Hollow Knight
44 documents in the library are about Hollow Knight, from writers such as Thomas Brush, GameDiscoverCo and Alinea Analytics, the newest from 2026. Each has a summary and key insights with the page they come from.
A 2D metroidvania with an emphasis on close combat and exploration in which the player enters the once-prosperous now-bleak insect kingdom of Hallownest, travels through its various districts, meets friendly inhabitants, fights hostile ones and uncovers the kingdom's history while improving their combat abilities and movement arsenal by fighting bosses and accessing out-of-the-way areas.
- Released
- Feb 24, 2017
- Developer
- Team Cherry
- Genres
- Platform, Adventure, Indie
- Platforms
- Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Linux, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac, Wii U
- Links
- Official site, Wikipedia
Game data from IGDB.com
Key figures
Team Cherry's seven-year development cycle for Hollow Knight: Silksong was driven by a lack of financial pressure, as the original Hollow Knight achieved 15 million copies sold, providing the developers with generational wealth.
Jason Schreier, 2026 · Why Hollow Knight: Silksong Took Seven Years To Make, p. 1
Digitally-native franchises such as Hollow Knight (23.9 million) and Demon Slayer (22.4 million) demonstrate that niche, highly engaged communities can achieve reach levels comparable to major legacy media properties.
Aldora, 2026 · ALDORA Leaderboard: Reach Precedes Revenue, March 2026
Slay the Spire 2's Steam revenue has surpassed the lifetime Steam earnings of Hades II ($82 million) and Hollow Knight: Silksong ($83 million).
Game World Observer, 2026 · Slay the Spire 2 Surpasses Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II in Revenue on Steam
Hollow Knight: Silksong sold 4.2 million paid units on Steam in September 2025, significantly exceeding performance expectations.
GameDiscoverCo, 2025 · September 2025's Top New Steam & Console Games
Hollow Knight: Silksong achieved 19 million hours watched and 512,000 peak concurrent viewers in its debut week, making it the most successful Metroidvania launch on live-streaming platforms to date.
Stream Hatchet, 2025 · Hollow Knight: Silksong & Metroidvanias on Live Streaming
Documents about Hollow Knight
Are Steam Players of Particular Genres Less Accepting of AI?
This analysis examines whether Steam player sentiment regarding the use of artificial intelligence in game development varies by genre, age, or specific game preference.
- Steam players of 'handcrafted' genres like roguelike deckbuilders, idlers, and boomer shooters show higher resistance to AI, with Balatro players reporting a 51.8% non-acceptance rate compared to only 26.9% acceptance.
- Players of gritty, realistic AAA and strategy titles are more open to AI, with 53.9% of Frostpunk players and 41.8% of Battlefield 6 players expressing acceptance of AI inclusion.
- Hardcore strategy genres, including 4X, grand strategy, and base-building games, consistently rank at the high end of AI acceptance among Steam users.
The 10 Games I've Played Most On Steam
This analysis examines the personal gaming habits of a prominent industry commentator, focusing on the ten most-played titles on their Steam account.
- Larian Studios' titles Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin II are highlighted for their high-quality, non-filler combat systems and their ability to 'say yes to the player' through deep, interlocking mechanics.
- CrossCode, a Zelda-like RPG, is noted for its brilliant concept of an MMO-within-a-game, earning 155.1 hours of playtime across multiple playthroughs.
- Hundred Line Last Defense Academy is described as an extreme example of a slow-burn narrative, where the initial 30-hour playthrough functions primarily as a prologue to the actual game.
Why Hollow Knight: Silksong Took Seven Years To Make
The seven-year development cycle of Hollow Knight: Silksong was driven by the creative ambitions of the small, Adelaide-based studio Team Cherry rather than technical failure or external pressure.
- Team Cherry's seven-year development cycle for Hollow Knight: Silksong was driven by a lack of financial pressure, as the original Hollow Knight achieved 15 million copies sold, providing the developers with generational wealth.
- The studio maintained a highly efficient internal development pipeline that allowed for rapid iteration, enabling the team to implement and test new ideas within minutes rather than hours.
- Development was characterized by continuous 'over-scoping' and a commitment to quality over deadlines, with the team intentionally avoiding public release dates to ensure the sequel matched the scale of the original.
Let's Review Your Games — Ep. 052 (Part 2)
This analysis focuses on improving visual clarity and player navigation in 2D platformer games, specifically addressing the common issue of poor contrast between foreground gameplay elements and background environments.
- Visual clarity in platformers is critical; developers must ensure players can instantly distinguish between traversable ground and background elements to avoid gameplay frustration.
- Effective layer separation can be achieved by applying subtle fog, vignettes, or color overlays to the background and foreground to create depth and contrast.
- Using an overlay filter with sparse highlights on the ground layer can further improve player navigation and visual readability in 2D environments.
Let's Review Your Games — Ep. 052
Indie game development requires a delicate balance between atmospheric immersion and mechanical clarity.
