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I keep telling myself that it might be time to give up the genre and just play Symphony of the Night when I want that fix but I keep trying new games hoping one will be the one that I cannot put down. I have played a few indie Metroidvania style games, mostly short affairs, that were fun for a little while but I quickly got bored when I had to backtrack to the some miniscule room somwhere on the map no where near where I was at the time.

Yeah that was a huge annoyance point in Hollow Knight as well if you want to 100% the game.
But it's also very easy to skip all that and just beat it.
There's also a fast-travel tunnel system that makes it a bit more forgiving.
So you don't have to run everywhere on foot.
There's even an NPC who comments on how weak you are for refusing to walk everywhere.
Pretty funny: so many references to the genre.