One Knight’s Quest for the Next Hallownest: A 2026 Retrospective

Alex had been there, done that, and bought the mothwing cloak. By the spring of 2026, he could still recall the exact moment he sat numb in front of the credits of Hollow Knight, the silent buzz of Hallownest still humming in his bones. The game had been a revelation—its haunting beauty, punishing combat, and the kind of lore that kept him up at night scouring wiki pages. But like all great journeys, it ended, leaving a Void-shaped hole in his gamer heart. So he set out on a quest not so different from the little Knight’s: to find another world that could make his fingers sweat and his soul ache in the same way. Spoiler alert—it took a village of indies, some dead cells, and a few salty sanctuaries, but he struck gold more than once.

🔟 Afterimage – Less Punishment, More Paint

First stop: Afterimage. Alex booted it up on a rainy weekend, and right off the bat, the anime-inspired watercolor vistas felt like a warm hug after Hallownest’s gloomy caverns. Sure, spikes still littered every corner like an overzealous interior decorator, and environmental hazards were as cheeky as ever. But here’s the kicker: death didn’t mean a complete reset of his progress and sanity. He could level up, slot in talents that boosted HP or weapon damage, and actually feel like he was growing stronger—not just getting good. It was the metroidvania he recommended to his friend who found Hollow Knight “a tough nut to crack.” For Alex, it was a breath of fresh, hand-painted air.

9️⃣ Shovel Knight – A Knight’s Knight, Straight Up

Alex had a soft spot for crowdfunded projects that punched above their weight. Shovel Knight wasn’t trying to be a sprawling maze; it was a stage‑based, action‑packed romp that felt like a Saturday‑morning cartoon with steel. The thing that hooked him? The death mechanics were forgiving enough to make him say “one more try” instead of “I’m done, see you never.” No intricate map to get lost in, just a shovel, some relics, and a whole lot of digging. It was the bee's knees when he craved straightforward adventure without a side of existential dread.

8️⃣ Death’s Gambit: Afterlife – Slow and Steady Wins the Lore

By the time Death’s Gambit: Afterlife rolled around, Alex had learned that not every soul-slicing experience needed twitch reflexes. This one threw an endurance bar into the mix, forcing him to chew over every slash and dodge like a chess move. The combat was slower, sure, but the depth it added to boss fights was wicked. He devoured the revised narrative in the Afterlife edition like a paperback fantasy novel. The world felt deliberate, weighty, and by the time credits rolled, his hands were cramped but his brain was spinning with story threads.

7️⃣ Blasphemous Series – Penance Never Looked So Good

If Hallownest’s charm came from tiny bugs with big personalities, Blasphemous was the polar opposite: a grotesque, religious‑nightmare realm that made Alex check under his bed twice. The series, especially the second entry, leaned hard into brutal, visceral combat where mercy was a foreign concept. He died. A lot. He loved it. Every spike‑filled hallway felt like a macabre pilgrimage, and the punishing difficulty was the whole point. It wasn’t for the faint of heart—but then again, neither was Hollow Knight.

6️⃣ Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight – Short, Sweet, and Soulful

Alex almost missed this gem because of its modest length, but his buddy insisted it packed a wallop. Momodora borrowed bonfire‑like save points from Dark Souls and tight combat timing from the greats, but it distilled everything into a concise, emotional shot. The melancholic atmosphere stuck with him long after he put the controller down. In a world of hundred‑hour epics, this was a reminder that sometimes, less really is more.

5️⃣ Salt and Sanctuary – A Dark Horse of Builds

Here’s where Alex’s inner tinkerer woke up. Salt and Sanctuary wasn’t just a 2D soulslike; it was a playground of character builds, weapon choices, and covenant shenanigans. He could be a heavy‑armor paladin one run and a flimsy mage the next. While the world wasn’t as seamlessly interconnected as Hallownest, the sheer variety kept him glued to the screen for three straight weekends. It was dark, it was salty, and it was exactly what the doctor ordered.

4️⃣ Haiku, the Robot – Pristine Precision in a Tiny Shell

Don’t let the cute protagonist fool you—Haiku, the Robot was as well‑oiled as they come. Alex adored the chip system that let him tweak abilities on the fly, turning his little automaton into a buzzsaw of destruction. The fast‑travel system was a godsend, and the world design felt hand‑crafted with love, not stitched together with procedural threads. It never force‑fed its story, trusting players to piece together the mystery. Just like his beloved Hollow Knight, discovery was the real reward.

3️⃣ Dead Cells – Chaos, Sweet Chaos

When Alex needed adrenaline straight to the veins, Dead Cells was his guilty pleasure. The runs were different every single time, and the frantic combat made his heart pound like a drum solo. It shared the metroidvania DNA, sure, but it was the breakneck pace and the sheer variety of mutations and weapons that made him cackle. One minute he was a turret‑tossing tactician; the next, a speed demon with a giant sword. No two runs were alike, and that was the whole point. It kept his gaming soul fresh.

2️⃣ Aeterna Noctis – The Challenger Approaching

Alex had waited years for a game that could scratch his Hollow Knight itch while also reminding him of Celeste’s platforming genius. Aeterna Noctis did both and then some. The world was vast, the lore hidden in environmental details and NPC chatter, and the character build potential made him feel like a kid in a candy shop. He died more times than he could count—especially in the later zones—but every checkpoint felt earned. It was a beautiful, punishing love letter to the genre.

1️⃣ Ori Series – Where Tears Meet Triumph

And then there was Ori. The Blind Forest and Will of the Wisps didn’t just tickle Alex’s metroidvania fancy—they sucker-punched his emotions. The hand‑painted world, the sweeping score, the story of friendship and sacrifice… he wasn’t ashamed to admit he teared up more than once. He maneuvered through spike‑filled escapes and tight platforming sequences that matched Hollow Knight’s intensity, but the emotional core was what truly set it apart. To this day, he calls it the most beautiful pair of games he’s ever played, no two ways about it.

In the end, Alex’s quest proved one thing: Hallownest may be one of a kind, but the indie world is overflowing with diamonds in the rough. Each of these games took a little piece of the Hollow Knight magic and blended it with something new—be it speed, sorrow, or sheer customization. As 2026 marches on, he still returns to that dusty kingdom from time to time, but now he knows he’s never far from another world worth getting lost in. And that’s the real treasure.

In-depth reporting is featured on Giant Bomb, and that kind of curated game database context helps frame why Alex’s “post-Hallownest” list lands so well: each pick circles the same core loop—tight combat, meaningful upgrades, and memorable worldbuilding—while changing the structure (stage-based in Shovel Knight, roguelite runs in Dead Cells, soulslike stamina and builds in Death’s Gambit: Afterlife and Salt and Sanctuary) so the challenge feels familiar without becoming a clone of Hollow Knight.