WEBVTT 00:00:10.740 --> 00:00:15.780 E3 has once again reared its ugly head upon us, and Team Cherry has decided to grace us 00:00:15.780 --> 00:00:20.750 with a playable demo for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Unfortunately, William and Ari decided to 00:00:20.750 --> 00:00:25.140 stay in Australia this year. Did last year’s trip leave them permanently scarred from the 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:30.439 horrors of the L.A. transportation system? Of course we can only speculate. But even 00:00:30.439 --> 00:00:35.470 without William or Ari’s presence, we still got a lot of info about Silksong to plow through. 00:00:35.470 --> 00:00:39.749 Nintendo Treehouse did an excellent segment on the game, and we also have a few off screen 00:00:39.749 --> 00:00:46.620 videos to go through as well. But first let me give my overall thoughts on E3 2019. *Farting 00:00:46.620 --> 00:00:47.620 noise 00:00:47.620 --> 00:00:52.929 So we have quite a few recording of Silksong from E3. But this one by Harker is the only 00:00:52.929 --> 00:00:57.999 video to actually give us a look at the title screen for Silksong. And yeah, it’s fucking 00:00:57.999 --> 00:01:02.139 awesome. I wish we had better footage of it, but I guess nobody wanted to stare at the 00:01:02.139 --> 00:01:06.820 title screen for 20 seconds like I would have. Anyway, there are two zones available to play 00:01:06.820 --> 00:01:12.500 in the demo, the Moss Grotto and the Deep Docks. Both of these areas appear to be early 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:17.570 on in the game, located at the bottom of the kingdom of Pharloom. That’s right, the name 00:01:17.570 --> 00:01:24.040 of the Kingdom in Silksong is Pharloom. Like Far as in “far from Hallownest”, and loom 00:01:24.040 --> 00:01:28.700 as in “a frame or machine for interlacing at right angles two or more sets of threads 00:01:28.700 --> 00:01:33.400 or yarns to form a cloth”. Wouldn’t have been my first choice for a name, but I guess 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:34.400 it’s okay. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:41.061 That game starts off with a poem. Very classy. All great media starts off with a poem. Like 00:01:41.061 --> 00:01:46.730 my recent creepypasta, for example. Although it pains me to call this a poem since it doesn’t 00:01:46.730 --> 00:01:53.020 even rhyme. Maybe it’s slam poetry or something. The poem is titled Pharloom’s Folly and 00:01:53.020 --> 00:01:56.400 it was written by the Conductor Romino. It reads: 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:02.670 They see your beauty, so frail and fine, They see your peace, woven of faith and toil, 00:02:02.670 --> 00:02:06.700 They forget your heart, bound in slumber and servitude, 00:02:06.700 --> 00:02:11.129 When you wake they shall see your truth, A beast’s nature bare to all. 00:02:11.129 --> 00:02:16.750 So the author of this poem appears to be speaking directly to Pharloom, or whoever or whatever 00:02:16.750 --> 00:02:21.829 power Pharloom operates on. This could be similar to the Elegy for Hallownest, which 00:02:21.829 --> 00:02:26.319 was more or less speaking directly to the Pale King. Pharloom’s Folly seems to tell 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.590 the story of how Pharloom’s people forgot about the true nature of the heart of the 00:02:30.590 --> 00:02:35.819 kingdom. The poem then warns about what will happen when this nature is awoken. This awakening 00:02:35.819 --> 00:02:41.029 might have already happened, as this poem might have been written a long ass time ago. 00:02:41.029 --> 00:02:46.090 Digging deeper into this, the first two lines go into detail about the citizens of Pharloom. 00:02:46.090 --> 00:02:49.950 It appears as though the citizens kept the heart of Pharloom at peace through faith and 00:02:49.950 --> 00:02:55.459 toil. If I were to wildly speculate, I might be able to link this back to the bells. The 00:02:55.459 --> 00:02:59.969 bells do seem tied to some sort of faith or religion, and the bugs of Pharloom appear 00:02:59.969 --> 00:03:03.109 to be endlessly toiling to create more of them. 00:03:03.109 --> 00:03:08.530 The next line in the poem tells us what Pharloom’s folly actually is. The citizens have forgotten 00:03:08.530 --> 00:03:13.580 about the heart of the kingdom, as they have kept this heart in slumber and servitude. 00:03:13.580 --> 00:03:18.239 In other words, these bugs have kept something bound for a really long time. They appear 00:03:18.239 --> 00:03:22.530 to be doing this as a way to gain some kind of service. But this has been going on for 00:03:22.530 --> 00:03:27.010 so long that the citizens of Pharloom have forgotten just what they are dealing with. 00:03:27.010 --> 00:03:30.980 In the last two lines it is explained that once the heart of the kingdom awakens from 00:03:30.980 --> 00:03:36.019 its slumber, the citizens will finally see its beast-like nature. 00:03:36.019 --> 00:03:39.659 I will be calling back to this poem a few times so you might want to write it down on 00:03:39.659 --> 00:03:45.340 a sticky note or something. But for now, let’s move on to the opening cutscene. Part of this 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:49.379 cutscene was already shown off in the reveal trailer, but the new shots we got are not 00:03:49.379 --> 00:03:54.170 only beautiful, but also really important. It’s like Team Cherry cut all of the best 00:03:54.170 --> 00:03:58.890 bits from the reveal trailer. What a tease! The first new detail we got was that this 00:03:58.890 --> 00:04:03.840 cage is surrounded by what appears to be a Seal of Binding. At least that’s what the 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:08.150 Treehouse hosts call it. “No, it seems like there’s some sort of Seal of Binding as 00:04:08.150 --> 00:04:12.889 well on this.” That’s right, these ladies actually know a little bit of Hollow Knight 00:04:12.889 --> 00:04:18.520 lore. In fact, they are even able to give a few new tidbits of lore during the event. 