A Look Into the Upcoming Video Game, Hollow Knight: Silksong

The entire idea for Silksong can be traced back to the original kickstarter project by Team Cherry. One of the milestones included the option for Team Cherry to create a DLC in which the player would be able to play as a second character, that character being Hornet.

After some time, Hollow Knight was released in 2017 and received critical acclaim and had gave Team Cherry a heaping amount of success for all their work. Riding on the coattails of the success of Hollow Knight, Silksong was said to be a whole new game for Hornet, rather than just a DLC. This information was revealed on February 14, 2019.

During the 2019 E3, Silksong was able to be played. Around 16 minutes of the game could be played during this event, and live gameplay footage, courtesy of Nintendo Treehouse, was shown.

The demo revealed tons of new information, and so I have compiled the most important bits and summarized them so that I do not ramble on about the smallest detail.

Starting out the showcasing of the game, the start of Silksong is reminiscent of that of Hollow Knight, in the sense that both begin with a poem. The poem at the start of Silksong reads as, "They see your beauty, so frail and fine, they see your peace, woven of faith and toil, they forget your heart, bound in slumber and servitude, when you wake they shall see your truth, a beast's nature to bare to all". Following the poem read the words, "From 'Pharloom's Folly' by the Conductor Romino". A very vague yet intriguing poem, this brings the player speculation into the land of Pharloom, the new area to explore.

After the poem fades, a cutscene is shown. It shows Hornet being held inside of a cage, held together by what was said as being a "seal of binding". Hornet breaks out of the cage once a butterfly of some sort breaks the binding, and the cutscene breaks into the actual gameplay.

The Moss Grotto was the name given to the starting area. The area features, what one would assume, moss and vast greenery throughout. Going through the area, the player encounters new enemies, which are similar to the enemies found in the Forgotten Crossroads of Hollow Knight. The similarities between the Forgotten Crossroads and the Moss Grotto can further be seen when viewing what the starting boss is for the area. In Hollow Knight, the starting boss was the Grub Mother, and the boss for the Moss Grotto is the Moss Mother.

As the showcase goes on, a new area is shown. The Deep Docks is the name given to the area, and it is described as being an industrial area of Pharloom. Inside the Deep Docks, a new currency for the game is revealed, that currency being called "Rosaries".

The other aspects of the showcase were more or less talking about the smaller details of the game. If you want to view the Youtube video of the E3 Demo, here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8lvHT_IQbM&list=LLMB0DwQTrArWpNm_oOHxeZA&index=3283

A touchy subject among the fanbase is the release date of Silksong. Many have brought up their speculations, however all that is known is that the game will release somewhere in 2020.

Although I do not feel all that inclined to give my opinion on the matter, in fear of having gotten the release date wrong and having the angry fanbase brought upon me, I speculate that Silksong will see a Christmas release date, that being somewhere in November of December. I think it will release at that time because, as of writing this article, it is August, and Christmas is not too far away. It would be a good opportunity to bank on Christmas sales, and is not too far off from fans' predictions of the game coming out in September or October.

To be quite frank, there is not much information revealed about Silksong. Aside from the E3 Demo, trailers, and recent riddles given about characters, the game has been kept on a low in terms of information given out to the public.

Nonetheless, some samples of the soundtrack from the composer Christopher Larkin are available to be listened to, and to have one's ears blessed by the godlike work of Larkin.

As of now, no new major information has been released, yet the hype for this new metroidvania is certainly around in the fanbase. If you wish to see more of an in depth analysis of the trailers, gameplay and riddles, I would suggest viewing the videos of a YouTuber named "Mossbag" (Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTvH45HvnOzqXvfNJqdc3xg)