Abandoned Town

The Abandoned Town is the starting area of the game. It is a small, quiet little town made by the Pale King while he was searching for the Pure Vessel. After the Pale King had completed this quest, he had left the town, offering it as an apology gift to all of the vessels he had killed during his search. The Shade had inhabited the town up until the events of Hollow Knight, in which Void Essence begins to leak everywhere in Hallownest, and most of the siblings had left to explore the kingdom. Those who stayed in the town had sought to defend itself when The Keeper attacked the town. Unfortunately, they had failed and had their minds corrupted by The Keeper. The stronger-minded siblings had either escaped or had been killed, leaving the town abandoned (hence the name).

Rooms
The Abandoned Town is the starting area of the game, similar to Dirtmouth from the previous game. It features small, bone huts with inhabitants inside. There are four different huts in the town, as well as a small cave to the far left side of the town which leads up back into Ancient Basin.

The Hotel is where you will find Captain Voidheart and Lady Mischief. Voidheart had collected a few of the charms that had landed nearby, mistaking them for gold coins. He will offer the charms at the cost of Geo. He also serves as one of the primary fast travel methods in the game, taking you to various Docks located around the map with his ship, the Shapeshifter. Lady Mischief will sell Potions and is the main banking system of the game, similar to Millibelle from the previous game. There is also a bench near the entrance, on which the Captain can sometimes be seen sitting.

To the left of the hotel is The Emperor's home. The house itself, however, cannot be accessed until Abandoned Town is taken over by siblings, as the Shadow Whirlwind ability is not available until then. The spell is used to grant access to a secret room that will give you the key to the Emperor’s home, which will begin the boss battle with the Reverse Emperor.

To the right of the hotel is a small room with a single lore tablet. This is later revealed to be the temporary home of Hornet.

The last house is simply a background object and cannot be entered or interacted with in any way.