So earlier this month William Pellen and Ari Gibson made the long drive from their home
in Adelaide, South Australia to E3 here in the United States.
[AMERICA!! FUCK YEAH!!]
Aw yes, America, the home of the free. Now don’t get me wrong, America definitely has
its own list of problems but despite all that, I’m still proud to be an American. Sure,
we may not have those cute koala bears like they do in Australia. But you know what, that’s
just fine. Who wants koala bears anyway? Like 90% of them have chlamydia.
So why exactly did Team Cherry come down to E3 and risk getting gunned down in the streets
of LA? Well, two things. First of all, they likely came over to eat some of the finest
cuisine America has to offer. The second reason was to promote the release of Hollow Knight
on the Nintendo Switch. Now the Nintendo Switch has sort of become an indie developer’s
wet dream. As a Switch owner myself, I can tell you that indie titles are all we have
to play while we wait for the next Wii U port to come out. Shovel Knight’s launch on Switch
sold faster than any other platform release, and the game was almost three years old by
then. And Celeste has sold better on Switch than on any other platform as well. So yeah,
Hollow Knight is probably going to do pretty well. Team Cherry is probably swimming in
piles of gold as we speak.
But it wasn’t just the Switch release that Team Cherry had for us. They also showed off
some new footage for Content Pack 3, Gods & Glory™. And no, Lifeblood doesn’t count
as a content pack, that was a “Major Update”. It’s a totally different thing. But if new
footage wasn’t enough, Team Cherry also held a Reddit AMA on r/nintendoswitch. We
learned a little bit about Gods & Glory™ as well as some other cool information. According
to Ari Gibson, the snail from the Weird and Wonderful World trailer got cut from the game
because it was too big. Okay, really Ari? If fucking Ridley can get his giant ass into
Smash Bros, I’m pretty sure Gary the Snail here can fit into your little indie game.
Also, Hollow Knight 2 confirmed for 2028. Anyway, between this new AMA and the gameplay
footage shown at E3, there is a lot to talk about.
So let’s start by looking at the details Team Cherry gave us in the Kickstarter update
first announcing Gods & Glory™. In this post, Team Cherry teased that the update would
feature a new game mode. Now when I first heard this, I thought it was obviously going
to be some form of Hollow Knight Battle Royale. People have been begging Team Cherry for this
game mode since the Kickstarter began back in 2014. I for one would love to run around
and smack other players with a fucking frying pan. Well maybe not a frying pan, but you
get the idea.
Well, it turns out I was wrong, because during the Nintendo Live Treehouse Event, Ari and
William showcased some of the new update and explained that Gods & Glory™ would be Team
Cherry’s take on a boss rush mode.
“But we didn’t want to just make a boss rush mode, we wanted to do it in our way.
And what that meant was, we wanted to integrate it completely into the game experience. We
wanted to make sure there’s a narrative in there. We wanted to make sure that it’s
all part of the Knight’s journey, and it’s not like a separate divided mode from them
to play.”
So in other words, Team Cherry wanted to fit a boss rush mode into the game that still
made sense lorewise. And to do this, Team Cherry has introduced a new character called
the Godseeker.
But before we get into that, let’s talk about the mechanics behind this new boss rush
mode. What we see in the Treehouse Live event is that there are different arenas in this
new area called Godhome, where the Knight faces off against a selection of bosses. The
player also has the option to bind certain abilities to make the match more difficult.
The game appears to keep track of which bindings you’ve beaten each area with. After William
defeats the last boss, we see one of the five empty notches get filled on the archway above
the door. This makes me think that the other four notches represent each of the different
bindings that the player can enable for the arena.
In this first arena, we see William Pellen face off against the Vengefly King, the Dung
Defender, The Mega Moss Charger, Hornet and Paintmaster Sheo. Now during the Treehouse
event, Ari Gibson mentioned that some of the old bosses were being tweaked for this new
boss rush area. We can actually see this in the footage provided. In the original game,
the Knight could fight the Massive Moss Charger, but here, it’s the Mega Moss Charger.
