Games Like Hollow Knight: The Best Metroidvanias

8 games listed • Updated 8/19/2026

Hollow Knight is the modern benchmark for a reason that has little to do with its difficulty. It built a world where every locked path you noticed on hour two becomes an answer on hour nine, and it trusted you to remember rather than marking it for you. Most games described as metroidvanias only take half of that. They have abilities that open doors, but the world is a corridor with branches rather than a place that folds back on itself. The difference is whether exploration feels like navigation or like following a line. The list below prioritises world design over combat, because that is the part Hollow Knight does best. Combat quality varies across these picks and the notes say so, but every entry earns its place on the strength of a map worth learning.