Sorry you didn't enjoy it that much. Personally, I was driven by the lore and mystery surrounding the world. If you pay close attention to visual cues in the environment and hit things with your dream nail to reveal additional info, the game has a subtle way of leading you deeper into its depths, towards the true boss/ending.
hmm
I guess if this is one of the big draws of the game I shouldn't be too surprised I feel as let down as I do; the somewhat recent trend of substituting lore for story is one of my least favourite things in games <_<
my (probably extremely spotty and also just flat out wrong) understanding of the lore and story: - some time in the past there was a massive underground kingdom of bugs - some sort of disease/infestation spread throughout the kingdom - one guy sealed it all inside him (how?? why?? why him??) - the kingdom's 3 leaders went into stasis(???) to seal that guy away - kingdom was protected but gradually fell into disrepair over time - you find the kingdom and start exploring it for no real reason - you get the dream nail and go around breaking the seals the dreamers made (I kinda get the feeling you were tricked into this, but again, why??) - you defeat the hollow knight, all the stuff in him gets transferred into you and now you end up locked in there forever
most of these are just wild guesses lol
Real talk for a sec here, if you want I can lay the game's lore out for you if you want to understand what's going on better. ---