So let me start this off by saying that reviewing DLC for a game such as Hollow Knight is a bit weird since it’s not a separate entity you can access from a different menu or anything like that – The DLC of Hollow Knight is put appropriately into the world and it’s the players’ job to simply find it and access it.
A lot of new players, including me were totally lost when they first started playing Hollow Knight, including the fact that a lot of us didn’t know what exactly was DLC and what wasn’t… And I think that’s one of the best ways to implement additional content. Having it just added into the world with no indication on where and what it is a really fun experience, and helps to expand an already expansive world – When this DLC dropped, it was a scramble to find it; I remember being on the Hollow Knight Discord talking to people trying to find it, which was a really fun experience, but now that it’s been out for a while you can just look it up, which I don’t recommend, especially if you’re still going through the main game… But if you really must know I’ll give you a hint.
It’s in the Royal Waterways and another important bit is at the Fool’s Colosseum.
With that out the way, let’s talk about Godmaster.
Okay, so first of all huge props to whoever changed the name from Gods and Glory to Godmaster – You couldn’t have a cooler name for your final content pack if you tried.
Once you meet the requirements for playing Godmaster (Which is basically finding the thing needed and the person required), you enter the dream of some strange looking giant bug, and you enter the Godhome. I didn’t really pay too much attention to the lore in this DLC much, since it’s just a fancy boss rush mode but it sure is a good (And challenging) one… But as far as I know, you’ve entered the dream of some kind of higher-being type bug who’s part of some society where you fight pantheons of Gods who are reincarnations of previous bosses in the game to become a God as well. Correct me if I’m wrong, because the Hollow Knight lore is pretty much all up to interpretation.
After you enter the Godhome, you have essentially 5 Boss Rushes to go through. The first three you can access right away, where in it you fight a bunch of bosses, have a small break inbetween, and then finally you fight a new boss… Then you go to the fourth one which is tough as nails, because of the final boss in it. This boss is also one of the coolest in the entire roster of bosses within Hollow Knight, since it’s an amazing reveal to the player (No spoilers..!). Oh, and as a side note, please play this DLC after you’ve beaten the game since it’s pretty much meant for those more challenge-hungry players. After the fourth pantheon, a secret one will be revealed to you and you’ve gotta find it somewhere in the Godhome – Let me tell you straight away that this one is really going to test you. It’s every single boss in the game, plus super bosses, and then a final tougher version of the True End final boss.
Alongside the pantheons, we also have the Hall of Gods which is essentially a place where you can just fight any boss you feel like on any desired difficulty at any point, an unlimited number of times, so it’s great for practice before you go into a Boss Rush room. In the Hall of Gods, you also have an extremely well-hidden challenge room which is so worth the effort; trust me, just hit every wall, floor, and ceiling in that area and eventually you’ll be blessed with something great.
Then, finally, you have the Lifeblood door. What that does is that it rewards you with a couple of Lifeblood Masks permanently after you’ve met certain requirements. Those requirements being doing the Pantheons again, but with bindings equipped. Yes, you can limit yourself even further in this already tough as nails DLC.
So that’s the meat of Godmaster – Alongside that, you have just a few other things here and there along with who knows what secrets that’ll be uncovered later on. I personally thought that this was going to be the last DLC for Hollow Knight, but it seems as if there’s something new coming up on the horizon. Something related to everyone’s favorite sibling. Now I’m going to rate this DLC as a stand-alone piece of content as, if I were to review it in regards to the entirety of Hollow Knight, I don’t think my score for that game can go above a 10 already.
So as just a nice chunk of content I’d give Godmaster an: