Hollow Knight

1. Summary

Players love Hollow Knight, and the reviews that explain why keep naming the same things: the hand-drawn art and melancholy mood of Hallownest, Christopher Larkin's soundtrack, boss fights that are hard but can be learned, and a connected world where breaking a suspicious wall often pays off. Many also say the price is too low for what they got. A lot of reviews are a single word ("peak", "masterpiece"); the longer ones are specific and agree with each other.

Most of the complaints concern a few design choices. Several negative reviews and many positive ones object to the long walk back to a boss after each death, made worse by sparse benches and slow fast travel. Navigation is the other recurring problem: maps you have to find and buy, a position marker that costs a charm slot, and stretches where players have no idea where to go. Some newcomers quit during a slow first area. Some veterans curse the optional endgame (Pantheon 5, Path of Pain) and a few enemies they hate, and they usually recommend the game anyway. Reviewers treat it as a classic and argue about how much friction it should ask players to put up with.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

Art, atmosphere and a lived-in worldHigh

Hallownest's look and feel is among the most praised parts of the game. Players describe each area as distinct: the rain of the City of Tears, the dread of Deepnest, the green calm of Greenpath. Several say the world feels like a real ruined kingdom instead of a set of levels. The City of Tears comes up repeatedly as a high point, with one reviewer writing "Nothing.. NOTHING will give me the same feeling as descending down the elevator into city of tears for the first time." A few dissenters say some areas blur together; one negative review complains that a big chunk of the game is "grey scenery", and another wishes the palette had more contrast.

Music and soundHigh

The soundtrack is mentioned even more often than the art. Reviewers single out the City of Tears, Greenpath, Resting Grounds and the Nightmare King Grimm and Sealed Vessel boss themes, and several say the tracks are on their playlists. Sound design gets credit too, for the small cues and music stingers that make the world feel carefully built. Only a handful of reviewers call the music forgettable.

Bosses and precise combatHigh

When reviewers talk about gameplay, they mostly talk about bosses, and mostly with praise. They name the Mantis Lords, Hornet, Grimm, Pure Vessel and the final fights as highlights, and describe combat that is simple to learn and slow to master: "Many boss fights feel like a dance as you weave in attacks and spells while dodging each strike." The controls are repeatedly called precise and responsive, and pogoing off enemies and spikes is a favourite move. Players like that progress comes from their own skill and their charm builds, with no levels to grind. Complaints about specific bosses are covered under the frustrations below.

Exploration and secretsHigh

New abilities reopen old areas, and cracked walls hide shortcuts, charms and lore, which is what players enjoy about the world opening up in every direction. Reviewers describe finding a passage they had walked past for hours, or spotting a path on the map that suddenly links two distant regions. Many advise playing blind, without guides, the first time through. The same open design frustrates the players who get lost, covered under the split topics.

Lore and environmental storytellingHigh

Story and lore get attention alongside the music. Reviewers like that Hallownest's history comes through the environment, item descriptions and short meetings with characters like Quirrel, Cloth and Myla, whose fates many mention with real sadness. One veteran puts the appeal plainly: "The game doesn't hand you much in a silver platter, you have to work for its story". A minority finds the storytelling too cryptic, a view covered under the split topics.

Value for the priceMedium

Price comes up often, and almost always as praise. Reviewers say the game should cost more given 40 to 100+ hours of content and free expansions (Grimm Troupe, Lifeblood, Godmaster). "So much content for $15 it feels like stealing" is a typical line, and several bought it a second time on PC after finishing it on Switch, Xbox or PlayStation. Many also point out that it goes on sale cheaply.

Runs on almost anything, plus mods and replay valueLow

Players on old laptops, Macs, Linux machines and Steam Decks report smooth performance: "Peak game, runs on toaster, yet looks astonishing." Several Steam Deck owners say it plays especially well on the handheld. A smaller group bought the PC version for mods, randomizers and multiplayer mods, and long-time players say speedruns and Steel Soul challenges keep bringing them back.