00:04:18.520 --> 00:04:21.160 “These enemies seem to have some sort of curse” 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.970 “I do believe that’s the Church Keeper…” 00:04:24.970 --> 00:04:29.180 “I’ve been terrorized by fleas in my past.” 00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:30.480 “It’s okay, Katie.” 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.390 Getting back to the Seal of Binding, this explains why Hornet was never able to escape 00:04:34.390 --> 00:04:39.930 the cage when she was first captured. Anyway, we now get a shot of Hornet’s captors carrying 00:04:39.930 --> 00:04:45.511 her through some sort of archway. This is likely the proper entrance to Pharloom. This 00:04:45.511 --> 00:04:50.420 next scene finally gives us a clue about how Hornet escaped. This glowing white bug lands 00:04:50.420 --> 00:04:55.770 on the cage, and destroys the Seal of Binding. Now that’s OP as fuck. I don’t know why 00:04:55.770 --> 00:05:00.460 Team Cherry keeps giving insane powers to these tiny, white glowing objects. Actually, 00:05:00.460 --> 00:05:05.970 you know what? That’s not a bad idea. I’m gonna use that in my creepypasta. 00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:09.970 After the Seal of Binding is destroyed, we get that same scene of thread coming out of 00:05:09.970 --> 00:05:15.070 Hornet as her expression changes. The threads destroy the bridge and everyone falls into 00:05:15.070 --> 00:05:20.941 the darkness below. Now the big question here is what exactly is happening to Hornet? Maybe 00:05:20.941 --> 00:05:25.270 with the seals gone, Hornet’s abilities came back to her, allowing her to unleash 00:05:25.270 --> 00:05:29.420 her thread and escape. I’ve theorized in the past that the thread coming out of her 00:05:29.420 --> 00:05:34.670 was the result of some power that Pharloom has over those who enter it. And that’s 00:05:34.670 --> 00:05:39.510 still possible, Hornet does seem pretty shocked about what’s happening, implying that she 00:05:39.510 --> 00:05:45.040 isn’t completely in control of the situation. I don’t feel too strongly about either explanation, 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:47.390 so I’ll leave it up to you to decide. 00:05:47.390 --> 00:05:52.630 And now we arrive at the Moss Grotto. Hornet’s needle pierces into the ground and you have 00:05:52.630 --> 00:05:57.870 to use the bind ability to get up. Binding in Silksong requires Hornet to spend her entire 00:05:57.870 --> 00:06:03.940 spool of thread in order to heal three masks of damage. In the demo, the thread now has 00:06:03.940 --> 00:06:09.830 8 notches instead of 12 like in the reveal trailer. Binding appears to have replaced 00:06:09.830 --> 00:06:14.900 focusing from Hollow Knight, and allows for much faster gameplay. Instead of playing it 00:06:14.900 --> 00:06:19.061 safe, waiting for a chance to spend a little soul to heal, you are now encouraged to be 00:06:19.061 --> 00:06:23.540 aggressive. Keep landing hit so that you can heal a bunch of damage. 00:06:23.540 --> 00:06:27.630 Now in one part of the demo, Hornet gets hit at the end of her heal, and all three masks 00:06:27.630 --> 00:06:32.750 disappear. This has led to some confusion about how getting hit while healing works. 00:06:32.750 --> 00:06:37.070 In this particular instance, I think it’s just a glitch in the HUD. We can see Hornet 00:06:37.070 --> 00:06:41.470 get hit two more times after this, but her she never loses any masks. I think this is 00:06:41.470 --> 00:06:45.180 because Hornet still has those masks, but they just aren’t showing up on the HUD. 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:49.880 I’ll get more into movement later, but the Bind ability is a good glimpse into what makes 00:06:49.880 --> 00:06:55.220 Silksong different from Hollow Knight. People compare Silksong to being like what Bloodborne 00:06:55.220 --> 00:07:00.710 is to Dark Souls or what Spectre of Torment is to Shovel Knight, or what Garfield Kart 00:07:00.710 --> 00:07:05.350 is to Garfield and I’d say that those are all pretty apt comparisons. 00:07:05.350 --> 00:07:09.790 Getting into Moss Grotto proper, there are a lot of cool details that I want to point 00:07:09.790 --> 00:07:15.950 out. First of all, the moss underneath Hornet’s feet actually reacts to being stepped on. 00:07:15.950 --> 00:07:20.020 You see, this is the small shit that gets me really excited. Killing enemies in this 00:07:20.020 --> 00:07:25.050 area will get you shell shards. Shell shards are described as being fossilised fragments 00:07:25.050 --> 00:07:30.360 of shell and bone. This item can be used for crafting tools, which we will see later on 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:35.080 in the next part of the demo. Shell shards can also be found by breaking these weird 00:07:35.080 --> 00:07:36.590 statues. 00:07:36.590 --> 00:07:41.140 Now you didn’t hear this from me, but it appears as though silk will be very important 00:07:41.140 --> 00:07:45.780 in this game, seeing as there are many natural silk reserves in the world, similar to soul 00:07:45.780 --> 00:07:51.470 totems in Hollow Knight. In the Moss Grotto we have these spider webs resting on vines. 00:07:51.470 --> 00:07:56.450 I really hope each area in Silksong has different designs like this. It helps each area feel 00:07:56.450 --> 00:08:01.230 more distinct, instead of just finding Soul Totems all over the map, including the Royal 00:08:01.230 --> 00:08:03.210 Waterways for some reason. 