That's understandable and yep you guessed it, Hollow Knight is one of my favourites. I understand the annoyance with the use of pins on the map. In all, it makes sense why it ended up a negative experience. I hope you enjoy any future games you play!

1. I spent hours combing every edge of the map and revisiting places I had already visited, both with the 110%er and by myself.
2. It's been like 4 years since I originally got stuck, but I remember guides weren't helpful to my case.
3. My original save is long gone. Apparently I turned off Steam Cloud at one point and lost the save, so I can't continue trying even if I wanted to.

I didn't write this review for the longest time because I didn't want to give this game a negative review since the majority of it was excellent. Ultimately, the lack of proper ability to notate your map in a detailed way is probably what led to me not knowing what to do and ultimately getting to this point. Realizing that led to me posting this review.
I appreciate you both trying to help despite my negative review with what I presume is one of your favorite games. Most people wouldn't do that. Cheers.

I suggest one of two things. The first is to keep exploring. The background of the game is generally relaxing. The second is if you feel majorly stuck don't feel bad to use a game wiki article on what to do next. I used the wiki once and found the item I was stuck on. I now have that place memorised and can replay the game without needing a wiki again. I understand the metroidvanias aren't for everyone so if you don't want to pick the game up again, feel free not to! I hope you have a merry christmas!

keep exploring every unexplored path, youll eventually find the right way