The original Hollow Knight has set new concurrent player records as everyone and their dog piles in for a playthrough during the final run-up to Hollow Knight: Silksong, and one speedrunner has spent the time casually setting a new world record that absolutely does my head in.
YouTuber and Hollow Knight master Kyle Dodson, or LoLNebula, as they are now enshrined on the Speedrun.com leaderboards, recently managed a 2:49:59 clear (load times removed) for Hollow Knight with 112% completion and all Pantheon bosses defeated (112% APB is the speedrun category).
This requires collecting every core item and upgrade, like charms, plus Knight and nail improvements, unlocking and beating all the bosses needed for the Pantheon gauntlets, and then beating all of those bosses again – either in their souped-up forms or in back-to-back format. This includes side bosses like the Colosseum of Fools warlords, upgraded bosses like the White Defender, and the hidden Dream bosses.
The Hollow Knight wiki has a handy completion checklist for reference.
Hollow Knight has an achievement for reaching 100% completion – the baseline before DLCs added a lot more content, including the hardest challenges in the game – in under 20 hours.
How Long To Beat puts the average Hollow Knight clear at 27 hours, with side content upping that to 41.5 hours, and completionist runs hitting 64.5 hours.
Anecdotally, my first 106% clear of Hollow Knight – this was before we got the Godmaster DLC – took me 33 hours. My recent 109% replay – I'm now still working on Godmaster – has taken 27 hours.
Dodson has done all of this and more in under three hours. See, you don't actually need to clear the fifth Godmaster Pantheon to get 112% completion. The first four are just fine. The fifth, the Pantheon of Hallownest, which features a frankly illegal 42 bosses with only a few breaks and no checkpoints, is only included for the APB part of the speedrun.
Dodson has been working on this run for a while. The record-setting 2:49:59 clear – "The 2:49 is real," Dodson declares – was posted just a week after a separate 2:50:57 run. The exact same time, but technically 0.1 second slower, headlines their previous run. Before that, it was 2:51:00. Before that, it was 2:51:53. On and on, precious seconds shaved off through optimization and execution.
Beyond the game knowledge, muscle memory, and stamina required, the most impressive part of this world record marathon is the sheer speed and technical skill of the Pantheon takedown. It's not enough to survive the fights, as most players (myself included) struggle to do; Dodson has to kill these things as fast as possible, sticking to them like glue while still staying alive.
Unsurprisingly, popular charms like Quick Slash, which improves your attack speed, and Flukenest, which turns your Vengeful Spirit into a devastating and famously broken shotgun of worms, were essential for fast kills.
"Just in time before Silksong. I'm super proud of this milestone, although maybe 2:48 someday," Dodson says in the description for the new record.
In a comment, fellow Hollow Knight speedrunner BlueSR reckons the clear is "perhaps one of, if not the grandest achievements in Hollow Knight history. Incredible!"
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