Hollow Knight Hard? LGBTQ, Pricing & Popularity Answers

Anyone who has picked up a controller and ventured into the decaying kingdom of Hallownest knows the feeling: the quiet dread, the precise timing, the satisfaction of finally defeating a boss that killed you twenty times. Hollow Knight, the 2017 Metroidvania from Australian indie studio Team Cherry, has become a touchstone for players who want their games challenging, atmospheric, and deeply rewarding, with over 15 million copies sold and a Metacritic score of 87 that keeps drawing people in and sparking questions about its difficulty, themes, and price.

Release year: 2017 ·
Developer: Team Cherry ·
Genre: Metroidvania ·
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Switch, PS4, Xbox One ·
Price: $15 ·
Metacritic: 87/100 (PC)

Eight key specs, one takeaway: Hollow Knight delivers a complete premium experience at a fraction of the price of AAA titles, with a scope that rivals games costing three times as much.

Is Hollow Knight a very hard game?

Yes—and that’s a big part of why people love it. Hollow Knight is widely regarded as one of the most challenging games in the Metroidvania genre, with combat that demands pattern recognition, platforming that punishes a single mistimed jump, and a map that gives you almost no direction.

Why Hollow Knight is considered difficult

• Boss fights like Nightmare King Grimm and the Radiance require dozens of attempts for most players.
• The game lacks a traditional quest log or waypoint system—you explore and figure things out yourself.
• Death sends you back to the last bench you rested at, and you lose all your Geo (currency) until you reach your shade again.
• Platforming sections like the White Palace and Path of Pain demand pixel-perfect timing and spatial awareness.

Five years after release, players still debate which boss is the hardest. The Notebookcheck (tech publication) report covering the 2025 player surge noted that the game’s “brutal but fair” design keeps players coming back even after they have beaten it.

Comparison to other hard games

Hollow Knight is frequently compared to the Dark Souls series—so often that players coined the term “Soulslike Metroidvania.” The comparison is apt: both games punish recklessness, reward patience, and hide story details in item descriptions and environmental clues.

Five games, one pattern: difficulty varies in type, but Hollow Knight’s endurance-based challenge sits somewhere between the tactical combat of Dark Souls and the precision platforming of Celeste.

The catch: Hollow Knight’s difficulty costs less than half the price of its closest competitor, which makes it the most accessible entry point into the “hard games” club.

Tips for beginners

• Explore thoroughly before tackling a boss—upgrades like the Mothwing Cloak and Mantis Claw make fights easier.
• Use the map markers to track rooms you cannot access yet.
• Do not hoard Geo; spend it at shops in Dirtmouth before risky areas.
• Learn boss attack patterns by watching the telegraph animations rather than reacting.

The implication: mastering Hollow Knight builds confidence that carries over to any challenging game.

Is Hollow Knight LGBTQ?

The short answer: Hollow Knight does not contain any overt LGBTQ+ characters, romance, or storylines explicitly confirmed by its developers. The longer answer involves a community that sees queer themes in the game’s atmosphere and character dynamics.

LGBTQ themes in Hollow Knight

• No character in the game is identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender in official material.
• The game’s story focuses on a dying kingdom, a plague called the Infection, and the Knight’s quest to contain it.
• Some fans interpret the relationship between the White Lady and the Pale King as a strained marriage, but it is not romanticized.
• A 2023 video essay titled “Hollow Knight: Queer Gothic Triumph” (YouTube video essay) argues that queerness is embedded in the game’s themes of isolation, decay, and bodies that do not fit social norms.

“There are two side-character couples that appear to be gay and lesbian respectively, woven into the background without fanfare.”

— Video essayist, “Hollow Knight: Queer Gothic Triumph” (2023)

That essay’s claims are based on reading character interactions and environmental storytelling—not on developer confirmation. Team Cherry has never issued a statement about LGBTQ representation in the game.

Developer statements on representation

• Team Cherry has not publicly discussed LGBTQ themes or characters in Hollow Knight.
• The developers have focused their public communications on gameplay updates, bug fixes, and Silksong development.
• No official Pride merchandise, in-game events, or charity initiatives related to LGBTQ causes exist for Hollow Knight.

