The hardest part about finding games like Hollow Knight is knowing where to start. The overwhelming success of Team Cherry’s award-winning 2017 game–and anticipation of its long-awaited sequel, Silksong–prompted a flood of similar games all looking to capture the magic of combining soulslike combat with deep exploration. Some are more inventive than others, building on Hollow Knight’s foundations to push that style of game forward in new or unexpected ways. Others take a specific aspect, such as grueling boss fights, and run with it. We’ve combed through the lot and picked out 15 of the best games like Hollow Knight to get you started in this impressively varied sub-genre.
If you’re not as excited about combat and want puzzles and exploration instead, head over to our list of the best metroidvania games.
Nine Sols
- Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
- Release Date: May 29, 2024
- Developer: Red Candle Games
If Hollow Knight is the Dark Souls of metroidvanias, then Nine Sols is the genre’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Parrying is at the core of almost everything you do in Nine Sols, from dealing with standard enemies to wearing down some of its relentless bosses. Among games like Hollow Knight, it’s also one of the most thematically and visually distinct. Developer Red Candle Games call Nine Sols a “Taopunk,” a blend of sci-fi punk with traditional Taoist architecture and symbolism. Most protagonists in games like these are blank slates, but Nine Sols adds a personal touch by making the personality of its hero, Yi, an important part of the story. Yi starts out seeking revenge, and ends up on a journey to save the world and himself, becoming a reluctant hero in the process.
Animal Well
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5
- Release Date: May 9, 2024
- Developer: Billy Basso, Shared Memory LLC
Animal Well is a puzzle, or more accurately, a lot of puzzles. There’s a bit of combat and some platforming, but mostly, it’s about trying to unravel dozens of mysteries big and small as you delve ever further into a maze that wouldn’t be out of place in Lewis Carrol’s Wonderland stories. Explaining too much about what’s going on would spoil what makes Animal Well special, but the most interesting and even subversive parts of it is that you have almost nothing to guide you and can make discoveries in any order. That freedom creates a sense of discovery and wonder that’s often absent from the procedural methods inherent in these kinds of games.
Read our Animal Well review.
Ultros
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5
- Release Date: February 13, 2024
- Developer: Hadoque
Of all the games like Hollow Knight, Ultros takes the most organic approach to metroidvanias, and we mean that literally. You, an intergalactic explorer, arrive on a psychedelic space colony called The Sarcophagus and find it teeming with exotic life and mysterious spiritual energies. You use the life force and remains of enemies to nourish your mind and unlock new abilities, and there’s a scoring system that ranks how efficiently you defeat your foes. That determines the quality of the loot they drop, so if you want to unlock and improve your skills, you have to plan each encounter carefully. Ultros is also absolutely beautiful, a dream-like blend of esoteric architecture and wild ecosystems with closer ties to the Sarcophagus’ secrets than Ultros initially suggests.
Read our Ultros review.
Blasphemous 2
- Platforms: PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch
- Release Date: August 24, 2023
- Developer: The Game Kitchen
Blasphemous 2’s big addition over its predecessor–apart from even more ghoulish and gory moments–is the inclusion of more platforming. The first Blasphemous is a bit one-note, which is great if you’re just here for the combat, but not so much if you want, well, anything else. Blasphemous 2 throws in some challenging and smartly-designed platforming as well, bringing it closer to the likes of Hollow Knight. Better still, developer The Game Kitchen was more ambitious with its environment design as well, with more complex layouts, better backgrounds and lighting, and even colors that aren’t brown, grey, and blood.
Read our Blasphemous 2 review.
Elden Ring
- Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Release Date: February 25, 2022
- Developer: FromSoftware
Okay, so Elden Ring doesn’t have the exploration style of Hollow Knight, but it does have the kind of grueling combat that inspired Team Cherry’s spectacular boss fights, and lots of it. It’s FromSoftware’s first open-world game, one that follows a lone, nameless warrior in their bid to bring salvation to a shattered land–or make its ruin everlasting. Mostly, though, it’s a giant playground for dozens of exceptionally well-designed and challenging bosses to stomp (you) around in, with enemies ranging from fire-spewing land dragons to the spirits of an ancient civilization and a gigantic, greatsword-wielding prince on his favorite little horsey.
Read our Elden Ring review.
