Dirtmouth is the first official level in Hollow Knight. It can also serve as the game’s central hub where most of the game’s NPCs converge after you’ve stumbled upon them in your journey.
Table Of Contents
King’s Pass
When starting the game and after the introduction cutscene, you drop at King’s Pass, a sub-area of Dirtmouth. Once you can control The Knight, the first thing you should do is to walk to your left to find a Geo cache. Caches are destroyed and they expel a certain amount of Geo. Head to the right and destroy the gates that are blocking your path. Watch out for the Crawlids along the way.
You should then arrive at an area with floating platforms you can jump on. Jump down first and eliminate the Crawlid. There is another Geo cache on the right. Destroy that to collect the Geos.
Jump up to the platforms until you reach the upper left section. Continue forward. Watch out for the falling spike as soon as you reach the top of the platforms. Press on and interact with the large glowing ellipsoid to learn about Soul and Focus.
Continue walking left to find another section with floating platforms. Watch out for the Vengefly here. To the left of this area is a breakable door that hides a tall and narrow cavern. At the top of this section contains another Geo cache.
Head back outside and jump up on the platforms. Continue heading upwards. Once you reach the top-most floating platform, beware of the falling spike. Eliminate the Vengefly before reaching the top. Once you’re at the top area, there’s a Lifeblood room to your left. Destroy the Lifeblood Cocoon and two blue Lifeseeds will spawn from it. Destroy the Lifeseeds to obtain two Lifeblood Masks.
Once done, head to your right and keep pressing forward. Keep walking until the ground beneath you collapses. Once at the bottom, continue heading to the right. Jump on the floating platforms to avoid spikes on the ground. Be sure to make it through the other side quickly to avoid the falling spikes from the ceiling.
There are two paths that you can take once you reach the other side. Take the one on the bottom first. Walk to your right to reveal another room. Destroy the Geo cache here.
Now, getting through to the other side of the spike pit is a bit tricky. What you need to do is to “nail-bounce” on the spikes so you can reach the platform on the other side. You can do this by jumping on the spikes and slashing downwards just before you reach the ground. That will cause you to bounce, giving you an extra boost to reach the platform.
Once you get to the other side, drop down to find a glowing chest. Hit this chest to obtain your first Charm — the Fury of the Fallen. Continue to the left and drop down to go back to the area where you found your second Geo cache. Head back up and continue until you arrive at the area where the ground caved in.
Continue forward once again but this time, jump up to the top right ledge. Continue heading upwards to a breakable ceiling that’s supported by fragile-looking logs. Destroy the logs and jump up. Walk to the right until you reach the towering gate. Keep hitting this gate until the screen cuts to black.
Arriving at Dirtmouth
Once you get to the other side, jump down and continue to walk to the right. You will eventually arrive in Dirtmouth. You’ll find an NPC here named Elderbug. Be sure to interact with Elderbug before moving forward. Ignoring him would be heresy.
Rest at the bench beside the Elderbug. Doing so will allow you to equip a charm. This will also be the place where you’ll respawn when you die until you rest at another bench. It will also automatically save your game.
Once you’ve rested enough, walk to the right, past the houses, to come across a well. Jump inside and down to arrive at the next area: the Forgotten Crossroads.
