| Hollow Knight | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Team Cherry |
| Publisher | Team Cherry |
| Designers | |
| Programmers |
|
| Artist | Ari Gibson |
| Composer | Christopher Larkin |
| Series | Hollow Knight |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platforms | |
| Release |
|
| Genre | Metroidvania |
| Mode | Single-player |
Hollow Knight is a 2017Metroidvaniavideo game developed and published by Australianindependent developer Team Cherry. The player controls a namelessinsectoid warrior (commonly known as "The Knight"[a][1]) in exploring Hallownest, a fallen kingdom plagued by a supernatural disease. The game is set in diverse subterranean locations, featuring friendly and hostile insectoid characters and numerousbosses. Players have the opportunity to unlock abilities as they explore, along with pieces of lore andflavour text that are spread throughout the kingdom.
The concept behindHollow Knight was conceived in 2013 in theLudum Daregame jam.Adelaide-based Team Cherry wanted to create a game inspired by olderplatformers that replicated the explorational aspects of its influences. Inspirations for the game includeFaxanadu,Metroid,Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, andMega Man X.[2] Development was partially funded through acrowdfunding campaign that raised overA$57,000 by the end of 2014. It was released forLinux,macOS, andWindows in early 2017, for theNintendo Switch,PlayStation 4, andXbox One in 2018, and for theNintendo Switch 2,PlayStation 5, andXbox Series X/S in 2026. Team Cherry supported the game with four free expansions asdownloadable content.
Hollow Knight was well received by critics, with particular praise forits music, art style,worldbuilding, atmosphere, combat, and level of difficulty. It has since been regarded by some critics as one of thegreatest games of all time.[b] The game has sold more than 15 million copies. A sequel following major characterHornet,Hollow Knight: Silksong, was released in 2025.
Hollow Knight is a 2-dimensionalside-scrollingMetroidvania.[10][11] The player controls a silent insectoid warrior who explores an underground fallen kingdom called Hallownest. The player character can strike enemies with a sword-like Nail and can learn spells that allow for long-range attacks.[11][12]
The player has a limited number ofhit points, which are represented by masks.[13] By striking enemies, the player character gains Soul, which is stored in a "Soul Vessel". Initially, the player can only use Soul to "Focus" and regenerate masks, but as the game progresses, players unlock and collect several offensive spells, which consume Soul.[14] If all masks are lost, the player dies, and a Shade appears at the approximate location of the player's death. The player loses all Geo, the game's main currency, and can only hold a reduced amount of Soul. They must defeat the Shade to recover lost Geo and regain their lost Soul capacity.[13]
During the game, the player encounters bug-themednon-player characters (NPCs) with whom they can interact. These characters provide information about the plot, offer aid, and sell items or services.[13] Players acquire items that provide movement abilities including anadditional mid-air jump, adhering to andjumping off walls, or a quick dash. To further customise the Knight, players can equip various charms, which can be found or purchased from NPCs. Some of their effects include improved combat abilities, such as granting the player more range with the Nail, or allowing them to collect Soul more easily. Equipping a charm takes up a certain number of limited slots, called notches.[11][13] Many areas feature challenging enemies and bosses which the player may need to defeat in order to progress.[12] Defeating some bosses grants the player access to new abilities.[11][13] If the player defeats the final boss, they are given access to a game-mode called "Steel Soul". In this mode,dying is permanent, i.e. if the player loses all of their masks, the save slot will be reset.[15]
The kingdom of Hallownest consists of several large, inter-connected areas with unique themes.[11] With itsnonlinear gameplayMetroidvania design,Hollow Knight does not restrict the player to one path nor require them to explore the whole world; there are places that can be missed when finishing the game. The player may need to acquire a specific movement ability, skill, or item to progress further, at certain points.[13] Tofast travel through the world, the player can use progressively-unlocked Stag Stations, terminals connected to a network of tunnels that are traversed via giant stag beetles.[12][16]
At the outset,the player-controlled insectoid warrior arrives in Dirtmouth, a quiet town that sits just above the remains of the kingdom of Hallownest. As the protagonist ventures through the ruins, they learn that Hallownest was once a flourishing kingdom of insects which fell after becoming overrun with "The Infection", a supernatural disease that can infect anyone by entering the subject's dreams and controlling their minds and wills. The Infection gives its subjects heightened strength but at the cost of their civility, causing madness andundeath. Hallownest's ruler,The Pale King, had previously attempted to lock away the Infection in the Temple of the Black Egg. Despite the temple's magical seals, the disease managed to escape, and Hallownest fell into ruin. The protagonist's mission is to find and kill three bugs called the Dreamers–Monomon the Teacher, Lurien the Watcher, and Herrah the Beast–who act as the living seals on the temple door. Once the seals have been removed, the player may confront the source of the Infection. This protagonist frequently encountersHornet, the daughter of the Pale King and Herrah, who tests the protagonist's combat prowess in several battles.
