Silksong News?! Really? Is that even possible? (Edge Magazine Analysis)

So, it seems like Team Cherry is completely
opposed to ever posting a blogpost again.

I think they’re scared.

Their website crashes every time a new post
goes up.

In fact their website just crashed last month
on the one year anniversary of their last

blog post simply because Hollow Knight fans
were hoping for an update and constantly refreshing

the page.

But it appears Team Cherry has found a medium
that is impervious to server crashes: print

media.

Hence, our latest batch of Silksong news comes
from Edge magazine.

They are based out of the U.K. and have been
around since 1993.

Their 100th issue even had cover art drawn
by Shigeru Miyamoto himself, best known as

a producer on the game Wii Music.

And now we have issue 354 which includes an
interview from Team Cherry about Silksong,

and has two cover arts drawn by Ari Gibson
himself.

This article was written by Jen Simpkins,
who has actually interviewed Team Cherry before

back in Edge issue 329, where they discussed
Hollow Knight’s development.

But this new article contains heaps of new
information and screenshots regarding Silksong.

There’s a link in the description where
you can purchase a single digital issue of

the magazine, which I highly recommend so
you can read the article in full for yourself.

Buying a copy also helps legitimize indie
games as being worth writing cover stories

about.

One of the first topics discussed in this
article is why exactly Team Cherry decided

to make Silksong a completely separate game
from Hollow Knight, as opposed to just a DLC.

And the reason is because Hornet is too damn
tall.

The Knight is a little shrimp compared to
Hornet, and due to her more acrobatic style,

higher jumps and weightier feel, Team Cherry
felt like she would be too cramped maneuvering

through the corridors of Hallownest.

Which is sort of funny to think about.

Hallownest is already considered one of the
largest metroidvania maps out there, and yet

it feels too claustrophobic for Hornet.

According to William, it took them a year
and a half to fully understand how much Hornet’s

height affects designing for her.

Another interesting tidbit of information
is that Team Cherry wants to make Silksong

as accessible as possible.

And by that I mean people can play Silksong
without playing Hollow Knight first.

So it seems like Team Cherry wants to have
a bit of a barrier between the events of Silksong

and Hollow Knight so new players don’t get
completely confused.

In general that’s probably a good idea,
but honestly, I would have preferred if new

players were required to watch all of my videos
before even being allowed to play Silksong.

Maybe a password on the opening title screen
asking what my favorite color is, or how many

warrants I have.

Stuff like that.

Another thing Team Cherry mentioned is that
they want Silksong to match Hollow Knight

in terms of difficulty as well.

So the early areas of Silksong are supposed
to be similarly easy compared to the early

areas of Hollow Knight.

Now while waiting in line for the Silksong
demo at PAX Australia, I saw plenty of people

absolutely getting destroyed by the Moss Grotto
area, but then again, people struggled with

the Forgotten Crossroads too.

So it’s kinda hard for me to judge whether
what I played was actually easier or harder

than the early Hollow Knight areas.

That being said, late game Silksong probably
won’t shy away from cranking up the difficulty

as well as giving us some lore connections
to Hollow Knight.

Like, there has to be.

I’m still waiting for a resolution to Bretta.

However, it appears the enemies in Silksong
are going to be more sophisticated.

We could already see that in the E3 demo,
with these simple bell enemies already showing

off a bit more dynamic interactions.

But in this interview, Team Cherry specifically
points out that some of the enemies in Hollow

Knight feel very video gamey, like the sentries
in the City of Tears.

With Silksong, they feel like the enemies
of the world should be more dynamic and aware

of their surroundings.

Ari says that they have spent more time focusing
on combat over platforming with Silksong due

to Hornet having more weight and less hang
time.

But that’s enough about vague game design
decisions, let’s talk about what we actually

learn about Pharloom in this interview.

To give a brief overview, Pharloom has been
described as a land haunted by silk and song,

and many have visited the land in a pilgrimage
to make it to the shining Citadel at the top

of the kingdom.

One thing we learned from this Edge article
is that pilgrims are actually carrying precious

thread up to the Citadel, and that they will
actually attack other pilgrims on the way

for some reason.

