Building comparison
head to head
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow TorchvsHollow Knight
Neither is meaningfully harder - they pose close to the same test. The widest gap is execution, and it is a single point.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
Execution · Practiced Mastery
A dieselpunk metroidvania where a rabbit with a giant mechanical fist brawls through scripted enemy gauntlets.
Hollow Knight
Execution · Practiced Mastery
A precision metroidvania about learning fixed boss patterns and tight platforming.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Hollow Knight leans Execution (Practiced Mastery).
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow TorchHollow Knight
Axis by axis
Execution7 vs 8
Hollow Knight leans a little harder on execution, though the gap is small.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
Combo timing, dodges, and platforming demand precise inputs
Hollow Knight
Precise platforming and pogo timing dominate hard content.
Reads1 vs 1
Same score on reads - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
Scripted enemies; no adaptive opposition
Hollow Knight
Bosses run scripted attack pools; not adaptive.
Variance1 vs 1
Same score on variance - which means the number cannot separate them. The difference is in what each one asks of you.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
Fixed world, minimal randomness
Hollow Knight
Negligible; world layout is fixed.
Optimization5 vs 6
Hollow Knight leans a little harder on optimization, though the gap is small.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
Route the map, learn movesets, upgrade efficiently
Hollow Knight
Charm builds and boss routes are fully learnable.
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.