In game development, some rabbit holes are well worth going down. The vast and intricately animated 2D metroidvania, Hollow Knight, proves that this applies even to dung-encrusted caverns full of fungus and insects. We’ve been lost in this game for hours on end, and are very proud to have helped it come together.

Hollow Knight was inspired by Metroid, Zelda 2, and Faxanadu, but has added modern platforming elements and the risk of losing resources upon death, as well as some interesting new design twists, like tying magic and health replenishment to successful melee attacks. Combine this all with tight controls and a deeply engrossing world, and it’s an absolute joy to play.

Hollow Knight is a passion project and first commercial release for Team Cherry, a three person group in Adelaide, Australia. They set out to make a 10 hour game in one year, and, two years later, have completed a 40+ hour epic which includes more unique enemies than Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Things didn’t go exactly according to plan, but the result is truly magnificent.

“Even in its infancy, Hollow Knight was a fantastic looking game and funding it was an easy decision,” said Indie Fund member and Humble Bundle co-founder Jeffrey Rosen. “Team Cherry has poured an incredible amount of love into the game since then and it shows. We are very proud to help Team Cherry launch!”

Hollow Knight is coming to PC and Mac on February 24th, with Linux and Nintendo Switch versions coming later. You can learn more about the game on their site, or follow them on Twitter.

About a year ago, Felix and Clemens of Broken Rules approached us about funding for a prototype he and the team have been working on. It had rudimentary programmer art and not much in the way of content, but the core interaction felt juicy and because of their history of making gorgeous games, we believed they can execute on their vision for the visuals of the game. So we helped fund the game.

A year later and the Old Man’s Journey‘s visuals have earned it a nomination for Excellence in Visual Art in the 2017 Independent Games Festival. You can get a sense for the game’s look with the screenshot and teaser video in this post, but it also does magical things with visual story telling and that’s something you will just have to wait and experience for yourself.