I’d question whether hollow knight is really a skill issue on your part.
I’ve done the ‘path of pain’ and I still don’t understand why people love the game so much.
It has solid combat, true, but some of the fundamental game mechanics (like save points and the map system) are designed to pad the game time and frustrate the player. Its poor design and the fact they weren’t called out on it is disappointing.
Making a save point 40 seconds from a difficult boss fight doesn’t make me or any player git gud. It’s needlessly frustrating.
I had a terrible time with DAO until I read one thing that helped improve the whole game:
‘Get Wynne’
Once you unlock her character you will actually be able to progress at a reasonable rate without incredible headache allowing you to enjoy more of the story.