10 Best Underground Areas In Video Games

While the gaming industry continues its long, long, long, long wait for Silksong, let's remind ourselves why the sequel to Team Cherry's magnum opus is so fervently anticipated even after an Olympian gestation period.

To put it in the most reductive manner possible, Hollow Knight did for MetroidVanias what Dark Souls did for Action RPGs. Brutal combat, beautiful desolation, an inscrutable plot - Hollow Knight has all these and more, and the results are just as devastatingly effective as they were in From Software's first magnum opus. (Can you have more than one magnum opus? Magnum Opii?)

Hollow Knight's kingdom of Hallownest remains one of the great achievements in worldbuilding - an underground insectoid society brought to devastating ruin, mixing architectural grandeur (City of Tears) with abject horror (The Deep). 

Hallownest's greatest triumph, however, is in its ability to provide for two very different types of player. Those who enjoy the thrill of discovery will be elated at the chance to plumb Hallownest's depths and piece together its tragic fall; those who enjoy more typical video game pursuits will be exhilarated/emotionally scarred by the game's brutally challenging boss battles and platforming segments (if you ever want to see a thousand-yard stare, just whisper "White Palace" to a Hollow Knight veteran).

Frankly, it's little wonder Team Cherry have spent so long crafting Silksong - the world of Hallownest is one hell of a legacy to live up to.