/p/888466/a-silksong-ensemble-with-free-instructions

Considering not everybody might be finished yet, please put your description in spoiler tags if it reveals anything. The name itself shouldn't really be a spoiler, so no need to spoiler tag that. Well... Except maybe the one where you fight the final boss, but I think that one you can describe without specifically naming it.

For me it's hard to choose between ::: spoiler Verdania and Choral Chambers Both have such an awesome atmosphere (and music) because they portray something that was there in the past but only glimpses of that grandeur can be seen now. It's fascinating to see how much storytelling they do through the environment and game mechanics instead of telling you directly. And of course the background art is great as well. The lush green in Lost Verdania reminds me so much of the Greenpath in HK, but it's not just a copy, it's its own thing with the water ponds and thorns
:::

::: spoiler spoiler for the video Really well done doom mod, I need to play that map! :::

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/35618788

Hornet and Lace rule

Drawing by @ShantySixix

Spoiler warning for all of HK & Silksong.

I am very intrigued by the revelations about lifeblood in Silksong. While in Hollow Knight it was just a boon and something that seemed benevolent, in contrast Silksong showed that it can also be maleficent in excess just like Radiance's infection taking over its host. The lifeseeds in HK were pretty much colourswapped versions (but weren't exactly, so hats off to the commitment of drawing new sprites) of the lightseeds, so the similarity was foreshadowed.

It seems that our little ghost from the first game was indeed suitable to host another god's infection without being influenced by it. It didn't have any problem with plasmification as Hornet does.

But seeing how fast it overtakes the wormways is creepy and also puts Joni the heretic and her exile certainly in a new perspective. The buzzsaw king probably didn't want another infection in his kingdom and I certainly don't blame him any longer for that.

The fascinating part to me is that lifeblood and the connected god seem very parallel to the Radiance and her infection. But instead of wanting to be worshipped, this god seems to hate death itself and wants to make every being live eternally. The regeneration factor on plasmified Zango is showing how strong it can be, even reviving already dead bugs. But as the plasmified worms show, they aren't exactly friendly or peaceful like Joni implied, but rather exactly like the infected bugs, attacking everyone who isn't infected like them.

One thing I only thought about now that I reread the wiki entries to the lifeblood: Hornet doesn't know about the blue substance before, only referring to a similar infection, i.e. the Radiance's orange goo. Meaning that the whole heresy of Joni happened and was dealt with by the king in secrecy or before Hornet was even born. Since the lifeblood room is in the Abyss and I don't think they would have built the birth place around it, my head canon is that the king dealt with it secretly in order to stop the knowledge of another infection able to destroy his kingdom to proliferate. And the lifeblood god made their home then in the abyss, because all the suffering attracted it and also the proximity to the void made it maybe easy to hide.

Now with the knowledge that the lifeblood infection also overtakes its host and is pretty much the same as the Radiance's, it puts the king's handling of Joni's heresy in a bit better light. He was trying to protect the minds of his subjects, giving them conciousness instead of just another hivemind controlling them, be it orange or blue.

I really hope that a possible third Hollow Knight game (as teased by the "to be continued" after the mushroom ending in Silksong) deals with Lifeblood in more detail. I find what is revealed about it for now fascinating and would like to see it more explored. Since the connected god seems rather shy, my feeling is it doesn't exactly want another infection like the Radiance's, but doesn't know any other way and thinks, that this is still better than all the bugs simply dying. But hopefully we will see... in 10 years or so...

Long text, but what are your thoughts about it? did you like the bossfight against plasmified Zango? I found it interesting lorewise, but tiring gameplaywise.

Since the preview of Youtube in the apps often already shows the thumbnail, here is the link to hopefully spoil less people about the endboss

Done by Rinnegone