Even without being the genre’s progenitor, what Hollow Knight symbolizes for modern Metroidvanias is quite difficult to quantify, given the breadth of its influence.
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Team Cherry managed to establish the gold standard within the Castlevania and Metroid legacy, accumulating nearly a decade of relevance that, despite the passage of time, shows no signs of waning.
However, what this marvelous video game achieves is not a product of chance or player indulgence, but rather an endless chain of small details that demonstrate unparalleled craftsmanship.
Therefore, for those who fail to grasp the greatness of Hallownest and for those who wish to rediscover it, I invite you to read this article with ten Hollow Knight design choices that made it a modern Metroidvania classic.
10
Exact HUD Quantities
Minimalism to the Necessary Extent
Although we currently live in an era of global minimalism, both in art and beyond, video games have long been bastions of maximization, with grandiose effects and prominent interfaces, but Hollow Knight took the opposite approach.
From the start menu to the in-game guides for navigating the inventory, the map, and our tools, the game strives to minimize the number of elements obstructing the view of Hallownest.
While not everything is diegetic, everything has a representation within the game that allows you to understand what’s happening even without paying attention to the HUD, which is there to guide you but is never mandatory.
The Knight brings up the map in real time when you consult it, you can keep track of the money that drops, and you learn how many hits you need to heal or use a power, because Hollow Knight wants you to feel immersed in its world.
9
Soul System
Fight for Your Life
One of the most popular design principles in modern action games is that the best defense is a good offense, and Hollow Knight‘s Soul System understands this perfectly.
Team Cherry combines the Glory Kills concept from games like DOOM and the ammo retribution system from games like Hyper Light Drifter to create a structure where, whether you want to inflict even more damage or heal yourself, you’ll have to go on the offensive.
As a result, you have a powerful feedback loop where you can’t be static; you’re forced to move, study, and experiment, creating the tension of having to choose between healing and using abilities.
These constant choices, coupled with the need to hit the enemy if you want to survive and win, force you into a state of absolute focus in every fight that demands more than the usual title in the genre, elevating the satisfaction of victory to astonishing levels.
8
Map and Quill
The Journey of a Cartographer
Metroidvanias are widely known for their level design and sense of exploration, though Hollow Knight transcends this by putting you in the role of a novice cartographer.
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These warriors remain in the collective memory of Hallownest thanks to being either extremely easy or extraordinarily difficult.
From the moment you acquire the Map and Quill, each new area you explore is roughly and imprecisely mapped, given our beloved protagonist’s inexperience in the profession, yet it does establish a sense of direction and sets a goal for each new biome.
That goal, of course, is to find Cornifer, who not only plays a significant role in the gameplay by completing our map but also carries narrative weight as a character with their own interests, dialogue, and questline.
The game’s true mastery, however, lies in the progression of exploration, forcing you to familiarize yourself with Hallownest before you can rely on the map; symbiosis between player and environment that wouldn’t be possible if the map were simply represented by imprecise colored squares that were always accessible.
7
Concrete Action-Adventure Gameplay
Avoiding the RPG Influence
Although I’m a huge ARPG fan, I don’t doubt part of Hollow Knight‘s success lies in its departure from that genre, focusing instead on the most direct action possible.
Obviously, there are passive and active modifiers that vary the combat, but the game places the weight of its fights on the player’s skill, giving them the most precise controls in the genre’s history so that nothing else is needed to complete their journey.
Without stats to distribute, armor whose effects to consider, or weapons whose movesets to study, the developers created a perfectly designed combat system because the possibilities are more concrete and predictable, allowing them to refine and balance it thoroughly.
Metroidvanias with RPG elements can also be incredible, and there are plenty of examples, though Hollow Knight, in its unique case, could not have existed as we know it—pristine and precise—had it followed that path.
6
Environmental Narrative
Searching for Meaning
While it’s true that virtually all Metroidvanias tell their stories in the same way, the weight of Hollow Knight‘s lore in its renowned excellence is undeniable.
Its ability to remain relevant for so many years is largely due to its inspiration from FromSoftware and its use of ambiguous dialogue, environments that speak through their colors, architecture, and enemies, and descriptions that hint at the reality behind the cover of its world.
All the mythology behind the Pale race, the soul’s concept, the creatures’ will, the Dreamers… It represents such captivating worldbuilding that, by revealing it to you gradually, you receive each new piece of information with more joy than if you’d received an upgrade for the Nail.
It’s not revolutionary in itself, but Hollow Knight‘s narrative, with its melancholic and opaque nature, is an inexorable pillar of its quality and enduring significance, and I sincerely believe its impact would have been much less if it had a more straightforward story.
