Where is the money?? (ranting about the lack of rosary beads).

I thought the worst part of Hunter’s March was… Hunter’s March. But actually, no. The worst is what comes after. A set of not-very-clear zones, and no source of rosary beads, which prevents you from buying any map.

In the first biome, I took my time to save up and clear the areas so I could buy all the maps from Shaka. For me, all the fun of Hollow Knight comes from exploration and “FOMO management.” I’m willing to live with FOMO if it’s for the right reasons. Realizing a floor is unreachable and proudly placing a marker you bought on the map to remember it? Good FOMO.

Bad FOMO starts after Hunter’s March. Frustrated after spending two hours crossing a whole tedious biome only to have to start over because of five measly red-berry pogos just to finally reach the bench, I finally start exploring what’s next—without having been able to buy all of Shaka’s gear except the map, for lack of beads. Fine. I’ll probably go back soon. Or not?

No source of beads for the next hour of play. Biomes with no map, but benches galore, all very close together; a string of fairly easy bosses (the young girl with the sword, teams of mobs). The exploration feels totally unbalanced. It’s impossible to get your bearings. I feel like I rushed through areas, which for me is the WORST feeling—tolerable when you do it to “survive” while hunting for a distant bench, unbearable when it’s the level design itself that forces it on you.

The only solution: go back far, far back to the beginning to kill three poor pilgrims on loop for two hours to have enough to pay for the third travel point and the maps, hoping not to die in Hunter’s March on the way. It’s stupid.