Also the kingdom is littered with gates that
can only be opened by paying melodic tributes,

although that was something we already speculated.

Apparently Hornet has become weakened due
to her time trapped in the sealed cage we

saw in the intro, which might explain why
she passes out after the Moss Mother fight.

Ari explains this in a pretty alarming statement.

“Part of what Hornet’s doing is she’s
lost her traditional strength… and the Weavers,

or what’s left of them, are helping her
restore it.”

So what exactly is Hornet’s “traditional
strength”?

Is that just her physical strength?

Did she lose her spidey sense or some shit?

And then there’s “what’s left of the
Weavers”.

That does not sound good.

From screenshots and the Edge article, we
can tell that the Weavers are residing in

chambers here in Pharloom, possibly behind
these, but we don’t know.

Are they trapped in these locations?

Or are they hiding so they don’t get taken
to the Citadel?

The floor in this room is identical to that
of the Weaver’s Den in Hallownest, so it

is most likely a location built by Weavers.

Since the pilgrims are bringing threads up
to the Citadel, it seems like a safe bet to

assume that these bugs want silk, so would
probably want to capture Weavers, hence some

of them are hiding or are protected by these
gates.

So what exactly are these bugs doing with
this silk?

Well, I mentioned in my first Silksong video
an idea that bugs below the Citadel are being

controlled by silk some way, sort of like
puppets.

And since then, people have pointed out that
when enemies die in Silksong, we can briefly

see long silk threads above them.

This phenomenon is consistent and definitely
intentional by the developers.

Another thing I think we can say fairly confidently
is that the name Pharloom is actually pretty

literal.

In this image we can clearly see silk running
together in lines, with these bindings that

appear to be like forks used in actual looms.

So the bugs of the Citadel are collecting
silk from Weavers and pilgrims to add to their

giant loom which in turn they used to do something
that results in the citizens of the kingdom

being haunted by silk.

Or something like that, I’m not sure.

One thing we do know is that the Weavers grant
Hornet the ability to use power ups, one in

particular being the Silk Spear, which allows
Hornet to break through web barriers.

My guess is this move is the Silk Spear, although
it’s described as a lunging move, while

this is more of a stabbing move.

So the Weavers will probably hold power ups
that Hornet will need to reach new areas,

in standard metroidvania fashion.

From the interview, we also learn a bit more
about the structure of Pharloom.

Hornet starts off in Moss Grotto, like we
suspected.

But after that, the next area is actually
the Bone Forest area that was cut from Hollow

Knight.

In this area we can find Bonebottom, which
is pretty much the main hub of the game, similar

to Dirtmouth.

Also, the fast travel tunnels are called the
“Marrow” and this creature we have to

tame is called the Bell Beast.

After getting the Silk Spear, Hornet can free
the Bell Beast, who immediately attacks her.

But she is defeated, the Bell Beast ends up
running away, implying that you won’t be

able to fast travel in Silksong until later
in the game.

Since we’re talking about the structure
of Pharloom, let’s take a look at some of

the screenshots provided in this interview.

Nothing we see here appears to be new areas.

This Moss Grotto screenshot gets us a look
at a new enemy.

I’ve seen a few people call this creature
a Moss Deer.

Now I don’t know why but I just think this
guy is neat.

We also see Hornet playing music for this
Kratos cosplayer.

Why is she doing this exactly?

Is Hornet one of those assholes who always
brings their instruments to parties and just

starts playing them?

We can also see that Team Cherry has added
some new statues into the background of locations

we have already seen.

These statues are of bugs looking upwards
while holding what appear to be cymbals.

So what does this mean?

Are they expecting something from the Citadel
to come down to them?

Are they offering something up?

Something interesting about these statues
is that there is actually a very similar one

hidden in the Godhome art assets in Hollow
Knight, although this thing doesn’t have

a face so I don’t know if it’s looking
up or not.

We also appear to get a lot of images of Greymoor,
which you might remember Team Cherry saying

was one of their largest areas they have ever
made.

Now we don’t know if these rooms are actually
Greymoor, but I’m assuming so because these

areas are grey.

Also I think this room with the shopkeep is
Greymoor too, simply because it has a similar

floor.

