The only game I've played that recaptured Dark Souls' magic, Hollow Knight is the total package. Others have spoken at length on what they love about this game. I could talk about the incredible world design, thrilling bosses, amazing music, and surprisingly deep gameplay, but what's always stood out to me is how gratifying the exploration is.

A lot of Metroidvanias fall into the trap of having collectibles or equipment that are not very fun for certain players to use because of their playstyle. Hollow Knight's charms (the main collectible outside of power-ups) avoid this issue because you need to find them in order to buy more slots for equipping them. The charms work like badges in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, giving the player options to buff their character, with the most powerful charms taking up the most space. Because charms must be found to buy more slots, a player will not feel like they wasted their time finding one they don't like since that charm will eventually allow them to equip more charms they do like. It's a small, but brilliant touch that makes exploration rewarding even on subsequent playthroughs.

The intrinsic desire to explore exists in the hearts of most gamers and Hollow Knight not only delivers on that, but maintains it long after you expect to have found everything.