Fan interpretations

• A 2019 Reddit (community discussion) post titled “Hollow Knight does LGBTQ+ representation right” sparked debate about whether the game’s subtlety is a strength or an absence.
• Some fans point to Hornet’s relationship with the Knight (sibling-like, but ambiguous) and the White Lady’s dialogue as queer-coded.
• Others argue that reading queerness into the game is a stretch, given the complete lack of romantic or sexual content.

Why is Hollow Knight so popular?

Seven years after release, Hollow Knight reached an all-time peak concurrent player count of 23,840 on Steam (Notebookcheck, tech publication) on August 22, 2025. That is higher than its previous record of about 20,300 in May 2022. For a game that costs $15 and has no ongoing monetization, that kind of longevity is rare.

Award-winning gameplay and design

• Metacritic scores range from 87 (PC) to 90 (Switch), placing it among the highest-rated indie games ever.
• The hand-drawn art style and atmospheric soundtrack by Christopher Larkin are consistently praised.
• The world of Hallownest is interconnected and layered with secrets, encouraging exploration and replay.

Content value for price

• Average playtime for a first playthrough is 30–40 hours; completionists spend 50–60 hours.
• Four free content packs (Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, Lifeblood, Godmaster) added bosses, modes, and lore.
• At $15, the cost per hour of entertainment is roughly $0.30–$0.50, far below most games.

For context, the Radio Times (entertainment outlet) reported that Steam-tracking services estimate Hollow Knight sold between 7.36 million and 11.15 million copies on Steam alone, with total sales across all platforms reportedly exceeding 15 million.

Community and mods

• The modding community has created custom bosses, randomizers, and quality-of-life mods that extend replayability.
• Speedrunners regularly compete in categories like Any% and 112% completion.
• Fan art, lore theories, and memes keep the game visible on social media platforms like Reddit and YouTube.

Why this matters: Hollow Knight’s popularity is not a nostalgia bump—it is a genuine, sustained audience that treats the game as a living part of the gaming landscape, not a finished product from 2017.

What is the top 1 hardest game?

There is no official hardest game, but Hollow Knight appears on nearly every “hardest games” list published by gaming outlets. The question is where it ranks relative to the usual suspects.

Contenders for hardest game

• Dark Souls (2011) — Tactical combat with stamina management and punishing death mechanics.
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019) — Requires perfect parry timing and aggressive posture breaking.
• I Wanna Be the Guy (2007) — Known for unfair traps and instant-death obstacles.
• Celeste (2018) — Precision platforming with a generous assist mode built in.
• Cuphead (2017) — Boss-rush game with no health regeneration between fights.

Where Hollow Knight ranks

• Hollow Knight is frequently placed in the top 5–10 on “hardest games ever” lists by outlets like Radio Times (entertainment outlet).
• Its difficulty is considered “fair” by most players—deaths are almost always the player’s fault, not the game’s.
• The Pantheon of Hallownest (a boss rush mode added in the Godmaster update) is often cited as one of the hardest single challenges in any game.

Determining difficulty metrics

• No single metric defines difficulty: completion rates, death counts, and community consensus all vary.
• On Steam, only about 10% of players have unlocked the “Embrace the Void” achievement (completing Pantheon of Hallownest).
• By comparison, Dark Souls has a roughly 35% completion rate for its final boss achievement on Steam.

“Hollow Knight’s brutality is praised for its fairness—every death teaches you something, and the game never cheats.”

— Notebookcheck (tech publication) analysis

The trade-off: Hollow Knight is easier to pick up than Dark Souls (no complex stat systems) but harder to master than most platformers. Its difficulty is a feature, not a bug—and that is exactly why it keeps appearing on “hardest games” lists.

Is Hollow Knight free now?

No. Hollow Knight is not free to play, nor is it included in any subscription service by default (though it has been part of Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus at various times). The standard price is $14.99 on all platforms.

Current pricing

• Steam: $14.99 (full price) — Steam (official store page)
• Nintendo eShop: $14.99
• PlayStation Store: $14.99
• Xbox Store: $14.99

Free trials and demos

• There is no official demo version of Hollow Knight.
• A browser-based clone called “Hollow Knight Free” exists but is not affiliated with Team Cherry and contains only a fraction of the original game’s content.
• No free-to-play model or microtransaction system exists.

