Yeah that's the problem. I could never find the NPC to "buy" the update to the map. It's just a ridiculous and unnecessary mechanic to the game. I wish it was more like Super Metroid where the map always updates when you enter new areas.

I do agree.

This is not trivial to implement, particularly if the game code has already been written without this feature in mind. (You have to save and restore the state of every entity in the area for this to work, including every single enemy and projectile.)

There's also the problem of being saved in a situation where there's no way to avoid death after reload.

(With that said, I wish the game wouldn't autosave on death, or would at least allow manual saves that would never be overwritten.)

Well, it depends.. for example, I postponed the Mantis Lords' fight and I first explored other areas.
The result is that I ended up stuck in the Deepnest for a good while, since the ML door was still closed. That wasn't very fun O_o'
(but at least, after all that wandering, I managed to collect enough money for the lantern)

I don't feel like my shooter or RPG skills have stumbled at all, but when I play sidescroller style games I definitely start feeling like an old man. Luckily I don't enjoy them as much as I used to either, so it's not a huge deal. If I ever have trouble beating Doom, then I'll be sad.

Since the thread is "only" a month old, it's not considered necroing, right? Maybe a little CPR?

So, just recently beaten Hollow Knight, still some stuff to do to complete the full 112% (am at 108%) and this what I think: It's freaking HARD!

With that said, it depends. If one just want to finish the game, just read a online walkthrough and skip most of the hard sections, the said hard sections are entirely optional. Now, completing the game (and the freaking DLC's) it's way, way diferent than finish the base game.

As a little review: the combat is nothing short of amazing, it's better and more satisfying than most fight games. With little more than 4 keys (jump, nail, dash and sometimes cast) all sorts of movement and combinations can be done. Most enemies are attacked from above and combats won by using the same move.
The platforming it's forgiving except the White Castle section (not even mentioning the Path of Pain) but not that hard and optional.
The exploration is great and as any metroidvania, you keep passing on the same places (back and foward) but as you move on the sections became a lot easier to the point of not even be a challenge anymore. The map is well built and after initial exploration it's easy back travel to most places in 1 or 2 minutes, tops! (with many shortcut's to bypass slower/challenging sections)

Some people mention the save places being limited, it's not a problem, maybe on initial game but after a couple of hours, it's not a issue and most dificult sections have a save place near or you don't even go back to a save place (like dream battles, you just wake up). This is not a game that you should play in 5 minute burts anyway...
I'll just add that is easy to not die except on boss fights. This sums up the game experience.
Git Gud!

This comes naturally from playing the game, not like Git Gud in a way you train for the Olympics.

Most bosses you encounter at first and seem dificult, after a while will be easy to the point of not being hit a single time...
One of the great aspects of this game is that most challenging sections and bosses turn very easy after completion.
Just keep playing and take some breaks, it really helps. The skill to overcome the game comes very naturally. Well, except the DLC sections wich were designed to be insanely dificult for those who want... Meeeeeeeee!!!!!

:)

Kudos on beating it! I decided to not keep playing it as it was very time-consuming (for me) with the whole grinding and retrying. Nowadays I cannot bother with such games that require you to "Git Gud", I mean it's a game which is supposed to entertain you, not consume all your precious time just because it is intentionally hard. I'm at a point where I prefer a more "You can do it!" approach than just "git gud" (such a game is The Messenger - amazing game!).

By the way, my main problem was not that checkpoints were limited, but that they were inconveniently placed far away from where I needed them most (i.e. boss rooms). If this issue wasn't there, I would most probably not have quit this easily.

Yea, but getting gud is part of the enjoyment of a game like this. I finished it about 75% (base game, not all special challenge bosses), dropped it for almost 2 years and finally got back to it few months ago and finished it. However, I do agree this one is one is tough.

There are some viable alternatives on GOG, which I would all describes as easier:

Bloodstained (very doable on normal)
Blasphemous (same, with like 1 or 2 hard bosses)
Slain - Back from Hell (good, much better since they worked on it, but feels almost like it ends just when you really got into it)
Iconoclasts (relatively easy and somewhat overrated)

The game I find too hard is Volgar the Viking, but for all the wrong reasons.

Bloodstained is already on the wishlist ;) (especially after I played Symphony of the Night)

About Blasphemous, I think people have said that it's very combat oriented, i.e. precisely dodging and timing hits, so I don't think it would be my cup of tea (I'm leaning more towards Super Metroid or Ori -type gameplay).

I've heard that Slain is a very hard platformer, so I haven't given it a chance yet.

Volgar is definitely old-school-arcade-hardcore, couldn't make it even past the 1st level :)

As Robette mentioned, the Getting Gud is part of the enjoyment and comes naturally, is not forced in the sense you must train 10 hours a day to beat a boss... (except some intentional optional hard parts that no one sane should play)
Most people rate this game very high because of the enourmous satisfaction to beat it, if you enjoy Castlevania SOTN, Ori and the Blind Forest and Guacamelee you'll enjoy this one much more. Although Hollow Knight is a much longer game than any of those (you'll need 30-50 hours to finish the game) but not necessarly more dificult.
As someone who played SOTN, Ori and Guacameele, Hollow Knight is a much more complete experience, let's say it brings together the best aspects of those 3 games.

Regarding the save points, some may be "far away" from the boss fights but is pretty much a non-issue after the first hours of gameplay. One late boss that I really struggle with was the Traitor Lord (more than any of the final bosses) and indeed, the closest save point was not close enough, with some challenging platforming in between but for most of the game this is a non issue, because you can get to the boss fights very fast. As someone mentioned before, usually this distance is used to get more soul (MP) to use on spells. (On Castlevania you don't always have save points near a boss fight as well)
Also, focus on being passive instead of agressive (this is a must later on), that way bosses are easier and you don't have to restart so many times.