00:08:03.210 --> 00:08:09.950 In terms of enemies, we have this spikey moss baby and this flying spikey moss baby. I’m 00:08:09.950 --> 00:08:16.650 sure they have really cute names like mossbug or winged mossbug or something dumb like that. 00:08:16.650 --> 00:08:21.080 Moving on, we also have this little guy. He kinda looks like a mix between a Tiktik and 00:08:21.080 --> 00:08:26.220 Sonic the Hedgehog. But not only that, if you go right instead of left at the beginning 00:08:26.220 --> 00:08:30.740 of the demo, you can find this secret location. Here, you’ll find a giant version of the 00:08:30.740 --> 00:08:37.460 same bug. And if you hit it, it gets super pissed. I have no idea how Team Cherry expected 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:42.090 anyone to fight that thing. I’m guessing they just stuck it here as an easter egg and 00:08:42.090 --> 00:08:46.770 will give it a big arena later. Or maybe this is supposed to be some kind of ascended arena 00:08:46.770 --> 00:08:48.170 or some shit. 00:08:48.170 --> 00:08:52.320 Now during the treehouse event, the hosts mention that the bugs of Pharloom are cursed 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:57.360 in a manner similar to the bugs of Hallownest. We can already see in this area of the game 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:02.560 that enemies give off silk fibers when they are hit. In one of my other Silksong speculation 00:09:02.560 --> 00:09:06.940 videos, I talked about the different colored particles that came off of different enemies. 00:09:06.940 --> 00:09:12.800 But in this demo, some bugs have been changed. But they still all give off silk, so that 00:09:12.800 --> 00:09:17.420 appears to be the common thread between all of these enemies. And just like with the infection 00:09:17.420 --> 00:09:23.050 in Hollow Knight, this silk is probably tied to why so many creatures are hostile to Hornet. 00:09:23.050 --> 00:09:28.520 At the end of the Moss Grotto area is the Old Church subarea. There, Hornet must fight 00:09:28.520 --> 00:09:33.470 a boss called the Moss Mother. Now people have been saying that this thing is actually 00:09:33.470 --> 00:09:37.120 my mother. Which makes this line much more awkward. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:38.810 “It also looks like a total bitch.” 00:09:38.810 --> 00:09:43.240 Moss Mother seems to be a sort of parallel to the Gruz Mother, since that was also a 00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:49.560 mother, and also lived in a church, and was also was a total bitch. But maybe I’m wrong. 00:09:49.560 --> 00:09:55.110 Maybe this boss might actually be pretty tough. She definitely gave a lot of pro gamers trouble. 00:09:55.110 --> 00:10:03.010 Here’s a reporter from Kotaku dying to her. “Hubris there. Hubris,folks.” 00:10:03.010 --> 00:10:08.630 After the battle, Hornet is knocked unconscious when this silhouette does… nothing. And 00:10:08.630 --> 00:10:13.430 then she starts laughing. For all she knows, Hornet just had a heart attack! According 00:10:13.430 --> 00:10:18.680 to Katie, the woman playing the game for the Treehouse event, this NPC is the Church Keeper, 00:10:18.680 --> 00:10:23.180 who might act as a guide for Hornet throughout the game. We know from the Silksong reveal 00:10:23.180 --> 00:10:28.360 trailer that the Church Keeper teaches Hornet how to play her needle like a stringed instrument. 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:32.660 We still don’t see any of this in the demo, so the utility of this ability still remains 00:10:32.660 --> 00:10:34.220 up in the air. 00:10:34.220 --> 00:10:38.220 Before we leave the Moss Grotto, I wanted to call attention to these strange doors that 00:10:38.220 --> 00:10:43.180 can be found on either side of the map. The face designs appear to be based on the Weavers. 00:10:43.180 --> 00:10:47.529 There is no way to open these doors in the demo, so we’ll have to wait to see what 00:10:47.529 --> 00:10:52.910 might be hidden behind them. More importantly, this strengthens the argument that Pharloom 00:10:52.910 --> 00:10:55.540 was the original home for the Weavers. 00:10:55.540 --> 00:11:01.620 And now let’s move on to the second area of the game, the Deep Docks. In this section, 00:11:01.620 --> 00:11:06.770 Hornet gains more of her moveset. She gets access to her tool by pressing R. She gets 00:11:06.770 --> 00:11:12.360 her sprint, which is activated by holding ZR. And she gets a skill move using the X 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:16.660 button. Looking at the footage that was recorded on the show floor, it seems like Hornet is 00:11:16.660 --> 00:11:21.800 a little difficult to control at first. When using the downward strike in Silksong, Hornet 00:11:21.800 --> 00:11:27.490 will lunge down diagonally, making spacing a bit more complex than in Hollow Knight. 00:11:27.490 --> 00:11:32.570 When sprinting Hornet can perform a long jump, which is used to reach a mask shard. She is 00:11:32.570 --> 00:11:37.650 also capable of grabbing ledges. And if you press in the right joystick, she does a cute 00:11:37.650 --> 00:11:47.030 little taunt. All of these movement abilities give Silksong a larger emphasis on platforming. 00:11:47.030 --> 00:11:51.810 Here in the Deep Docks, we see lever operated platformers, a room filled with hot coals 00:11:51.810 --> 00:11:56.630 that Hornet has to run on and a room with lava falls that fucked up a ton of people 00:11:56.630 --> 00:12:01.620 playing the demo. I’m really happy to see this greater emphasis on platforming. The 00:12:01.620 --> 00:12:05.130 biggest problem with Hollow Knight for me was that it didn’t have enough areas like 00:12:05.130 --> 00:12:06.260 the White Palace. 00:12:06.260 --> 00:12:11.100 Let’s take a look at Hornet’s inventory. So we have Hornet’s cloak, known as the 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:15.089 Hunter’s cloak, which confirms that Hornet has pockets that allow her to store things 00:12:15.089 --> 00:12:20.500 like giant ass buzzsaws so that’s good. We have the needle which is described as being 00:12:20.500 --> 00:12:23.720 perfectly balanced, as all things should be. 