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Hollow Knight is a 2017 Metroidvania video game developed and published by Australian Indie game Team Cherry. The player controls a nameless insectoid warrior (commonly known as "The Knight") in exploring Hallownest, a fallen kingdom plagued by a supernatural disease. The game is set in diverse subterranean locations, featuring friendly and hostile insectoid characters and numerous bosses. Players have the opportunity to unlock abilities as they explore, along with pieces of lore and flavour text that are spread throughout the kingdom.
The concept behind Hollow Knight was conceived in 2013 in the Ludum Dare game jam. Adelaide-based Team Cherry wanted to create a game inspired by older that replicated the explorational aspects of its influences. Inspirations for the game include Faxanadu, Metroid, , and Mega Man X. Development was partially funded through a crowdfunding campaign that raised over by the end of 2014. It was released for Linux, macOS, and Windows in early 2017, for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2018, and for the Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2026. Team Cherry supported the game with four free expansions as downloadable content.
Hollow Knight was well received by critics, with particular praise for its music, art style, worldbuilding, atmosphere, combat, and level of difficulty. It has since been regarded by some critics as one of the greatest games of all time. The game has sold more than 15 million copies. A sequel following major character Hornet, , was released in 2025.
The player has a limited number of hit points, which are represented by masks. By striking enemies, the player character gains Soul, which is stored in a "Soul Vessel". Initially, the player can only use Soul to "Focus" and regenerate masks, but as the game progresses, players unlock and collect several offensive spells, which consume Soul. If all masks are lost, the player dies, and a Shade appears at the approximate location of the player's death. The player loses all Geo, the game's main currency, and can only hold a reduced amount of Soul. They must defeat the Shade to recover lost Geo and regain their lost Soul capacity.
During the game, the player encounters bug-themed non-player characters (NPCs) with whom they can interact. These characters provide information about the plot, offer aid, and sell items or services. Players acquire items that provide movement abilities including an additional mid-air jump, adhering to and wall jump off walls, or a quick dash. To further customise the Knight, players can equip various charms, which can be found or purchased from NPCs. Some of their effects include improved combat abilities, such as granting the player more range with the Nail, or allowing them to collect Soul more easily. Equipping a charm takes up a certain number of limited slots, called notches. Many areas feature challenging enemies and bosses which the player may need to defeat in order to progress. Defeating some bosses grants the player access to new abilities. If the player defeats the final boss, they are given access to a game-mode called "Steel Soul". In this mode, permadeath, i.e. if the player loses all of their masks, the save slot will be reset.
The kingdom of Hallownest consists of several large, inter-connected areas with unique themes. With its nonlinear gameplay Metroidvania design, Hollow Knight does not restrict the player to one path nor require them to explore the whole world; there are places that can be missed when finishing the game. The player may need to acquire a specific movement ability, skill, or item to progress further, at certain points. To fast travel through the world, the player can use progressively-unlocked Stag Stations, terminals connected to a network of tunnels that are traversed via giant stag beetles.
Through dialogue with non-player characters, environmental imagery, and writings scattered throughout Hallownest, the protagonist learns the origins of the Infection. In ancient times, a tribe of moths that lived in Hallownest worshipped the Radiance, a primordial being who could control the minds of other bugs. When the Pale King arrived at Hallownest from afar, he used his powers to give sapience and knowledge to the creatures of the realm. The moths also began to worship the king, purposely betraying the Radiance by wiping her from their collective memory. Beneath the notice of the Pale King, some worship of the Radiance continued, allowing her to remain alive inside the Dream Realm.Team Cherry (3 March 2017) Hollow Knight. " Seer: But the memories of that ancient light still lingered, hush whispers of faith... Until all of Hallownest began to dream of that forgotten light. (Seer NPC talking to Knight)"
Hallownest prospered until the Radiance began appearing in the dreams of its people, poisoning their minds with the Infection. In an attempt to contain the menace, the Pale King used an ancient living substance called Void to create the Vessels – creatures with no free will or ability to dream that were immune to the Infection. The Pale King chose a Vessel known as the Hollow Knight to trap the Radiance within itself, leaving the remaining failures locked in a pit called the Abyss. However, the Hollow Knight accidentally had an "idea instilled" during its upbringing, possibly related to its close bond with the King, causing it to be an imperfect Vessel and the Radiance to eventually break out.
Throughout the game, it is revealed that the protagonist was a Vessel who managed to escape the Abyss. They gradually defeat the Dreamers and their guardians, removing the seals on the door. Inside, they encounter and battle with the infected Hollow Knight.
