All-Purpose Mat

This entails beating the entire game (100% completion) without dying, as Steel Soul is essentially hardcore mode. I also did the speedrun achievement at the same time, meaning I had to finish the game below 30h. Despite my non-Steel Soul casual playthrough taking nearly 50, I was able to finish this one just under 15h mainly thanks to good routing and (by neccessity) first-trying all the bosses.

Quite a challenge, especially compared to the previous game. It took several attempts, with a few painful lost runs near Act 2. I really enjoyed this one, especially doing it so close to when I initially beat the game, as all the enemy patterns were still fresh in my head!

The last DLC for Hollow Knight introduces a lot of boss-related content, and my favorite was the Hall of Gods, which features refights of all bosses and expanded difficulty choice. In addition to the base fight, you can access two more modes, the first dealing double damage plus some mechanics changes, and the latter (Radiant difficulty) being the same except you can't get hit at all.

I adored this challenge, especially some of the brand new bossfights it introduces. However, peck Markoth on radiant difficulty. No floor, random projectiles, no hit? Bleh! Most of them were awesome though, especially Sisters of Battle and Absolute Radiance which really stuck with me. Also the Zote thing and its unlock was so funny.

Pantheon 1 is the easiest and shortest boss rush in Hollow Knight's last update. Consequently, I thought it would be easy to finish with all "bindings" enabled. This means, no nail damage upgrades, no charms, only enough soul for one heal, and only 4 HP. My winning run dragged on for nearly 20 minutes of constant nail-hits to bosses, but eventually made it.

It's quite a satisfying thing to finish, but it doesn't fill me with motivation to do the other Pantheons with the bindings. You can see I started the second one over a few months but got distracted with the Hall of Gods.

Hollow Knight has a lot of really fun boss fights... and a couple slightly unfair ones. This boss rush puts ALL of them back-to-back, resulting in a nearly hour-long challenge. It also has quite a few surprises throughout (which thankfully you can practice later in the Hall of Gods), including the Pure Vessel which was a fun surprise and ended quite a few of my attempts.

I don't know about this one. On the one hand it's definitely a challenge, on the other I think it is too intense for too long. I am glad I stopped here and did not go for any of the bindings.