Finally... A Silksong Update!

After over five months of complete silence,
Team Cherry has finally decided to grace us

peasants with an update for Hollow Knight:
Silksong.

The last update we got was a post E3 update
all the way back in June, which I never actually

covered on this channel because I’m lazy.

So I’m going to talk about that, as well
as go more in depth about my interactions

with Team Cherry while at PAX Australia.

But please keep in mind, a lot of these conversations
happened at bars or places with easy access

to alcohol, so my memory might not be its
best.

I also want to use this video to address some
of these release date rumors that are floating

around.

Basically I’m just trying to push this bitch
above 10 minutes.

If you don’t like that, sue me.

This update confirms to us something that
should have been quite obvious.

Team Cherry is still making the game.

I keep seeing all these people saying that
Team Cherry will shadow drop the game, or

that it’s actually finished.

Well, it’s not.

In fact, Team Cherry has been putting themselves
through crunch months just to keep on schedule.

In October, William told me that they had
a crunch month in August, and were planning

to do another one in November.

I also asked Team Cherry about the scope of
Silksong, or if it would be more or less linear

than Hollow Knight.

They had no interest in answering those questions,
but from the latest update, we can see that

Silksong could very easily end up being bigger
than Hollow Knight.

Team Cherry has just added their 165th enemy
into the game.

This puts Silksong at about the same number
as Hollow Knight.

If Team Cherry plans to keep going, then it
will easily surpass Hollow Knight in terms

of total enemy count.

The blog post gave us an image of the three
latest enemies, of which two are just silhouettes.

Team Cherry describes these goons as members
of a scholarly suite, former tenders of a

dusty vault full of ancient knowledge.

These enemies are also going to fight Hornet
together as a deadly trio who cover each others’

weaknesses.

This is exciting because the only other boss
fight we have seen with three bosses at once

is the Sisters of Battle fight in Hollow Knight,
and it’s probably one of the best fights

in the game.

And due to Hornet’s increased speed and
mobility, I’m guessing this new fight is

going to be even more intense.

More interestingly, these characters were
once guarding a vault of knowledge.

I assume they were guarding some kind of library,
likely located in the Gilded City we’ve

heard so much about.

This four legged friend of ours appears to
be from that area.

I’ve seen a few people say he looks like
the Godseeker, but two characters being the

same color doesn’t mean they’re related.

I mean, is the Gorgeous Husk related to the
Godseeker too?

Are Grimace and Thanos related to Waluigi?

But the best part of this update is the release
of two brand new songs from Silksong’s soundtrack.

Chrisopher Larkin is, of course, returning
to write the music for Silksong, but this

time around he’s got that sweet Team Cherry
money.

Most of Hollow Knight’s music was created
digitally, but this time around, the music

is actually being performed and recorded,
featuring performances by members of the Adelaide

Symphony Orchestra.

On top of that, Silksong’s music will predominantly
feature stringed instruments over the piano.

The two samples we now have now really are
incredible.

The Lace theme is erratic and exciting, while
the Bonebottom theme is somber, similar to

many of the songs in Hollow Knight, but still
sounding fresh and original.

There are apparently 30 songs for Silksong
at the moment.

Now Team Cherry points out that this pushes
Silksong above the 26 song count for Hollow

Knight, but Hollow Knight got an additional
15 songs that were included in the Gods and

Nightmares soundtrack.

And technically, there are even more songs
since the soundtrack actually omits different

arrangements

and other smaller songs.

In other words, 30 songs isn’t really that
impressive.

Sorry Christopher Larkin, but you’re gonna
have to do better than that.

From this post we also learn that Team Cherry
is sticking with the name “Bonebottom”,

and that it will be the starting town in Silksong.

And honestly, I’m coming around to the name.

It actually has some poetic symmetry to it.

In Hollow Knight, the opening village is called
Dirtmouth.

So while the Knight entered Hallownest down
its mouth, Hornet will be entering Pharloom

up the butt.

And that’s about all we got for this newest
update.

Basically, Team Cherry is still working on
the game, adding in more and more content.

Team Cherry also wants to stress that they
aren’t just adding in content willie-nillie

and that they know what they’re doing.

I really don’t care, they can add an entire
sidequest where Hornet uses her spider powers

to deliver pizza in Manhattan and I’d still
play that shit.

I want to go back and talk about some of the
earlier updates we have that I failed to make

videos on, but first let’s talk a little
bit about release date speculation.

There are a few quote-unquote “leaks”
that have appeared in the last 9 months.

Basically, Steam requires devs to enter a
release date for a game whenever they add

it into the database.

Team Cherry put a date of June 12, 2020, likely
as a placeholder date, but that date ended

up getting revealed somehow.

There’s no way to know if Team Cherry picked
this date on purpose, or just as a random

date with no meaning.

If it was their initial target date, it sounds
like they are going to miss it due to their

desire to just keep adding shit into the game.

So I’m sticking with my mid to late 2020
release date.

But that’s just my view.

According to Team Cherry, the game is running
on Cherry-time, so it will come out whenever

it’s ready.

Another aspect we can discuss is development
time.

According to Team Cherry, development on Silksong
started just a few months after Hollow Knight

launched.

This would mean the game has been in development
for almost 3 years now, while Hollow Knight

was in development from November 2014 to February
2017.

So by that logic, Silksong should be very
close to being completed.

