Silksong E3 Demo Analysis

E3 has once again reared its ugly head upon
us, and Team Cherry has decided to grace us

with a playable demo for Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Unfortunately, William and Ari decided to

stay in Australia this year. Did last year’s
trip leave them permanently scarred from the

horrors of the L.A. transportation system?
Of course we can only speculate. But even

without William or Ari’s presence, we still
got a lot of info about Silksong to plow through.

Nintendo Treehouse did an excellent segment
on the game, and we also have a few off screen

videos to go through as well. But first let
me give my overall thoughts on E3 2019. *Farting

noise

So we have quite a few recording of Silksong
from E3. But this one by Harker is the only

video to actually give us a look at the title
screen for Silksong. And yeah, it’s fucking

awesome. I wish we had better footage of it,
but I guess nobody wanted to stare at the

title screen for 20 seconds like I would have.
Anyway, there are two zones available to play

in the demo, the Moss Grotto and the Deep
Docks. Both of these areas appear to be early

on in the game, located at the bottom of the
kingdom of Pharloom. That’s right, the name

of the Kingdom in Silksong is Pharloom. Like
Far as in “far from Hallownest”, and loom

as in “a frame or machine for interlacing
at right angles two or more sets of threads

or yarns to form a cloth”. Wouldn’t have
been my first choice for a name, but I guess

it’s okay.

That game starts off with a poem. Very classy.
All great media starts off with a poem. Like

my recent creepypasta, for example. Although
it pains me to call this a poem since it doesn’t

even rhyme. Maybe it’s slam poetry or something.
The poem is titled Pharloom’s Folly and

it was written by the Conductor Romino. It
reads:

They see your beauty, so frail and fine,
They see your peace, woven of faith and toil,

They forget your heart, bound in slumber and
servitude,

When you wake they shall see your truth,
A beast’s nature bare to all.

So the author of this poem appears to be speaking
directly to Pharloom, or whoever or whatever

power Pharloom operates on. This could be
similar to the Elegy for Hallownest, which

was more or less speaking directly to the
Pale King. Pharloom’s Folly seems to tell

the story of how Pharloom’s people forgot
about the true nature of the heart of the

kingdom. The poem then warns about what will
happen when this nature is awoken. This awakening

might have already happened, as this poem
might have been written a long ass time ago.

Digging deeper into this, the first two lines
go into detail about the citizens of Pharloom.

It appears as though the citizens kept the
heart of Pharloom at peace through faith and

toil. If I were to wildly speculate, I might
be able to link this back to the bells. The

bells do seem tied to some sort of faith or
religion, and the bugs of Pharloom appear

to be endlessly toiling to create more of
them.

The next line in the poem tells us what Pharloom’s
folly actually is. The citizens have forgotten

about the heart of the kingdom, as they have
kept this heart in slumber and servitude.

In other words, these bugs have kept something
bound for a really long time. They appear

to be doing this as a way to gain some kind
of service. But this has been going on for

so long that the citizens of Pharloom have
forgotten just what they are dealing with.

In the last two lines it is explained that
once the heart of the kingdom awakens from

its slumber, the citizens will finally see
its beast-like nature.

I will be calling back to this poem a few
times so you might want to write it down on

a sticky note or something. But for now, let’s
move on to the opening cutscene. Part of this

cutscene was already shown off in the reveal
trailer, but the new shots we got are not

only beautiful, but also really important.
It’s like Team Cherry cut all of the best

bits from the reveal trailer. What a tease!
The first new detail we got was that this

cage is surrounded by what appears to be a
Seal of Binding. At least that’s what the

Treehouse hosts call it. “No, it seems like
there’s some sort of Seal of Binding as

well on this.” That’s right, these ladies
actually know a little bit of Hollow Knight

lore. In fact, they are even able to give
a few new tidbits of lore during the event.

“These enemies seem to have some sort of
curse”

“I do believe that’s the Church Keeper…”

“I’ve been terrorized by fleas in my past.”

“It’s okay, Katie.”

Getting back to the Seal of Binding, this
explains why Hornet was never able to escape

the cage when she was first captured. Anyway,
we now get a shot of Hornet’s captors carrying

her through some sort of archway. This is
likely the proper entrance to Pharloom. This

next scene finally gives us a clue about how
Hornet escaped. This glowing white bug lands

on the cage, and destroys the Seal of Binding.
Now that’s OP as fuck. I don’t know why

Team Cherry keeps giving insane powers to
these tiny, white glowing objects. Actually,

you know what? That’s not a bad idea. I’m
gonna use that in my creepypasta.

