Hollow Knight – A Bug Kingdom That Became a Metroidvania Classic
How Team Cherry made Hollow Knight, its Metroidvania exploration of Hallownest, why it's a classic, the sequel Silksong, and how to play it today.
Hollow Knight is a 2D action game in which a small, nameless bug knight explores Hallownest, a ruined underground kingdom. Beloved for its hand-drawn-looking art, lonely yet beautiful music, vast interconnected map, and demanding boss fights, it has become an essential title in any discussion of the Metroidvania genre.
In this post, we cover how Team Cherry, a small studio in Australia, made Hollow Knight, how the game plays, why it's considered a classic, and the path up to its 2025 sequel, Silksong. At the end, we also introduce how you can play it now.
At a Glance
| Item | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Release | February 24, 2017 (Windows), June 12, 2018 (Nintendo Switch) | |
| Developer | Team Cherry (Adelaide, Australia) | |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Switch 2/PS5/Xbox Series X | S (2026) |
| Genre | Metroidvania, 2D action-adventure |
Origins
Team Cherry is an indie studio founded in Adelaide, Australia, by artist Ari Gibson and web designer William Pellen. The seed of Hollow Knight was a small game called "Hungry Knight" that the two made for the 2013 game development competition Ludum Dare. It was a simple game about killing bugs to avoid starving, but its protagonist's look later became that of Hollow Knight's protagonist.
Later, they tried to enter another game jam with the theme "Beneath the Surface" but missed the deadline; the idea they came up with then, a "deep, ancient underground kingdom" with bug characters, led to full-scale development. Faxanadu, Metroid, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and Mega Man X are cited as references. The two wanted to revive the sense of discovery they had felt in games as children: the feeling that "you never know what secrets might be hidden where."
The developers, who considered game feel the most important thing, modeled the character's movement on Mega Man X. The character moves instantly without acceleration, can freely change direction in midair, and can cut a jump short with a dash, so that every hit you take feels like one you could have avoided. Gibson's hand-drawn sketches were scanned and put into the game as is.
In a Kickstarter campaign in November 2014, they exceeded their goal of AU$35,000 and raised more than AU$57,000. This allowed technical director David Kazi and composer Christopher Larkin, among others, to join, and the engine was switched from Stencyl to Unity during development.
Gameplay
The player explores Hallownest, slashing enemies with a sword-like weapon called the "Nail."
- Masks and Soul: Health is shown as a number of masks. Hitting enemies fills up "Soul," which you use to heal or cast spells. To heal, you must hold a button and hold out for a moment, so deciding when to heal is important.
- Shade: When you die, you lose all your money (Geo), and you can only get it back by defeating the Shade that appears where you died. If you die again before recovering it, that money is gone.
- Charms: You choose and equip charms that widen your attack range or help you gather Soul, within a fixed number of slots, to create your own fighting style.
- Movement abilities and exploration: As you gain abilities such as double jump, wall climbing, and dashing, the places you can go expand. The game doesn't force a single path, so there are places you may miss even after reaching the end.
- Maps: At first you have no map and must buy regional maps from a cartographer. Striking a balance between not revealing secrets too easily and not leaving players simply lost was reportedly the hardest design challenge.
The story is revealed bit by bit through scenery, scattered records, and conversations with characters rather than dialogue-heavy exposition. Learning the truth about the "Infection" that brought down the kingdom and the protagonist's identity becomes the motivation for exploring, and you can see multiple endings depending on how you play.
Why It's a Classic
Hollow Knight received consistent praise in every respect: music, art style, world, atmosphere, combat, and difficulty. On Metacritic, the PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions received "generally favorable" reviews and the Switch version "universal acclaim," and on OpenCritic, 97% of critics recommended it.
What critics particularly valued was the combat. It was praised for having simple rules but precisely responsive controls that reliably reward patience and skill. The charm system also drew praise for creating "choices without a right answer." The structure of losing your money on death and having to go back to retrieve it was often compared to the Dark Souls series.
Opinions on the difficulty were divided. Some found it excessively punishing, but more said the sense of accomplishment from overcoming a tough boss was great. It's also often described as a game that showed an indie studio can make a game with the scale and polish of a big company. Sales exceeded 15 million copies as of August 2025.
Series and Influence
In 2017–2018, Team Cherry released four pieces of additional content, "Hidden Dreams," "The Grimm Troupe," "Lifeblood," and "Godmaster," all for free. Godmaster added a challenge mode in which you fight bosses back to back.
The sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, was originally promised as a Kickstarter stretch goal: additional content in which you play as Hornet. When it grew too large, it was announced as a standalone sequel in February 2019, and after a long wait it was released on September 4, 2025. In Silksong, Hornet, a major character from Hollow Knight, explores the unfamiliar kingdom of Pharloom, and a system of tools and crests is used instead of charms. Free expansions for Silksong are also planned starting in 2026.
How to Play Today
Hollow Knight can be purchased on PC stores such as Steam, as well as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox. In February 2026, Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S versions with higher resolution and frame rates were also released. All four pieces of additional content are included by default.
If you're playing for the first time, things go much more smoothly if you meet the cartographer to buy maps and get into the habit of frequently finding benches to rest. If you're stuck on a boss, it's also a good idea to explore other areas first, collect abilities and charms, and then come back. Once you've finished the first game, moving on to Silksong and comparing the differences between the two is fun too.