5
Charm Builds
Creativity Through Experiments
Connecting with the arguments about the positive aspects of not being an ARPG, its gameplay customization system via Charms also established the mold the entire genre would follow in subsequent years due to the concept’s sheer creativity.
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Instead of having to commit to skill trees or weapons you’ve invested so much progress in that you’re afraid to try something new, Hollow Knight offers items you can equip and remove at will, encouraging experimentation in an accessible and risk-free way.
Since everything revolves around the same set of abilities, no matter which Charms you equip, you only have three powers and can only attack in four directions. Thus, the entire structure is an invitation to discover your own combat identity, which you pursue because you know it’s not so far removed from your starting point.
However, the Charms’ impact shouldn’t be underestimated, because the right combination of them can completely change the game, even when it actually doesn’t. That’s the incredible thing about how it works: it never stops feeling familiar, but it’s never the same either.
4
Interconnectivity Between Levels
Eureka!
When I first played Dark Souls, the look on my face when I went from the lower part of the Undead Burg back to Firelink Shrine was indescribable, and I wouldn’t feel that way again until I connected Resting Grounds with Forgotten Crossroads.
There are so many “Eureka!” moments in Hollow Knight, where you stumble upon an unexpected connection between levels, and they’re so exciting that you’re genuinely surprised at how they managed to make said feeling a constant throughout the entire game.
Leaving Crystal Peak and arriving at Dirtmouth, or descending into Ancient Basin after Royal Waterways, are absurdly special transitions you don’t forget because of the impact they have, how they make you whisper “That’s incredible!” while you’re stunned by how the paths you’ve taken connect.
If it were linear, or if each area didn’t connect with at least two others, exploring Hollow Knight‘s world wouldn’t feel nearly as exceptional, so its level design and interconnectivity are vital to conveying that sense of adventure and discovery.
3
Interesting and Free DLCs
Live up to the Challenges
More than a design choice, Team Cherry’s policy reflects the economic model they use to approach their creations: the player pays the least amount of money possible and gets enough content for a lifetime in return.
People forget Hollow Knight at launch was very different from what it is today, as Grimm‘s Troupe, everything related to Godhome, and even the Lifeblood Charms arrived through free updates that completely improved the game.
The title was already a masterpiece in its base form, but the expansions and quality-of-life improvements, designed with the community’s demands and recommendations in mind, elevated both the game and the studio, earning the unconditional love of the entire fan base.
Design decisions often come down to listening not to the market but to the players who already supported you, and Team Cherry excels at this, sparing no effort in creating updates that polish the title to its absolute peak.
2
Obscure Questlines
Connect with the World
NPCs in Hollow Knight are the game’s heart and soul, largely because they’re so believably integrated into Hallownest that you can forget you’re interacting with a predefined set of pixels.
The game’s inhabitants aren’t there for the player’s sake, but rather as a diverse cast of characters who, like Cornifer, have their own lives and motivations, which Team Cherry doesn’t try to encapsulate with indicators to avoid making them feel artificial.
The characters speak to you and move around, pursuing their own desires and needs, and finding them to help them with their personal struggles ends up being just as difficult as the boss fights themselves if you don’t have a guide handy.
Helping the Nailsmith find the Nailmaster, allowing Sly to return to the martial arts, helping Bretta find love, saving Cloth, sitting with Quirrel, seeing Tiso in his final moments… It all happens naturally, and that’s what makes it feel magical.
1
No Parry Mechanic
Prioritizing Positioning and Movement
Understanding the parry mechanic as “press this button to negate incoming damage and counterattack“, which functionally differs from the sword clash in Hollow Knight, I believe the decision not to follow the trend of action games is the foundation for understanding the game’s greatest strength: its combat.
Don’t get me wrong: I love parries, though for a game where movement is so central, a mechanic that locks you into one spot and reduces combat to reflexes would have been catastrophic.
If Pure Vessel feels so incredible, like Nightmare King Grimm or Sisters of Battle, it’s because you have to constantly move from left to right, jump, pogo, lean against walls, and so on, both to attack and defend, not just stand still while mashing a single button.
Therefore, describing the exclusion of a parry mechanic as a good design decision isn’t so much about its absence, but rather what Team Cherry had to do to compensate: varied and multifaceted attack patterns, an emphasis on movement during each encounter, and a balance of rhythm and speed.
In other words, not relying on parrying forced the studio to refine everything else. With parrying, there are no perfect dodges against Mantis Lords, no pogo party against Watcher Knights, and no positioning duel with Radiance, which speaks volumes about the significance of its exclusion in a genre that had become overly accustomed to it.
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- Released
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February 24, 2017
- ESRB
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E10+ for Everyone 10+: Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood
- Developer(s)
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Team Cherry
- Publisher(s)
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Team Cherry
- Engine
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Unity
- Franchise
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Hollow Knight