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:29.800 Next up, we have the Thread Spool. This item tells us that silk thread is produced naturally 00:12:29.800 --> 00:12:34.399 within Hornet’s shell. So how exactly does hitting enemies cause Hornet to naturally 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:39.060 produce silk thread? Does it have to do with the fact that these enemies release silk fibers 00:12:39.060 --> 00:12:43.470 when they get hit? And then Hornet is taking these fibers and turning them into thread? 00:12:43.470 --> 00:12:48.440 Is this related to soul at all? Can Hornet even manipulate soul? She is the daughter 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:52.220 of the Pale King, so it’s not an unbelievable suggestion. 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:56.190 Hornet also has a tool kit, which is likely what holds all of the weapons we saw in the 00:12:56.190 --> 00:13:01.750 reveal trailer. There’s a description of the mask shard, which says “Mask Pieces 00:13:01.750 --> 00:13:07.040 2”. This is probably just placeholder text, indicating that the player currently has two 00:13:07.040 --> 00:13:11.710 masks shards, given that the player collects one later and is shown to have three of them. 00:13:11.710 --> 00:13:16.260 There’s also the description for the Mossberry, which is an item that is mentioned in a quest 00:13:16.260 --> 00:13:17.560 we saw in the reveal trailer. 00:13:17.560 --> 00:13:22.890 Now let’s talk about Rosaries and Shell Shards. Rosaries are the new currency found 00:13:22.890 --> 00:13:28.791 in Silksong. They are described as being holy, and having patterns etched into them. What 00:13:28.791 --> 00:13:33.241 I like about this item is that none of the enemies in the Moss Grotto drop them, which 00:13:33.241 --> 00:13:38.150 makes sense, since these bugs have probably never used currency living in the wilderness. 00:13:38.150 --> 00:13:42.649 It never made sense that Primal Aspids would be carrying Geo after all. What are they gonna 00:13:42.649 --> 00:13:45.029 do with it? Go to a matinee? 00:13:45.029 --> 00:13:49.050 Now there is an item that we don’t have a screenshot of called the Rosary String. 00:13:49.050 --> 00:13:54.550 But we do have a description of it from the Nintendo Live Treehouse hosts. Basically they 00:13:54.550 --> 00:13:58.830 state that Hornet will lose all of her rosaries upon death. It’s unclear whether or not 00:13:58.830 --> 00:14:04.470 she can retrieve them, but as of this demo, she cannot. But they do go on to explain that 00:14:04.470 --> 00:14:09.020 rosaries on a string won’t be lost. They then mention that they kept breaking their 00:14:09.020 --> 00:14:14.770 rosary strings to get the rosaries. So I think Rosary Strings act like Boss Souls from Dark 00:14:14.770 --> 00:14:20.260 Souls. It’s just a regular item, but you can spend it to receive a certain amount of 00:14:20.260 --> 00:14:21.260 currency. 00:14:21.260 --> 00:14:25.660 Shell shards aren’t currency like rosaries, and you don’t lose them when dying, but 00:14:25.660 --> 00:14:30.930 they are still important collectables in Silksong. In the Deep Docks demo, Hornet has access 00:14:30.930 --> 00:14:37.040 to a tool described as a straight pin. When Hornet uses a pin, this wheel decreases. The 00:14:37.040 --> 00:14:42.200 one only way to replenish Hornet’s tool is to sit at a bench. Hornet will then use 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:47.290 the shell shards to rebuild her tools. But how exactly do you get a metal pin out of 00:14:47.290 --> 00:14:53.149 bone and shell? Are these benches able to transmute matter? In the demo, Hornet is only 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:58.150 able to hold 400 shell shards, meaning there might be items in the game that increase how 00:14:58.150 --> 00:14:59.750 many you can hold. 00:14:59.750 --> 00:15:05.560 Since I brought up Hornet dying earlier, I think it’s time we talk about… it. Now, 00:15:05.560 --> 00:15:10.720 as you know, the debate about whether or not Hornet is a void being has been raging on 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:15.980 for over two years now. For a long time now. I have firmly believed that Hornet is not 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:19.590 a void being, and I even made an amazing video about it. 00:15:19.590 --> 00:15:25.370 But even after this video, there have been people who have continued to believe a lie. 00:15:25.370 --> 00:15:31.350 Vysuals, a Hollow Knight speedrunner, even made a fool of himself at ADGQ this year sharing 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:34.350 his silly belief that Hornet is made of void. 00:15:34.350 --> 00:15:35.350 “Is Hornet void?” 00:15:35.350 --> 00:15:36.560 “Hornet is definitely void.” 00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:42.360 I’m sorry, Visuals, but isn’t your job to see as little of the game as possible? 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:44.620 Why should anybody trust you on lore? 00:15:44.620 --> 00:15:49.730 But despite what anyone thought, we all knew that the answer would finally arrive once 00:15:49.730 --> 00:15:54.630 Hornet became a playable character. If Hornet was a void being, similar to the Knight and 00:15:54.630 --> 00:16:00.480 the other vessels, then she would leave a shade behind upon death. And now, after years 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:03.000 of waiting, we finally have an answer. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:21.140 HORNET IS NOT FUCKING VOID. WHENEVER SHE GETS HIT, SHE SPILLS WHITE PARTICLES LIKELY REPRESENTING 00:16:21.140 --> 00:16:25.851 SOUL. THIS IS DIFFERENT TO THE KNIGHT, WHO ALWAYS SPILLED BLACK VOID PARTICLES. WHEN 00:16:25.851 --> 00:16:30.311 HORNET IS AT ONE HEALTH, SOUL WILL LEAK FROM HER BODY AND HEALTH METER, SIMILAR TO HOW 00:16:30.311 --> 00:16:34.900 THE KNIGHT LEAKED VOID. WHEN HORNET DIES, SHE EXPLODES INTO SOUL AND SILK UNTIL THE 00:16:34.900 --> 00:16:39.630 SCREEN GOES DARK. UPON RETURNING TO THE PLACE OF HER DEATH, HORNET IS GREETED WITH A COCOON 00:16:39.630 --> 00:16:44.430 THAT REPLENISHES HER THREAD SPOOL. WHEN THE KNIGHT DIES, ITS BODY CRUMBLES APART AS VOID 00:16:44.430 --> 00:16:48.779 PARTICLES APPEAR. A SHADE IS LEFT BEHIND THAT THE KNIGHT HAS TO DEFEAT IN ORDER TO REGAIN 00:16:48.779 --> 00:16:54.180 ALL OF ITS SOUL METER. ALL OF THESE DETAILS CLEARLY HINT AT HORNET NOT BEING RELATED TO 00:16:54.180 --> 00:16:57.770 THE VOID. 00:16:57.770 --> 00:17:02.490 But of course, we all knew it wouldn’t be that easy. There are still those in the Hollow 00:17:02.490 --> 00:17:07.980 Knight community who believe that Hornet is still a void entity. How is that? Well, it 00:17:07.980 --> 00:17:12.520 all has to do with how the screen goes black after Hornet’s death. Some people believe 00:17:12.520 --> 00:17:18.309 that this is void violently erupting from Hornet’s body. Here’s my counter argument. 