Crowsworn, Hollow Knight: Where Bloodborne and Devil May Cry

Crowsworn is similar to Hollow Knight in its hand-drawn metroidvania structure, ruined-world mystery and nonlinear exploration. The biggest difference is combat. Mongoose Rodeo openly names Bloodborne and Devil May Cry among its inspirations for a faster, more stylized system built around the Scythe, Pistols and Corvian Magic.

That makes the Hollow Knight comparison easy to understand. A hand-drawn 2D world, a mysterious protagonist, ruined places, strange enemies and a kingdom full of secrets all create a familiar first impression for players who know Hallownest. But stopping there feels too easy.

Crowsworn becomes more interesting when those recognizable influences are pushed through Fearanndal, the red-caped hunter silhouette, Corvian Magic and a combat system that clearly wants the player moving forward. Calling it “Hollow Knight but darker” or “Bloodborne in 2D” gets the conversation started, but neither description really finishes it. The better read is that Crowsworn is walking into a genre full of giants and trying to carve out a corner of its own.

Crowsworn is a dark hand-drawn metroidvania developed and published by Mongoose Rodeo, set in the cursed kingdom of Fearanndal. Nonlinear exploration, fast combat, a plague-doctor-like protagonist, Scythe attacks, Pistols and Corvian Magic sit at the center of a world filled with nightmare creatures, bosses and places that seem to be hiding far more than they say out loud.

Why Crowsworn Gets Compared to Hollow Knight

The Hollow Knight comparison is the one most players notice first, and honestly, pretending the similarities are not there would be strange. Hollow Knight became one of the defining reference points for modern metroidvanias, especially for players drawn to hand-drawn environments, quiet storytelling, ruined kingdoms and exploration that slowly opens as new abilities change the map.

Crowsworn lives close enough to that space that Hollow Knight naturally enters the conversation. It is another 2D metroidvania with a strong visual identity, a mysterious protagonist and a broken land full of hostile creatures and unanswered questions. For many players, that first connection is immediate.

The Hand-Drawn Metroidvania Connection

The most obvious similarity is the art direction. Both games choose hand-drawn 2D worlds instead of chasing realism, and that choice works especially well in a metroidvania because the map eventually becomes more than a collection of rooms. Players memorize shortcuts, remember where an enemy nearly killed them and return to old paths with completely different possibilities.

Hand-drawn art can give every creature, skyline and silhouette its own personality. Hollow Knight did that beautifully with Hallownest, where even areas visited for a relatively short time have a recognizable visual language. Fearanndal appears to be chasing its own version of that feeling.

The difference is in the flavor. Hallownest feels ancient, insect-like, melancholic and strangely delicate. Crowsworn looks sharper and more hunter-driven. Red cloth cuts through dark environments, firearms sit beside a Scythe and gothic architecture surrounds a masked figure built to look dangerous. The genre language is familiar, but the temperature is different.

Exploration Built Around Mystery

Mystery is another reason the comparison works. Hollow Knight never sat the player down and explained Hallownest from top to bottom. You walked through the remains of something enormous, found fragments of information and slowly built your own understanding of what had happened.

Crowsworn approaches Fearanndal with a similar sense of withheld information. The protagonist awakens without clear purpose and searches for lost memories inside a cursed kingdom where humanity has nearly disappeared. That setup fits a metroidvania almost perfectly because progression can become part of the mystery rather than existing only to open another door.

Every new region has the potential to answer part of a much bigger question: what happened here, why are you part of it and what exactly are you going to remember? The Hollow Knight comparison helps explain that curiosity, but it does not explain the whole game.

What Bloodborne Adds to the Crowsworn Conversation

The Bloodborne comparison is not something fans invented after seeing a dark building and a fancy coat. Mongoose Rodeo openly names Bloodborne among the inspirations behind Crowsworn's combat, and once the game starts moving, the connection makes considerably more sense.

