Games like Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight: Silksong demands the same patient mastery of movement and timing that made the original's combat so rewarding. You'll navigate hostile environments by chaining together jumps, dashes, and attacks with the same precision—except now you're playing as Hornet, whose toolkit shifts the rhythm of encounters in subtle but meaningful ways.

The exploration loop mirrors what drew you to Hollow Knight: acquiring new abilities gates access to previously unreachable areas, and backtracking becomes a natural part of discovery rather than pure punishment. The hand-drawn aesthetic and atmospheric sound design create that same haunting, melancholic tone you loved—though Silksong leans slightly more into character-driven storytelling through Hornet's arc.

One notable shift: Silksong adds quest markers and narrative waypoints that reduce pure navigation friction. This trades some of the original's deliberate obscurity for clearer pacing, which many find more respectful of their time without sacrificing the exploration core.

Best for: players who mastered Hollow Knight's combat and are hungry for a fresh mechanical twist wrapped in the same atmospheric package, rather than those seeking an exact replica of the original's design philosophy.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Both games reward the same kind of player who enjoys learning through danger: pushing into hostile spaces, reading enemy patterns, and turning repeated deaths into real progress. In ELDEN RING, that loop feels familiar because every tough encounter teaches timing, spacing, and patience in the same way Hollow Knight’s bosses do.

The overlap goes beyond difficulty. You get Souls-like combat, careful exploration, and the thrill of finding hidden routes, upgrades, and secrets that make the world feel worth probing from every angle. That matters because the game asks you to choose your own challenge instead of following a clear path, which preserves the sense of discovery Hollow Knight fans love.

The biggest difference is scale: ELDEN RING trades Hollow Knight’s tight 2D platforming for a huge 3D world with build variety, co-op, and more ways to approach a fight. It also answers one common Hollow Knight frustration by giving you far more options when you hit a wall, so progress feels less like grinding and more like adapting.

Best for players who want mastery, exploration, and punishing combat with more room to experiment.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to Elden Ring.

Both games demand absolute precision and a rhythmic approach to combat where hesitation results in immediate failure. Players must internalize intricate boss patterns, treating every encounter like a high-stakes dance of blades and timing.

The shared experience manifests through environmental storytelling and a punishing difficulty that rewards extreme perseverance. Sekiro replaces charm builds with prosthetic tools to provide a strategic depth that forces you to analyze enemy weaknesses before engaging. This creates a familiar loop where your own mechanical growth becomes the primary path to victory rather than simple stat increases.

While Hollow Knight players often find backtracking to recover lost currency frustrating, Sekiro introduces dynamic verticality via a grappling hook that streamlines world navigation. This shift to a 3D perspective offers a fresh angle on exploration, keeping the focus squarely on the thrill of the hunt.

Best for players who prioritize the tactile satisfaction of mechanical mastery over pure spectacle.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Both games trap players in interconnected labyrinths where mastering movement and combat becomes a personal journey rather than a tutorial checklist. Hollow Knight's Hornet encounters train you to read attack patterns and strike at precise windows—a skill that translates directly to Blasphemous's monastery corridors, where every enemy patrol demands the same read-react-reward loop. The satisfaction in both comes from internalizing their movement systems until navigation feels instinctive rather than calculated.

The death-and-retrieval mechanic creates identical emotional stakes: drop your Currency, sprint back through hostile territory, either recover your investment or lose it entirely. This loop transforms failure into tension rather than frustration—each run becomes a gamble where nerves heighten awareness. Similarly, both titles gate progress behind exploration-earning upgrades (double jump, dash, wall-cling), turning obtuse map knowledge into tangible power.

Where Blasphemous diverges is its liturgical brutality: grotesque pixel art replaces Hollow Knight's elegant insect kingdom, and punishment comes bundled with baroque lore dumps rather than cryptic silence. The tone trades cute-dread for existential dread—a worthwhile tradeoff if you prefer your darkness explicitly narrative-driven.

Both share Hollow Knight's grinding criticism, though Blasphemous packages it into prayer bead collection rather than Geo farming. Performance stability remains imperfect on both.