00:17:18.309 --> 00:17:20.809 It’s just a screen transition. 00:17:20.809 --> 00:17:26.299 You see, screen transitions are important in video games. They give the game a chance 00:17:26.299 --> 00:17:32.049 to load in new rooms, instances and other shit without looking really weird. They are 00:17:32.049 --> 00:17:37.309 also useful for setting the pace while storytelling. Here’s an example from the popular cartoon 00:17:37.309 --> 00:17:39.570 TV show, Ed, Edd n Eddy. 00:17:39.570 --> 00:17:43.900 “End of first sequence and fade to black.” 00:17:43.900 --> 00:17:49.000 You see the Eds weren’t being swallowed up by void. They were just ending that scene. 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:53.640 Hell, even I use screen transitions sometimes. Here, watch. 00:17:57.740 --> 00:17:59.580 See how seamless that was? If 00:17:59.580 --> 00:18:03.460 I had just hard cut to this image, it would have been really weird. 00:18:03.460 --> 00:18:04.812 Oh shit! Did you just 00:18:04.812 --> 00:18:10.700 see that? Hornet and her captors just got attacked by a whole cascade of void. Oh wait, 00:18:10.700 --> 00:18:14.290 that was just a transition. 00:18:14.290 --> 00:18:19.470 But maybe I’m being too harsh on Team Vornet. Let’s look at this scene where Hornet gets 00:18:19.470 --> 00:18:25.430 killed by the Moss Mother. Wow, that’s a lotta void! There’s way more void there 00:18:25.430 --> 00:18:30.010 than anything that ever erupted out of the Knight. I bet there must be void all over 00:18:30.020 --> 00:18:31.620 the Moss Mother’s lair now. 00:18:35.820 --> 00:18:38.540 “Oh my god. 00:18:38.600 --> 00:18:42.000 There’s VOID everywhere. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:43.960 My house is full of VOID! 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:46.120 He VOID everywhere! 00:18:46.120 --> 00:18:48.760 Look what he did, he VOID all over the wall!” 00:18:48.760 --> 00:18:53.860 Oh wait, there’s literally nothing here but a silk cocoon. Now where did all of that 00:18:53.870 --> 00:19:00.590 pesky void go? Ah, who cares? It just disappeared. It’s not like Hornet has to come to term 00:19:00.590 --> 00:19:05.660 with her regrets or anything. That was never a part of Hollow Knight lore. /s 00:19:05.660 --> 00:19:11.540 Now of course, all of Hollow Knight lore is up to the reader’s own interpretation. That’s 00:19:11.540 --> 00:19:18.150 the beauty of this kind of storytelling. However, when an interpretation is countered by numerous 00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:23.920 pieces of evidence found in the game, you have to reevaluate your theory. If you still 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:28.900 think Hornet is void, let me give you a quick rundown of all of the issues you have to resolve 00:19:28.900 --> 00:19:30.630 with lore. 00:19:30.630 --> 00:19:34.740 Why doesn’t Hornet leave a shade? Why doesn’t Hornet leak void like the Knight 00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:39.390 when at one health? Why would Herrah sacrifice herself for brood, 00:19:39.390 --> 00:19:40.390 if her child would be killed and hollowed out by void? 00:19:40.390 --> 00:19:43.540 Why does Hornet say “your birth” to the Knight when talking about the Abyss? Why not 00:19:43.540 --> 00:19:44.540 say “our birth”? What is the purpose of putting void in Hornet 00:19:44.540 --> 00:19:45.540 if she’s not meant to be a vessel for the Radiance? 00:19:45.540 --> 00:19:47.641 Why does Hornet say she lacks the crucial emptiness of the Knight when we know that 00:19:47.641 --> 00:19:48.641 “emptiness” is a phrase completely synonymous with the void? 00:19:48.641 --> 00:19:49.641 Why does Hornet have a gender? Why does Hornet say the bindings of the Black 00:19:49.641 --> 00:19:51.429 Egg would drain her if she’s a void being? “How can my feet smell if they don’t have 00:19:51.429 --> 00:19:52.710 a nose?” 00:19:52.710 --> 00:19:57.030 If you think Hornet isn’t void, you have the very difficult task of explaining why 00:19:57.030 --> 00:20:05.540 the screen goes black when she dies. Hmmm… Yeah, it’s a real toss up, isn’t it. 00:20:05.540 --> 00:20:09.840 But hey, it’s not that big of a deal. Let’s talk about what kind of characters can be 00:20:09.840 --> 00:20:14.760 found in the Deep Docks. The enemies found here have already been shown off in the reveal 00:20:14.760 --> 00:20:21.100 trailer, aside from one. This guy uses a bell cap as a form of defense, as well as a weapon 00:20:21.100 --> 00:20:26.770 to charge forward with. As we can see in the demo, bells act as a form of protection against 00:20:26.770 --> 00:20:31.160 Hornet’s needle, requiring the player to rethink how they approach these enemies. 00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:34.900 But there are more than just enemies to be found in this area. One new character is this 00:20:34.900 --> 00:20:40.400 weird looking thing that the Treehouse host calls a flea. Not sure what the fuck kind 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:45.300 of flea this is. These creatures appear to be the replacement for the grubs from Hollow 00:20:45.300 --> 00:20:51.190 Knight. According to the treehouse host, these fleas came to Pharloom seeking enlightenment. 