I can definitely see where you're coming from, as the early game does suck and lasts for way too long. There are some parts of the game design that just fall flat with me, like having to find a map per area or needing to use a notch to display where you are. These tend to become less annoying over time though, and there are additional shortcomings, like not having a lot of fast travel options and the combat not really evolving that much.Oof, really disappointed with how much I don't like this game. I've only played for a couple of hours but it bores/frustrates me so much I doubt I have the willpower to carry on. Combat is boring and a hassle as the enemies just aren't fun to fight and the weapon is incredibly unsatisfying, annoying how they tied money to enemies. The graphics on Switch are disappointing since they're only 720p, surprised no one mentioned this as it was immediately noticeable when played on my 49" TV. The art style doesn't sit with me at all and I find it pretty bland and bleh to look at. The music so far is very bleh apart from the track in the first area before you jump down the well thing, I really like that one. All the rooms feel very samey and it's hard to distinguish them so I constantly have to get my map out. I'm normally a fan of "metroidvanias" but Hollow Knight just kills all my motivation to try and explore because it's just so damn boring or frustrating. I honestly don't understand where the praise is coming from, maybe I need to play more but like I said within two hours all my motivation to continue has gone. So disappointing :/ I want to try and continue on to see if it improves but I just don't think I'll be able to.
That said, however, the game did get a lot better for me, and I now like it a lot (though I disagree about it being the best of genre); I just can't pinpoint exactly when that happened. If you give it some more time, I'm confident you might feel similarly.