Bloodborne is remembered for more than gothic streets and difficult bosses. Its combat encouraged aggression and made movement into danger part of the answer. Crowsworn carries some of that energy into a completely different genre, filtering the hunter fantasy through 2D platforming, nonlinear exploration and a world designed to be revisited.

The Hunter Feeling

The protagonist immediately gives off a hunter vibe. The long silhouette, red cape, mask, hat, Scythe and Pistols suggest someone made for a world that went wrong a long time ago. This is not a bright fantasy hero arriving at the gates of a kingdom just in time to save everyone. Fearanndal already looks broken, and the protagonist simply wakes up inside the problem.

That is why the Bloodborne connection works emotionally. The player fantasy is not just survival. It is hunting back. You are not hiding from the nightmare; you are stepping into it with weapons drawn.

Crowsworn filters that idea through a metroidvania structure, where the same hunter has to cross platforms, discover paths, fight bosses and return to places that once stopped their progress. It is not Bloodborne in another camera angle, but the pressure behind the character is easy to recognize.

A World That Feels Sick, Not Just Dark

A lot of games are dark. Fewer games manage to make the darkness feel connected to whatever happened to the world. The best gothic settings do not simply add fog, moonlight and monsters; they create the impression that something deeper has reached the streets, creatures and architecture.

Fearanndal seems built around that kind of wound. Humanity has almost vanished, nightmare creatures roam the kingdom, the protagonist has lost their memories and a curse sits at the heart of the setting. The darkness has a reason to be there.

That gives Crowsworn more to work with than the label “dark metroidvania.” Fearanndal does not look like a normal fantasy world with the brightness turned down. It looks like a place living with the consequences of something the player has not fully understood yet.

What Devil May Cry Brings to Crowsworn's Combat

The Devil May Cry influence enters through speed, flow and combat expression, and this is one of the areas where Crowsworn starts pulling away from the easiest Hollow Knight comparisons. Mongoose Rodeo has been open about the combat DNA, while the protagonist's three distinct weapons — the Scythe, Pistols and Corvian Magic — already create a very different starting point from the Knight's nail.

In some metroidvanias, enemies can eventually feel like furniture with health bars. You fight because something is standing between you and the next room. Crowsworn clearly wants combat to carry more weight than that.

Stylish Combat Instead of Simple Survival

The Scythe gives the character an immediately recognizable close-range weapon. Pistols allow pressure to continue at a distance, while Corvian Magic brings the supernatural side of the protagonist into each fight. The interesting part is not simply having three tools, but how naturally they can keep a battle moving.

Do you stay close with the Scythe, create space with a shot or use magic before moving back into range? That is where the Devil May Cry inspiration becomes relevant. Crowsworn is not suddenly becoming a character-action game, but it clearly cares about combat flow and player expression.

The game wants the protagonist to look dangerous without making Fearanndal feel harmless. That balance will matter because stylish combat loses its impact quickly when enemies exist only to be destroyed beautifully.

Why Combat Feel Matters in a Metroidvania

Metroidvania players notice how a game feels in their hands almost immediately. They notice a jump arc, whether a dash has the right snap and when an attack animation looks beautiful but leaves the character feeling strangely disconnected from the hit.

Those tiny details stay with players for hours. A clean dodge followed by a Scythe attack, a shot that keeps pressure on an enemy or Corvian Magic used at exactly the right moment can turn a normal encounter into one of those fights you replay in your head after leaving the room.

Crowsworn's visual identity already has plenty of style. The combat has to carry that same energy. If it works, the Bloodborne and Devil May Cry influences will feel baked into how Crowsworn plays rather than sitting on top of the game as visual references.

Why Crowsworn Is Not Just a Hollow Knight Clone

Calling Crowsworn a Hollow Knight clone is the easiest criticism to make and probably the least interesting one. The comparison is understandable because both games share recognizable genre language: hand-drawn art, interconnected exploration, ability progression, hidden paths and strange ruined worlds.