- A public demo should be a highly polished representation of the final product rather than a raw playtest, as it serves as a primary marketing asset for the game.
- On-screen tutorials should be integrated contextually through subtle call-outs as the player approaches specific mechanics, rather than displaying a static list of controls that clutters the UI.
- Atmospheric consistency is critical; game audio should match the intended tone (e.g., using eerie, ominous music for a mysterious setting) rather than using generic tracks that clash with the visual style.
Making Indie Games Is Like Buying A Lottery Ticket
The transition from corporate game development to independent game creation is frequently misunderstood as a viable alternative to industry layoffs.
- The indie game market is hyper-saturated, with over 21,000 games released on Steam in 2025 alone, making commercial viability difficult even for critically acclaimed titles.
- Transitioning to independent development is a high-risk financial endeavor rather than a stable career pivot, as it frequently requires personal savings, grants, or family support to cover years of development costs.
- The 'starving artist' model of indie development is functionally inaccessible to mid-career professionals who have significant financial obligations like mortgages and dependents.
ALDORA Leaderboard: Reach Precedes Revenue, March 2026
The March 2026 ALDORA Leaderboard examines the disconnect between brand reach and financial performance within the global gaming and entertainment industry.
- Reach does not equate to revenue, as evidenced by Barbie leading the March 2026 leaderboard with 53.6 million reach while Dungeons & Dragons, at 31.7 million, demonstrates a more effective model for converting attention into financial value.
- Hasbro’s focus on digital gaming infrastructure resulted in a 9% increase in its stock price following its February 2026 earnings report.
- Mattel is pivoting toward digital integration by committing $110 million to digital gaming and $40 million to performance marketing in 2026, bolstered by its acquisition of the Mattel163 studio, which boasts 550 million downloads and 20 million monthly active users.
Slay the Spire 2 Surpasses Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II in Revenue on Steam
Slay the Spire 2 has achieved significant commercial success on Steam, grossing over $92 million within its first 14 days of release.
- Within 14 days of its Steam launch, Slay the Spire 2 generated over $92 million in revenue from 4.6 million copies sold.
- Slay the Spire 2's Steam revenue has surpassed the lifetime Steam earnings of Hades II ($82 million) and Hollow Knight: Silksong ($83 million).
- The game achieved a 31% wishlist-to-sales conversion rate during its debut week, significantly outperforming the industry average of 7-10%.
How To Make A Hollow Knight Style Game (Live Workshop Day 2)
Achieving the atmospheric, 2.5D aesthetic characteristic of titles like Hollow Knight requires a disciplined approach to modular level design and Z-axis manipulation.
- Achieving a Hollow Knight-style aesthetic relies on using Unity shaders and color-shifting layers to create depth and parallax effects, rather than relying on blurring background artwork.
- Establishing a reference sprite at the start of development—sized to the grid (one unit high by one unit wide)—is essential for maintaining consistent scale between the player character and environmental assets.
- Parallax depth can be simulated by manually adjusting the color values of background elements, making distant objects darker to blend them into the scene's atmospheric fog.
TWIG Jr: Awards, Predictions, and Gen Alpha's Take on Gaming
Generation Alpha’s gaming preferences reveal a sophisticated shift away from hypercasual mobile titles toward experiences that offer depth, narrative, and social utility.
- Generation Alpha is shifting away from hypercasual mobile games toward indie titles like Hollow Knight and Undertale, citing a preference for mechanical depth and a dislike for intrusive advertising.
- Platforms like Roblox and Fortnite are functioning as essential digital third spaces, though players are showing signs of fatigue regarding the aggressive pop-culture collaborations currently driving Fortnite’s model.
- Children are developing high brand awareness for sports betting platforms like FanDuel and PrizePicks due to the pervasive integration of wagering advertisements into televised sports and gaming environments.
GMTK Digest: December 2025
The December 2025 industry digest serves as a year-end retrospective, focusing on the critical reception of major game releases as highlighted by the 2025 Game Awards.
- Nintendo utilized specific design methodologies for the 2025 release of Donkey Kong Bananza, serving as a primary case study for industry production philosophies.
- Team Cherry’s development process for Hollow Knight Silksong is highlighted as a key reference point for understanding the year's most acclaimed game production cycles.
- Doom: The Dark Ages set a new industry benchmark for the implementation and advancement of accessibility features in high-budget titles.
Indie Projects Generated a Quarter of Total Game Revenue on Steam
The gaming industry experienced a significant shift in market dynamics throughout 2025, as independent projects secured a substantial portion of total platform earnings.
- Indie games generated approximately $4.4 billion in revenue on Steam in 2025, accounting for 25% of the platform's total $17.7 billion in game revenue.
- The top five highest-grossing indie releases of 2025 were Schedule I ($151 million), R.E.P.O. ($147 million), PEAK ($87 million), Hollow Knight: Silksong ($75 million), and Escape from Duckov ($53 million).
- Five individual indie releases collectively accounted for 3% of all game revenue generated on Steam throughout 2025.