The circle of reality gets smaller
Silksong, why art thou Silksong? Why, in this most brutish and billowing of months must we loyal bug kingdom fans be subjected to that news we've long suspected but dreaded to believe? When can the cold steel claws of disappointment relent from around our throats and allowing in the life-giving gulps of... release date air? Okay this bit is getting away from me. Hollow Knight Silksong has been delayed out of it's tentative release window and I just want to jump in front of a landing jet plane. Honestly, at this point I hope Team Cherry just shut down all communication and stop making promises, or teases, or trailers all together. Just drop the game the day it's done and be done with it. Honestly, Hollow Knight is probably big enough at this point that word of mouth would spread and the title would still be a smash hit. I just can't take the disappointment again!
Which seems so bizarre for someone like me to just say given how long that particular person avoided playing Hollow Knight all this time. Honestly, I just didn't really think Platformers were my thing anymore. Sure, I loved a few of them back in the day but Rayman hadn't hit it's stride for a long while and it was telling how the only developers willing to actually try the Platforming genre were those with nostalgic hearts; almost saying out loud how there's no great innovation left to treat that 2D world to. Of course, that was what the old me thought; before I was introduced to what such a game could be capable of thanks to my small affair with a little game about bugs and royalty. And mind-eating viruses sealed away within the expressionless minds of weaponised stoicism. God, I love a story that can make me question my own cohesiveness by mere summary alone!
I think that the original Hollow Knight struck me so hard with the fact that it seemed to wear it's influences on it's sleeve without betraying itself as being some overly large 'reference factory' like some games do. Hollow Knight was ambitious, but serious and ponderous, wielding the mysteriousness of Dark Souls with the sleek visual designs and complicated background scenes of Metroid. Honestly for it's narrative and world alone I would have fallen for what Hollow Knight provided, it didn't have to be a tough as nails but brilliantly intuitive souls-like slasher ontop of all that. And if I couldn't love the thing enough for what it presented; Team Cherry even had the brass gall to give us one of the most satisfyingly cool send-offs one could hope for. Just thinking about the true ending makes me want to load back into the Hallownest and do it all over!
Of course, my praise has been shouted again and again- the reason we're here is to talk about the coming sequel, and question if it ever will make it. Already it was clear that Silksong was going to be a thornier matter than it was originally intended for. The game was conceived as an expansion for the base game before plans changed and it became a standalone ; I'd been seriously concerned if the project underwent that level of shift without any sort of delay whatsoever. Standing as we are, in the dark, after several years since a reveal trailer- now fresh with no clue about when the game will launch... well, patience can wear thin after a while. I suppose they must have enough of a safety net in operating funds to allow for all this development time, which is encouraging- but I'd prefer if they didn't stick up that false hope to begin with. I'll never understand the value of devs doing that- surely that just stresses out their own workers and disappoints their own investors in one fell swoop! (A bizarre trend, I say. Bizarre.)
Not that I oppose the idea of post announcement delays- that would be silly, wouldn't it? If the ironclad promise of a release window was so binding that one simply couldn't go back on their word, even if the final delivered product turns out to be a jumbled mess of haphazard code and buzzing electric wires. No, I think we can all agree that a game delivered in a solid and polished state is the best case scenario for everyone involved. We moved away from the 'early access' mode of development because of the bad light it always shined on the games involved; (and the rampant exploitation indicative of it) we really don't need to go back on ourselves anytime soon. All I'm trying to say is... well, it's a frustrating turn of events to deal with as a consumer, you know?
Time and time again we have these elaborate celebrations of upcoming releases designed to ramp up the coming audience into a buying frenzy before release. From trailers to gameplay walkthroughs to teasers to interviews and behind the scenes and pre-release streams and every marketing trick under the sun that might score over a curious bystander. These giant song and dances only really work when there's a finished glistening product at the end of all the build up, otherwise it all feels like it's for nothing. Grand Theft Auto V delayed itself by nearly half a year, then spent that time building up hype for an online mode that would be delayed by several months more! Cyberpunk threw everything including the kitchen sink at it's audience to prepare them for an unfinished disaster that took years to get functional. By those standards, Silksong just gave us a few teasers- but it's still a bursting of a bubble.
I'll bet at some level, perhaps even a major one, the rampant success and love of the first Hollow Knight has played a part in the decision to delay this one. Any creative will tell you that the worst part of hitting it out of the park with one project is being expected to follow it up with something better the next time, even when you sank everything you had into that last project. I'll suspect that's why some of the most prolific creative talents in the entertainment world make their portfolio as disparate and diverse as possible, so they can pour every part of their soul into on endeavour before embarking on something else entirely new. Before starting on Deltarune, Toby Fox (of Undertale fame) spoke as much in a frank post where he stated how he may never make another game which can get his audience to feel in the same way that Undertale did... I would tell those people to pick up a Persona game to relieve that part of their heart being rekindled, but I understand how heavy that sort of pressure can be. And Team Cherry are no doubt beneath that weight now.
So as much as it pains me, as much as it make me want to cry, as much as my rim gorges at it- I want Team Cherry to be as happy with the game they put out as we are. Because the original Hollow Knight was just so special. Its world was so well designed and laid out, its metroidvania touches so exquisitely and perfectly crafted, it's narrative so grand and beautiful, and it's gameplay so precise and exacting- only another masterpiece will follow up what that game was. If Silksong can match that mastery, nevermind succeed it, than Team Cherry will have made their development worth the time, however long it takes. That being said... do you think we could find it in our hearts to maybe still get the game out in 2023? Pretty super duper please...
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