Through dialogue with non-player characters, environmental imagery, and writings scattered throughout Hallownest, the protagonist learns the origins of the Infection. In ancient times, a tribe of moths that lived in Hallownest worshippedthe Radiance, a primordial being who could control the minds of other bugs. When the Pale King arrived at Hallownest from afar, he used his powers to give sapience and knowledge to the creatures of the realm. The moths also began to worship the king, purposely betraying the Radiance by wiping her from their collective memory. Beneath the notice of the Pale King, some worship of the Radiance continued, allowing her to remain alive inside theDream Realm.[17]
Hallownest prospered until the Radiance began appearing in the dreams of its people, poisoning their minds with the Infection. In an attempt to contain the menace, the Pale King used an ancient living substance called Void to create the Vessels – creatures with no free will or ability to dream that were immune to the Infection. The Pale King chose a Vessel known asthe Hollow Knight to trap the Radiance within itself, leaving the remaining failures locked in a pit called the Abyss. However, the Hollow Knight accidentally had an "idea instilled" during its upbringing, possibly related to its close bond with the King, causing it to be an imperfect Vessel and the Radiance to eventually break out.
Throughout the game, it is revealed that the protagonist was a Vessel who managed to escape the Abyss. They gradually defeat the Dreamers and their guardians, removing the seals on the door. Inside, they encounter and battle with the infected Hollow Knight.
The protagonist can alternatively descend to the Abyss and remember its origins as a Vessel. In doing so, Hornet will intervene during the battle against the Hollow Knight and expose a crack on its mask. Here, two additional endings will be unlocked:
In the second expansion toHollow Knight, a "Nightmare Lantern" was added to the Howling Cliffs area. After striking a masked bug with the Dream Nail, the lantern summons a mysterious group of circus performers to Dirtmouth, who identify themselves as the Grimm Troupe. Their leader,Troupe Master Grimm, gives the player a quest to collect magic flames throughout Hallownest in order to take part in a "twisted ritual". He gives the player the Grimmchild charm, which absorbs the flames into itself, progressing the ritual and allowing the Grimmchild to attack the player's enemies. Eventually, the player must choose to either complete the ritual by fighting Grimm in his powerful Nightmare King form, or prevent the ritual and banish the Grimm Troupe with the help of Brumm, a traitorous troupe member, in the Howling Cliffs.[18]
More content was added toHollow Knight with the fourth and final expansion,Godmaster, in which the player can battle harder versions of all of the bosses through a series of challenges, the bosses that the player has defeated appear in an area called “The Hall of The Gods”. There the player can choose from 3 different difficulties, attuned, ascended and radiant, radiant being the hardest, with the player losing the fight when they are hit one time. The main hub of the expansion is known as Godhome. Godhome is accessible in a room in the Royal Waterways with the use of a “Simple Key”. Within Godhome are five "pantheons", each being a "boss rush", containing a set of bosses that must all be defeated consecutively without dying. The final pantheon, the Pantheon of Hallownest, contains every boss in the game or alternate forms of original bosses. If the player completes the Pantheon of Hallownest, the Absolute Radiance, a more powerful version of the Radiance, appears, acting as the new final boss. Upon defeating her, two unique endings can be achieved in which the player morphs into a powerful Void entity and destroys Godhome. The Hollow Knight is subsequently freed and implied to escape the temple, encountering a surprised Hornet.