So it looks like some of the more lackluster bosses might be getting a tune up, which is
pretty cool. Maybe they’ll finally give Nosk those badass wings that got cut from
the game. Another character that might be getting a treatment is the Hollow Knight,
albeit in a slightly different way. We see a brief glimpse of the Hollow Knight during
the Gods & Glory™ teaser trailer. Something important to note here is that the Hollow
Knight is lacking the giant crack on his shell. This crack first appeared at the start of
the game, when the Radiance began seeping out of the Hollow Knight and can be seen during
the battle with the Hollow Knight. Also it looks like the Knight is wearing armor. The
armor plating on his shoulders is clearly absent on the statue found in the City of
Tears. So it looks like we might be facing a younger version of the Hollow Knight, with
a moveset possibly more based on swordplay than just mindless attacks.
They also show off the Radiance in the teaser trailer. Is it possible we are going to get
another fight with her too? Will she be any different? The Godhome looks a lot like where
the Radiance battle took place, so maybe these two beings are more closely related than we
realize.
Anyway, once the Godseeker’s quest is finished, a new mode is unlocked, which dataminers have
been able to figure out is called God’s Glory. There is also a sprite design for the
new mode. So is this just another version of the Boss Rush Mode? That seems pretty weird
since it is listed with Normal Mode and Steel Soul Mode. Maybe this new mode will be tied
to the whole “glorifying charm” aspect Team Cherry announced in the Kickstarter update.
Alright, so we talked about some of the mechanics of this new update. Now let’s talk about
lore. In the Treehouse event, we see the Knight
unlock the chains on a cocoon with a simple key. Then the corpse of a giant bug falls
out. Now I think it’s fair to argue that this is the Godseeker. Obviously the creature
was chained up, like the Kickstarter update said. Also, the creature can be dream nailed,
allowing the Knight to enter an area called Godhome.
But this is where things get confusing. The kickstarter update talks about how the Godseeker
quest will expand the player’s romance options. Is Team Cherry saying we can romanic this
corpse?
♫I’ve been really tryiiinnnggg, baby!♫
[THUD]
Of course it seems like the Godseeker might still be around in the Godhome. I assume that’s
her sitting on the throne during this battle. Maybe the bug we find in the Junk Pit is just
a carrier for the Godseeker. It’s a pretty common theme that we see with both Grimm and
the Pale King. In the Treehouse event, there is never any opportunity to talk to this character,
so we still don’t know what Team Cherry is talking about with all of the this romance
stuff.
So yeah, why is a chained up cocoon sitting in a junkpit in the Royal Waterways? The easy
explanation, and my own personal belief, is that the Godseeker was yet another powerful
being that the Pale King attempted to hide away from the world. It’s pretty obvious
that the Pale King didn’t really want to share his kingdom with other powerful beings.
He locked away the Radiance. He deemed lifeblood, a blue liquidy goop connected to another powerful
being, a heresy. And he possibly had the grubs imprisoned because of some holy power they
had. It is kind of strange, though. The Radiance had three layers of protection over her, while
the grubs were spread out and hidden all across Hallownest. But the Godseeker can be unlocked
with a simple key. I gotta say, the Pale King got a little lazy with this one.
Similar to Grimm, I am guessing that the Godseeker’s quest will involve something to do with keeping
herself alive. As for what this quest is, my guess is that the Godseeker is searching
for a being that is worthy of the title “God”. The Kickstarter description for the content
pack reads “Take your place amongst the Gods in an epic celebration of Hallownest's
Glory and the final chapter of the Knight's journey.” So the Godseeker watches you fight
all of these bosses, and by the end, might elevate you to the status of God somehow.
So how does finding a God help the Godseeker prolong her existence? I don’t know. It’s
possible that she seeks out Gods so she can kill them or maybe have crazy bug sex with
them to create another more powerful baby God bug thing. I know that sounds weird but
it’s pretty par for the coarse when the rest of Hollow Knight’s lore is concerned
One final note, In the Switch trailer, we see that the Godseeker is no longer on the
throne. Is this because she only watches each arena fight once, or is there some other reason
why she isn’t there? Do we have to kill her or something?