But those ideas are not exclusive to Hollow Knight. Backtracking, ability gates and connected maps belong to a metroidvania tradition that existed long before Hallownest. The useful question is not whether Crowsworn uses familiar pieces, but what the game builds with them.

Fearanndal Gives the Game Its Own Center

A strong metroidvania needs a world players remember as more than a map. Hallownest did that for Hollow Knight. Crowsworn needs Fearanndal to do it for itself.

So far, the kingdom already has a clear mood. Fearanndal is cursed, humanity has nearly disappeared and the protagonist is searching for memories inside a place filled with monsters, men and machines. Those details give the world a center of gravity, but the real challenge will be making players remember individual places with the same intensity they remember the overall aesthetic.

A beautiful ruined kingdom is easy to admire in a trailer. A memorable metroidvania world needs rooms players hate, shortcuts they celebrate, bosses they associate with specific regions and hidden paths that completely change how they understand the map. That can only be proven by the full game, but Fearanndal already has a strong foundation.

The Protagonist Carries a Different Energy

The protagonist changes the entire mood of exploration. Hollow Knight's Knight is small, silent and almost impossible to read, making Hallownest feel enormous around them. Crowsworn's protagonist feels taller, sharper and considerably more threatening.

The red cape, mask, hat, Scythe and Pistols create a different presence. The Knight feels like a silent figure descending through a dead kingdom. Crowsworn's hunter feels like a curse walking through another curse.

Both characters can be mysterious and both can move through broken worlds without explaining themselves. They still do not carry the same energy.

The Weapons Make the Difference Clearer

A Scythe says something different from a nail. Pistols say something different from a short melee weapon, and Corvian Magic adds another layer entirely.

Weapons are mechanics, but they are also part of the player's relationship with a character. They change how you imagine entering a room before a fight has even started. Hollow Knight's nail combat is elegant, focused and extremely precise, while Crowsworn's toolset immediately suggests broader combat possibilities and a more theatrical hunter fantasy.

That may end up being one of the clearest differences between the two games.

Crowsworn in a Post-Silksong Metroidvania Landscape

Crowsworn is now being judged in a post-Silksong metroidvania landscape, which makes the Hollow Knight comparison even harder to escape. For years, almost every conversation around a hand-drawn metroidvania with a mysterious world eventually found its way back to Hollow Knight. Silksong expanded that conversation rather than making it disappear.

Expectations are brutal. Players who love Hollow Knight and Silksong do not simply want another beautiful 2D world. They notice movement, boss design, map flow, exploration rewards and the way new abilities change old areas. They know what they enjoy and they are not shy about comparing games.

Why the Hollow Knight Comparison Can Help

Comparisons give players an easy doorway into a new game. Someone who loves hand-drawn exploration, strange kingdoms and difficult bosses can look at Crowsworn and immediately understand why it might interest them. Plenty of games first catch our attention because they remind us of something we already love.

The test begins after that first impression. Once a player is watching, the game needs to give them a reason to remember its own name. Crowsworn already has several strong answers: a different protagonist, a different weapon set, a gothic hunter mood, Fearanndal and combat shaped by Scythe attacks, Pistols and Corvian Magic.

The comparison opens the door. The game still has to walk through it.

Why the Comparison Can Become a Trap

The problem begins when players expect Crowsworn to recreate the exact feeling of Hollow Knight. Crowsworn does not need to rebuild Hallownest with a red cape; it needs to make Fearanndal worth remembering.

The combat can be faster, the protagonist can feel more dangerous and boss encounters can follow a different rhythm. The world can lean harder into curses, hunters and gothic pressure without treating every difference as something that needs to be justified.

If someone enters Crowsworn looking only for “more Hollow Knight,” there is a chance they will miss the parts trying to separate the two. Hollow Knight works better as a doorway into the conversation than a cage around Crowsworn.

How Crowsworn's Influences Fit the Metroidvania Structure

Mixing influences sounds exciting until a game has so many ideas that none of them belong together. A fast combat system can fight against careful exploration, stylish attacks can become visual noise and a huge map can feel like dead space between boss encounters.

