Silksong: Taking Off the Clown Make-Up and Gazing Towards the Future
The Bell has tolled. The end of the wait is near…
Our patience has been rewarded, and Silksong is finally on the horizon. The Xbox showcase gave us a brand new trailer, and a possible release window. Every second has been analysed by Hollow Knight experts, and we finally know a bit more about what awaits us in the haunted land of Pharloom.
Those, like me, who left Hornet trapped in the Black egg temple, whether for the achievement or by pure accident, will be happy to get the occasion to make it up to her, and maybe not let her die too much in this new adventure deep into the imagination of Team Cherry
What baffles me the most in the information we have, is how Team Cherry managed to make a game which looks to feel a lot like its predecessor, yet found a different reasoning for the mechanics and made the gameplay feel like quintessential Hornet.
The combat has been shown to be much more fluid and aerial with "Lethal acrobatic action" and controlling Hornet will be a world apart from what controlling the Knight was like. Momentum and speed will be our friends in a gameplay that will keep us on our toes throughout our exploration.
Let's talk about these new mechanics.
Hornet, not being a voidling (my apologies to non-voidling denyers), does not collect soul as she slashes enemies, but silk. The citizens of Pharloom seem cursed with a spell that makes them exude silk as they get hit, and Hornet is able to harvest it and loom it around her silk metre, allowing her to unleash spells.
Unlike in Hollow Knight where you heal one life with a little soul, Hornet will only be able to heal herself once her silk metre arrives at a certain notch, and heal three lives at a time. This small but significant change will stop players from slowing down fights to find safe spots to heal, and force us to be as aggressive as we can to survive.
With no charms in sight, we instead get a look at another kind of adaptable aid to our gameplay in the form of items.
These items are found throughout the world and gained through boss fights, with each having a unique feel and use and will help us find our own playstyle.
From this image we can see that each item fits into a specific category: The blue traps, the yellow mechanisms, and the red weapons. We will have to choose which one fits in our crest so we can use them out in the world. You might be wondering what I mean by 'crest', and I shall explain this later on. Let us focus on items a little while longer.
Unlike charms, which have a passive ability we can use anytime, these items will have a limited use, shown by a circle jauge around their icon. They seem to be bound by up and down controls just like the soul spells in Hollow Knight. Each use of the items depletes the jauge until we cannot use them anymore.
To recharge and upgrade them, Hornet will have to use shell shards found throughout the world at a bench. These shell shards can be collected by killing enemies, which is more encouragement from Team Cherry to be aggressive and actively seek out encounters. These do not replace geo, and the currency we will be using are berries called Rosaries. These, like geo, are lost when we die and picked back up when we find our cocoon.
Let us talk about crests now.
Each crest changes both your inventory menu, and your life bar. We don't know how many crests are available in the game so far, but here are a couple of them.
These influence : the items you can equip, your basic attack, and silk usage. We see, for example, that the claw crest changes Hornet's basic attack to show claws, perhaps increasing its damage.
Much like the charms in Hollow Knight, Silksong's crests and item system is sure to create a plethora of playstyles available to pick and choose as we please, making our experience unique; and will encourage the community to gush about different builds and useful combinations.
With Hornet’s unique feature of having functioning vocal cords, we will also see a lot more interaction with the bugs around us, making friends and fulfilling quests for rewards such as new items or crests.
The release date of Silksong is still unknown. Some say it is not included in the games Xbox promised to have an under 12 months release date. Some say it will be released on February 24 2023, on the 6th anniversary of its predecessor. Others say Microsoft could be aiming for a holiday 2022 release.
Until we get more information, let us all enjoy the anticipation as a community, and dream of unexplored haunted lands together.
Author Spotlight
I'm Leeze, an aro ace content creator/ musician from France. I've been playing games my whole life with a special interest in Indie games as I grow more and more tired of the state of AAA companies. I love to feel the passion indie studios put in their work and I want to do my part to help them grow and flourish.
