Disclosure: WigSec purchased these games for review purposes. The developer and publisher have no editorial input on this content.
The Basics
Games: Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong Platform: PC (Steam, GOG), PlayStation, Xbox, Switch ESRB Rating: E10+ for Everyone 10+ (fantasy violence, mild blood) Price Model: One-time purchase (no microtransactions) Online Features: None (entirely single-player)
Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania-style action game set in a vast underground insect kingdom. Players explore interconnected areas, fight bosses, and uncover a surprisingly deep narrative about sacrifice, infection, and fallen civilizations. Silksong is the highly anticipated sequel featuring a new protagonist.
Both games are known for gorgeous hand-drawn art, challenging gameplay, and an atmosphere that balances wonder with melancholy.
Content Considerations
Fantasy violence: Combat involves a nail (sword) against insect and creature enemies. Defeated enemies burst into particles with minimal “blood” (more like essence/spirit). Boss fights can be intense but remain stylized.
Dark atmosphere: The kingdom of Hallownest is fallen, infected, and populated by the remnants of a dead civilization. The tone is somber and occasionally unsettling—not horror, but not cheerful either.
Themes of sacrifice and death: The narrative involves characters who gave everything to save their world and failed. It’s handled with subtlety and emotional weight, not gratuitous darkness.
Difficulty: Both games are challenging. Boss fights require pattern recognition and persistence. Some players find this rewarding; others find it frustrating.
No objectionable content: No profanity, no sexual content, no realistic violence. The E10+ rating is accurate.
Overall: These are beautifully crafted games appropriate for most ages. Younger children might find the difficulty frustrating or the atmosphere too somber, but there’s nothing harmful here.
Online and Privacy Exposure
These games have zero online privacy concerns.
Completely offline: No multiplayer, no leaderboards, no online features of any kind.
No accounts required: Beyond Steam (or your platform of choice), no additional registration needed.
No microtransactions: One purchase gets you the complete game. No DLC, no battle passes, no in-game purchases.
No telemetry concerns: Developer Team Cherry is a small indie studio without aggressive data collection practices.
Privacy Settings to Configure
Steam Level
Standard Steam privacy (applies to all games):
- Profile to Friends Only or Private
- Game activity to Friends Only
In-Game Settings
None needed. These games don’t connect to online services.
Talk to Your Kid About
- The difficulty: These games don’t hold your hand. Getting stuck on a boss for hours is normal. Persistence and pattern recognition are the skills being developed.
- The atmosphere: Hallownest is a melancholy place. If they find it too sad or creepy, that’s valid—not every game suits every player.
- Exploration over direction: The games don’t tell you where to go. Getting lost is part of the experience. This can be frustrating for players used to waypoints and quest markers.
- Achievement and mastery: When they finally beat a boss they’ve been struggling with, that’s a genuine accomplishment. Celebrate it with them.
Bottom Line
Hollow Knight and Silksong are among the safest games you can approve from both a content and privacy perspective. There’s nothing online to worry about, no accounts to configure, no monetization to manage, and content appropriate for anyone 10 and up.
These are also genuinely excellent games—widely considered masterpieces of their genre. If your child enjoys exploration, challenge, and atmospheric storytelling, this is an enthusiastic recommendation.
The only conversation worth having is about difficulty and patience. These games reward persistence, and working through frustration to achieve mastery is a valuable skill. Just make sure they know it’s okay to take breaks when a boss becomes too frustrating.