Higher beings, these words are for you alone. So begins the first inscription you discover in Hallownest, and then many others thereafter, a hint that its message is aimed not to characters in the world but the player. You might detect a touch of flattery here, then. And, in fairness, if you first read those words in early 2017, then you'd have every right to feel a little smug – because if you weren't quite alone in playing Hollow Knight back then, you were certainly in a minority.
When Team Cherry took its debut to Kickstarter in 2014, the campaign attracted just over 2,000 backers, falling short of its loftier stretch goals (including a PS Vita port and the promise of a third playable character). When the game hit 65,000 sales in the first month after release, the small Australian studio was ecstatic. Now that seems rather parochial.
