Achluophobia / Nyctophobia – Fear of the dark

• Trigger: Dimly lit caverns like Deepnest, pitch-black tunnels

• Why: Many areas in Hollow Knight are dark or barely illuminated, with enemies lurking in shadows. The game uses darkness to increase disorientation and tension.

Acousticophobia / Phonophobia – Fear of loud or sudden sounds

• Trigger: Enemy screeches, shrieking deaths, or sudden audio spikes

• Why: Many enemy encounters are preceded by intense, jarring sound cues, and combat deaths often involve loud, abrupt noises.

Agoraphobia – Fear of open spaces

• Trigger: Vast, empty zones like Kingdom’s Edge or the Abyss

• Why: Some biomes feel disturbingly open, especially when layered with fog or void-like backgrounds, giving a sense of exposure and insignificance.

Autophobia – Fear of being alone

• Trigger: Extended exploration in dead cities and desolate ruins

• Why: The game rarely provides meaningful interaction with friendly NPCs. Most zones are hauntingly empty, emphasizing the feeling of complete solitude.

Claustrophobia – Fear of confined spaces

• Trigger: Narrow tunnels, enemy-packed crevices, and cramped boss arenas

• Why: Exploration frequently involves squeezing through tight underground passages or getting trapped in small rooms during fights.

Dementophobia – Fear of losing one’s mind

• Trigger: Dream sequences, broken NPCs, and characters affected by infection

• Why: Many characters in Hollow Knight display signs of mental instability or madness caused by the infection, suggesting a slow psychological unraveling.

Entomophobia – Fear of insects

• Trigger: Bug-like enemies, crawling movement, swarm behavior

• Why: All characters in the game are insectoid. Some are cute, but others are grotesque or spider-like — especially in areas like Deepnest.

Hemophobia – Fear of blood

• Trigger: Bursting enemy deaths, red-spattered backgrounds, corrupted creatures

• Why: Although stylized, certain animations involve splashes of red or infected orange fluid, and many areas are covered in unsettling organic matter.

Mysophobia – Fear of germs or contamination

• Trigger: The Infection, corrupted enemies, and diseased environments

• Why: The orange Infection seen throughout the game is viral, mutating the mind and body of characters and causing visible decay.

Necrophobia / Thanatophobia – Fear of death or corpses

• Trigger: Corpses littering areas, death-themed bosses like No Eyes or Broken Vessel

• Why: Death is omnipresent — corpses are scattered throughout the world, and ghostly remnants speak of lives cut short.

Pediophobia – Fear of dolls or humanoid figures with blank expressions

• Trigger: Pale, vacant-eyed characters and mask-wearing NPCs

• Why: Many characters have frozen expressions or are entirely silent, giving off an uncanny, doll-like presence.

Scopophobia – Fear of being watched

• Trigger: Enemies hidden in walls, silent observers like Godseeker, or environmental “eyes”

• Why: In several areas, enemies ambush from shadows, and characters seem aware of you without speaking — creating a constant sense of surveillance.

Spectrophobia – Fear of ghosts or spirits

• Trigger: Wandering spirits, graveyards, Dream Nail sequences

• Why: The game includes ghostly remnants of fallen warriors, haunted dreamscapes, and lingering souls that feel mournful and unsettling.

Topophobia – Fear of certain places or haunted environments

• Trigger: Deepnest, the Abyss, Ancient Basin

• Why: These places are purposefully designed to feel “wrong” — full of unnatural sounds, movement in the walls, and decaying architecture that suggests danger.

Trypophobia – Fear of clusters of small holes or bumps

• Trigger: Fungal Wastes textures, infected walls, organic growths

• Why: Certain environmental textures and enemy designs resemble porous surfaces or clustered holes, which can be visually disturbing to some players.