For the most part, Hollow Knight isn’t exactly a scary game. Sure, the bosses might make you fear for your life at times, but most of the rest of the experience is quite atmospheric and even relaxing. There is one pretty big exception to this though, an area of the map that can and will pull you right out of that relaxing headspace and down into pure terror if you aren’t careful. That place is Deepnest, an area so utterly dangerous that neither the Pale King nor The Radiance themselves could bring it to their respective heels.

There are two main ways to enter Deepnest. The first method is by defeating the Mantis Lords and unlocking the main gate into it. If at all possible, try to go this way as you’re able to get a sense of what you’re in for before getting full on in the thick of it. The other method is by accidentally falling right into the heart of Deepnest from the Fungal Wastes. All it takes is a wrong step onto a big false floor and BAM, you’re deep in trouble!

Much of Hallownest is dangerous, but it’s a passive kind of danger. If you get hurt in, say, Greenpath or The City of Tears, it’s on you most of the time. Sure, enemies will attack the Knight, but otherwise its presence is kind of ignored. This is *not* the case in Deepnest. The moment you enter it, it’s as if the place itself knows and is doing its best to consume you.

Enemies don’t just attack the Knight; they’re absolutely *relentless* in their pursuit. Some of them you have to kill twice before they stay down. Wild bugs constantly emerge from both solid ground and platforms, often right where the Knight happens to be standing in the hopes of catching you off guard. Oh, and feral spider-like bugs come at you right from the foreground too! Aside from a total of two rooms, nowhere is safe in Deepnest. (And by the time you get to those rooms, you know better than to trust them.)

Heck, the game even pulls one last little prank on you once you finally make it to the Distant Village and attempt to rest. I’ll not spoil what it is, but it, just like the rest of the place, isn’t pleasant. Such is life in Deepnest, though. The Pale King’s influence never managed to penetrate it, so there are almost no bugs operating on anything aside from pure killer instinct. Seriously, the less time spent here, the better.

I’ve played through Hollow Knight a few times now, and each time I’ve always dreaded having to deal with Deepnest. I can get through it without much difficulty now, but that heavy sense of anxiety still weighs on me the entire time. It’s just such a departure from the rest of the game, where you can reliably create little safe pockets on whatever screen you happen to be on. Here though, here you just can’t do that.

There’s always something lurking just outside of view or ready to pounce from above, below or from the invisible foreground. It feels like the entire place and everything in it is out to get you, and it is! The paranoia is not only real in Deepnest, it’s justified! Really, there’s just nowhere else like it. The Royal Sewers have a similar sense of claustrophobia, but none of the paranoia. The Abyss is definitely creepier, but it’s nowhere near as dangerous. 

Our Spooktober theme this year is “The Terror That Surrounds,” and I’d say that few locations in all of (non-horror) gaming fit that better than Deepnest. It’s a place that absolutely will consume you and leave nothing left if you’re not careful, and it overtly tries to do just that for the full duration of your time in it. Yeah, stay out of Deepnest. (And check out TheDuckofIndeed’s trek through it below!)

---

What was your Deepnest experience like? Is there a similar location in another game you’ve played? Let us know below and stay tuned for more Spooktober fun!

Images captured by TheDuckofIndeed