LogFAQs > #966193129

15. Hollow Knight: Silksong

2023 (supposedly)
PC, consoles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSfuFlhsxZY

I *love* Metroidvanias. Have since the original Metroid came out. I've been playing maze-y platformers for as long as they've existed and they take up a good chunk of my top however many games. I consider myself somewhat of an authority on them. And so, of all the games out there, I think people's glowing reactions to Hollow Knight is probably the one that puzzles me the most.

Don't get me wrong - I like Hollow Knight. It's well made. But it's more of a 6/10, 7/10 game to me, not the pinnacle of the new age metroidvanias and a game that a lot of people put up there with Super Metroid. That's hallowed ground, man. Maybe it's because the thing I like the most in a 'vania is the feeling of traversal and feeling more powerful as I get more and more stuff. Hollow Knight doesn't really go down that path. Your movement abilities aren't that good. It's much more of a mechanics based, combat heavy one of those instead of, I don't know, an Ori. I think Hollow Knight subscribes to that Dark Souls thinking of "let's make you feel weak and uncomfortable so that you feel a sense of satisfaction when you get through it." I didn't think Hollow Knight was exceptionally hard or anything and so that feeling leaves me feeling kinda empty.

The thing is, I'll take a good metroidvania any day of the week, and so despite the muted feelings I still am looking forward to Hollow Knight: Silksong. Hand crafted metroidvania games are actually fairly rare. There's a lot of these in the indie spaces but most are low budget, don't have enough scope or utilize procedural generation. More and more of them are run based. So when one comes out that has a level of craft and care like Hollow Knight so clearly does, I'll play it immediately. This being a day 1 Game Pass game makes the choice all the easier.

Silksong looks like more of the same thing and I don't expect it to deviate too much from the original, not any more than your standard Metroid game would. I'm sure it will have new movement abilities but I doubt it's going to change up the formula too too much. That's probably a good thing. I hope it isn't as long, but given how long they're taking to make it, it's probably going to be even huger.