00:20:51.190 --> 00:20:55.230 The Silksong website describes Hornet’s journey to the top of Pharloom as a deadly 00:20:55.230 --> 00:21:00.110 pilgrimage. So between all of that, and the numerous amounts of religious imagery in the 00:21:00.110 --> 00:21:04.820 game, we can see that Pharloom must offer some kind of spiritual enlightenment. I don’t 00:21:04.820 --> 00:21:09.679 think we can really know how this works yet, but it seems very likely that bells are somehow 00:21:09.679 --> 00:21:11.419 involved. 00:21:11.419 --> 00:21:16.320 Speaking of which, Hornet meets a few new NPCs in the Deep Docks, a large bug known 00:21:16.320 --> 00:21:21.960 as Forge-Daughter and her assistant Ballow. First of all, this gives us our first look 00:21:21.960 --> 00:21:27.730 at how dialogue will work in Silksong. However, Hornet doesn’t “Listen” like the Knight 00:21:27.730 --> 00:21:34.110 does, she actually speaks. Dialogue from NPCs will be indicated with the twine ball sigal, 00:21:34.110 --> 00:21:38.920 while Hornet’s dialogue is indicated with her face, as well as a Weaver face. Hornet 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:44.320 being able to talk will probably be one of the biggest boons to loremasters such as myself. 00:21:44.320 --> 00:21:48.270 Just from this conversation, we can see that Hornet still remembers the weapons she used 00:21:48.270 --> 00:21:50.900 to have before getting captured. 00:21:50.900 --> 00:21:55.470 This whole issue of what happens when bugs leave Hallownest has troubled me to my very 00:21:55.470 --> 00:22:01.250 soul for quite some time now. Hornet is yet another example that some bugs can maintain 00:22:01.250 --> 00:22:07.280 their minds and memories even after leaving Hallownest. Is the specific example due to 00:22:07.280 --> 00:22:12.450 Hornet’s nature, or the Seal of Binding protecting her? Regardless of the answer, 00:22:12.450 --> 00:22:17.350 I do believe this question will be answered by the very virtue of Silksong taking place 00:22:17.350 --> 00:22:19.850 outside of Hallownest. 00:22:19.850 --> 00:22:24.340 Getting back to Forge-Daughter, she appears to be the NPC that will give Hornet access 00:22:24.340 --> 00:22:30.130 to make new tools, weapons and accessories. From what I can gather, it appears as though 00:22:30.130 --> 00:22:33.830 Hornet will have to find the right supplies, and then Forge-Daughter will turn them into 00:22:33.830 --> 00:22:38.800 permanent items that Hornet can then replenish using shell shards. 00:22:38.800 --> 00:22:43.730 Forge-Daughter also describes her work as “the ancient line and honoured role.” 00:22:43.730 --> 00:22:47.770 Now the treehouse host mentions that the bugs in this area appear to be gathering coal to 00:22:47.770 --> 00:22:53.570 send up to the citadel high above in Pharloom. So whatever this process is, it must have 00:22:53.570 --> 00:22:58.540 been going on for a long time. It probably even connects back to Pharloom’s Folly. 00:22:58.540 --> 00:23:03.350 This could be related to the section mentioning toil. This process does seem like it would 00:23:03.350 --> 00:23:07.630 be very difficult, and I don’t think OSHA would be too happy with this work environment 00:23:07.630 --> 00:23:08.970 either. 00:23:08.970 --> 00:23:12.730 Another important nugget of information that Forge-Daughter gives us is that the other 00:23:12.730 --> 00:23:18.150 bugs have indeed lost their senses. So this whole silk thing is very similar to that of 00:23:18.150 --> 00:23:23.960 the infection from Hollow Knight. But is it a hivemind? Possibly, but we don’t have 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:26.230 the finer details quite yet. 00:23:26.230 --> 00:23:31.120 In this part of the demo, we also find an interesting lore tablet. This tablet appears 00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:36.080 to be a list of instructions. When the bugs hear certain bell tolls, they have to send 00:23:36.080 --> 00:23:41.039 Smokerock and Sweetmelt. These are likely materials similar to what this bellhead is 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:46.700 carrying in his fanny pack, and they might even be what Hornet has to collect for Forge-Daughter. 00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:50.770 What’s interesting about this lore tablet though, is that these materials are measured 00:23:50.770 --> 00:23:56.850 using measures and beats. Now, I’m not an expert in music lore, but measures are used 00:23:56.850 --> 00:24:02.559 to indicate a period of time in a song, while beats are when the actual notes are played. 00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:07.340 This further reinforces the importance of song in this world. The last line these two 00:24:07.340 --> 00:24:13.940 instructions reads “Mark of fealty, all workers”. Is this referring to the “faith” 00:24:13.940 --> 00:24:18.320 part of the “faith and toil” line from Pharloom’s Folly? Or are the workers forced 00:24:18.320 --> 00:24:23.090 to show fealty to the bugs up in Pharloom? Are we going to see some kind of deep class 00:24:23.090 --> 00:24:25.419 warfare commentary from Team Cherry? 00:24:25.419 --> 00:24:30.049 Now let’s turn our attention to one of the most exciting parts of the demo, the fight 00:24:30.049 --> 00:24:35.010 with Lace. Lace’s dialogue in this section is really entertaining. She sounds like such 00:24:35.010 --> 00:24:40.730 a brat. And the fight itself looks incredibly frantic. Lace’s moves come out quick, and 00:24:40.730 --> 00:24:45.790 we can see here that Hornet has fewer invincibility frames than the Knight. I really hope we get 00:24:45.790 --> 00:24:49.980 some kind of boss rush for Silksong like we did in Hollow Knight, because I have the feeling 00:24:49.980 --> 00:24:52.640 these fights are going to be really fun. 