Where players are split

Difficulty: hard but fair, or too punishingHigh

Difficulty is one of the most mentioned topics, and most reviewers count it as part of the appeal. The usual view is that the main game is tough but fair and teaches players what they need: "Challenging enough that you won't get bored, learnable enough that you won't get stuck." Many describe hitting a first wall (False Knight, Hornet, Soul Master, Watcher Knights) before the game clicked. A minority says it is simply too punishing, that some fights leave no window to heal, or that there should be an easier setting; one reviewer notes "it is also very difficult for me, with no option to lower the difficulty". A smaller group, often players who came from Silksong, calls the main game easy, with comments like "nice, so much easier than silksong". Most agree the real difficulty is in the optional endgame.

Getting lost: freedom or frustrationMedium

Fans of the lack of direction say it is the point: "I like the lack of direction it gives you, because that actually contributes to the sense of exploration". Others, mostly players writing early in their run, say being lost wasted hours, that they could not tell which paths needed an ability they did not have yet, or that they needed a guide or wiki to progress. One otherwise positive 8/10 review is blunt: "The times you feel lost suck." Several who ended up loving the game say the Wayward Compass charm or a friend's hints got them through.

The slow first hoursMedium

Some positive reviews carry the same warning: the start is slow and confusing, and players should not give up. "If you feel like quitting because The Forgotten Crossroads looks boring, then don't." Several describe dropping the game once or twice before it clicked, usually around Greenpath, the Mantis Lords, or getting the dash. Some players never got there. Negative reviews from the first few hours describe a dull opening, no clear goal and basic abilities like the dash locked away, and one says the game "lacks a good hook/intro to get me to keep playing past 1st two levels".

The optional endgame: Pantheons, Path of Pain and White PalaceMedium

Players with long playtimes do most of the talking about the endgame, and they disagree. Many count beating Pantheon 5 or the Path of Pain among their proudest gaming achievements and say Godhome adds a lot of replay value. Others find the bindings and boss rushes a slog, say a long rush with no checkpoints punishes one mistake too harshly, or say they could not learn a boss they only reach deep into a run: "how can I beat a boss that is the 7th and I didn't even get to learn his movements, so how is that fair?" The White Palace is a recurring sore point for players who came for combat and not precision platforming, and a few negative reviews say it soured the whole game for them. Most people who criticise this content still recommend the game and point out that it is optional.

Comparisons with SilksongMedium

Silksong comes up in 4% of the reviews. Some reviewers came to Hollow Knight because of the sequel, and a recurring piece of advice is to play Hollow Knight before Silksong. Reviewers disagree about which is better: some call Silksong the better game, others prefer Hollow Knight's balance, atmosphere and shorter runbacks. Some who started with Silksong find Hollow Knight easier and miss Hornet's faster movement.

Combat depth: elegant or repetitiveLow

A small group finds the combat too thin for a long game, with one nail, three spells and a limited set of attacks. "the 4 direction attack with the basic needle is simply not very fun for the whole playthrough", one negative review says, and others call the regular enemies between bosses repetitive. A few positive reviews make a related point, wishing for more weapon variety or more reward for clearing optional areas.

Story told in fragmentsLow

A minority says the game hides too much of its story. An experienced metroidvania player who reached the final boss after 40+ hours without understanding the plot wrote: "the story of Dark Souls is an open book compared to this one!" Several fans agree that most players will need lore videos to piece it together, and enjoy that.

What frustrates players

Runbacks, sparse benches and slow fast travelMedium

Runbacks, backtracking or distant save points come up in around 30 of the 402 negative reviews, and they are a common caveat in positive ones. Players describe dying to a boss and then spending a minute or more walking back through the same enemies and platforming to retry, often naming Soul Master, Traitor Lord and the Watcher Knights. "A solid metroidvania, but the long and annoying runbacks to the bosses ruined the experience for me," one reviewer writes. Related complaints: stag stations are few and some must be unlocked with Geo, there is no bench-to-bench travel, and returning to explore an area means long walks. One long-time player notes that the Dreamgate ability, found late, cuts most of the walking.

The map systemMedium

Players must find Cornifer in each area and buy a map, then buy pins and a quill, and seeing their own position requires equipping the Wayward Compass, which takes a charm notch. "Very easy to get lost, maps seem to be behind a paywall," one new player warns, and another lists among the cons that "basic QOL functions like collect geo and location on map are locked behind gear". Others dislike that the map only updates at a bench and that there is no minimap. Fans often give newcomers the same advice: buy the maps and the compass right away.