In this room, which appears to be to the left
of one of the bell cities, we can see Hornet

in a swamp-like area.

What’s interesting about this room are these
weird stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

Now these might be giant plant or tree roots
hanging from above.

These small branches jetting out from the
sides might be similar to tap root systems.

Another theory is that these are manmade,
or bug made I guess.

Whatever these are, I really like them.

They remind me of the Ash Lake from Dark Souls,
or the cave seen in Nausicaä of the Valley

of the Wind.

Details like this and the aforementioned statues
really help to emphasize Pharloom's verticality.

We also see this in a new screenshot of that
weird bell city.

You basically have to jump on this thing to
climb up the vertically stacked bell houses.

Seems like a pretty dangerous place to live,
but maybe the bugs of Pharloom are really

into parkour.

In this screenshot, we do get a glimpse at
Pharloom’s written language.

This sign appears to be littered both with
musical notes and gilded pins.

Now it’s possible that this is just how
the language of Pharloom is written, indicating

how important music is here.

We can also see what appears to be some musical
notes on the lore tablets in Deep Docks.

But other glimpses we’ve seen of Pharloom’s
language looks pretty similar to Hollow Knight’s

random scribbles.

There are some tablets in Hollow Knight that
appear to make sense, such as the Stag Station

signs.

If you stare at this long enough, you can
kinda see what it’s saying.

So this sign might just be specific to this
building, or in other words, this building

is a shop that sells musical instruments and
pins.

Finally in this image we can see that members
of the Citadel’s caste can use silk as well.

Good for them.

Getting back to the interview we also learn
that getting to the Citadel isn’t quite

the end goal of Silksong, as once you get
there, getting to the top of the Citadel is

a task of its own.

So the actual amount of time spent in the
Citadel will be a greater portion of the game’s

runtime that we might have thought.

So maybe some of the areas we have already
seen are actually in the Citadel already.

I do think it’s possible that this area
we’ve seen several times is actually located

inside the Citadel.

What’s more interesting is that this room
in the Trobbio boss fight has structures that

look similar to the buildings found in the
Citadel, if this is the Citadel.

So the top of the Citadel might actually be
this giant ball thing.

Although I’m starting to think this ball
might actually be a cocoon of some kind, but

at this point I’m just speculating wildly.

William mentions that magic is a more distant
thing in Pharloom, which I have a bit of trouble

understanding.

I think he means that a lot more things in
Pharloom will look constructed, like traps

and mechanisms and what not.

Like instead of a Snail Shaman exploding and
the Knight just slurping up its life juice,

Hornet will actually find objects and tools
to upgrade her kit.

But while soul might not be as prevalent here
in Pharloom, I feel like all this stuff with

silk and song still falls under the definition
of magic, but maybe that’s just me.

We also learned about another mechanic with
Rosaries.

We’ve seen before items called Rosary Strings
which Hornet can find.

Basically when you die, you lose rosaries,
but if you have Rosary Strings, those stick

around.

And then you can break them whenever you need
to spend them.

So it’s basically like a more flexible version
of the relics in Hollow Knight.

But now it turns out you can actually create
Rosary Strings from your own rosaries.

A vendor might charge Hornet 120 rosaries
to put 100 rosaries on a string.

I think the Geo system in Hollow Knight suffered
from players losing thousands of Geo in the

early game and getting frustrated.

And it could be quite a while before the player
ever found Millibelle.

So having this Rosary system that allows the
player to easily store their wealth at a small

cost seems like a pretty good change to the
currency system.

Ari goes on to say that Rosary Strings can
also be made at certain, special benches.

Speaking of benches, apparently this bench
from the Deep Docks with all these bells is

considered a Holy Bench, and that Ari has
already designed like 100 different benches

for Silksong.

Now this statement is pretty eye raising for
multiple reasons.

So let’s dive into this.

First of all “100 different benches” is
probably hyperbole, since 100 isn’t an exact

number.

That being said, however, how many benches
are there in Hollow Knight?

If we count the additional breakable bench
in Beast’s Den, the three benches in the

White Palace, and the three non-pantheon benches
in Godhome, there are a total of 49 benches

in Hollow Knight.

