One of the best platformer games I've ever had the pleasure to experience was Hollow Knight. Thanks to its haunting music, thrilling boss battles and Gothic art style, Hollow Knight is a game that I'd argue comes the closest to being "the perfect video game." So when Team Cherry announced their plans to make a sequel back in February 19th, 2019, I was naturally excited. Who wouldn't be? Especially because the sequel, officially titled Hollow Knight: Silksong, would focus primarily on Hornet, a fan favorite supporting character from the original game.
 |
| Official cover art for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Image found on Wikipedia.org and IGN. |
In case you don't know what Hollow Knight is or if you need a recap, it was an action-platformer game taking place in a world of anthropomorphic insects. You played as a character called the Knight, who is a humble warrior tasked with exploring the fallen kingdom of Hallownest. Within the heart of Hallownest lies the Hollow Knight, the host of an ancient goddess of plague and disease called the Radiance. The Knight's ultimate goal is to find a way to destroy that goddess to stop her plagues from spreading to the rest of the world. Making the journey more complicated is Hornet, the long-lost princess of Hallownest who believes the Knight is not worthy of saving the world. Eventually, after many trials and tribulations, Hornet agrees to team up with the Knight and the two of them fight the Hollow Knight together. Spoilers here, but depending on the ending you got, the Knight would die sacrificing itself to destroy the Radiance. Hornet meanwhile is released from her royal obligations and is now free to travel the world as she sees fit. Like I said earlier, the main sales pitch of Silksong is that it's supposed to focus on Hornet's adventures as she travels the world of bugs and beasts.
Only problem was the wait. There were very few trailers after the initial announcement. No new screenshots. And not a release date in sight. The only reason we knew the game was still in development was because Team Cherry would post on their social media accounts specifically to remind everyone that Silksong is still in development. For six long years, the Hollow Knight fan community waited with bated breath for, well, anything more substantial than a Twitter/Facebook post. Because of that arduous wait, the fandom was driven mad and started making increasingly nonsensical memes about a game that technically doesn't even exist yet. Usually these memes took the form of fake spoilers or fake boss names. Were these memes a thinly veiled coping mechanism for a fandom that's been deprived of potential content to enjoy? Probably. Was it hilarious to watch the insanity unfold? Definitely. What makes the insanity even funnier is that Silksong actually won two awards already, both times for Most Anticipated Game. The first time was in 2022. The second time was in 2024.
But then Silksong released in The Year of Our Lord, 2069 and it made 420 Morbillion dollars at the box office. It won a Nobel Prize for being the pinnacle of human achievement. All the world leaders of Earth and Mars collectively agreed that nothing they could do or make will ever surpass the majesty that is Hollow Knight: Silksong. Centuries from now, Hollow Knight Silksong will be required studying for History Majors, as it will go on to influence our society's culture for generations. It would go on to be praised for such profound scenes like the time Hornet said "Every Silk has its Song!" And it would feature spectacular battles against legendary foes like "Nightmare Queen Grimm-Ette" "Grey Prince Zote 2: Mighty Boogaloo" and "Radiance Prime," which are all totally real bosses and not outlandish parodies that I invented on the spot.
…Okay, I've run this joke into the ground. This isn't a real review. In case it wasn't obvious, this was an April Fool's joke. But in all seriousness, the sheer insanity of the Hollow Knight fandom could have been avoided had Team Cherry just done a better job marketing the game. For all we know this game was shadow-canceled and Team Cherry is too ashamed to make that public knowledge. Either that, or they announced it way too early. Never before had I seen a game with such little marketing cause so much drama on the Internet. Then again, maybe not advertising the game was the plan all along, because the sheer mystery of whether or not this game will release within our lifetimes is better marketing than all the potential trailers and screenshots Team Cherry could have released combined.
I hope you enjoyed this little joke post. Obviously this joke is going to age like milk if Team Cherry ever actually released the game (or announced its cancellation publicly). So depending on how far you are into the future, this is going to look like utter madness. Or it's going to look like I got hit with Apollo's Gift of Prophecy and used it in the silliest way imaginable. Either way, I do genuinely recommend playing the first Hollow Knight. Even without a sequel, it's an excellent experience that has been honed to near perfection.
Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong are the properties of Team Cherry. None of the images used in this post were created by me. Please support the original creators.
No comments:
Post a Comment