Crowsworn has to make every part support the same experience. So far, its influences at least seem to be pulling in a similar direction. Hollow Knight helps explain the metroidvania frame, Bloodborne helps explain the aggressive hunter energy and Devil May Cry helps explain the interest in fast, stylish combat. Fearanndal is where those influences have to live together.

The Genre Still Matters

No matter how good the combat looks, Crowsworn is still a metroidvania. The map, ability progression, backtracking and hidden routes all matter because the player's relationship with the world should change over time.

Stylish combat alone cannot carry that structure. New abilities need to make old regions feel different, hidden paths need to reward curiosity and bosses should feel connected to the places they protect rather than dropped into arenas because the game needs another large health bar.

Crowsworn's challenge is making its combat energy strengthen exploration instead of overpowering it.

Combat Should Make Exploration Better

The best version of Crowsworn is not a stylish combat game with a metroidvania map attached. It is a game where exploration keeps placing the player in dangerous situations and combat gives them increasingly expressive ways to survive those situations.

A new ability should do more than open another path. The most satisfying upgrades are often the ones that change how you move through every part of the game. A boss should also feel connected to its region, so that by the time an arena closes behind you, the world has already prepared you for whatever is waiting inside.

That connection is what can turn Fearanndal from a beautiful setting into a place players actually remember.

What Makes Crowsworn Feel Like Its Own Game

The strongest parts of Crowsworn already point in the same direction: the red cape, crow imagery, Scythe, Pistols, Corvian Magic, cursed kingdom, lost memories, gothic architecture and aggressive combat. None of those elements feel randomly attached to the game.

They all support the same hunter fantasy.

A Silhouette Players Already Recognize

Before players know the full story, they already recognize the protagonist. Some games need a paragraph of explanation before their identity becomes clear, while Crowsworn has a visual hook that works almost instantly: a masked figure, red cape, Scythe, Pistols and a ruined kingdom.

You see the silhouette and understand the mood before anyone tells you what Fearanndal is. That kind of visual clarity makes screenshots easier to recognize and gives players an image worth holding onto before every system has been explained.

Crowsworn begins to feel like a world before the game has told you exactly how that world works.

Fearanndal Is Built Around Pressure

Fearanndal also looks like a place that actively pushes against the player. That is exactly what a metroidvania map should do. Locked paths, dangerous rooms and hidden routes create a constant conversation between the player and the environment.

You see somewhere you cannot reach and remember it. Hours later, something changes and you go back. A cursed kingdom filled with monsters, men and machines gives Crowsworn room to build different forms of pressure through enemies, uncertainty and secrets that feel buried for a reason.

That is where the game can eventually stop being described through its inspirations.

Why These Comparisons Matter for Metroidvania Fans

For metroidvania fans, comparisons are not always accusations. Most of the time, they are shortcuts.

Say Hollow Knight and players think about exploration, mystery, responsive movement and a strange world that refuses to explain itself too quickly. Say Bloodborne and they think about gothic pressure, aggression and the fantasy of becoming dangerous enough to fight the nightmare back. Say Devil May Cry and combat style, speed and expression enter the conversation.

Crowsworn sits somewhere in the middle of those expectations.

The Appeal Is Easy to Understand

Crowsworn looks built for players who want a hand-drawn metroidvania with more weapon variety and a stronger hunter fantasy. It does not need to pretend its inspirations do not exist, and Mongoose Rodeo clearly is not doing that.

The interesting question is whether those influences can begin to feel completely natural to Fearanndal after a few hours. Will exploration remain as interesting as the combat? Will the bosses carry the atmosphere of their regions? Will movement stay satisfying across long sessions, and will Fearanndal become memorable enough that players stop describing every area through another game?

Those are much more interesting questions than whether Crowsworn is “allowed” to look inspired by Hollow Knight.