After the Seal of Binding is destroyed, we
get that same scene of thread coming out of

Hornet as her expression changes. The threads
destroy the bridge and everyone falls into

the darkness below. Now the big question here
is what exactly is happening to Hornet? Maybe

with the seals gone, Hornet’s abilities
came back to her, allowing her to unleash

her thread and escape. I’ve theorized in
the past that the thread coming out of her

was the result of some power that Pharloom
has over those who enter it. And that’s

still possible, Hornet does seem pretty shocked
about what’s happening, implying that she

isn’t completely in control of the situation.
I don’t feel too strongly about either explanation,

so I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

And now we arrive at the Moss Grotto. Hornet’s
needle pierces into the ground and you have

to use the bind ability to get up. Binding
in Silksong requires Hornet to spend her entire

spool of thread in order to heal three masks
of damage. In the demo, the thread now has

8 notches instead of 12 like in the reveal
trailer. Binding appears to have replaced

focusing from Hollow Knight, and allows for
much faster gameplay. Instead of playing it

safe, waiting for a chance to spend a little
soul to heal, you are now encouraged to be

aggressive. Keep landing hit so that you can
heal a bunch of damage.

Now in one part of the demo, Hornet gets hit
at the end of her heal, and all three masks

disappear. This has led to some confusion
about how getting hit while healing works.

In this particular instance, I think it’s
just a glitch in the HUD. We can see Hornet

get hit two more times after this, but her
she never loses any masks. I think this is

because Hornet still has those masks, but
they just aren’t showing up on the HUD.

I’ll get more into movement later, but the
Bind ability is a good glimpse into what makes

Silksong different from Hollow Knight. People
compare Silksong to being like what Bloodborne

is to Dark Souls or what Spectre of Torment
is to Shovel Knight, or what Garfield Kart

is to Garfield and I’d say that those are
all pretty apt comparisons.

Getting into Moss Grotto proper, there are
a lot of cool details that I want to point

out. First of all, the moss underneath Hornet’s
feet actually reacts to being stepped on.

You see, this is the small shit that gets
me really excited. Killing enemies in this

area will get you shell shards. Shell shards
are described as being fossilised fragments

of shell and bone. This item can be used for
crafting tools, which we will see later on

in the next part of the demo. Shell shards
can also be found by breaking these weird

statues.

Now you didn’t hear this from me, but it
appears as though silk will be very important

in this game, seeing as there are many natural
silk reserves in the world, similar to soul

totems in Hollow Knight. In the Moss Grotto
we have these spider webs resting on vines.

I really hope each area in Silksong has different
designs like this. It helps each area feel

more distinct, instead of just finding Soul
Totems all over the map, including the Royal

Waterways for some reason.

In terms of enemies, we have this spikey moss
baby and this flying spikey moss baby. I’m

sure they have really cute names like mossbug
or winged mossbug or something dumb like that.

Moving on, we also have this little guy. He
kinda looks like a mix between a Tiktik and

Sonic the Hedgehog. But not only that, if
you go right instead of left at the beginning

of the demo, you can find this secret location.
Here, you’ll find a giant version of the

same bug. And if you hit it, it gets super
pissed. I have no idea how Team Cherry expected

anyone to fight that thing. I’m guessing
they just stuck it here as an easter egg and

will give it a big arena later. Or maybe this
is supposed to be some kind of ascended arena

or some shit.

Now during the treehouse event, the hosts
mention that the bugs of Pharloom are cursed

in a manner similar to the bugs of Hallownest.
We can already see in this area of the game

that enemies give off silk fibers when they
are hit. In one of my other Silksong speculation

videos, I talked about the different colored
particles that came off of different enemies.

But in this demo, some bugs have been changed.
But they still all give off silk, so that

appears to be the common thread between all
of these enemies. And just like with the infection

in Hollow Knight, this silk is probably tied
to why so many creatures are hostile to Hornet.

At the end of the Moss Grotto area is the
Old Church subarea. There, Hornet must fight

a boss called the Moss Mother. Now people
have been saying that this thing is actually

my mother. Which makes this line much more awkward.

“It also looks like a total bitch.”

