Why Hollow Knight's Level Design is a Masterclass in Metroidvania

Recent Trends in the Metroidvania Genre

In recent years, the Metroidvania genre has experienced a resurgence, with indie titles such as Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Blasphemous, and Ender Lilies capturing player attention. Yet among these, Hollow Knight remains a consistent reference point for critics and designers. Its level design is frequently cited as a benchmark—not merely for its layout, but for how it integrates exploration, challenge, and narrative pacing. The current trend sees developers borrowing from Hollow Knight’s approach: interconnected maps, meaningful backtracking, and environmental storytelling.

Background: What Makes Hollow Knight’s Design Distinct

Released in 2017 by Team Cherry, Hollow Knight built on classic Metroidvania principles from titles like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night while introducing its own philosophy. The world of Hallownest is a single, contiguous map where each area flows logically into the next. Unlike many games that rely on frequent fast travel, Hollow Knight encourages players to memorize routes, recognize landmarks, and chart their own path. The design prioritizes discovery over hand-holding, with minimal explicit waypoints or quest markers. Key aspects include:

• Non-linear progression – Multiple routes open up early, allowing players to tackle areas in varying orders.
• Ability gating – New movement or combat abilities (e.g., Mantis Claw, Monarch Wings) unlock previously inaccessible areas, rewarding exploration.
• Environmental narrative – Each biome (e.g., the fungal Fungal Wastes, the dripping Greenpath) tells its own story through visual details and enemy placement.
• Risk-reward pacing – Bench save points are spaced deliberately; long gauntlets test player endurance, but shortcuts and hidden rooms provide relief.

User Concerns and Community Discussions

While the level design is widely praised, players have raised recurring concerns in forums and video essays. These center on accessibility and pacing. Some users find the lack of a built-in map legend or compass frustrating, especially for newcomers. Others cite the difficulty of navigating certain late-game areas (e.g., the confusing Deepnest or the gauntlet-like Path of Pain) as a barrier. Common points of debate include:

• Map system – The need to buy map fragments and equip a pin to track position is intentional, but some argue it punishes exploration rather than rewarding it.
• Signposting – Minimal clues about where to go next can lead to aimless wandering; proponents say this forces genuine discovery.
• Bench scarcity – Long stretches between saves raise tension but also increase frustration after repeated failures, particularly in boss segments.

Despite these concerns, the consensus among the Hollow Knight community is that the level design’s consistency and craft outweigh its occasional demands. The game’s ongoing popularity in modding and speedrunning communities further validates its design.

Likely Impact on Game Development

The influence of Hollow Knight’s level design is already visible in upcoming and recently released Metroidvanias. Developers are increasingly adopting similar approaches: hand-crafted maps with dense interconnectivity, minimal UI clutter, and a focus on player agency. Likely impacts include:

• More nuance in ability gating – Imitating Hollow Knight’s style of letting players acquire abilities in different orders, then designing multiple paths that remain viable.
• Less reliance on fast travel – Encouraging meaningful traversal rather than teleporting everywhere, as seen in Silksong (the sequel) and indies like Nine Sols.
• Environmental storytelling as a design pillar – Text logs and visual cues replacing exposition dumps.
• Higher difficulty expectations – New releases increasingly challenge players with intricate platforming and demanding enemy placement, following Hollow Knight’s lead.

However, not all games will copy its exact formula. Some will soften the learning curve with lighter map hints, while others will double down on the punishing aspects. The broader trend is toward more deliberate, curated world layouts that respect a player’s intelligence.

What to Watch Next

Several upcoming titles are expected to draw from Hollow Knight’s design philosophy. The most anticipated is Silksong, Team Cherry’s follow-up, which promises a larger world, new movement mechanics, and a different protagonist—but likely maintains the same level-design principles. Other games to observe include Enviro-Bear (anecdotally, a minimalist Metroidvania) and Animal Well, which emphasizes nonlinear puzzle-solving based on item interactions. The indie scene also sees a rise in "short Metroidvanias" (roughly 8–10 hours) that focus on tight, memorable level layouts rather than sprawling maps. Keep an eye on early-access feedback for these titles: community reaction to map clarity, difficulty ramps, and discovery rewards will indicate whether Hollow Knight’s model becomes the genre standard or inspires further innovation.