Let’s shift gears and talk about the Nailmasters. So the three Nailmasters, Sheo, Mato and Oro
were all trained by the Great Nailsage, who we know is Sly. Nailmaster Sheo, who lives
in Greenpath, eventually gave up his nail to pursue a different craft, drawing Nailsmith
like he draws those french girl. The other two Nailmasters, Oro and Mato, don’t seem
to get along very well.
The two have very different personalities, with Oro, the brother found in Kingdom’s
Edge, wanting you to leave him alone. Mato, who resides in the Howling Cliffs, however,
says that he basically considers the Knight his child after meeting it like twice. Oro
seems to detest Mato’s sense of loyalty and honor, and his Dream Nail dialogue implies
that Oro’s choices in life were justified in his eyes, but that Mato won’t even listen
to him. Also, Oro is the only Nailmaster who charges Geo in order to receive training.
The main conflict between these two bugs is that Oro owes something to Mato. Mato reassures
us that he has not forgotten about this debt, while Oro tells us that Mato will have to
wait a little while longer. Considering the fact that Oro charges Geo for his lessons,
I’m guessing he owes Mato money. But that doesn’t help us understand what Oro’s
lifestyle choices were. Was he turning tricks on the street or something?
More interesting than the Nailmasters, however, is our good buddy Sly. We know that Sly is
the Great Nailsage who trained all of the Nailmasters, but we don’t know much about
how Sly ended up as a shopkeeper in Dirtmouth. However, there’s a little bit more to his
story that is worth looking into. When we first meet Sly, he is being influenced by
the infection. He has one line here that is pretty interesting:
“...Esmy... how much deeper do we have to go…”
We have no idea who Esmy is, but I think I have an idea about where she might have gone.
When Sly is presented with the Shopkeeper’s Key, he correctly guesses that we found it
in the Crystal Peaks. He claims he has no idea how they key ended up there, but that
doesn’t make sense. Did Esmy lead Sly into the Crystal Peaks, resulting in some sort
of event that caused Sly to lose both his key and Esmy? Or did Team Cherry just put
it there because, well, it has to go somewhere? I don’t know, but I do hope Team Cherry
gives us a little more info on this story
I’ll briefly mention here that a lot of people have speculated that Sly is actually
Mighty Hegemol, one of the Five Great Knights. This is mainly because of his small size and
his proximity to the location of Hegemol’s armor. I know I said before that Hollow Knight’s
lore is vague enough for any interpretation to be viable. Well, that’s not true. There’s
no way Sly’s actually Hegemol, and there’s no way that you could convince me otherwise.
Okay, so how are these four characters going to be used in the upcoming content pack? Are
they just boss fights, or is there any more coming in the future? Well, at the very least,
we’ll be able to Dream Nail them for just a little bit more lore, but I don’t think
Team Cherry can fit all of the lore for Esmy in just a few Dream Nail dialogues. Another
thing that Team Cherry can do is add more information about these bosses using the Hunter’s
Journal. The journal entries are an easy way to add lore into the game. I mean they even
have a Hunter’s Journal entry for the Seal of Binding. Now how does that make sense?
I mean, you wouldn’t “hunt” a seal.
Okay, bad example.
But considering the Hunter has entries for the Grimm Troupe characters and the Grey Prince
Zote enemies, using lines from texts he definitely wouldn’t have access to, it seems like his
Journal is becoming less and less grounded in the reality of Hollow Knight. I’m not
saying I want Team Cherry to stop doing this. In fact, I have a couple of things I’d like
them to add Journal entries for. Regardless, whatever method they chose, I hope Team Cherry
is at least able to find a way to add in at least some new lore for these guys.
One important thing to note about Gods & Glory™ is that it is the last big update for the
Knight’s journey, so this is Team Cherry’s last chance to cover some important details.