Moss Mother seems to be a sort of parallel
to the Gruz Mother, since that was also a

mother, and also lived in a church, and was
also was a total bitch. But maybe I’m wrong.

Maybe this boss might actually be pretty tough.
She definitely gave a lot of pro gamers trouble.

Here’s a reporter from Kotaku dying to her.
“Hubris there. Hubris,folks.”

After the battle, Hornet is knocked unconscious
when this silhouette does… nothing. And

then she starts laughing. For all she knows,
Hornet just had a heart attack! According

to Katie, the woman playing the game for the
Treehouse event, this NPC is the Church Keeper,

who might act as a guide for Hornet throughout
the game. We know from the Silksong reveal

trailer that the Church Keeper teaches Hornet
how to play her needle like a stringed instrument.

We still don’t see any of this in the demo,
so the utility of this ability still remains

up in the air.

Before we leave the Moss Grotto, I wanted
to call attention to these strange doors that

can be found on either side of the map. The
face designs appear to be based on the Weavers.

There is no way to open these doors in the
demo, so we’ll have to wait to see what

might be hidden behind them. More importantly,
this strengthens the argument that Pharloom

was the original home for the Weavers.

And now let’s move on to the second area
of the game, the Deep Docks. In this section,

Hornet gains more of her moveset. She gets
access to her tool by pressing R. She gets

her sprint, which is activated by holding
ZR. And she gets a skill move using the X

button. Looking at the footage that was recorded
on the show floor, it seems like Hornet is

a little difficult to control at first. When
using the downward strike in Silksong, Hornet

will lunge down diagonally, making spacing
a bit more complex than in Hollow Knight.

When sprinting Hornet can perform a long jump,
which is used to reach a mask shard. She is

also capable of grabbing ledges. And if you
press in the right joystick, she does a cute

little taunt. All of these movement abilities
give Silksong a larger emphasis on platforming.

Here in the Deep Docks, we see lever operated
platformers, a room filled with hot coals

that Hornet has to run on and a room with
lava falls that fucked up a ton of people

playing the demo. I’m really happy to see
this greater emphasis on platforming. The

biggest problem with Hollow Knight for me
was that it didn’t have enough areas like

the White Palace.

Let’s take a look at Hornet’s inventory.
So we have Hornet’s cloak, known as the

Hunter’s cloak, which confirms that Hornet
has pockets that allow her to store things

like giant ass buzzsaws so that’s good.
We have the needle which is described as being

perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

Next up, we have the Thread Spool. This item
tells us that silk thread is produced naturally

within Hornet’s shell. So how exactly does
hitting enemies cause Hornet to naturally

produce silk thread? Does it have to do with
the fact that these enemies release silk fibers

when they get hit? And then Hornet is taking
these fibers and turning them into thread?

Is this related to soul at all? Can Hornet
even manipulate soul? She is the daughter

of the Pale King, so it’s not an unbelievable
suggestion.

Hornet also has a tool kit, which is likely
what holds all of the weapons we saw in the

reveal trailer. There’s a description of
the mask shard, which says “Mask Pieces

2”. This is probably just placeholder text,
indicating that the player currently has two

masks shards, given that the player collects
one later and is shown to have three of them.

There’s also the description for the Mossberry,
which is an item that is mentioned in a quest

we saw in the reveal trailer.

Now let’s talk about Rosaries and Shell
Shards. Rosaries are the new currency found

in Silksong. They are described as being holy,
and having patterns etched into them. What

I like about this item is that none of the
enemies in the Moss Grotto drop them, which

makes sense, since these bugs have probably
never used currency living in the wilderness.

It never made sense that Primal Aspids would
be carrying Geo after all. What are they gonna

do with it? Go to a matinee?

Now there is an item that we don’t have
a screenshot of called the Rosary String.

But we do have a description of it from the
Nintendo Live Treehouse hosts. Basically they

state that Hornet will lose all of her rosaries
upon death. It’s unclear whether or not

she can retrieve them, but as of this demo,
she cannot. But they do go on to explain that

rosaries on a string won’t be lost. They
then mention that they kept breaking their

rosary strings to get the rosaries. So I think
Rosary Strings act like Boss Souls from Dark

Souls. It’s just a regular item, but you
can spend it to receive a certain amount of

currency.

