Hollow Knight – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Review

A quiet descent into beauty and brutality where every step forward has weight.

Hollow Knight wastes no time pulling you into its atmosphere. The world feels heavy in the best way, supported by a haunting soundtrack and a dark tone that never lets up. Movement is tight and responsive, with controls that make even precise platforming feel fair. Exploration is the backbone of the experience, and the map steadily expanding as you push deeper gives real momentum to discovery. Across roughly 43 hours with 86 percent completion, there is no shortage of things to find or return to. The Switch 2 Edition enhances the experience with higher resolution, improved frame rates and added effects that hold up even in handheld mode. It is a smooth, modern-feeling version of a game that never really aged out.

Difficulty is a defining trait but rarely feels unfair in the main path. It can spike hard for players less comfortable with platforming, especially when optional content ramps things up. Enemies respawning after resting at benches adds tension but also contributes to backtracking friction. Geo, the in-game currency, adds another layer of risk since it is dropped on death and must be reclaimed from your Shade or it is lost permanently, which can turn some runs into repeated recovery trips through familiar areas. That backtracking is also tied to collecting Geo, which often turns exploration into resource-driven detours rather than pure discovery.

Where the game is more divisive is its storytelling. The lore is deep and clearly intentional, but it does not land on the surface level without effort. If you are not invested in reading and piecing things together, the world can feel intentionally obscure. The broader idea of corruption and shifting nature is there, but it does not always translate cleanly through moment-to-moment play.

Still, the combination of atmosphere, gameplay precision and exploration design makes it consistently compelling. It is a demanding experience that respects the player’s patience and curiosity.

9/10

Pokémon Lens:

Hollow Knight shares a loose philosophical overlap with Pokémon in its emphasis on discovery and gradual mastery of systems. Where Pokémon typically builds clarity through structured progression and team building, Hollow Knight leans into isolation and interpretation, asking players to piece together meaning and direction with far less guidance. The sense of journey is similar, but the emotional framing is more subdued and less explicit, trading companionship and narrative clarity for atmosphere and personal interpretation.