Can AI make a game like Hollow Knight?

Yes, when the AI is connected to a game engine rather than just generating art. A standalone image tool can give you a beautiful hand drawn knight, but it cannot build the dash, write the boss attack pattern, or make a new ability open a shortcut you saw an hour ago. An AI native engine can do all of that inside your project, then run the game so you can feel whether the jump and the combat land. The hard part of a Metroidvania is the connected systems, so the engine connection is what matters, not the picture.

What mechanics make Hollow Knight a Metroidvania?

Four systems working together. A precise 2D platformer controller with a jump and a dash you can rely on frame by frame. Melee combat where the attack has weight and the downward strike bounces you off enemies, turning fighting into traversal. A single connected map gated by abilities, so a wall you could not pass early becomes a shortcut once you unlock the dash or the wall cling. And enemies and bosses with telegraphed, learnable attacks. Recreate these one at a time and playtest each, rather than asking AI for the whole game at once.

Which template should I start a Metroidvania from?

Start from a 2D platformer template, not a blank project. The platformer template already gives you a character controller with gravity, a jump, collision, and a side scrolling camera, which is most of a Metroidvania's foundation. From there the AI adds the dash, the wall cling, the attack, and the ability gates on top of working movement, instead of rebuilding the basics. Starting from a template also means the physics and camera conventions already exist, so iterations are faster and less likely to break.

How do I make the map connect like Hollow Knight's?

Build rooms as separate scenes and link them with doors that load the next room, then gate some of those doors behind abilities. The design trick is to show the player a path they cannot take yet, like a gap too wide to jump or a wall too high, and make the ability they unlock later open exactly that path. You do not need procedural generation. A Metroidvania map is hand placed on purpose, because the satisfaction comes from recognizing an old obstacle and realizing you can now pass it.

How do I make a boss with a learnable attack pattern?

Build it as a state machine in passes. First a boss that idles and does one telegraphed attack on a timer, so you can see the wind up and dodge it. Then add a second and third attack and let it pick between them. Then add phases that change the pattern as its health drops. Playtest after each pass. The most common mistake is asking for the full multi phase boss at once, then being unable to tell why a fight feels unfair, whether it is the timing, the telegraph, or the damage.

Is there a free way to make a game like Hollow Knight?

Yes. Summer Engine is free to download, and the AI can build the controller, the dash, the combat, the map gates, and the bosses inside your project, with a paid plan only for higher AI usage. You can build and export a 2D Metroidvania to Steam for free, and only pay if you run a lot of AI generations. Free image and music tools can also cover your art and soundtrack, but they cannot make the game playable on their own, which is why the engine is the piece that matters.

Do I need to know how to code to build a Metroidvania?

No. You describe each mechanic in plain language and the AI writes and wires the code inside the engine. Knowing a little about how a platformer is structured helps you give clearer instructions, like asking for coyote time on the jump or a dash with a cooldown, but you can build a working Metroidvania without writing a line yourself. The skill that matters is describing one mechanic at a time and playtesting it honestly before moving on.

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June 6, 2026·Summer Team

How to Make a Game Like Hollow Knight With AI (2026)

A step by step guide to building a Metroidvania like Hollow Knight with AI: the core mechanics to recreate, which template to start from, and the exact workflow inside Summer Engine where the AI is wired into the editor.

Quick answer

To make a game like Hollow Knight, you recreate the systems that make a Metroidvania work, not the art style. That means a tight 2D platformer controller with a precise jump and dash, melee combat with a knockback that doubles as a movement tool, a connected map where new abilities unlock old shortcuts, and enemies with readable attack patterns. The mistake is asking AI for a whole Metroidvania in one prompt. It cannot decide what is fun or how your map connects. Build one mechanic at a time inside an AI native engine that is connected to a real game so it can write the dash script, place the gate, and run the build for you to feel. Summer Engine does this and is compatible with Godot 4. It is free to download, including the AI workflow, 2D and 3D, and a Steam export, with a paid plan only for heavier AI usage.

Hollow Knight is not hard to copy because of its art. It is hard to copy because almost everything in it is connected. The dash is a combat tool and a traversal tool. The downward attack is a weapon and a way to bounce across spikes. A wall you walked past in the first hour becomes a shortcut the moment you unlock the right ability. That web of systems is the genre, and it is the part a single prompt cannot hand you.

