Used Hollow Knight for Windows?
Editors’ Review
Hollow Knight delivers a challenging, immersive adventure combining action and exploration in a vast, interconnected world. Players navigate intricate environments, uncover secrets, and engage in tight combat. Its hand-drawn art style and atmospheric soundtrack make it a standout metroidvania experience with depth and replayability.
In Hollow Knight, exploration-driven gameplay and rewarding progression create a compelling loop. Players face diverse enemies, hidden paths, and tough bosses while upgrading abilities. The game balances adventure, strategy, and platforming challenges, offering meaningful choices in combat and navigation, with layered storytelling that keeps the experience engaging and memorable.
Deep combat and exploration mechanics
The game offers tight combat, challenging bosses, and strategic progression systems that reward skill, patience, and experimentation. Players can unlock new abilities, discover hidden areas, and adapt tactics against a variety of enemy types. While difficulty spikes can be punishing at times, they enhance the sense of satisfaction. Occasionally, backtracking may feel tedious, but the rich world design and carefully crafted level layout keep exploration consistently rewarding and enjoyable.
Hollow Knight excels in environmental storytelling, interconnected level design, and atmospheric presentation, creating a world full of depth. Each area feels unique, with hidden lore, secrets, and challenges that encourage careful exploration. Navigation can sometimes be tricky, requiring patience, but the sense of discovery adds meaningful depth. The combination of visuals, sound, and pacing makes the experience immersive, maintaining engagement even during extended platforming sequences.
The game’s replayability, skill-based progression, and engaging combat mechanics all contribute significantly to its lasting appeal and overall enjoyment. While some players may find the occasional difficulty spikes frustrating, the sense of accomplishment, mastery, and discovery far outweigh these minor drawbacks. It continues to set a high standard in metroidvania design, making it highly recommended for those who enjoy challenging, atmospheric adventures with deep exploration and rewarding, skill-driven gameplay.
Pros
- Tight combat mechanics
- Immersive world design
- High replayability
Cons
- Steep difficulty spikes
- Occasional tedious backtracking
Bottom Line
A masterful and rewarding Metroidvania experience
Hollow Knight delivers a masterfully crafted metroidvania experience that combines challenging combat, deep exploration, and atmospheric storytelling into a cohesive and engaging adventure. Its skill-based progression, rewarding gameplay loop, and richly designed world make it memorable and satisfying. While difficulty spikes and occasional backtracking may test patience, the sense of accomplishment and immersion outweigh these minor drawbacks. Recommended for players seeking a challenging, artistic, and replayable adventure.
What’s new in version 1.5.12459
- Added support for 21:9 & 16:10 resolutions
- Game now pauses while in inventory menus
- Upgraded to Unity Input System for broader controller support (original input system is still available, if preferred, via Options>Controller>Advanced Settings)
- Added dithering effect, and dithering options, to reduce colour banding
- Fixed a softlock in City of Tears Grub room
- Reduced Grey Prince Zote's stagger bounce height
- Updated Sly's Great Slash collider to closer match visual
- Salubra's Blessing now deactivates after reaching max Soul
- Map panning is now smoother
- Various performance improvements
- Various smaller fixes and tweaks