So if there are already 100 different benches
in Silksong, that implies that Team Cherry

has become much more generous with bench placement
this time around, which I doubt, or Silksong

is twice as big as Hollow Knight.

But it’s worth pointing out that a lot of
these 49 benches are not different, as a lot

of them are just generic benches.

So how many different bench designs are there
in Hollow Knight?

Well, there’s the generic one, the Toll
Bench, the benches found inside Trams, the

one in Ancestral Mound, the one found outside
Salubra’s Hut, the one in the stone sanctuary,

the one near the Lake of Unn, the one found
near Leg Eater, which is more of a corpse

than a bench but I’m counting it anyway,
the one in the Mantis Village, three slight

variations found near the Nailmasters, the
one in the Pleasure House, the one in the

tent near Hornet 2, the one in the Colosseum
of Fools, the one in the Teacher’s Archives,

the one found in Beast’s Den, the one found
in front of the Pale King statue in the Queen’s

Garden, the ones unique to the White Palace,
the one found in the Temple of the Black Egg,

and two different ones found in Godhome.

Also we can find two unused benches in the
game’s art assets.

This bench which can be found in a room called
“Hornet’s room” and a bench literally

composed of fucking vessel corpses.

Like seriously this is the best bench ever
and I’m so mad Team Cherry didn’t use

it.

This puts the total of unique bench designs
at 24.

So Silksong might have four times as many
unique benches, which means Silksong might

actually be 4 times bigger than Hollow Knight.

Now I don’t actually believe that.

I’m guessing that Team Cherry is just opting
to make new benches more often.

So far we have seen 8 benches in Silksong,
with 6 of them being unique.

So while I’m sure Silksong will have more
benches than Hollow Knight, I think a greater

percentage of them will be unique.

The other thing interesting with this quote
is Ari Gibson’s exact wording.

“Unsurprisingly, we ended up with, like,
100 different benches.”

The fact that he said “we ended up” is
pretty interesting.

Does this mean they are done making area artwork?

The finality implied in this statement might
spell good news for an impending Silksong

release.

Now I don’t want to build up hype too much,
but Silksong is definitely coming out by the

end of the week.

Regardless, it’s obvious that Team Cherry
is still keen on paying very close attention

to detail.

For example, they’ve got Jack Vine working
on things like having little rings be able

to roll around for a while after you hit them,
and I’m guessing he’s responsible for

small things like making these objects move
more realistically.

Speaking of these rings, they will be used
to denote that Shakra is nearby, Shakra being

this game’s version of Cornifer.

So these rings will act similar to Cornifer’s
discarded pieces of paper.

It’s also implied that we might be fighting
Shakra at some point in the future.

Which unfortunately, never happens with Cornifer.

There is also some news on the fleas, remember
them?

Well, apparently not only will they just be
sitting around, but they can also get captured

by other bugs somehow.

So it seems like there will be more to collecting
fleas than just finding a physical location,

which will hopefully make them a bit more
interesting to collect than the grubs, since

they were pretty much just always stuck in
jars, sometimes guarded by random enemies.

Like, why the fuck does this guy care so much
about guarding this grub?

Trobbio got mentioned in the interview.

Basically it’s been confirmed that he’s
a bit of a clutz, with his fight being accompanied

by goofy music.

Also he’s named after and voiced by another
developer that Team Cherry is friends with,

Matt Trobbiani.

Matt worked on the game Hacknet, which even
featured a song by Chris Larkin, himself.

You can see Matt being interviewed along with
Team Cherry in this event from Bitsummit back

in 2018.

So is this Matt Trobbiani guy canonically
a clutz in real life?

Well I did actually meet Matt when I went
to PAX in 2019.

He said he liked my videos, so he seemed like
a pretty smart guy to me at least.

Team Cherry also discussed quests in Silksong.

They confirm that there will still be the
traditional random quests you can stumble

on like in Hollow Knight, but that there is
also an organized collection of quests that

the player can find using quest boards.

If you remember, there are at least four different
types of known quests: Wayfarer, Hunt, Grand

Hunt, and Gather.