Shell shards aren’t currency like rosaries,
and you don’t lose them when dying, but

they are still important collectables in Silksong.
In the Deep Docks demo, Hornet has access

to a tool described as a straight pin. When
Hornet uses a pin, this wheel decreases. The

one only way to replenish Hornet’s tool
is to sit at a bench. Hornet will then use

the shell shards to rebuild her tools. But
how exactly do you get a metal pin out of

bone and shell? Are these benches able to
transmute matter? In the demo, Hornet is only

able to hold 400 shell shards, meaning there
might be items in the game that increase how

many you can hold.

Since I brought up Hornet dying earlier, I
think it’s time we talk about… it. Now,

as you know, the debate about whether or not
Hornet is a void being has been raging on

for over two years now. For a long time now.
I have firmly believed that Hornet is not

a void being, and I even made an amazing video
about it.

But even after this video, there have been
people who have continued to believe a lie.

Vysuals, a Hollow Knight speedrunner, even
made a fool of himself at ADGQ this year sharing

his silly belief that Hornet is made of void.

“Is Hornet void?”

“Hornet is definitely void.”

I’m sorry, Visuals, but isn’t your job
to see as little of the game as possible?

Why should anybody trust you on lore?

But despite what anyone thought, we all knew
that the answer would finally arrive once

Hornet became a playable character. If Hornet
was a void being, similar to the Knight and

the other vessels, then she would leave a
shade behind upon death. And now, after years

of waiting, we finally have an answer.

HORNET IS NOT FUCKING VOID. WHENEVER SHE GETS
HIT, SHE SPILLS WHITE PARTICLES LIKELY REPRESENTING

SOUL. THIS IS DIFFERENT TO THE KNIGHT, WHO
ALWAYS SPILLED BLACK VOID PARTICLES. WHEN

HORNET IS AT ONE HEALTH, SOUL WILL LEAK FROM
HER BODY AND HEALTH METER, SIMILAR TO HOW

THE KNIGHT LEAKED VOID. WHEN HORNET DIES,
SHE EXPLODES INTO SOUL AND SILK UNTIL THE

SCREEN GOES DARK. UPON RETURNING TO THE PLACE
OF HER DEATH, HORNET IS GREETED WITH A COCOON

THAT REPLENISHES HER THREAD SPOOL. WHEN THE
KNIGHT DIES, ITS BODY CRUMBLES APART AS VOID

PARTICLES APPEAR. A SHADE IS LEFT BEHIND THAT
THE KNIGHT HAS TO DEFEAT IN ORDER TO REGAIN

ALL OF ITS SOUL METER. ALL OF THESE DETAILS
CLEARLY HINT AT HORNET NOT BEING RELATED TO

THE VOID.

But of course, we all knew it wouldn’t be
that easy. There are still those in the Hollow

Knight community who believe that Hornet is
still a void entity. How is that? Well, it

all has to do with how the screen goes black
after Hornet’s death. Some people believe

that this is void violently erupting from
Hornet’s body. Here’s my counter argument.

It’s just a screen transition.

You see, screen transitions are important
in video games. They give the game a chance

to load in new rooms, instances and other
shit without looking really weird. They are

also useful for setting the pace while storytelling.
Here’s an example from the popular cartoon

TV show, Ed, Edd n Eddy.

“End of first sequence and fade to black.”

You see the Eds weren’t being swallowed
up by void. They were just ending that scene.

Hell, even I use screen transitions sometimes.
Here, watch.

See how seamless that was? If

I had just hard cut to this image, it would
have been really weird.

Oh shit! Did you just

see that? Hornet and her captors just got
attacked by a whole cascade of void. Oh wait,

that was just a transition.

But maybe I’m being too harsh on Team Vornet.
Let’s look at this scene where Hornet gets

killed by the Moss Mother. Wow, that’s a
lotta void! There’s way more void there

than anything that ever erupted out of the
Knight. I bet there must be void all over

the Moss Mother’s lair now.

“Oh my god.

There’s VOID everywhere.

My
house is full of VOID!

He VOID everywhere!

Look what he did, he VOID all over the wall!”

Oh wait, there’s literally nothing here
but a silk cocoon. Now where did all of that

pesky void go? Ah, who cares? It just disappeared.
It’s not like Hornet has to come to term

with her regrets or anything. That was never
a part of Hollow Knight lore. /s

Now of course, all of Hollow Knight lore is
up to the reader’s own interpretation. That’s

the beauty of this kind of storytelling. However,
when an interpretation is countered by numerous

pieces of evidence found in the game, you
have to reevaluate your theory. If you still

think Hornet is void, let me give you a quick
rundown of all of the issues you have to resolve

with lore.

