Hollow Knight provides four clear profile files and also creates useful backup copies, making it a strong candidate for careful manual recovery. The key is to keep the entire LocalLow folder rather than only user1.dat: each slot can have a .bak file, older-version backups may appear after patches, and some global preferences/unlocks live elsewhere. SaveEditor therefore describes both the slot files and the boundary of what they do not contain, which avoids misleading a user who restores progress but still sees old global settings.
For this PC reference, the documented storage is Windows: %USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalLowTeam CherryHollow Knight ; Microsoft Store progress can also involve the package WGS area documented by PCGamingWiki.. The known file or folder pattern is user1.dat through user4.dat; user#.dat.bak1 backup files and older-version copies may also exist.. The four player profiles are individual user#.dat files. The game also keeps automatic backup/older-version files, while some unlock/preferences data lives outside the main save files.
Backup guidance: Back up the entire Hollow Knight LocalLow directory, not only one user#.dat. Keep the corresponding .bak files so the game-created recovery copies remain available. Steam Cloud, GOG Galaxy, and Xbox Cloud are documented. Launcher and cloud context matters because The main Windows profile files are under LocalLow. Some preferences/unlocks are stored separately, so replacing user1.dat does not necessarily reset every game-wide flag.
Compatibility and recovery should stay conservative. A profile file is not the whole application state. Steel Soul/Godseeker-style unlocks and settings can be stored outside the slot file, so slot restoration may not reproduce or erase those flags. If the expected progress is not visible, If a profile is corrupt or missing, try the matching game-created .bak only on a copy and preserve the current directory first. Verify the slot number before renaming files. SaveEditor.com only labels a game-specific editor as available when a separate linked Tool has a verified operational runtime; this reference page by itself is not an editor claim.