Hollow Knight ▶ Trailer
Hollow Knight screenshot 1Hollow Knight screenshot 2
ActionAdventureIndieMetroidvaniaPlatformerSouls-likeDifficultGreat Soundtrack

4,645 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 7,367

Peak in the last 7 days: 9,406

Hollow Knight Steam store

Game description

Forge your own path in Hollow Knight! An epic action adventure through a vast ruined kingdom of insects and heroes. Explore twisting caverns, battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs, all in a classic, hand-drawn 2D style.

Basic info

DeveloperTeam Cherry
PublisherTeam Cherry
PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateFeb 24, 2017
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10 version 21H1 (build 19043) or newer
ProcessorIntel Core i3-3240, AMD FX-4300
Memory4 GB
GraphicsGeForce GTX 560 Ti (1GB), Radeon HD 7750 (1GB)
Storage9 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 413 reviews from the past 1 year

92.8/ 100
Top 5%

Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (97%)

Metacritic: 87 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 12, 2026)

Hand drawn and brutally hard, Hollow Knight earns 92.8 from 567,250 Steam reviews, top 5% of games we analyzed.

👍 Strengths

Visuals & Sound ranks 12th of 1249 and appears in 53% of analyzed reviews. 66 reviews praise a beautiful drawn style, and some single out one of the best soundtracks they have heard in a while. 67 describe a beautiful atmosphere and an interesting world, and Story & World ranks 48th of 1096. 96 reviews say they love it, the most upvoted calling it the best game ever made, and players say finally beating its long boss marathon is insanely satisfying. Content Volume ranks 54th of 1351.

👎 Where it falls short

The main complaint is navigation. 40 reviews say guidance is almost nonexistent and backtracking and corpse runs grow tedious. 7 find exploration and enemies repetitive and tedious, and a few say the platforming is not challenging enough or that long stretches without progress feel pointless.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“probably the best game ever made, everything is absolute perfection” · 96 reviews
“beautiful atmosphere and interesting world” · 67 reviews
“finally winning is insanely satisfying after brutal 42-boss marathon challenge” · 48 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 78% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Difficulty +2.46 · How hard it is, how the challenge ramps, and whether it feels fair
Positive “finally winning is insanely satisfying after brutal 42-boss marathon challenge” · 48 reviews

Progression 18% · Onboarding 21% · Freedom 29% · Strategy 11% · Controls & feel 22%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 56% of reviews · Top 5% of the games we've analyzed

World +4.43 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “beautiful atmosphere and interesting world” · 67 reviews

Story 27% · Characters 13%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 32% of reviews · Top 5% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +4.16 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “240 hours played, 100% achievements, absolutely happy with time spent” · 14 reviews

Variety 9% · Replayability 10%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 53% of reviews · Top 1% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +4.58 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a while” · 34 reviews

Visuals 38%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 2% of reviews mention this.

Community +2.80 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 9% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.25 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Positive “incredible value for the price” · 4 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Balance 3% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 5% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support +0.07 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players

Stability 2% · Performance 0%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

Was this analysis useful? Sign in with Steam to vote

🎲 Fans of this game often get the title Lone Sword Master. Which one is yours?