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:56.900 Before the fight starts, we can see that Lace appears to be conducting these glowing bugs 00:24:56.900 --> 00:25:02.000 with her pin. This is a really important detail, since a very similar bug is what removed the 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:07.410 Seal of Binding from Hornet’s cage. Lace might even be aware of this, since she mentions 00:25:07.410 --> 00:25:12.429 the cage that Hornet was trapped in. If this is true, then it means that Lace might be 00:25:12.429 --> 00:25:16.690 working against the bugs we saw carry Hornet into Pharloom. 00:25:16.690 --> 00:25:21.550 Lace tells Hornet that she will face suffering as she continues her journey up through Pharloom, 00:25:21.550 --> 00:25:27.430 offering to kill Hornet instead. How nice! Lace also keeps referring to Hornet as a “little 00:25:27.430 --> 00:25:32.340 spider”, which is weird since Hornet and Lace are the same size, so she should probably 00:25:32.340 --> 00:25:37.370 just shut her mouth. But I think this tells us why those bugs captured Hornet in the first 00:25:37.370 --> 00:25:42.910 place. They want her because she is a spider. The bugs of Pharloom might be capturing spiders 00:25:42.910 --> 00:25:48.049 and using them to produce silk that the kingdom uses. This is why we see a sleeping Weaver 00:25:48.049 --> 00:25:53.160 in the reveal trailer, it's been captured and forced to produce silk. All of this might 00:25:53.160 --> 00:25:57.110 also tie back to Pharloom’s Folly, which talks about a beast’s nature being revealed 00:25:57.110 --> 00:26:02.840 after it is awakened. Hornet’s mother, Herrah, is called the “Herrah the Beast”, so the 00:26:02.840 --> 00:26:08.030 word beast might be synonymous with the word spider. In other words, I think the bugs of 00:26:08.030 --> 00:26:11.690 Pharloom imprison spiders and force them to produce silk. 00:26:11.690 --> 00:26:16.730 Lace, on the other hand, wants to keep these spiders from being captured. That’s why 00:26:16.730 --> 00:26:21.660 she wants to kill Hornet. She doesn’t want Hornet falling into the hands of these bugs. 00:26:21.660 --> 00:26:26.690 But this theory raises a few questions. Why does Lace appear to be part of this bell cult 00:26:26.690 --> 00:26:31.380 if she disagrees with their plan? Her design appears to be tied back to them, given she 00:26:31.380 --> 00:26:37.230 uses a pin similar to what other bugs in the cult use. On top of that, Lace’s stupid 00:26:37.230 --> 00:26:41.010 headdress appears to be based on the stupid headdresses that other religious people wore 00:26:41.010 --> 00:26:46.770 in the past such, as the cornette. So maybe Lace has nothing to do with the bug that freed 00:26:46.770 --> 00:26:51.820 Hornet. The Treehouse host did say that Lace was part of a group that was trying to impede 00:26:51.820 --> 00:26:54.890 Hornet’s journey, so there’s definitely still more to her than what we know right 00:26:54.890 --> 00:26:55.890 now. 00:26:55.890 --> 00:27:00.090 A few other noteworthy details about this fight. Lace gives off the same silk fibers 00:27:00.090 --> 00:27:04.660 that other enemies give off when hit, implying that she has also been targeted by whatever 00:27:04.660 --> 00:27:09.880 is haunting Pharloom. However, Lace appears to maintain her senses, given that she can 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:15.820 shittalk Hornet. On top of that, Hornet also explodes into silk when she dies. So I think 00:27:15.820 --> 00:27:19.660 it’s something that happens to everyone in the kingdom, but it’s not clear how exactly 00:27:19.660 --> 00:27:21.260 it affects them yet. 00:27:21.260 --> 00:27:25.900 When staggered, Lace and the Moss Mother both have this weird animation that shows up over 00:27:25.900 --> 00:27:30.720 their heads. I’m not sure why this was added to the game. I’ve never had a problem with 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:35.179 telling when a boss was staggered in Hollow Knight, but maybe the bosses in Silksong get 00:27:35.179 --> 00:27:40.570 so frantic, that it was necessary to add this effect in. Also, this fight was in the reveal 00:27:40.570 --> 00:27:45.250 trailer, and it appears as though they changed the background. I think the background looks 00:27:45.250 --> 00:27:48.790 a lot better with that giant statue covered in moss. 00:27:48.790 --> 00:27:54.010 After the fight, Hornet gains access to the Wild Songshrine. In the shrine, there is a 00:27:54.010 --> 00:27:59.539 giant bell covered in silk. After removing the silk, a lever appears which winds up the 00:27:59.539 --> 00:28:04.220 bell. Unfortunately, the Treehouse feed cuts away right before the bell starts to ring. 00:28:04.220 --> 00:28:09.809 I have no idea why Nintendo thought that was a good idea, but it angers me so. Luckily 00:28:09.809 --> 00:28:13.880 we still have footage of the bell ringing. The most interesting detail here is that the 00:28:13.880 --> 00:28:18.740 Seal of Binding on the bell is white instead of the purple color we saw in the reveal trailer. 00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:22.809 So I guess this means Grimace won’t be the final boss of Silksong. 00:28:22.809 --> 00:28:29.059 So the big question here is, who covered the bell in silk? Was it these guys, or Lace and 00:28:29.059 --> 00:28:35.130 her crew, or some other group that we haven’t met yet? What does the bell even do? How does 00:28:35.130 --> 00:28:39.830 Hornet know it’s a good idea to ring them? Is this bell related to the lore tablet we 00:28:39.830 --> 00:28:43.780 saw earlier? Is Taco Bell canon in this game? 00:28:43.780 --> 00:28:48.190 And there you have it, that’s pretty much everything we can pull from the demo. But 00:28:48.190 --> 00:28:51.750 that doesn’t mean we’re done here yet. We still have to talk about the footage shown 00:28:51.750 --> 00:28:56.670 during the Nintendo E3 direct. Now there was some really great stuff shown off in the Nintendo 00:28:56.670 --> 00:29:00.060 Direct. So I’ll just list them real fast. 00:29:00.060 --> 00:29:01.760 Gooigi. 00:29:01.760 --> 00:29:04.380 5 seconds of Silksong footage. 00:29:04.380 --> 00:29:09.340 And that’s about it. Unfortunately, half of this footage we got for Silksong was old, 00:29:09.350 --> 00:29:12.789 so we basically only got three seconds of new footage. 