Why doesn’t Hornet leave a shade?
Why doesn’t Hornet leak void like the Knight

when at one health?
Why would Herrah sacrifice herself for brood,

if her child would be killed and hollowed
out by void?

Why does Hornet say “your birth” to the
Knight when talking about the Abyss? Why not

say “our birth”?
What is the purpose of putting void in Hornet

if she’s not meant to be a vessel for the
Radiance?

Why does Hornet say she lacks the crucial
emptiness of the Knight when we know that

“emptiness” is a phrase completely synonymous
with the void?

Why does Hornet have a gender?
Why does Hornet say the bindings of the Black

Egg would drain her if she’s a void being?
“How can my feet smell if they don’t have

a nose?”

If you think Hornet isn’t void, you have
the very difficult task of explaining why

the screen goes black when she dies. Hmmm…
Yeah, it’s a real toss up, isn’t it.

But hey, it’s not that big of a deal. Let’s
talk about what kind of characters can be

found in the Deep Docks. The enemies found
here have already been shown off in the reveal

trailer, aside from one. This guy uses a bell
cap as a form of defense, as well as a weapon

to charge forward with. As we can see in the
demo, bells act as a form of protection against

Hornet’s needle, requiring the player to
rethink how they approach these enemies.

But there are more than just enemies to be
found in this area. One new character is this

weird looking thing that the Treehouse host
calls a flea. Not sure what the fuck kind

of flea this is. These creatures appear to
be the replacement for the grubs from Hollow

Knight. According to the treehouse host, these
fleas came to Pharloom seeking enlightenment.

The Silksong website describes Hornet’s
journey to the top of Pharloom as a deadly

pilgrimage. So between all of that, and the
numerous amounts of religious imagery in the

game, we can see that Pharloom must offer
some kind of spiritual enlightenment. I don’t

think we can really know how this works yet,
but it seems very likely that bells are somehow

involved.

Speaking of which, Hornet meets a few new
NPCs in the Deep Docks, a large bug known

as Forge-Daughter and her assistant Ballow.
First of all, this gives us our first look

at how dialogue will work in Silksong. However,
Hornet doesn’t “Listen” like the Knight

does, she actually speaks. Dialogue from NPCs
will be indicated with the twine ball sigal,

while Hornet’s dialogue is indicated with
her face, as well as a Weaver face. Hornet

being able to talk will probably be one of
the biggest boons to loremasters such as myself.

Just from this conversation, we can see that
Hornet still remembers the weapons she used

to have before getting captured.

This whole issue of what happens when bugs
leave Hallownest has troubled me to my very

soul for quite some time now. Hornet is yet
another example that some bugs can maintain

their minds and memories even after leaving
Hallownest. Is the specific example due to

Hornet’s nature, or the Seal of Binding
protecting her? Regardless of the answer,

I do believe this question will be answered
by the very virtue of Silksong taking place

outside of Hallownest.

Getting back to Forge-Daughter, she appears
to be the NPC that will give Hornet access

to make new tools, weapons and accessories.
From what I can gather, it appears as though

Hornet will have to find the right supplies,
and then Forge-Daughter will turn them into

permanent items that Hornet can then replenish
using shell shards.

Forge-Daughter also describes her work as
“the ancient line and honoured role.”

Now the treehouse host mentions that the bugs
in this area appear to be gathering coal to

send up to the citadel high above in Pharloom.
So whatever this process is, it must have

been going on for a long time. It probably
even connects back to Pharloom’s Folly.

This could be related to the section mentioning
toil. This process does seem like it would

be very difficult, and I don’t think OSHA
would be too happy with this work environment

either.

Another important nugget of information that
Forge-Daughter gives us is that the other

bugs have indeed lost their senses. So this
whole silk thing is very similar to that of

the infection from Hollow Knight. But is it
a hivemind? Possibly, but we don’t have

the finer details quite yet.

In this part of the demo, we also find an
interesting lore tablet. This tablet appears

to be a list of instructions. When the bugs
hear certain bell tolls, they have to send

Smokerock and Sweetmelt. These are likely
materials similar to what this bellhead is

carrying in his fanny pack, and they might
even be what Hornet has to collect for Forge-Daughter.