Enemies and bosses players hateMedium

Complaints about particular enemies turn up again and again, mostly in otherwise glowing reviews. Primal Aspids are named most, often as the game's one flaw: "Pros: everything, cons: primal aspids." Grey Prince Zote and Markoth (especially the floorless Pantheon 5 version) are the bosses named most, and the Watcher Knights, Lost Kin, Nosk, Soul Master and Absolute Radiance also come up. Some long-time players describe these fights as random, or as built around projectiles that deny healing instead of patterns they can read. Many of these mentions are jokes, but they keep pointing at the same few encounters.

Losing Geo on deathLow

Newer players dislike the shade mechanic, where dying drops all your Geo and dying again on the way back loses it for good. Reviewers describe losing thousands of Geo just before an important purchase, and a few were angry at the banker who runs off with deposited Geo. One reviewer sums up the early experience: "My ghost now has more money than I do." A handful of negative reviews give this as a reason they stopped.

Charm balance and quality of life tied to charmsLow

A smaller group says many charms are not worth their notch cost while a few are mandatory, and dislikes that conveniences like the compass or Geo collection compete with combat charms for slots. "the charm balance is completely out of whack," one otherwise enthusiastic reviewer writes, adding that only about ten charms are worth using. Others ask for specific buffs, such as to Grubberfly's Elegy.

PC technical problems and controlsLow

Technical complaints are rare but concrete. Players report input lag on the Windows version compared with consoles ("The Windows version of the game suffers from input lag"), lag or "frequent crashes after about an hour of playtime on my laptop", corrupted save files (one player lost a 43-hour save, another an 88-hour one), custom keyboard bindings not being remembered, controllers disconnecting, and a stuck-movement bug on Linux. Several players also find the keyboard layout awkward and say it plays much better with a controller.

3. The player conversation

The tone is overwhelmingly warm, and much of it is short and playful: one-word verdicts, insect puns ("too many bugs" usually means the cast, not glitches), Zote memes and mock outrage at Primal Aspids, Markoth and the Path of Pain. The longer reviews often tell the same story. The writer was skeptical or quit during the slow start, came back, had the game click around Greenpath or the Mantis Lords, and now ranks it among their favourites. Many already own it on another platform and bought it again on PC for mods or achievements.

What people complain about depends on how far they got. Reviewers who quit early or write early in their run talk about being lost, the map system, runbacks and the slow opening. Veterans with long playtimes rarely mention any of that and argue about the optional endgame instead, and their frustration with Pantheon 5 or Markoth almost always comes inside a positive review.

Silksong runs through the conversation. Some reviewers arrived because of it, and the debate over which game is better goes on without souring either one. The recommendation rate stayed steady week to week across the period covered.

4. What the developers could do

1. Add a quick retry or a bench near major bosses. Runbacks come up in around 30 negative reviews and as a caveat in many positive ones, with Soul Master, Traitor Lord and the Watcher Knights named again and again.
2. Give players their position and area maps without purchases or a charm slot. New players describe the Cornifer map system and the Wayward Compass as a paywall on basic navigation, and fans tell newcomers to buy both immediately.
3. Fix the reported PC issues: input lag on Windows, slowdown and crashes in long sessions, save corruption and keybinds that reset. These reports are rare but serious, including lost 43- and 88-hour saves and one reviewer advising people to play on console because the Windows version feels laggy.
4. Offer an optional hint or objective journal for the opening hours. Players who quit early say they had no idea what to do after the first bosses, and some fans only stuck with it after a friend or a guide pointed them the right way.
5. Add an optional assist mode, such as keeping Geo on death or checkpoints within Pantheons. A minority of reviewers ask for a way to lower the difficulty, and endgame players say long boss rushes without checkpoints punish a single mistake too harshly.
6. Rebalance underused charms and move convenience effects out of the notch economy. Reviewers say only a handful of charms are worth equipping and that the compass and Geo collection compete with combat builds for slots.
7. Smooth out the most-hated encounters, such as Primal Aspids and floorless Markoth. These come up again and again in complaints, and some long-time players describe them as random rather than difficult.