
Hollow Knight: Silksong looks set to be yet another wonderful Metroidvania headed to Nintendo Switch. It certainly seems that fans of the original Hollow Knight will be right at home here, with the recent Nintendo Treehouse demo (below) making us want to jump right back in, and the developers have now shared a few more details.
The info comes from a new blog post shared by Team Cherry, which explores some gameplay elements that haven't been thoroughly discussed before. First up is a brand new area called Greymoor, which the team says is "one of the biggest" they've ever created.
As Hornet ascends from the foundations of Pharloom towards the citadel at its crest, she may pass through the wasted caverns of Greymoor. The misted fields and dilapidated towers are now infested with Crawbugs, devious nesting types, and the former tenders of the land have become haunted. In the pens at this land’s height, keepers wrangle swarms of Dustroaches, rapid-breeding pests with insatiable appetites.

Elsewhere, it has been confirmed that playable character Hornet will be able to heal just like the Knight in the original game, but that it will work in a very different way. When you're carrying enough silk, you'll be able to use 'Hornet's Bind' to heal up much quicker than ever before, heal three masks at a time, and even while in the air, but doing so will consume all of Hornet's starting pool of silk. "It's all or nothing", Team Cherry says.
Where the Knight would leave a Shade when dying in the original game, Hornet leaves a cocoon. The cocoon holds a full stock of silk, so it's advised that players should only break it open when most needed. The map system appears to be almost identical to the original, however, with charts, compasses and other tools being given to you by a friendly NPC going by the name of Shakra.
You can read the full blog here if you're interested, but one extra little tidbit of information shows that Hornet will be able to speak. Team Cherry says that "though she isn’t the type to speak at length, Hornet’s not afraid to engage in conversation where necessary" and that this addition has been "a profound change" for the sequel.
In terms of a release date, the developer says that it'll arrive "when it’s ready," and "when it matches the quality and scale of Hollow Knight". An announcement for such a date will come when the team is "100% certain" they can make it, rather than chancing a delay later down the line.
It's all sounding rather lovely to us. Are you excited for this one?
[source teamcherry.com.au]
Comments 26
That's not soon enough! I need this now!
Releasing when it's ready is the best policy. Most publishers should do this.
Really hope it will be out this side of christmas. Hollow Knight is my favourite game of all time
CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS!!! Will get it Day one. Especially if there is a physical to go next to my Collectors Edition.
I loved the original, but I could never beat some of the secret bosses or the true final boss...I feel like this game will be the same way, but I suppose it'll be worth it for how good the original was.
Can't wait to see how different Hornet plays. So excited!
NEED. MORE. HOLLOW KNIGHT.
Better than releasing it when it isn’t ready, I suppose.
@Tsurii yeah I am the same, I don't have enough time to do the extra bosses. Brilliant that they are there for people though, or for me to do the odd one I like.
Give me now! Please please pleeeeeease.
P.s: if you can make not harder than the original would be appreciated as I love the game but damn the thing is difficult...
Funny i just got out of the bathroom 10 minutes ago where i was reading an article about this game in a Game Informer Magazine from March. I'm onto you Nintedlife your just like every other website following me around the internet and now apparently in real life too.
Beyond excited for this game, it looks much faster, and verticality is much more pronounced in combat.
I also adore Hornet, and I particularly love that she will be an actual character, with a voice and presence in the story.
I have no doubt it will be superior to Hollow knight, it will be the Donkey Kong country 2 of Hollow knight.
I will definitely be getting this. But this time i'm wise to your ways and will wait for the physical copy.
@Tsurii True I kind of regret not getting the true ending though...that final boss is...ugh...
I was shocked at how big the game was. I may do another playthrough closer to Silksong's release...but this time I'm leaving Zote to die! 😂
Extremely excited for this game! Day 1 purchase for sure, unless it comes out the same week as Doom Eternal or Death Stranding.
@Fake-E-Lee
I hear you, I too don’t have the patience or time to spend on a game that leads to frustration instead of fun. I like a challenge, but I don’t need every game to take inspiration from the difficulty of Dark Souls (meaning just painfully punishing).
I’ve grown up, and I play games for fun, story, and escapism. The days of playing extremely difficult games along with games that require huge time sinks are no longer games for me.
I haven’t finished Hollow Night, but I haven’t run into any real frustration yet. I’ve heard stories about the final boss though. I’ll likely pick up Silk Song since I love Metroidvanias and can’t get enough of them. Provided they’re good...here’s looking at you...Bloodstained Switch edition. 😡
No rush, when it's ready it's ready.
When I saw Hollow Knight I wasn't thinking of getting it. I figured it would be a game where you can beat in like, I dunno, 3 hours or something. I actually decided to get it because it was on sale.
...Yeah, the map is huge, you'll be playing for more than a few hours. I still haven't beaten it (I'm kinda like, lost on where to go, but I'm at least making slow progress, lol), I don't even know if I'm halfway through.
I wonder how big the sequel will be compared to the original.
A new map character? So Cornifer is not coming back, I guess. That's sad, I'd love to hear him whistling again in a new place. He made so much money off the Knight they could move to a new place with the wife.
Ah.. bapa nada.
@Fake-E-Lee I Got the game in the E3 sale and I can share your frustration. I had ~2000 in money and died and then died again before killing my soul to get it back because of the stupid spitting plants kept hitting me which pushed me in to acid. That was annoying enough, but then 2 minutes later I found my first bank.
Then again I had a load of money but died to something I didn't even see because it was so thin and then died again because it was too quick to avoid.
@sanderev
Agreed, except they will probably patch it soon afterwards anyway, so not really "ready"
Love Hollow Knight, I’ve played about 30 hours and have barely scratched the surface. I’m really looking forward to this game and was surprised and pleased in the announcement. I’m going to dive back into the first one here soon in anticipation.
"Where the Knight would leave a Shade when dying in the original game, Hornet leaves a cocoon".
The final nail in the 'Hornet is Void' debate
I got your back Mossbag!
Meh. Its true its a sequel but at the moment i dont see how imi am interested (yet). Got my physical edition from Hollow Knight in the maikbox, will do a rerun of this masterpiece which i didnt finished at all. Real boss is still out there.
Take your time devs! I still need to die 5000 times before I can beat the first game.
@Vectorman
Yeah, interactive storytelling is thoroughly engaging for me, more so than movies and tv these days. I still enjoy a good game without a story or where the story is pretty much unnecessary.
Oh, and I totally agree that DKC 1 is better than DKC 2. It’s one of my all time favorite games and probably my all time favorite series.
@Vectorman
No worries, your fine.
As for DKC, maybe I was confused, but I was referring to the original games made by Rare. Those are some of my favorite games of all time. They are my favorite platformers of all time for sure.
I agree, the new DKC games are really good, but they’re just not the same without King K. Rool and the Kremlins.
For story games, there are so many good ones. The Prince of Persia trilogy is one of my favorites when it comes to stories. There are so many now though that I don’t think I could choose an absolute favorite.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...