Of course, things like the Weavers and the trilobite statue in Beast’s Den can be saved
for the Hornet DLC, but this isn’t the case for everything.
I think there is a good chance that we will finally find out how the Hollow Knight grew.
I don’t think the Hornet DLC can answer this question, because Hornet was either not
born or just a baby when the Hollow Knight was sealed away. We know this because the
White Lady says that Hornet and Herrah spent little time together. At this time, Herrah
would have to be put into sleep as a Dreamer, and the Hollow Knight was presumably already
fully grown.
The only theory I really ever hear for the Hollow Knight’s growth is that it was a
side effect of taking in the infection. Which is possible, but the growth seen with the
infection is usually more of a mutation, causing things to look unnatural. The Hollow Knight
looks like a creature that grew normally. But then again, what the fuck is normal in
this game?
Another thing that Team Cherry might expand on in this update is the lore surrounding
the Snail Shamans. During the Reddit AMA, someone asked Team Cherry if the Snail Shamans
would be explained any further, to which William replied “Yes?” We don’t know much about
the Snail Shamans. There’s only one that’s still alive in the game, and he tells us that
he is somehow bound to the ancestral mound. What is interesting about the snail shamans
is that they appear to be made of Void. The main reason I believe this is because the
shamans in the Crystalized Mound and the Soul Sanctum explode into black orbs, which isn’t
really a think regular bugs would do. Other than the Knight and the bugs in the Soul Sanctum,
the Shamans are the only creatures still around who know how to use soul, indicating that
their history in Hallownest goes back a long time.
Now there’s lots of other little chunks of lore Team Cherry could throw into this
content pack. Lifeblood, the grubs, the Colosseum of Fools, whoever the fuck Tuk is looking
for.
But of course there’s one very important piece of lore that we simply cannot ignore.
Bretta. As I’m sure you all remember, Bretta left Dirtmouth in Content Pack 2 to go and
find her true love, since neither the Knight nor Zote were good enough for her. Personally,
I think the Hunter is a perfect match for Bretta. Please, consider the following. Bretta
left Zote because he claimed to be a great warrior but really wasn’t. The Hunter is
basically everything that Zote isn’t, so Bretta would probably like him. Both the Hunter
and Bretta are writers. The Hunter has his descriptive journals while Bretta has her
sensual fanfiction. That’s clearly something they could bond over. And then there’s the
proximity of Greenpath to the Howling Cliffs. And finally, this kills two birds with one
stone. The Hunter’s arc really just sorta stops. It would be a damn shame if Team Cherry
didn’t do anything else with his character.
Now you might be thinking, Team Cherry is most definitely going to just kill Bretta
off. And that is a fair point. I mean, Team Cherry has a pretty damning track record of
this. Just look at Cloth.
♫Mm, whatcha’ say??♫
♫Mm, that you only meant well?♫
And Tiso.
♫Mm, whatcha’ say??♫
♫Mm, that you only meant well?♫
And Quirrel.
♫OCEAN MAN!♫
♫TAKE ME BY THE HAND♫
But I really hope things turn out differently this time. Please, Team Cherry, I know you
watch my videos. Please for the love of God, don’t kill Bretta. I mean, yeah she’s
kind of an asshole, but still, she doesn’t deserve to die.
So yeah, that’s about it for this video. The main take away from all this is that Gods
and Glory™ is gonna be fucking huge! You can tell that Team Cherry is going all out
on this. I mean, if seeing Chunky Fluke in action doesn’t get you excited for this
update, then I don’t know what will. I guess we should talk about when this update might
release. In the Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson said that the update was heading into internal
testing, which is a good sign. In the kickstarter update announcing the Switch launch, Team
Cherry said that the new content pack would be coming out shortly afterwards. So that’s
good. Let’s see if we can find a clip of Ari saying that with his own mouth.
“This is an upcoming content pack that we’re gonna release for free in the coming months.
It’s called Hollow Knight”
GOD DAMMIT!