What’s interesting about this lore tablet
though, is that these materials are measured

using measures and beats. Now, I’m not an
expert in music lore, but measures are used

to indicate a period of time in a song, while
beats are when the actual notes are played.

This further reinforces the importance of
song in this world. The last line these two

instructions reads “Mark of fealty, all
workers”. Is this referring to the “faith”

part of the “faith and toil” line from
Pharloom’s Folly? Or are the workers forced

to show fealty to the bugs up in Pharloom?
Are we going to see some kind of deep class

warfare commentary from Team Cherry?

Now let’s turn our attention to one of the
most exciting parts of the demo, the fight

with Lace. Lace’s dialogue in this section
is really entertaining. She sounds like such

a brat. And the fight itself looks incredibly
frantic. Lace’s moves come out quick, and

we can see here that Hornet has fewer invincibility
frames than the Knight. I really hope we get

some kind of boss rush for Silksong like we
did in Hollow Knight, because I have the feeling

these fights are going to be really fun.

Before the fight starts, we can see that Lace
appears to be conducting these glowing bugs

with her pin. This is a really important detail,
since a very similar bug is what removed the

Seal of Binding from Hornet’s cage. Lace
might even be aware of this, since she mentions

the cage that Hornet was trapped in. If this
is true, then it means that Lace might be

working against the bugs we saw carry Hornet
into Pharloom.

Lace tells Hornet that she will face suffering
as she continues her journey up through Pharloom,

offering to kill Hornet instead. How nice!
Lace also keeps referring to Hornet as a “little

spider”, which is weird since Hornet and
Lace are the same size, so she should probably

just shut her mouth. But I think this tells
us why those bugs captured Hornet in the first

place. They want her because she is a spider.
The bugs of Pharloom might be capturing spiders

and using them to produce silk that the kingdom
uses. This is why we see a sleeping Weaver

in the reveal trailer, it's been captured
and forced to produce silk. All of this might

also tie back to Pharloom’s Folly, which
talks about a beast’s nature being revealed

after it is awakened. Hornet’s mother, Herrah,
is called the “Herrah the Beast”, so the

word beast might be synonymous with the word
spider. In other words, I think the bugs of

Pharloom imprison spiders and force them to
produce silk.

Lace, on the other hand, wants to keep these
spiders from being captured. That’s why

she wants to kill Hornet. She doesn’t want
Hornet falling into the hands of these bugs.

But this theory raises a few questions. Why
does Lace appear to be part of this bell cult

if she disagrees with their plan? Her design
appears to be tied back to them, given she

uses a pin similar to what other bugs in the
cult use. On top of that, Lace’s stupid

headdress appears to be based on the stupid
headdresses that other religious people wore

in the past such, as the cornette. So maybe
Lace has nothing to do with the bug that freed

Hornet. The Treehouse host did say that Lace
was part of a group that was trying to impede

Hornet’s journey, so there’s definitely
still more to her than what we know right

now.

A few other noteworthy details about this
fight. Lace gives off the same silk fibers

that other enemies give off when hit, implying
that she has also been targeted by whatever

is haunting Pharloom. However, Lace appears
to maintain her senses, given that she can

shittalk Hornet. On top of that, Hornet also
explodes into silk when she dies. So I think

it’s something that happens to everyone
in the kingdom, but it’s not clear how exactly

it affects them yet.

When staggered, Lace and the Moss Mother both
have this weird animation that shows up over

their heads. I’m not sure why this was added
to the game. I’ve never had a problem with

telling when a boss was staggered in Hollow
Knight, but maybe the bosses in Silksong get

so frantic, that it was necessary to add this
effect in. Also, this fight was in the reveal

trailer, and it appears as though they changed
the background. I think the background looks

a lot better with that giant statue covered
in moss.

After the fight, Hornet gains access to the
Wild Songshrine. In the shrine, there is a

giant bell covered in silk. After removing
the silk, a lever appears which winds up the

bell. Unfortunately, the Treehouse feed cuts
away right before the bell starts to ring.

I have no idea why Nintendo thought that was
a good idea, but it angers me so. Luckily

we still have footage of the bell ringing.
The most interesting detail here is that the

Seal of Binding on the bell is white instead
of the purple color we saw in the reveal trailer.

So I guess this means Grimace won’t be the
final boss of Silksong.