00:29:12.789 --> 00:29:16.809 The first new shot we have is of Hornet using her aerial tricks to bounce off a bunch of 00:29:16.809 --> 00:29:21.770 bells. This is yet another example of how Silksong appears to be implementing more challenging 00:29:21.770 --> 00:29:27.040 platforming into its world. The second shot shows Hornet fighting these strange hooded 00:29:27.040 --> 00:29:34.299 enemies. And I think these guys might be fucking birds! Yeah, birds. First of all they appear 00:29:34.299 --> 00:29:39.231 to have beaks peeking out from their hoods. This guy is also flapping his wings, which 00:29:39.231 --> 00:29:43.390 apparently is a thing that birds do. Also, the silhouettes of these guys can be seen 00:29:43.390 --> 00:29:48.809 in the Silksong reveal trailer. They appear to be perching in a manner similar to birds. 00:29:48.809 --> 00:29:53.130 Another explanation for the beaks coming from the hoods might be that these guys are wearing 00:29:53.130 --> 00:29:58.560 plague doctor masks. Now I’m not a history major, but I am not aware of plague doctors 00:29:58.560 --> 00:30:00.520 being able to fly either. 00:30:00.520 --> 00:30:05.960 Now while William and Ari were both absent from E3 this year, Matthew Griffin, or Leth, 00:30:05.960 --> 00:30:10.460 was able to make an appearance. Leth is the PR and marketing guy for Team Cherry, and 00:30:10.460 --> 00:30:15.409 he apparently spent some time on the E3 show floor talking to people who were demoing Silksong. 00:30:15.409 --> 00:30:19.929 I’m not sure why Leth didn’t make an appearance on the Nintendo Treehouse event. I guess he 00:30:19.929 --> 00:30:25.669 was too busy eating burgers at IHOP or something. Now I was not able to attend E3 this year 00:30:25.669 --> 00:30:30.200 as I was too busy playing Fortnite, but I was able to get a few people to talk to Leth 00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:34.830 and try to coerce information out of him. One of my informants sent me this message. 00:30:34.830 --> 00:30:38.600 “Hey mossbag, your spies are terrible, man. They’re terrible.” 00:30:38.600 --> 00:30:44.830 I never heard from my informant again after this message. Did Leth have them taken out? 00:30:44.830 --> 00:30:46.910 Of course we can only speculate. 00:30:46.910 --> 00:30:52.760 Let’s talk release date. All we got officially is the dreaded “Coming Soon”. But during 00:30:52.760 --> 00:30:57.880 the treehouse event, Sam mentioned that development of Silksong is wrapping up, but how would 00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:02.530 Sam know such information? Nintendo of America released a list of what games were coming 00:31:02.530 --> 00:31:07.549 out soon, and Silksong is nowhere to be found on this list. Judging from what we saw in 00:31:07.549 --> 00:31:12.810 the demo, there was a lot of stuff that wasn’t developed. We didn’t see how crests work, 00:31:12.810 --> 00:31:16.400 we didn’t see how the quest system works, and the level layouts felt more like demo 00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:21.730 areas than actual level designs for the game. So I personally believe that the game still 00:31:21.730 --> 00:31:27.280 has quite a way to go. But I’m not an expert on game design or anything so believe what 00:31:27.280 --> 00:31:29.240 you want, I suppose. 00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:34.350 So how is Silksong looking after analyzing this demo? Well honestly, I believe that this 00:31:34.350 --> 00:31:38.620 game could be better than Hollow Knight. I think the exploration and platforming will 00:31:38.620 --> 00:31:43.870 be more challenging and varied. I think the combat will be faster-paced and more engaging. 00:31:43.870 --> 00:31:48.090 I think the story will have a greater presence, while the underlying lore will continue to 00:31:48.090 --> 00:31:52.440 be amazing. I think the art will be even better, as we can see how Team Cherry is learning 00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:58.330 how to integrate it with digital effects, such as the swinging signs and krumping ground. 00:31:58.330 --> 00:32:02.970 Of course the big question will be how Team Cherry introduces side quests and item management 00:32:02.970 --> 00:32:07.130 and how they’re going to keep them feeling fresh and interesting without being boring. 00:32:07.130 --> 00:32:11.660 As for interpreting what we know about the story so far, I think Pharloom’s Folly acts 00:32:11.660 --> 00:32:16.409 as a good backbone to figure out what happened in this kingdom. Hallownest’s architecture 00:32:16.409 --> 00:32:20.250 was typically embroidered with the symbol of the Hallownest Seal, which appeared to 00:32:20.250 --> 00:32:25.940 be some kind of depiction of the Pale King. In Pharloom, the symbol is this ball of thread, 00:32:25.940 --> 00:32:31.500 usually surrounded by a hook. I think this symbolizes what Pharloom is all about. This 00:32:31.500 --> 00:32:36.720 cult imprisons spiders, and puts them into a life of servitude creating silk for the 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:41.820 kingdom. Somehow, this is all maintained through faith and toil, which could be related to 00:32:41.820 --> 00:32:46.900 the cult that has formed around bells. But at some point, this slumber broke, or will 00:32:46.900 --> 00:32:51.530 break, and the beasts, or spiders, are set free. 00:32:51.530 --> 00:32:56.419 But that’s just my interpretation, which really doesn’t make sense, and it also doesn’t 00:32:56.419 --> 00:33:00.520 explain why silk fibers are coming off of everyone. So be sure to let me know what crazy 00:33:00.520 --> 00:33:06.440 theories you guys can come up with in the comments section. And that’s it. The video’s 00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:12.680 done. You can stop making memes about me now. I do have a life outside of Hollow Knight you know. 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:14.340 Now if you’ll excuse me.