Hollow Knight: Silksong lets you start buying maps and locating yourself in the areas early on. In my playthrough, I ran into Shakra, the NPC who sells maps and their accessories like the Quill and the Compass, in less than an hour of gameplay.
You can get Silksong maps by buying them with Rosaries from Shakra in the upper left area of The Marrow. To get there after you're already at The Marrow, go all the way to the right until you reach the area filled with lava past the bench where you can insert Rosaries. Start climbing up and go left, and you'll eventually get into Shakra's room. You'll know you're close when you hear someone singing beautifully in the background.
Shakra sells you items at the following rates:
| Item | Rosaries cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Mosslands map | 40 | Shows a map that outlines the Mosslands area |
| The Marrow map | 50 | Shows a map that outlines The Marrow area |
| Quill | 50 | Add new areas to maps you own |
| Compass | 70 | Reveals your location on the map |
| Bench Pins | 60 | Marks benches and rest spots |
| Shell Marker | 40 | Lets you mark important areas on maps you own |
If you don't have enough Rosaries, follow the path to the room on the bottom left of Shakra's room. In there, you'll fight monsters that drop Rosaries and find some in environment items you can break to retrieve extra Rosaries. In total, you can get 40 Rosaries there, which is enough for the Mosslands map.
If you've been exploring the maps thoroughly, you've probably already found a secret room with around 55 Rosaries in the Mosslands. When I've added that up to the Rosaries I had found from other sources until the point I found Shakra, I could afford the Compass, The Marrow, and the Mosslands maps, which were enough to guide me through these early areas on my own. Remember to break Frayed Rosary Strings you might have in your inventory to get extra Rosaries.
Equip the Compass
While maps are items that work automatically as soon as you buy them, the Compass is not. You must equip it while on a bench. Find any bench, open your equipment menu, and select the Compass from your inventory to equip it. If you've already equipped another charm, you'll have to unequip it to use the Compass.
With the compass equipped, you can press LB or the equivalent on your controller to open the map and see Hornet's icon on it to locate yourself in the area. You can also see a silk cocoon marking where you last died, so you can retrieve lost Rosaries.
Don't buy accessories early
Quill, Bench Pins, and Markers are utility upgrades you should buy only after you've already got the Compass and the Maps you wanted. They let you take notes and add markers on the map so you remember where important things are on the map. While this is useful, I highly recommend you buy them later since you first need to be able to navigate with a map before you worry about marking it.
The post How to find maps, Quill, and Compass in Hollow Knight Silksong appeared first on Destructoid.
