#time played

[hollow-knight-stats]

Demographics - Who took this poll?

After four weeks of collecting data, we had a total of 225 respondents. Out of those, we opted to use a sample of 221 people. Two respondents stated that they had no first hand experience with the game, while two others had their responses discarded because they stated their answers wouldn’t be serious.

Below we will discuss the platforms people played on and player experience, in terms of hours played and achievements collected.

We opted to separate respondents who play on the Nintendo Switch from those who play on a generalized console platform like the PlayStation and the Xbox due to the popularity of the Switch in casual play, and to specifically test hypotheses about input lag on the Switch. Similarly, we split respondents who play on the computer into those who play on a keyboard and those who play with a controller to test other hypotheses. This netted us four major categories: Computer players who play on a Keyboard, Computer players who play with a Controller, Nintendo Switch players, and generalized Console players.

The majority of respondents play Hollow Knight on the computer, and they make up 54.1% of the respondents, totalling 119 respondents out of the sample of 221 players. Of those, comprising 35.9% of the total respondents, 79 are keyboard users, while the remaining 40, making up 18.2% of the total, play with a controller. Another 35.9% of respondents (79 people) play on the Nintendo Switch, and the last 22, making up 10% of the respondents, play on a separate console platform.

We measured player experience in two ways: total playtime, and achievements earned in the game, both official (something that shows up in the Achievements menu) and combat related (such as beating the Pantheon of Hallownest). On average, a first playthrough takes 25 hours to complete (Source: Hollow Knight's kickstarter page). Most respondents had between 100 and 300 hours in the game at the time of responding to the poll. The next largest group of respondents had less than 100 hours total, but almost all of them still had more than 25 hours logged into the game. By the inherently nonlinear nature of metroidvanias which further encourage exploration, and by Hollow Knight’s own difficulty curve being built by the various bosses and challenges in the game, the total playtime serves as a rough estimate of how much the respondents know about the game’s mechanics, particularly about charm builds. However, this does not necessarily reflect their total achievements. 

In considering achievements, we find a diverse distribution amongst our respondents. Most respondents have completed almost all official achievements, comprising 30.3% of respondents with 67 players. The next biggest group were those who have at least 50% of the achievements, and have attained at least one ending, making up 27.6% of the sample with 61 players. A separate 20.8% of respondents, totalling 46 players, have over 75% of the achievements and have completed at least one challenge achievement, some examples of which being Ascension and Speed Completion. This is ideal for the purposes of the poll, as this means most of our respondents have some familiarity with the different charms and have likely settled on what charm builds work best for them. Unofficial, combat related achievements will be discussed in the combat section of the summary.

Stay tuned for other results!

Kickstarter Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11662585/hollow-knight/posts/1887534

[lunarwaffles]

Is this a lot or nah? I figure probably nah because I've gone long spurts of NOT playing, but also I didn't actually play until 2017? lmfao

[eridan-ampora]

baby animals move like theyre playing a new video game & havent figured out the controls yet

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[just-spacetrash]

the 'what if you played it a little risky' post literally Changed my life but i cant fujkign find it in my blog because its. a tiktok screenshot

[graegrape]

let's be bad at video games together

[frownyalfred]

thinking about the expert masseuse Alfred hired for the family that is paid a small fortune annually to provide massage services and ignore so, so many things. No questions, no remarks, just quality service and an ironclad NDA that, if broken, would probably topple said masseuse’s entire family line.

Things Alfred is paying them to ignore, in no specific order:

Bruce’s spinal hardware courtesy of Bane :)

weird amounts of muscle on everyone, even the kids (despite them allegedly not working physical jobs)

scars

FRESH scars

the fact that every joint in Bruce’s body clicks when moved/manipulated at the tender age of 42

Olympic athlete level physiques

rotator cuff injuries across the whole family

scars that are definitely from bullets and/or acid splashes

old signs of what looks like torture (Bruce)

Dick’s entire left arm is basically screws and plates (he “fell really bad” once)

every single family member takes deep tissue massage with max pressure with 0 complaints

calluses

no really, the weirdest fucking calluses

[sadmages]

Having ocs is fucked up they make you wake up and think stuff like what if i learn to code in renpy and make this into a visual novel. Who said that

[anna-scribbles]

so this summer i am nannying a 5 year old who loves miraculous ladybug (my dream) & every day she asks if we can play ladybug and chat noir at the park. these are some comics based on our various games<3

[visenyaism]

Louis: so i got into the confessional booth and i said to the priest I LAID DOWN WITH A MAN!! I LAID DOWN WITH THE DEVIL!! AND HE HAS ROOTS IN ME, ALL HIS SPINDLY ROOTS IN ME! AND I CANT THINK NOTHING ANYMORE BUT HIS VOICE AND HIS WORDS! PLEASE! HELP ME! I AM WEAK! I WANNA DIE! but Lestat, he knew where I was and he found me, Mr. Molloy. He found me and punched clean through that priest’s-

Armand on that damn ipad:

[d4ggerfish]

dnd character design :] !!!

[mellosghosts]

in my heart this joke is in the movie, but unfortunately im afraid only we, hughjackmaniacs, would get it 🥀

[ruushes]

i'm sure there's a canon timeline but dao is a springtime game to me

[corvid-khaos]

fionna and cake but simon drops increasingly wild anecdotes about his life

[bioethicists]

every time a new SA allegation of a favored celeb arises, i'm reminded of the absolutely soul-crushing experience of the depp/heard trial in which i learned that dozens of ppl i loved + respected + trusted were also willing to engage in the basest form of misogyny if the woman Seemed Crazy Enough. there was a horrifying 2ish weeks on this website + much longer irl where i genuinely felt unsafe voicing my discomfort as i relived something eerily reminiscent of the aftermath of my own assaults playing out on screen, commented on by true crime youtubers like it was a red sox game.

it happens time + time again with every new allegation + it's truly the most agonizing + exhausting part of being a survivor. i am begging you all to consider that survivors are watching you engage with this stuff like theater + it erodes our trust in all of you + compounds our grief.

[soaked-doors]

"Don't try to find a reason for somebody's love!"