Karma Exorcist Could Challenge Hollow Knight's Throne

Most Metroidvanias wear their Hollow Knight influence on their sleeve. Dark interconnected maps, brooding atmosphere, a health system that punishes recklessness. Karma Exorcist, announced today by publisher Infini Fun and developer Cyclos, does all of that too, but it's pulling from a mythology that the genre has barely touched: the Chinese underworld, or 'di fu'. And based on what's been shown so far, this one has a real shot at standing alongside the best the genre has produced.

The game casts you as a nameless demon hunter who crawls out of a shattered stone finger, armed with a soul-severing blade and zero memories. From there, it's a journey through 11 distinct biomes inspired by Chinese folklore, from the shores of the River of Forgetfulness lined with red spider lilies to the peaks of the Five Ghost Emperor Mountains. According to the game's Steam page, the underworld functions on a karma system where evil karma destabilises the balance of the Three Realms, and gods established mechanisms like Meng Po Soup and the Eighteen Levels of Hell to keep the cycle of existence intact. It's a rich setting, and one I'm excited to see explored in a genre that defaults to gothic castles and ruined kingdoms.

What caught my attention, though, is how the combat is structured. Karma Exorcist gives you 20 weapons and lets you map three to separate attack buttons at once, creating loadout combinations that shift depending on the encounter. Fast sword slashes on one button, a heavy axe on another, throwing daggers on a third. You can configure up to eight preset loadouts in the full game, which sounds like it could give fights a real tactical layer beyond "dodge and slash." The health system works similarly to Hollow Knight's silk mechanic: killing enemies fills a gourd that you consume to heal, so aggression is rewarded rather than passive play. Over 100 enemy types are promised, ranging from lantern-carrying bats that throw spinning flame attacks to golem statues that ambush you mid-platforming.

360-Degree Grappling Hook

The real hook, literally, is a 360-degree chain grapple that opens up after the first few bosses. Hands-on impressions from a BiliBili: First Look event in Shanghai describe it as transformative for both traversal and combat, turning the game from a solid Metroidvania into something that feels distinct. Boss encounters escalate quickly; the first major fight against a hungry ghost king is a simple dodge-and-punish affair, but later bosses introduce teleportation and more complex attack patterns that demand loadout swapping and careful reading.

I think the setting alone makes Karma Exorcist stand out. The Metroidvania space is crowded, and most entries lean on the same visual and thematic shorthand. Chinese underworld mythology, with its layered cosmology and deeply strange imagery, is fresh territory for the genre. If Cyclos can deliver on the promise of those 11 biomes with the same atmospheric density described in early previews, this could be more than just another Hollow Knight-inspired indie.

Cyclos acknowledged in the announcement that the game still needs work. "We know firsthand how brutal it is to make a Metroidvania game, so we're really hoping you can give us a little more time," the studio said. "We'll pour everything we've got into telling this story of 'sever karma in the underworld' the right way." No release date has been set. The game is coming to PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC, and a limited-time playtest is currently available on PC through Steam.

That honesty about needing more polish is refreshing, especially from a studio working in a genre where half-baked releases get buried instantly. Karma Exorcist has the ambition and the setting to compete with the best Metroidvanias out there. Whether Cyclos can stick the landing on 11 biomes, 20 weapons, and 100-plus enemy types will determine if it actually gets there.