It seems like Team Cherry only showed off
a Gather quest, which had the player collect

Mossberries to take to the Druid of the Moss
Temple, which is the guy we saw from the reveal

trailer.

We can see Mossberries placed in the E3 demo,
but it turns out enemies can just be carrying

Mossberries around with them.

Also you can apparently jump into this caldron,
but it isn’t a very good idea.

We do see a screenshot of what might be a
Hunt or Grand Hunt, where Hornet is fighting

some strange creature alongside Garmond and
Zaza.

I don’t know why, but whenever I see them
I assume it must be some kind of quest, but

I suppose that’s just speculation on my
part.

And now I think it’s time we get into Hornet’s
tools, since we see a lot of crazy stuff going

on in these screenshots.

First of all, we can see that the Hornet’s
HUD takes on three different versions.

This is entirely new, as none of the gifs
from 2020 had anything like this.

So what are they?

Well, the HUD actually changes appearance
based on what Crest Hornet is using.

Here on the menu, we see a new Crest called
the Reaper, which has twice as many slots

as the Wanderer crest we saw before.

And that Crest design seems to line up with
one of the HUD changes.

From this we can see that there are Crests
that allow you to have two weapons at once.

And from other screenshots we can see this
in action.

In the E3 Demo, the R button was how you activated
a tool.

But it’s not clear how it would work with
two of them.

The L and ZL buttons weren’t mapped in the
demo, so those might be candidates for possibly

using a second tool or changing the tool order.

It’s also possible for tools themselves
to be upgraded, as the Straight Pin can later

be upgraded to the Tri-Pin.

Apparently, Hornet can even learn to make
new tools based on the tools used by the residents

of Pharloom, like seeing an enemy throw a
javelin can help her learn to throw a javelin.

Which… okay.

I’m sure it will make more sense when we
see it in game.

Also she’ll add her own little touch to
them.

This is shown off pretty well in this screenshot.

You can see Hornet is using the same tool
as this NPC except it has that red rope on

it.

So what new tools can we see in these screenshots?

As we can see here, Team Cherry has finally
given Hornet a boomerang.

I know Team Cherry’s Australian audience
was pretty upset with the lack of boomerangs

in Hollow Knight, so this is a welcome addition.

Now if they could just add a gun, then us
Americans will finally feel represented.

We’ve got some kind of container full of
orange liquidy goop.

I’m sure that’s not harmful at all.

I think this is a grenade of some kind, maybe
similar to the pimpillo.

We can also see this longer spear weapon,
and a drill type weapon.

But then we also see another drill type weapon
without a handle.

Now according to Ari, there is another drill
attack where Hornet “becomes something like

a spinning top, and descends towards enemies.”

I don’t think either of these items are
related to that though.

It could be this red drill, but we have yet
to see a tool like this directly affect Hornet’s

movement.

From an earlier gif, we can see another way
Hornet’s air movement can be altered.

We can see her glide in the air, and I’m
guessing this is yet another part of Hornet’s

kit that can be altered, possibly via crests.

Maybe you can choose between giving her a
double jump or a glide, or turning into a

fucking beyblade.

Also we got a name for this tool.

It’s called a Sting Shard.

There are some other new tools here in the
menu, but we still have no idea what these

things do.

I still think these are passive effects.

In this screenshot we can see spikes around
Hornet’s masks, which might imply she is

wearing a Thorns of Agony type too.

But nothing in the interview directly mentions
it.

But one thing we do know is that Team Cherry
is adding sub reactions to these tools.

By that I think they mean stuff like how charm
abilities would combine in Hollow Knight.

Basically tools will have unique interactions
depending on the context in which they are

used.

There’s another part to these Crests that
I still need to mention, and that’s how

it appears that you can actually equip Hornet’s
abilities to a crest.

From this screenshot, we can see this image
presumably of Hornet’s needle sitting in

the middle of the crest.

Then if we look above the red section tools,
we can see another image of Hornet’s needle.

So it seems like Hornet’s silk abilities
can be swapped out.

So you can maybe have this big slash move
equipped, or the Gossamer storm, or this stabbing

move.

And judging from this layout of the controls,
these will be called skills.

Another interesting change is that the Crest
we see in the screenshot, doesn’t have the

slots colored like in a previous example.

