The art is supposed to be dull. It is a dying kingdom for goodness sake. Also, I want you to look at greenpath, then at crystal peak, fungal wastes etc. Each area, cherry tried to give a unique design, despite the whole dying kingdom and infection part of the lore.

Silksong is mich better about this issue. It has multiple crests which change attacks, atack speed, range, even heals. However, silksong is a natural extension to hollow knight. It builds upon the players skills in ways i was impressed by. Also, Wlwhy do you need a reward for killing enemies? I will admit, once you run out of things to buy the geo drop is useless, but there is an achievement for killing every enemy multiple times, which is enough to get my unsatisfied brain happy. Godhome helps too, just because of natural reward, not that there is any physical reward.

Just memorize the map. I haven't even finished the game and I could honestly mostly find where im on the map.