Highlights

  • Hollow Knight: Silksong still hasn't been released, so fans are searching for other games to fill the void.
  • Rain World, a title similar to Hollow Knight, offers a similar presentation and platforming experience.
  • Rain World provides a different gameplay experience with survival-stealth mechanics and a more complex AI, making it a suitable alternative for Hollow Knight fans.

As Hollow Knight: Silksong’s absence continues, one wouldn't blame Hollow Knight fans for branching out into other games. The DLC-turned-sequel has kept fans waiting since 2019, and there's still no solid sign of a launch date, so fans are better off looking elsewhere for now. Plenty of indie games have taken cues from Hollow Knight over the past few years, just as larger titles in Hollow Knight’s Metroidvania and action-platformer genres have continued trickling out. Such titles, alongside various mods, have provided some relief, but fans are still hopeful that Silksong will finally release soon.

No suitable distraction games have truly replicated Team Cherry's mixture of writing, gameplay, presentation, and level design, but there is one title that came surprisingly close. While Hollow Knight was crowdfunded through Kickstarter in late 2014, another title called Rain World was fresh off its own early 2014 Kickstarter campaign. Having been in development by Videocult for three years by that point, Rain World would finally release in March 2017, just over a month after Hollow Knight itself came out. Funnily enough, similarly timed crowdfunding and launches are far from the only aspects shared by these two games.

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Hollow Knight and Rain World Were Cut From The Same Cloth

Hollow Knight - City Of Tears

Presentation is an obvious link between each title, with the Hollow Knight’s playable Knight and the white Survivor slugcat having similar designs in each title's artwork. Hollow Knight’s detailed sprite art renders said art in-game more accurately than Rain World's pixel art, but it's still easy to pin both as Metroidvania platformers when viewed side by side. Each title involves traveling between rooms with heavy platforming, kid-friendly characters navigating deadly, ruined worlds, and music that, while beloved, is typically meant to enhance an environment's mood.

Rain World And Hollow Knight Play Differently, But Reach The Same Results

While Rain World is easy to recommend for Hollow Knight fans on a surface level, those expecting the pair to feel similar will be sorely disappointed. Hollow Knight’s focus on equal parts combat and platforming is replaced by Rain World’s survival-stealth motivating most platforming, as well as more technical movement for the slugcats.

Speaking of slugcat struggles, Rain World and Hollow Knight are both difficult, but Rain World has randomized enemy placements and complex AI that gives beasts their own lives outside the player’s. Complete with the titular rains acting as time limits and a map as unwieldy as Hollow Knight's own, Rain World is ideal for Hollow Knight veterans who want to recapture the latter’s pulse-pounding first playthrough.

Rain World and Hollow Knight Are Still Following the Same Path

Rain-World-Gameplay-Screenshot-Official

Hollow Knight and Rain World have plenty of similar design choices, but that's not even the end of it. Setting aside details like most of their lore being hidden, and some visual similarities in each game’s true ending, they also shared similar post-launch support. While Hollow Knight received over a year's worth of Kickstarter-funded free expansions, Rain World had its own massive 1.5 and 1.7 patches, which brought in more story, content, and even Rain World’s easiest slugcat campaign.

Rain World: Downpour Beat Hollow Knight: Silksong To The Punch

Both titles gradually spread to consoles and got a variety of mods from dedicated fan communities. However, while Team Cherry was starting work on Hollow Knight: Silksong, Videocult was also busy with its own paid expansion called Rain World: Downpour, which beat Silksong to a 2023 launch.

This speed was thanks to integrating several popular community mods, but the result was still several sequel and prequel campaigns that more than doubled Rain World’s content. With loads of new secrets to uncover and even requested Hollow Knight features like online campaign co-op, Rain World could keep Hollow Knight fans busy until Silksong is ready.