Although there still is some color here, so
I’m not sure what that’s about.

Moving away from Crests, I have just one more
thing to say about the UI in regards to the

spool meters.

It seems like these systems have changed since
the E3 Demo.

The lower spool meter now has a base length
of 9 silk notches instead of 8.

Also we can see that the spool is segmented
now.

It appears there is always a mark to denote
the first nine notches.

But sometimes there are other smaller marks
at around 5 notches.

It also seems like the silk will glow brightly
once it hits 9 notches.

Except in this screenshot where it lights
up at 8.

This might be related to whatever mark the
silk has reached on the spool.

We can see the upper spool meter is also segmented
in some cases.

Also we can see from these screenshots that
this spool meter doesn’t light up once Hornet

reaches 8 notches of silk anymore.

At first I thought maybe it only lights up
when you have lost health, basically as an

indicator that you can use Hornet’s bind
ability to heal.

So a segmented meter means that with a full
spool of silk, you’d be able to bind multiple

times as long as you didn’t reach full health.

But in the gifs released last summer, we can
see the meter both lit and not lit while Hornet

has full health.

So either this gif is outdated, or my theory
is dead ass wrong.

Regardless, it’s safe to say that the segments
on these meters, or whether or not they are

lit up, is likely determined by whatever abilities
and tools Hornet has equipped to her Crest.

Other than that, it might be possible that
Hornet can increase the length of her spool

via collectables like the Soul Vessels from
the first game.

But I’ve spent too long looking at these
stupid fucking screenshots and I still can’t

pin down exactly what’s going on.

So I’m gonna drop it for now.

Now just a few more things to mention.

Apparently, the Lace song we’ve all come
to know and love wasn’t what Christopher

Larkin originally wrote.

The first song he wrote was the result of
Team Cherry trying to explain the lore and

backstory to him.

They ended up using a different piece that
he had just written as a boss theme.

So it sounds like Team Cherry is kinda just
gonna let Chris do his thing.

Which, given Larkin’s track record, it will
probably be fine.

So will we ever get to hear the original Lace
theme?

Well, as it turns out, I was able to actually
get a copy of the song.

So I’ll play it for you right now.

[Totally the original Lace theme, I swear]

Also we got an image of what appears to be
a new boss.

According to Ari, this boss is known as the
Last Judge.

William then says that this enemy immediately
makes the player wonder what his deal is.

And then the author of the magazine actually
calls me out by name.

I truly am honored to be mentioned in a UK
based gaming magazine.

I remember buying issue number 1 back and
1993 and thinking to myself how amazing it

would be to get my name in Edge Magazine.

That was pretty much the whole reason I started
this channel.

And now my dream has finally come true There’s
just… one problem.

They capitalized the “M”.

[Maniacal laughter]

Now to be completely fair, Jen Simpkins informed
me that she had to capitalize the “M”

due to something called style guides.

Sounds made up, but I think Jen is telling
the truth here.

In fact, Jen appears to be a pretty big Hollow
Knight fan in general.

She is even aware of the milksong meme which
started over on the Hollow Knight Memes subreddit.

If you don’t know what the Milksong memes
are or why they exist, well, neither do I

honestly.

Getting back to the actual screenshot, there
is a bit to talk about here.

First of all, for being a land without much
magic, I’m pretty skeptical that this mother

fucker isn’t some kind of wizard.

It’s got the silly headwear and it can make
giant spirals of flames all over the place.

Now this magic ability might be tied to the
rosaries he appears to be clutching.

Also, if we look at his eyes, we can see streaks
under them.

Now in the early days of this channel, I always
tied this to void.

But there are a lot of bugs and statues of
bugs in Hollow Knight that have these streaks

that don’t appear to have anything to do
with the Void.

So I think this is more of a stylistic choice.

So this might just be related to the last
Judge crying because all his other Judge friends

are dead, hence the name Last Judge.

But what exactly is this thing judging?

Now we have seen that Pharloom has some kind
of prison system, as we can find Grindle locked

away in a cell.

But this bug doesn’t quite seem like a law
and order type judge, if that makes sense.

Maybe it judges whether or not pilgrims can
enter the Citadel.