So the goal of this guide is not "generate a Metroidvania." It is to recreate the systems that make one work, one at a time, with AI doing the wiring inside a real engine while you decide what feels right. That is the difference between a screenshot and a game you can press play on.

The Four Systems That Make a Metroidvania

If you strip Hollow Knight down to what you actually have to build, it is four systems, and they reinforce each other.

A precise platformer controller. Jump, fall, dash, wall cling. It has to feel reliable frame by frame, because every later challenge assumes the movement is trustworthy.
Melee combat with weight. The attack has knockback and a short pause on hit, and the downward strike bounces you off enemies and hazards, so fighting and moving are the same skill.
A connected, ability gated map. One world, hand placed, where new abilities open old paths. The satisfaction is recognition: "I remember this wall, and now I can pass it."
Readable enemies and bosses. Attacks telegraph before they land. Losing feels like your mistake, not the game cheating, which is what makes the fight worth retrying.

None of these is hard on its own. The trap is trying to build them all at once, because then you cannot tell which one is breaking the feel.

Why Image Only Tools Get You Nowhere Here

A lot of "AI game maker" tools are image generators. They will draw you a gorgeous hand inked knight, a fungal cavern, a moody boss silhouette. That is genuinely useful for art direction. It is also zero percent of a Metroidvania.

None of it dashes. None of it bounces off a spike. None of it remembers that you could not cross a gap an hour ago. To get a game like Hollow Knight, the AI has to live inside the engine so it can write the dash script, place the room transition, set the ability gate, and then run the build so you can feel the jump. Art is the easy half. The systems are the half that needs a real engine underneath them.

How to Actually Build One

Here is the workflow that works, using an AI native engine where the model is wired into the editor and can build scenes, write scripts, and run the game.

Step 1: Start from a 2D platformer template, not a blank project

A blank project means the AI rebuilds gravity, the jump, collision, and the camera before it does anything interesting. A 2D platformer template already has a working character controller and side scrolling camera, which is most of your foundation. Open it, press play, and confirm the basic movement feels right before you add anything.

Step 2: Make the jump feel good before anything else

This is the single most important step, and people skip it. Ask the AI to add the quality of life that makes a jump feel responsive: a little coyote time so a jump still works just after you leave a ledge, jump buffering so a press just before landing still fires, and a variable jump height so a short tap is a short hop. Playtest it. If the jump feels floaty or stiff, fix it now. Every challenge you build later assumes this jump is trustworthy.

Step 3: Add the dash, then the wall cling

Now layer on the signature movement. Ask for a dash with a fixed distance and a short cooldown, bound to a button, that works in the air. Play it. Then add a wall cling and wall jump so you can climb vertical shafts. These two abilities are not just movement, they are also your future map gates, so build them solidly. Test that you can chain a wall jump into a dash, because that combination is where Metroidvania movement starts to feel expressive.

Step 4: Build the attack so combat doubles as traversal

Add a melee attack with a short range, knockback on the enemy, and a brief hit pause that gives the hit weight. Then add the part that makes it a Hollow Knight style attack: a downward strike that, when it connects with an enemy or a hazard below you, bounces you back up. This single mechanic turns combat into movement. Playtest by placing a couple of hazards and confirming you can pogo off them. If the bounce height feels wrong, tune it before moving on.

Step 5: Connect two rooms, then gate the door

Build a second room as its own scene and add a door that loads it when you walk through. Get a clean transition working both directions first. Then add the core Metroidvania move: place an obstacle in room one that you cannot pass yet, like a shaft too tall to reach without the wall cling, and a door beyond it. Now the wall cling you built in step 3 has a purpose. Ask the AI to make that door or path check whether you have the ability before it opens. This is the loop the whole genre is built on, so get one example feeling good before you scale it to a full map.

Step 6: Build one boss as a state machine

Add a boss in passes. Start with a boss that idles and performs one telegraphed attack on a timer, with a clear wind up you can read and dodge. Play it until the dodge feels fair. Then add a second and third attack and let it choose between them. Then add a second phase that speeds up or changes the pattern as its health drops. Playtest after every pass. Building it incrementally is the only way to tell whether a fight feels unfair because of the timing, the telegraph, or the damage.

Step 7: Add a save bench and a map

Two systems make the world feel like a place rather than a set of test rooms. A rest point that saves your position and respawns you there, in the style of Hollow Knight's benches, and a map that fills in as you explore. Ask for these once your movement and rooms are solid, because they are the connective tissue that turns your prototype into something you can get lost in.