But there are a few details I want to lay
out.

Team Cherry worked on Hollow Knight for about
6 months before the Kickstarter.

After the Kickstarter, they had to port the
entire game over to Unity, and William had

to learn how to even use the new engine.

After Hollow Knight finished, Dave Kazi left
Team Cherry, leaving William and Ari to work

on Silksong as well as the numerous Hollow
Knight content packs alone.

So the team size was actually smaller for
quite a while after Hollow Knight came out.

They also had to work with Sharkjump Studios
to port the game to Switch, PS4 and Xbox One.

It wasn’t until 2018 that Team Cherry hired
Jack Vine to help with development.

And we all know that Jack Vine is a shitty
coder, so he’s probably not adding anything

to the development.

So yes, Silksong has been in development for
almost 3 years, but a lot of other stuff has

been happening at the same time as well.

That being said, Silksong benefits from being
built on top of Hollow Knight’s code.

William mentioned that designing bosses and
enemies is even easier now that they have

a huge database of code from other enemies
that they can utilize.

Or he said something like that, I don’t
know, I’m not a game dev or a programmer,

so I just kinda stood their and nodded my
head.

So yeah, there are a lot of things we can
speculate on in terms of release date.

My rule of thumb, tho, is the longer it takes,
the more content we’ll probably get.

So I really don’t care.

Let’s turn our attention to the June update that Team Cherry had.

In this update, we got a name for this drabby
looking area, Greymoor.

This area is filled with misted fields and
dilapidated towers.

This area is filled with creatures called
Crawbugs, which are described as devious nesting

types.

The former tenders of this land have become
haunted.

It seems like becoming “haunted” in Silksong
is about the same as becoming “infected”

in Hollow Knight.

That means you can kill these people without
feeling bad, so that’s nice.

At the top of Greymoor, there are Dustroaches
kept in pens.

These creatures have insatiable appetites
and breed very rapidly.

I don’t think we have seen any dustroaches
either, but it’s nice to know they’re

there, I guess.

Finally, Team Cherry explains that Greymoor
is one of the biggest areas they’ve ever

created, and that Hornet will uncover many
mysteries, making several new friends and

duel with a lethal lunging foe.

Now, this lunging foe might be referring to
Lace, but I’m guessing there’s going to

be a fuckton of lunging foes in this game.

This update also confirms that Silksong will
use the same mapping system as Hollow Knight.

But this time around, Hornet will come across
Shakra instead of Cornifer.

Shakra is seeking out her master who vanished
under mysterious circumstances.

Shakra is a part of a clan, each of which
has their own Craft-Skill.

So chances are we’ll be seeing a lot of
bugs like Shakra during Hornet’s adventure.

At the end of this post, Team Cherry mentions
that they have been reaching out to people

in the Hollow Knight community to provide
voices.

William and Ari provided the vast majority
of voices for Hollow Knight, but it seems

they have decided to outsource this to the
community, probably because they are a bunch

of lazy devs.

Lace’s voice has been provided by Mitsuki
Hashimoto, an active member of the Hollow

Knight fan art community.

And I know what you’re thinking.

No, I haven’t recorded any lines for Silksong.

But I am taking expensive vocal training classes
just in case Team Cherry decides to call me

up.

And now I have a few more details from the
update before the June update, where Team

Cherry talked about some of the various characters
in the game.

This character’s name has confirmed to be
Trobbio.

He is the Master of the Stage, the Brush and
the Voice.

He’s a flamboyant butterfly that seeks fame
and adoration throughout Pharloom.

And as of right now, he’s my favorite character.

We also got a few more details about Sherma.

He’s apparently in constant need of help.

No surprise there.

He’s also described as an optimistic pilgrim
on a spiritual journey.

The whole concept of bugs going to Pharloom
for some kind of pilgrimage has been present

since Silksong was announced, but as it turns
out, this idea has been around for quite some

time.

We recently gained access to the original
Hollow Knight lore document that Team Cherry

provided to backers after the kickstarter
ended.

Now, this document is obviously very old and
nothing in it should be considered canon.

But in the area description section, it mentions
the Forest of Bones, an area cut from Hollow

Knight that appears to have been transferred
over to Silksong.

In this document, it mentions that bugs would
take pilgrimages to the Forest of Bones to

find the Holy Grounds.

We only have one image of the Holy Grounds,
but is there a chance that this area will

end up in Silksong as well?

I’m guessing it would be quite different,
considering the fact that there are Dreamer

masks plastered all over the walls.

But perhaps a place like this is where Sherma
and other bugs are going.

We also have a bit more information on Garmond
and Zaza.

It is explained that these two are looking
for a new home, and that while Garmond does

the talking, Zaza is the more intelligent
one.

I don’t know how I feel about this relationship,
but I am going to avoid asking too many questions

here.

I mean, imagine riding a horse that was smarter
than you.

That wouldn’t be fun, you’d just feel
like an asshole.

And the last bit of info we have relates to
the Ant Queen we saw in the Silksong reveal

trailer.

Her name is Hunter Queen Carmelitia, and William
told me that she is actually a backer character.

That brings the total amount of confirmed
backer bosses to three out of six.

There are still three more bosses and dungeons
that were promised during the Kickstarter

that haven’t appeared yet.

And that’s a wrap.

I’ll see you all after the next Team Cherry
update whenever that is.

I’m thinking…

April.