And if not he torches them.

It’s also worth pointing out that this bug
has a similar aesthetic to the bug Team Cherry

showed us in their last blogpost.

It also looks similar to a bug found in the
Coral Forest.

And it’s worth pointing out that we don’t
know for sure if these bugs are actually related

to the bugs we see in the Citadel.

All we know is that this bug is a part of
a scholarly suite guarding a vault of ancient

knowledge.

So we actually don’t know for sure if these
guys are actually directly tied to what is

going on in the Citadel, although it’s certainly
possible and it probably is the case.

Finally Team Cherry was asked about what happens
after Silksong.

William and Ari talked a bit about a non-Hollow
Knight related game that they have been thinking

about.

As of right now, this project consists of
just a google doc that they add to every now

and then as they work on Silksong.

A strong candidate for what this game might
be is Fearless Fox, a term Team Cherry trademarked

back in 2019.

It isn’t guaranteed that this game will
be a metroidvania.

In the past, William has expressed interest
in doing a top down 2D Zelda style game.

But they did clarify that whatever games they
make will continue to have large sprawling

worlds and interesting characters to interact
with.

So what does this mean for future Hollow Knight
content?

The only Hollow Knight content not directly
produced by Team Cherry that we can consider

canon is the Wanderer’s Journal which ultimately
didn’t add a whole lot to Hollow Knight’s

story, since it was just a character experiencing
all the same stuff we did.

According to Team Cherry’s marketing director,
Leth, Team Cherry has been approached by companies

wanting to make Hollow Knight television shows
and comics.

Leth explained this on Live from the Abyss,
a podcast created by two other Hollow Knight

YouTuber’s: DeepDockProletarian and Mythreel.

Leth: We’ve been contacted by some companies
wanting to make other media of Hollow Knight.

Whether it be a cartoon, or a show or a comic
book or what have you…

It usually comes down to Ari just not…

I don’t know.

And I understand this.

I think it is basically like we don’t want
to corporatize the…

DDP: The franchise?

Leth: Yeah, not too much.

So basically, it seems like Team Cherry really
wants to avoid turning Hollow Knight into

some giant franchise with books and shows
and all sorts of other crap.

And who could blame them?

That’s a really good way to completely screw
up your fictional world and make it less special.

I mean, Cuphead’s deep and comprehensive
lore will no doubt be ruined by their upcoming

Netflix show, which is a damn shame.

So it seems like Silksong might mark the end
of Hollow Knight content for a while, unless

Team Cherry decides to make Zote Boat or changes
their mind on third party stuff.

But honestly, I think Team Cherry will do
at least one other Hollow Knight related thing

other than Silksong.

Call it a feeling.

Call it speculation.

But I feel like William and Ari are so invested
in this world, and the fact that they can’t

stop adding to it, makes me think there will
be other Hollow Knight content coming out.

Or maybe I’m just in denial.

You decide.

And so that’s about all I have to say regarding
this interview.

We learned a little bit more about the Crest
system and the world layout.

And we got a little more info about characters
like the Bell Beast and Shakra.

But I think what was most interesting is how
different Silksong has been development-wise.

Team Cherry had to make rooms bigger and adjust
the game’s camera just to accommodate Hornet’s

playstyle, as well as create more complex
enemies for her to fight.

I’m a little bummed to hear that Team Cherry
has been focusing less on platforming, since

Hornet seems really well equipped for that
kind of stuff.

One thing that still eludes us is a full explanation
on how exactly some tools alter Hornet’s

playstyle, other than they seem to affect
her silk meters in some way.

Lore wise we learned that pilgrims are actually
bringing thread to the Citadel, and that they

will even attack other pilgrims.

We’ve also learned that Hornet’s time
in her cage has zapped her of her “traditional

strength” and she now has to find the Weavers
to get it back.

But there are still many questions left regarding
Lace, this Conductor Romino fellow, the Steel

Assassins, as well as who is running this
whole operation and if any of this will tie

back to what we saw in the cliffhanger endings
from Hollow Knight.

Yeah, remember those?

Fucking cliffhangers, man.

I swear to God, I hate it when they just abruptly
cuts things off right