Is there a free version?

• No official free version exists.
• The game is sometimes included in Humble Bundle packs, which can bring the effective cost down to $5–$10.
• Steam sales typically discount the game to $7.49 (50% off) during seasonal events.

The implication: For players on a budget, Hollow Knight’s $15 price tag is a barrier only until you consider the cost per hour. At roughly $0.30 per hour, it is cheaper than a streaming subscription.

Timeline

Seven key dates, one story: Hollow Knight’s journey from Kickstarter campaign to indie legend, and the long wait for its sequel.

• 2014 — Team Cherry starts development of Hollow Knight via Kickstarter campaign. (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia))
• February 2017 — Hollow Knight released on Windows, macOS, and Linux. (Notebookcheck (tech publication))
• 2018 — Console releases: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
• February 2019 — Hollow Knight: Silksong announced as a standalone sequel.
• 2020–2025 — Silksong remains in development; no release date has been announced.
• May 2022 — Hollow Knight reaches previous peak concurrent player record of ~20,300 on Steam (Radio Times (entertainment outlet)).
• August 22, 2025 — New all-time peak of 23,840 concurrent players on Steam (Notebookcheck (tech publication)).

The pattern: Hollow Knight’s player base has grown, not shrunk, over time—a rare trajectory for a single-player game without live-service updates. The Silksong announcement in 2019 created a long tail of anticipation that continues to drive new players to the original.

Confirmed facts vs. what’s unclear

After reviewing all available sources, here is where the evidence stands and where the gaps remain.

Confirmed facts

• Hollow Knight was developed by Team Cherry and released in 2017. (Notebookcheck (tech publication))
• It is a Metroidvania game with high difficulty. (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia))
• The standard price is $15, not free. (Steam (official store page))
• No official LGBTQ content has been confirmed by developers. (Reddit (community discussion))
• Metacritic scores are 87/100 (PC) and 90/100 (Switch). (Metacritic (review aggregator))
• All-time peak concurrent players on Steam reached 23,840 in August 2025. (Notebookcheck (tech publication))
• Silksong had over 5 million players in its first three days. (GameReactor (gaming news outlet))

What’s unclear

• Whether the game intentionally includes queer-coded characters—no developer statement exists.
• Whether Hollow Knight is “woke”—the term is subjective and not defined by Team Cherry.
• Exact ranking on “hardest game” lists varies by publication and criteria.
• Release date of Hollow Knight: Silksong remains unknown.
• Exact sales figures: reports vary between 7.36 million and 15 million copies. (Radio Times (entertainment outlet))
• Whether Silksong sales estimates of 4.2 million in under two weeks are accurate—analyst figures, not official. (80 Level (gaming industry publication))

“Hollow Knight does LGBTQ+ representation right by not making a big deal out of it—the characters just exist, and their relationships are presented as normal.”

— Reddit user, r/HollowKnight (2019)

“The queerness is in the atmosphere: bodies that don’t conform, isolation that feels familiar, and a world that refuses to explain itself.”

— Video essayist, “Hollow Knight: Queer Gothic Triumph” (2023)

For readers who enjoy deep world-building and atmospheric storytelling, the lore of Hallownest shares DNA with the expansive universes found in Brandon Sanderson’s fantasy series—both reward careful attention to detail and reward the patient explorer. And if the exploration-and-discovery loop of Hollow Knight appeals to you, the Indiana Jones movies tap into a similar sense of venturing into the unknown.

Hollow Knight is not a game for everyone—it demands patience, persistence, and a willingness to die repeatedly. But for players who meet it on its own terms, it delivers an experience that has sustained a community for nearly a decade and shows no signs of fading. The wait for Silksong is long, but the original game continues to prove that difficulty, when done fairly, is not a barrier—it is an invitation. For players in the market for a deep, challenging, and affordable game, the choice is clear: buy Hollow Knight, accept the deaths, and discover why millions keep coming back to Hallownest.

Frequently asked questions