The protagonist can alternatively descend to the Abyss and remember its origins as a Vessel. In doing so, Hornet will intervene during the battle against the Hollow Knight and expose a crack on its mask. Here, two additional endings will be unlocked:
Influences for the game include Faxanadu, Metroid, , and Mega Man X. Team Cherry noted that Hallownest was in some ways the inverse of the world tree setting in Faxanadu. The team wanted to replicate the sense of wonder and discovery of games from their childhood from such games, in which there "could be any crazy secret or weird creature." Believing that control of the character was most important for the player's enjoyment of the game, the developers based the player's movement on Mega Man X. They gave the character no acceleration when moving horizontally, as well as a large amount of aerial control and the ability to interrupt one's jump with a dash. This was meant to make the player feel that any hit they took could have been avoided right up until the last second.
To create the game's art, Gibson's hand-drawn sketches were scanned directly into the game engine, creating a "vivid sense of place". The developers decided to "keep it simple" in order to prevent the development time from becoming extremely protracted. The complexity of the world was based on Metroid, which allows players to become disoriented and lost, focusing on the enjoyment of finding one's way. Only basic signs are placed throughout the world to direct players to important locations. The largest design challenge was creating the mapping system and finding a balance between not divulging the world's secrets while not being too player-unfriendly.
Hollow Knight was revealed on Kickstarter in November 2014, with a goal of . The game passed this goal, raising more than from 2,158 backers, allowing its scope to be expanded and another developer to be hired—technical director David Kazi—as well as composer Christopher Larkin, and marketing and publishing manager Matthew Griffin.
The game reached a beta state in September 2015 and continued to achieve numerous stretch goals to add in more content after an engine switch from Stencyl to Unity.
The Nintendo Switch version of Hollow Knight was announced in January 2017 and released on 12 June 2018. Team Cherry originally planned to make it available on the Wii U. Development of the Wii U version began in 2016, alongside the PC version, and it eventually shifted to the Nintendo Switch following the Wii U's discontinuation. The creators of Hollow Knight worked with another Australian developer, Shark Jump Studios, to speed up the porting process. Initially, Team Cherry planned the Switch version to arrive "not too long after the platform's launch"; subsequently they delayed it to early 2018. A release date was not announced until the Nintendo Direct presentation at E3 2018 on 12 June 2018, when it was unveiled the game would be available later that day via Nintendo eShop.
Versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were released as Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition on 25 September 2018.
A Hollow Knight Piano Collections sheet music book and album was released in 2019 by video game music label Materia Collective, arranged by David Peacock and performed by Augustine Mayuga Gonzales.
A Nintendo Switch 2 edition of the game was announced in December 2025, having the same higher frame rates and resolutions as , for release in 2026. The Nintendo Switch 2 edition was released following a Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase on 5 February 2026, alongside versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Critics recognised the combat system as simple and nuanced; they praised its responsiveness, or "tightness", similarly to the movement system. On IGN, Marks stated: "The combat in Hollow Knight is relatively straightforward, but starts out tricky ... It rewards patience and skill massively". In his review on PC Gamer, Marks praised the "brilliant" charm system: "What's so impressive about these charms is that I could never find a 'right' answer when equipping them. There were no wrong choices." Adam Abou-Nasr from NintendoWorldReport stated: "Charms offer a huge variety of upgrades ... removing them felt like trading a part of myself for a better chance at an upcoming battle."
The difficulty of Hollow Knight received attention from reviewers and was described as challenging; Vikki Blake of Eurogamer called the game "ruthlessly tough, even occasionally unfair". For Nintendo World Reports Adam Abou-Nasr it also seemed unfair—he had so frustratingly hard that I cannot recommend this game' angrily scrawled in his notes"—but "it eventually clicked". Whitaker "never found any of the bosses to be unfair". Destructoid and Nintendo World Report reviewers felt a sense of accomplishment after difficult fights. Critics also made comparisons to the Dark Souls series, noting the mechanic of losing currency on death and having to defeat a Shade to regain it. Destructoid praised this feature, as well as the holding down of a button to heal, because "they circumvent a couple of issues games have always had, namely appropriate punishment for failing, and a risk-reward system".
A tie-in comic book, Hollow Knight First Chapter: Quirrel, was released in 2017. It is a 14-page prequel comic that follows Hollow Knight supporting character Quirrel, as he journeys to Hallownest, setting up his role in the game itself. A book focused on the universe of Hollow Knight, Wanderer's Journal, was released in 2019 and features colored art of the game's characters and environments. It was created by Kari Fry and Ryan Novak in collaboration with Team Cherry, and is sold by Fangamer.
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