Best for players who savor mastery over spectacle—those who found Hornet's fight exhilarating because it demanded growth, not because it was pretty.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to Blasphemous.

That feeling of learning a boss's rhythm until a once-impossible fight becomes second nature? Dead Cells is built entirely around that loop. Its fluid, fast combat demands the same kind of muscle-memory investment that makes Hollow Knight's toughest encounters so satisfying to crack.

Both games share a souls-like approach to death — currency is lost, and you have to earn it back — but Dead Cells layers a roguelite structure on top, so each run reshuffles weapons and paths. This means the tension of recovering lost progress never fades, because the route back is never quite the same. That procedural design also directly counters one of Hollow Knight's most cited frustrations: the punishing slog of backtracking the same corridors to reach a boss repeatedly.

The trade-off is meaningful: where Hollow Knight delivers a hand-crafted, story-rich world, Dead Cells offers breadth over narrative depth. The atmosphere is striking, but the storytelling is sparse.

Best for players who love mastering combat systems and want that challenge to stay unpredictable across dozens of hours.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to Dead Cells.

Both games share an unforgiving combat loop where losing currency upon death forces you to reclaim it or lose it forever. This pressure heightens the stakes of exploration, making every unfamiliar corridor a calculated risk rather than a casual stroll.

The primary shift is perspective and pace; you move from Hollow Knight’s lightning-fast, 2D platforming precision to the deliberate, methodical positioning of Dark Souls III’s third-person combat. You lose the tight air-dash mobility, but gain a massive arsenal of weapons and gear customization.

Pick this up if you crave the punishing atmosphere and cryptic lore of Hallownest but want to trade platforming challenges for complex, high-stakes boss duels.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to DARK SOULS III.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps matches Hollow Knight’s precise, challenging platforming and combat, delivering the same satisfying Souls-like mechanics that demand skill and timing.

Both games excel in crafting a deep emotional narrative paired with a stunning 2D art style, which significantly enhances player investment and world-building.

Unlike Hollow Knight, Ori leans into a more polished and accessible experience but struggles with occasional optimization issues and a hint of aggressive monetization.

Pick Ori if you want a beautiful, emotionally charged metroidvania with tight gameplay but can tolerate some technical flaws and a less punishing difficulty curve.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Both games deliver tight, souls-influenced combat wrapped in hauntingly hand-drawn worlds — Hollow Knight's nail swings and ENDER LILIES' spear thrusts share that same satisfying weight and timing window that makes every dodge feel earned.

The oppressive atmosphere and orchestral soundtrack hit the same emotional notes, making exploration feel consequential rather than routine.

However, ENDER LILIES stumbles with hit detection and interconnected world design, feeling more linear and occasionally frustrating compared to Hollow Knight's precision.

Pick this up if you want Hollow Knight's combat feel and art direction but can overlook occasional jank and a less cohesive map structure.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights.

Both games build nonlinear metroidvanias around atmospheric exploration rather than combat mastery. This shared focus means backtracking serves discovery, not punishment.

ANIMAL WELL matches Hollow Knight's hand-crafted pixel art and haunting soundscapes, which anchor the emotional weight of both experiences.

The critical difference: ANIMAL WELL leans puzzle-platformer and relaxing, while Hollow Knight demands souls-like precision and punishes failure. ANIMAL WELL is gentler but less mechanically demanding.

Pick this up if you crave Hollow Knight's atmosphere and exploration design but want lower stakes and less grinding between discoveries.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to ANIMAL WELL.

Nine Sols demands the same unforgiving precision as Hollow Knight, centering its entire identity on master-level boss encounters and tight, rhythmic combat. This shared focus on souls-like mechanical rigor ensures that every victory feels earned through pure skill rather than stat grinding.

While Hollow Knight emphasizes expansive, non-linear exploration, Nine Sols shifts the focus toward deflection-heavy martial arts combat inspired by Sekiro. You trade the melancholic, interconnected world-map design for a more structured, narrative-driven experience rooted in "Tao-punk" science fiction.

Pick this up if you want the punishing challenge of high-tier boss battles but can live without the aimless roaming of a sprawling, traditional interconnected map.

If you enjoyed this game, see our list of games similar to Nine Sols.