The idea that prompted the creation ofHollow Knight originated in agame jam,Ludum Dare 2013, in which two of the game's developers,Ari Gibson andWilliam Pellen, developed a game calledHungry Knight, whose main character's design eventually became the protagonist inHollow Knight, kills bugs to stave off starvation.[1] The game, considered "not very good", used to hold a 1/5 star rating onNewgrounds, but has since increased to 4/5.[1][19] The developers decided to work on another game jam with the theme "Beneath the Surface", but missed the deadline. However, the concept gave them the idea to create a game with an underground setting, a "deep, old kingdom", and insect characters.[1][20]
Influences for the game includeFaxanadu,Metroid,Zelda II: The Adventure of Link,andMega Man X. Team Cherry noted that Hallownest was in some ways the inverse of the world tree setting inFaxanadu. The team wanted to replicate the sense of wonder and discovery of games from their childhood from such games, in which there "could be any crazy secret or weird creature."[21][22] Believing that control of the character was most important for the player's enjoyment of the game, the developers based the player's movement onMega Man X. They gave the character no acceleration when moving horizontally, as well as a large amount of aerial control and the ability to interrupt one's jump with a dash.[1] This was meant to make the player feel that any hit they took could have been avoided right up until the last second.[1]
To create the game's art, Gibson's hand-drawn sketches were scanned directly into thegame engine, creating a "vivid sense of place". The developers decided to "keep it simple" in order to prevent the development time from becoming extremely protracted.[1] The complexity of the world was based onMetroid, which allows players to become disoriented and lost, focusing on the enjoyment of finding one's way. Only basic signs are placed throughout the world to direct players to important locations.[1] The largest design challenge was creating the mapping system and finding a balance between not divulging the world's secrets while not being too player-unfriendly.[1]
Hollow Knight was revealed on Kickstarter in November 2014, with a goal ofA$35,000. The game passed this goal, raising more thanA$57,000 from 2,158 backers, allowing its scope to be expanded and another developer to be hired—technical directorDavid Kazi—as well as composerChristopher Larkin,[1] and marketing and publishing managerMatthew Griffin.[23]
The game reached a beta state in September 2015 and continued to achieve numerous stretch goals to add in more content after an engine switch fromStencyl toUnity.[24]
Hollow Knight was released for Windows on 24 February 2017, with versions for Linux and macOS being released on 11 April of the same year.[25]
TheNintendo Switch version ofHollow Knight was announced in January 2017 and released on 12 June 2018. Team Cherry originally planned to make it available on theWii U. Development of the Wii U version began in 2016, alongside the PC version, and it eventually shifted to the Nintendo Switch following the Wii U's discontinuation.[26] The creators ofHollow Knight worked with another Australian developer, Shark Jump Studios, to speed up the porting process.[27] Initially, Team Cherry planned the Switch version to arrive "not too long after the platform's launch"; subsequently they delayed it to early 2018.[28] A release date was not announced until theNintendo Direct presentation atE3 2018 on 12 June 2018, when it was unveiled the game would be available later that day viaNintendo eShop.[29]
Versions forPlayStation 4 andXbox One were released asHollow Knight: Voidheart Edition on 25 September 2018.[30]
AHollow Knight Piano Collections sheet music book and album was released in 2019 by video game music labelMateria Collective, arranged by David Peacock and performed by Augustine Mayuga Gonzales.[31]
ANintendo Switch 2 edition of the game was announced in December 2025, having the same higher frame rates and resolutions asHollow Knight: Silksong, for release in 2026.[32] The Nintendo Switch 2 edition was released following aNintendo Direct Partner Showcase on 5 February 2026, alongside versions forPlayStation 5 andXbox Series X/S.[33]
On 3 August 2017, theHidden Dreams freedownloadable content (DLC) was released, featuring two optional boss encounters, two songs in the soundtrack, a fast travel system, and a Stag Station to discover.[34] On 26 October 2017, the second free DLCThe Grimm Troupe was released, adding major quests, boss fights, charms, enemies, and other content. The update added support for Russian, Portuguese, and Japanese languages.[35] On 20 April 2018, theLifeblood free update was released, bringing various optimisations, changes to the colour palette, bug fixes, minor additions as well as a new boss fight.[36] On 23 August 2018, the final free DLC,Godmaster was released, containing characters, boss fights, music, a game mode called Godseeker as well as two endings.[37] It was renamed from its former title ofGods and Glory due to trademark concerns.[38] All four DLC packs are free.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | PC: 87/100[39] NS: 90/100[40] PS4: 85/100[41] XONE: 89/100[42] |
| OpenCritic | 97% recommend[43] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 10/10[12] |
| Eurogamer | Recommended[44] |
| IGN | 9.4/10[45] |
| Nintendo Life | 9/10[46] |
| Nintendo World Report | 10/10[47] |
| PC Gamer (US) | 92/100[11] |