What the AI Does Well, and Where You Still Drive

Be honest with yourself about the split, because it changes how you spend your time.

The AI is excellent at the mechanical work: writing a dash with a cooldown, wiring a room transition, building a boss state machine, adding coyote time to a jump. Describe the behavior precisely and it builds it and runs it.

What it cannot do is decide what is fun. It will not tell you that your dash cooldown is a quarter second too long, that your map has a dead end with no reward, or that the second boss phase is the moment the fight gets exciting. That is design and feel, and it only comes from playing your own game over and over. A Metroidvania lives or dies on pacing and the rhythm of "locked, then unlocked," and that judgment is yours. The AI gets you to a playable build fast so you spend your hours on the part that actually makes it a game.

Where to Start

The honest version: a game like Hollow Knight is a real project, not an afternoon. But the path is clear, and every step on it is something you can build, run, and feel the same day.

Open the AI game maker, start from a 2D platformer template, and build the jump first. Then the dash, then the attack, then one gated door, then one boss. Summer Engine is free to download, including the AI workflow, 2D and 3D, and a Steam export, with a paid plan only if you run a lot of AI usage. Build one mechanic, play it, and only then build the next.

Frequently asked questions

Can AI make a game like Hollow Knight?: Yes, when the AI is connected to a game engine rather than just generating art. A standalone image tool can give you a beautiful hand drawn knight, but it cannot build the dash, write the boss attack pattern, or make a new ability open a shortcut you saw an hour ago. An AI native engine can do all of that inside your project, then run the game so you can feel whether the jump and the combat land. The hard part of a Metroidvania is the connected systems, so the engine connection is what matters, not the picture.
What mechanics make Hollow Knight a Metroidvania?: Four systems working together. A precise 2D platformer controller with a jump and a dash you can rely on frame by frame. Melee combat where the attack has weight and the downward strike bounces you off enemies, turning fighting into traversal. A single connected map gated by abilities, so a wall you could not pass early becomes a shortcut once you unlock the dash or the wall cling. And enemies and bosses with telegraphed, learnable attacks. Recreate these one at a time and playtest each, rather than asking AI for the whole game at once.
Which template should I start a Metroidvania from?: Start from a 2D platformer template, not a blank project. The platformer template already gives you a character controller with gravity, a jump, collision, and a side scrolling camera, which is most of a Metroidvania's foundation. From there the AI adds the dash, the wall cling, the attack, and the ability gates on top of working movement, instead of rebuilding the basics. Starting from a template also means the physics and camera conventions already exist, so iterations are faster and less likely to break.
How do I make the map connect like Hollow Knight's?: Build rooms as separate scenes and link them with doors that load the next room, then gate some of those doors behind abilities. The design trick is to show the player a path they cannot take yet, like a gap too wide to jump or a wall too high, and make the ability they unlock later open exactly that path. You do not need procedural generation. A Metroidvania map is hand placed on purpose, because the satisfaction comes from recognizing an old obstacle and realizing you can now pass it.
How do I make a boss with a learnable attack pattern?: Build it as a state machine in passes. First a boss that idles and does one telegraphed attack on a timer, so you can see the wind up and dodge it. Then add a second and third attack and let it pick between them. Then add phases that change the pattern as its health drops. Playtest after each pass. The most common mistake is asking for the full multi phase boss at once, then being unable to tell why a fight feels unfair, whether it is the timing, the telegraph, or the damage.
Is there a free way to make a game like Hollow Knight?: Yes. Summer Engine is free to download, and the AI can build the controller, the dash, the combat, the map gates, and the bosses inside your project, with a paid plan only for higher AI usage. You can build and export a 2D Metroidvania to Steam for free, and only pay if you run a lot of AI generations. Free image and music tools can also cover your art and soundtrack, but they cannot make the game playable on their own, which is why the engine is the piece that matters.
Do I need to know how to code to build a Metroidvania?: No. You describe each mechanic in plain language and the AI writes and wires the code inside the engine. Knowing a little about how a platformer is structured helps you give clearer instructions, like asking for coyote time on the jump or a dash with a cooldown, but you can build a working Metroidvania without writing a line yourself. The skill that matters is describing one mechanic at a time and playtesting it honestly before moving on.