Games like Hollow Knight and Silksong: picks for bosses, secrets, movement and an easier path

02 / Silksong first?

Started with Silksong? Play Hollow Knight next

Hollow Knight: Silksong launched on 4 September 2025, and many players met Team Cherry through it. Hollow Knight, from 2017, is the obvious next step: the same hand-drawn style, a vast ruined kingdom of insects, and free content packs that add bosses and quests. Steam players rate it 97 percent positive from about 186,000 English reviews, against Silksong's 93 percent from about 147,000, on 23 October 2026.

It is on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch, and Nintendo sells a Switch 2 Edition with higher resolution and frame rates, plus an upgrade pack for Switch owners. On the US Steam store on 23 October 2026 it cost 14.99 USD, against 19.99 USD for Silksong. Oruvai's read: it is the gentler of the two, which makes it a good bridge if Silksong's later bosses stopped you.

Beyond Hollow Knight, the alternatives split along the other reasons people love Team Cherry's games: tough bosses in a melancholy world, a map full of secrets and movement mastery. For players who want less punishment, there is an easier path too.

03 / Bosses

If you loved hard bosses in a dark, sad world

Silksong's fights reward reading patterns and punish greed. Nine Sols and Blasphemous 2 keep that pressure; Ender Magnolia keeps the melancholy and lets you choose how hard it gets.

• Nine SolsA hand-drawn 2D action platformer from Red Candle Games with Sekiro-inspired deflection combat and a lore-rich eastern fantasy world. Oruvai's read: its bosses are the closest to Silksong's pressure. Steam lists adjustable difficulty. Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch. Steam rates it 95 percent positive on 23 October 2026.
• Blasphemous 2A brutal gothic metroidvania from The Game Kitchen, with grotesque bosses, unforgiving traps and several weapons to master. The Mea Culpa expansion (October 2024) adds more. Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch.
• ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the MistA dark fantasy metroidvania set decades after Ender Lilies, where sorrowful artificial beings called Homunculi fight at your side. It is the most melancholy pick here, and Steam says its difficulty levels let you choose a hard fight or a calmer story run. Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch. Steam rates it 97 percent positive on 23 October 2026.

04 / Secrets

If you loved a map full of secrets

The best moment in Hollow Knight is often a breakable wall you were not supposed to notice. These three are built around that feeling.

• Metroid DreadThe series that gave the genre half its name, at its sharpest: you gain abilities, return to old areas and find hidden upgrades. Platforms: Switch only, with no Switch 2 Edition listed. Its 2D successor, Metroid Ravenous, is dated 28 January 2027 on Switch 2.
• ANIMAL WELLA dense, interconnected labyrinth from Billy Basso and Bigmode, built around items and puzzles more than fighting, with secrets that Steam says players will be discovering for years. Platforms: PC, PS5, Switch and Xbox Series X|S. Steam rates it 95 percent positive on 23 October 2026.
• TUNICAn isometric action game about a small fox, where pages of an in-game manual reveal maps, techniques and deeper secrets. Combat leans soulslike, with dodges, blocks and parries. Platforms: PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch.

05 / Movement

If you loved mastering the movement

Late in Hollow Knight you cross rooms without touching the ground. These games make that flow the main event.

• Ori and the Will of the WispsMoon Studios' fluid, emotional platformer through a beautiful and sad forest. Oruvai's read: it is more forgiving than Team Cherry's games, which makes it the best easier pick for movement fans. Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch; it is not on PlayStation. Steam rates it 96 percent positive on 23 October 2026.
• CelestePure precision platforming: more than 700 screens on a mountain, lightning-fast respawns and brutal B-side chapters, around a story about Madeline facing her inner demons. Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. Steam rates it 97 percent positive on 23 October 2026.
• Prince of Persia: The Lost CrownFast combat and time powers in a mythological Persian world, plus the Eye of the Wanderer, which pins a screenshot to your map as a reminder of a spot you cannot reach yet. Ubisoft lists optional accessibility features. Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch.

06 / Easier

If you want the same feeling, but easier

A Hollow Knight but easier can mean fewer punishing bosses or less time lost wandering. Ori and the Will of the Wisps answers the first. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown answers the second, because its map screenshots and optional accessibility features take much of the frustration out of backtracking.

Ender Magnolia and Nine Sols both offer difficulty settings, so you can keep the atmosphere and the bosses while lowering the stakes. Celeste is not easy, but its instant respawns make failure cheap. Oruvai's read: Blasphemous 2 is the pick to avoid if difficulty was the problem.

07 / Platforms

On Switch, PS5 or Xbox, and what is coming next

Every pick is on PC except Metroid Dread, and console players have most of the list too.

• Switch and Switch 2Every game on this list has a Switch version, and Hollow Knight and Silksong also have Switch 2 Editions. Metroid Dread is Switch only.
• PS5Nine Sols, Blasphemous 2, Ender Magnolia, Animal Well, Tunic, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Hollow Knight. Celeste is a PS4 game, and Ori and Metroid Dread are not on PlayStation.
• XboxEvery pick except Metroid Dread. Animal Well is on Xbox Series X|S only.
• Coming nextSea of Sorrow, Silksong's free expansion with new areas, bosses and tools, is promised for 2026 and had no date on Steam on 23 October 2026. Metroid Ravenous arrives on Switch 2 on 28 January 2027.

08 / Verdict

Which game to play after Hollow Knight or Silksong

Pick by the reason. For bosses, play Nine Sols. For secrets, play Animal Well or Tunic, or Metroid Dread on Switch. For movement, play Ori and the Will of the Wisps or Celeste. For a sad, beautiful world with a choice of difficulty, play Ender Magnolia.

If Silksong was your first Team Cherry game and you have not played Hollow Knight, that is still the best next game: it shares the most with Silksong and is the gentler of the two.

Best fit: players who can say whether they loved the bosses, the map or the movement. Think twice if: you only want more Silksong, in which case waiting for Sea of Sorrow may be the better plan.