| PC PowerPlay | 8/10[48] |
| VideoGamer.com | 8/10[49] |
Hollow Knight's PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions received "generally favorable" reviews and the Nintendo Switch version received "universal acclaim", according toreview aggregator websiteMetacritic.[39][40][42]OpenCritic determined that 97% of critics recommended the game.[43] Jed Whitaker ofDestructoid praised it as a "masterpiece of gaming"[12] and, onPC Gamer, Tom Marks called it a "new classic".[11]IGN praisedHollow Knight's visuals, sound, music, and "a million other details" in building atmosphere.[45]
Critics recognised the combat system as simple[44][45] and nuanced;[48] they praised its responsiveness, or "tightness", similarly to the movement system.[12][46][47][48][49] OnIGN, Marks stated: "The combat inHollow Knight is relatively straightforward, but starts out tricky ... It rewards patience and skill massively".[45] In his review onPC Gamer, Marks praised the "brilliant" charm system: "What's so impressive about these charms is that I could never find a 'right' answer when equipping them. There were no wrong choices."[11] Adam Abou-Nasr fromNintendoWorldReport stated: "Charms offer a huge variety of upgrades ... removing them felt like trading a part of myself for a better chance at an upcoming battle."[47]
The difficulty ofHollow Knight received attention from reviewers and was described as challenging;[45][46][48] Vikki Blake ofEurogamer called the game "ruthlessly tough, even occasionally unfair".[44] ForNintendo World Report's Adam Abou-Nasr it also seemed unfair—he had"'so frustratingly hard that I cannot recommend this game' angrily scrawled in [his] notes"—but "it eventually clicked".[47] Whitaker "never found any of the bosses to be unfair".[12]Destructoid andNintendo World Report reviewers felt a sense of accomplishment after difficult fights.[12][47] Critics also made comparisons to theDark Souls series, noting the mechanic of losing currency on death and having to defeat a Shade to regain it.[12][46][48]Destructoid praised this feature, as well as the holding down of a button to heal, because "[t]hey circumvent a couple of issues games have always had, namely appropriate punishment for failing, and a risk-reward system".[12]
Hollow Knight had sold over 500,000 copies by November 2017 and surpassed 1 million in sales on PC platforms on 11 June 2018, one day before being released on Nintendo Switch, where it sold over 250,000 copies in the two weeks after its launch.[50][51][52] By July 2018 it had sold over 1.2 million copies.[51] By February 2019,Hollow Knight had sold over 2.8 million copies.[53][54] As of August 2025, it had sold more than 15 million copies.[55]
The game was nominated for "Best PC Game" inDestructoid's Game of the Year Awards 2017,[56] and for "Best Platformer" inIGN's Best of 2017 Awards.[57] It won the award for "Best Platformer" inPC Gamer's 2017 Game of the Year Awards.[58]Polygon later named the game among the decade's best.[59]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | SXSW Gamer's Voice Awards 2017 | Gamer's Voice (Single Player) | Nominated | [60] |
| The Game Awards 2017 | Best Debut Indie Game | Nominated | [61] | |
| Australian Screen Sound Guild 2017 | Best Sound For Interactive Media | Won | [62] | |
| 2018 | Game Developers Choice Awards | Best Debut (Team Cherry) | Nominated | [63][64] |
| 14th British Academy Games Awards | Debut Game | Nominated | [65][66] | |
| Golden Joystick Awards | Nintendo Game of the Year | Nominated | [67][68] | |
| Australian Games Awards | Independent Game of the Year | Won | [69] | |
| Australian Developed Game of the Year | Won | |||
| 2019 | National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards | Art Direction, Fantasy | Nominated | [70][71] |
| Character Design | Nominated | |||
| Design, New IP | Won | |||
| Game, Original Action | Nominated |
| 2017 | Hollow Knight |
|---|---|
| Hollow Knight: Hidden Dreams | |
| Hollow Knight: The Grimm Troupe | |
| 2018 | Hollow Knight: Lifeblood |
| Hollow Knight: Godmaster | |
| 2019–2024 | |
| 2025 | Hollow Knight: Silksong |
| 2026 | Hollow Knight: Silksong - Sea of Sorrow[73] |
| TBA | FurtherHollow Knight: Silksong DLC[72] |
A sequel,Hollow Knight: Silksong, was announced in February 2019[74] and released on 4 September 2025.[75] Set after the events of the original game, the sequel revolves around the character Hornet exploring the kingdom of Pharloom.[76]Hollow Knight: Silksong features a similar combat style to the original game, but with several gameplay differences. The player character Hornet is more mobile thanHollow Knight's protagonist, and Charms are replaced with the more elaborate Tool and Crest system.[77][78] The game was previously planned as DLC for the original game, but it became an individual title after its content grew too large.[74] As with the original game,Silksong will receive its own DLC releases, starting withSea of Sorrow in 2026.[79]
A tie-in comic book,Hollow Knight First Chapter: Quirrel, was released in 2017. It is a 14-pageprequel comic that followsHollow Knight supporting character Quirrel, as he journeys to Hallownest, setting up his role in the game itself.[80][81][82] A book focused on the universe ofHollow Knight,Wanderer's Journal, was released in 2019 and features colored art of the game's characters and environments. It was created by Kari Fry and Ryan Novak in collaboration with Team Cherry, and is sold byFangamer.[83]
That first big expansion is already well underway!