Inspiration Was Never the Problem

Every genre grows through games borrowing, remixing and reacting to each other. Hollow Knight exists inside a metroidvania tradition that began long before Team Cherry created Hallownest. Bloodborne did not invent gothic horror, and Devil May Cry did not invent stylish action.

Originality is rarely about having zero visible influences. It is about what happens after those influences enter your game.

Crowsworn does not need to hide where some of its ideas came from. It needs to make players stop thinking about those comparisons while they are actually playing.

What Crowsworn Still Needs to Prove

The promise is strong, but Crowsworn still has things to prove. Until players spend serious time with the full game, nobody can completely judge the structure of Fearanndal, the long-term depth of combat, weapon balance or whether the boss roster remains memorable from beginning to end.

Trailers are very good at showing beautiful attacks. Metroidvanias are usually won or lost in the hours between those attacks.

The Real Test Is Feel

Does the Scythe hit with enough weight? Do the Pistols keep combat flowing without turning every dangerous encounter into a safe ranged fight? Does Corvian Magic feel connected to the world rather than becoming a separate ability menu?

Movement also has to stay sharp after the player has crossed the same region several times, and Fearanndal needs to make returning to old paths exciting instead of exhausting. Those are the details players will remember long after individual trailer shots disappear from memory.

A trailer creates hype and a strong demo creates confidence. The full game has to make the rooms between the trailers worth exploring.

Crowsworn already has a memorable silhouette, a clear combat pitch and a world that looks worth entering. If Fearanndal holds together as a metroidvania and the combat feels as sharp as it looks, the comparisons may eventually become much less important.

Players will simply talk about Crowsworn.

FAQ

Is Crowsworn Inspired by Hollow Knight?

Crowsworn is often compared to Hollow Knight because both games use hand-drawn 2D art, nonlinear metroidvania exploration, bosses and mysterious ruined worlds. The similarities are easy to see, but Crowsworn separates itself through Fearanndal, its hunter-like protagonist and combat built around the Scythe, Pistols and Corvian Magic.

Is Crowsworn a Hollow Knight Clone?

No. Crowsworn shares familiar metroidvania ideas with Hollow Knight, but interconnected exploration, ability progression and backtracking are genre conventions rather than mechanics exclusive to one game. Crowsworn has a different protagonist, setting and combat rhythm, with Bloodborne and Devil May Cry directly named among its combat inspirations.

How Is Crowsworn Similar to Bloodborne?

The Bloodborne connection is strongest in Crowsworn's aggressive hunter energy and gothic pressure. Mongoose Rodeo has named Bloodborne as a combat inspiration, while Crowsworn adapts that influence to a 2D metroidvania built around platforming and nonlinear exploration.

What Does Devil May Cry Add to Crowsworn?

Devil May Cry helps explain Crowsworn's interest in fast and stylish combat. The Scythe, Pistols and Corvian Magic give players multiple ways to keep fights moving and create a more expressive combat rhythm than the simple hit-and-retreat loop found in some metroidvanias.

What Makes Crowsworn Different From Hollow Knight?

The clearest differences are the protagonist and combat system. Crowsworn leans into a gothic hunter fantasy, while its Scythe, Pistols and Corvian Magic create a faster and more varied combat identity. Fearanndal also has its own cursed-world mythology and visual language.

Will Hollow Knight Fans Like Crowsworn?

Hollow Knight fans interested in hand-drawn exploration, mysterious worlds, bosses and nonlinear progression may find plenty to like in Crowsworn. They should not expect another version of Hallownest, though. Crowsworn appears more focused on aggressive combat, weapon variety and a gothic hunter atmosphere.

Is Crowsworn Similar to Silksong?

Crowsworn and Silksong may appeal to some of the same metroidvania players because both emphasize hand-drawn worlds, movement, exploration and difficult encounters. Crowsworn has a noticeably different fantasy built around a masked hunter, a Scythe, Pistols, Corvian Magic and the cursed kingdom of Fearanndal.

Inspiration can open the door. Identity is what makes players stay.

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