So the big question here is, who covered the
bell in silk? Was it these guys, or Lace and

her crew, or some other group that we haven’t
met yet? What does the bell even do? How does

Hornet know it’s a good idea to ring them?
Is this bell related to the lore tablet we

saw earlier? Is Taco Bell canon in this game?

And there you have it, that’s pretty much
everything we can pull from the demo. But

that doesn’t mean we’re done here yet.
We still have to talk about the footage shown

during the Nintendo E3 direct. Now there was
some really great stuff shown off in the Nintendo

Direct. So I’ll just list them real fast.

Gooigi.

5 seconds of Silksong footage.

And that’s about it. Unfortunately, half
of this footage we got for Silksong was old,

so we basically only got three seconds of
new footage.

The first new shot we have is of Hornet using
her aerial tricks to bounce off a bunch of

bells. This is yet another example of how
Silksong appears to be implementing more challenging

platforming into its world. The second shot
shows Hornet fighting these strange hooded

enemies. And I think these guys might be fucking
birds! Yeah, birds. First of all they appear

to have beaks peeking out from their hoods.
This guy is also flapping his wings, which

apparently is a thing that birds do. Also,
the silhouettes of these guys can be seen

in the Silksong reveal trailer. They appear
to be perching in a manner similar to birds.

Another explanation for the beaks coming from
the hoods might be that these guys are wearing

plague doctor masks. Now I’m not a history
major, but I am not aware of plague doctors

being able to fly either.

Now while William and Ari were both absent
from E3 this year, Matthew Griffin, or Leth,

was able to make an appearance. Leth is the
PR and marketing guy for Team Cherry, and

he apparently spent some time on the E3 show
floor talking to people who were demoing Silksong.

I’m not sure why Leth didn’t make an appearance
on the Nintendo Treehouse event. I guess he

was too busy eating burgers at IHOP or something.
Now I was not able to attend E3 this year

as I was too busy playing Fortnite, but I
was able to get a few people to talk to Leth

and try to coerce information out of him.
One of my informants sent me this message.

“Hey mossbag, your spies are terrible, man.
They’re terrible.”

I never heard from my informant again after
this message. Did Leth have them taken out?

Of course we can only speculate.

Let’s talk release date. All we got officially
is the dreaded “Coming Soon”. But during

the treehouse event, Sam mentioned that development
of Silksong is wrapping up, but how would

Sam know such information? Nintendo of America
released a list of what games were coming

out soon, and Silksong is nowhere to be found
on this list. Judging from what we saw in

the demo, there was a lot of stuff that wasn’t
developed. We didn’t see how crests work,

we didn’t see how the quest system works,
and the level layouts felt more like demo

areas than actual level designs for the game.
So I personally believe that the game still

has quite a way to go. But I’m not an expert
on game design or anything so believe what

you want, I suppose.

So how is Silksong looking after analyzing
this demo? Well honestly, I believe that this

game could be better than Hollow Knight. I
think the exploration and platforming will

be more challenging and varied. I think the
combat will be faster-paced and more engaging.

I think the story will have a greater presence,
while the underlying lore will continue to

be amazing. I think the art will be even better,
as we can see how Team Cherry is learning

how to integrate it with digital effects,
such as the swinging signs and krumping ground.

Of course the big question will be how Team
Cherry introduces side quests and item management

and how they’re going to keep them feeling
fresh and interesting without being boring.

As for interpreting what we know about the
story so far, I think Pharloom’s Folly acts

as a good backbone to figure out what happened
in this kingdom. Hallownest’s architecture

was typically embroidered with the symbol
of the Hallownest Seal, which appeared to

be some kind of depiction of the Pale King.
In Pharloom, the symbol is this ball of thread,

usually surrounded by a hook. I think this
symbolizes what Pharloom is all about. This

cult imprisons spiders, and puts them into
a life of servitude creating silk for the

kingdom. Somehow, this is all maintained through
faith and toil, which could be related to

the cult that has formed around bells. But
at some point, this slumber broke, or will

break, and the beasts, or spiders, are set
free.

But that’s just my interpretation, which
really doesn’t make sense, and it also doesn’t

explain why silk fibers are coming off of
everyone. So be sure to let me know what crazy

theories you guys can come up with in the
comments section. And that’s it. The video’s

done. You can stop making memes about me now.
I do have a life outside of Hollow Knight you know.

Now if you’ll excuse me.