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Hollow Knight: Silksong is out today.

As hyped as I am for this, I'll be waiting to pick it up in good old patient gamer fashion.

Right out the gate Team Cherry killed it with a $20 price tag (and apparently extremely reasonably regional pricing).

Basically every game store was down this morning and we're looking at a 500k concurrent player count right now on Steam alone.

I'm sure there is some billion dollar corpo c-suite looking at this and saying "How can we do the same thing but completely fuck it up?"
 
Ok, guys, stupid question, if I may.

While the game has caught my attention with the fanfare and at a $20 asking price, it appears to be a 2-D platform game? The last game of this type I played was probably during my teen years, Ghouls & Goblins, if I recall.

What's so great about this game? Serious question. Heck, for $20, I may just pick it up on general principle.
 
MoragaBlue said:
Ok, guys, stupid question, if I may.

While the game has caught my attention with the fanfare and at a $20 asking price, it appears to be a 2-D platform game? The last game of this type I played was probably during my teen years, Ghouls & Goblins, if I recall.

What's so great about this game? Serious question. Heck, for $20, I may just pick it up on general principle.
Click to expand...
The first game (Hollow Knight) is one of the most acclaimed Metroidvanias because everything that makes a game fit into that category, it does exceptionally well. The platforming is tight when you get the hang of the game, but there's enough room that you can utilize tricks and later power-ups to platform faster or reach areas that you normally wouldn't be able to reach until much later. There's areas where a ledge is just a little too high to reach, but if you are good with certain tricks, you can reach that ledge and grab items earlier than you normally would be able to. Most of the tricks revolve around the combat - particularly the "pogo" attack where you use a downward slash to bounce off the enemy head. Doing so can give you a boost in height and get you to those ledges that are just a bit too high. You don't see these types of things often in platformers and Hollow Knight (and Silksong) do it incredibly well because the developers intended for skilled players to reach some places earlier than before.

As for the combat itself, it's very polished. In general, the movement and combat is just incredibly tight to the point where if you get hit, it's 100% your fault - much like a Souls game. It also draws aspects from various Souls games in that if you die, you lose all your currency until you go retrieve your body where you died and if you die before you reach your body, all your currency is gone. Also, much like a Souls game, the game is difficult. The normal enemies can provide a fair challenge, but the bosses are where the combat truly shines. You do have spells and a heal that must be channeled, but in order to cast them, you have to power up your "magic" meter by hitting enemies and your offensive spells as well as heal use the same meter. So you get to decide if you want to go for a high damage spell or save that precious magic for a heal and if you do decide to cast a spell, you have to physically hit the enemies multiple times if you want to heal. It makes for a very high risk/reward playstyle.

However, all the platforming and combat aside, where the game sets itself apart from the rest is the story and atmosphere. I went into the first game expecting to play a new Metroidvania but I ended up getting sucked into a world that I couldn't break away from. I had expected to load it up and check it out for an hour before bed, but I legitimately stayed up the entire night playing the game because I honestly didn't even look at the time until the sun caught my attention coming from my other window. It's been a long time since that happened.

The last thing I'll say is that it's definitely a game that's earned its praise and it's even more impressive when you learn it was made by a team of three people. If you're a fan of Metroidvanias and can stand a 2D Souls-like game, grab the first one immediately and then come back to check out Silksong.
 
MoragaBlue said:
Ok, guys, stupid question, if I may.

While the game has caught my attention with the fanfare and at a $20 asking price, it appears to be a 2-D platform game? The last game of this type I played was probably during my teen years, Ghouls & Goblins, if I recall.

What's so great about this game? Serious question. Heck, for $20, I may just pick it up on general principle.
Click to expand...

- A major element of the Hollow Knight games is their theme/visuals/music etc elements. Bugs in a dying world is a bit on the nose but a fun unique aesthetic. The visuals are soft and vibrant and pleasant to look at and the music is gentle and charming with a haunting edge.

The gameplay is classic Metroidvania executed perfectly. Large interconnected world that opens up as you unlock new abilities and upgrades.

Combat is heavily skill based and generally very unforgiving. Either learn enemy and boss paterns and counter appropriately or die over and over and over again. I personally don't like dark souls type games but Hollow Knight's difficulty truly was perfectly titrated to be difficult but fair.

If that stuff doesn't sound like it appeals to you, then skip the game. I personally don't get the appeal of the GTA games and Rockstar games in general but they keep selling majillions of copies and that's fine, it's just not my thing.
 
Many thanks, guys! That was very helpful.

Hollow Knight is $15? I recall Steam kept recommending me this game the past several years under the "gamers like you love this game," but I never knew why they'd recommend a 2-D game to me. Also, until now, I never really understood the Soulslike label.

The timing is right and I'm between games, having just thoroughly finished the Lies of P DLC several times. Time for a new game and I'll give Hollow Knight a try.
 
I've been very confused as to why this game is getting so much hype. Then I figured it out...

The snowball effect of news and media surrounding this game reminds me of the release of Stray in 2022. The lack of any other substantial AAA releases puts this game in focus by game journalists and content creators. They have very little else to create content off of. People get inundated by it all and ultimately buy into the hype. The same thing happened with Stray when it released during a similar drought.

These Indie devs couldn't have picked a better time to release.
 
Stg-Flame said:
So, I heard on Reddit there were a few other games released today... What an absolutely terrible business decision to release a game alongside Silksong.
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Now is the ideal time for Indie devs to release. It's all a matter of which indie dev can stand out. Hollow Knight Silksong is a hard one to beat in terms of getting attention.
 
AdamK47 said:
I've been very confused as to why this game is getting so much hype. Then I figured it out...

The snowball effect of news and media surrounding this game reminds me of the release of Stray in 2022. The lack of any other substantial AAA releases puts this game in focus by game journalists and content creators. They have very little else to create content off of. People get inundated by it all and ultimately buy into the hype. The same thing happened with Stray when it released during a similar drought.

These Indie devs couldn't have picked a better time to release.
Click to expand...

- Its been the most wishlisted game on Steam for a very long time, even back when Silksong's release date was more or less a meme.

It's hyped because the first game was genre defining, was a ton of fun, and got a truckload of free DLC content.

It's not that complicated.

It's like saying "Why is GTA 6 getting so much hype?!" "Why was Elden Ring so hype?!" "Why was CyberPunk so hype?!" Cause their predecessors/studio have been genre defining juggernauts that's why. I don't get it, but no point in pretending why not either.
 
AdamK47 said:
Then I figured it out...
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Unfortunately, you did not. The game received hype because the first game was phenomenal and people waited patiently for almost a decade while the developers created the sequel without muttering a single word about it and then they just dropped the release date out of nowhere. Hell, they could have released this game alongside any highly anticipated AAA game and it would still be making headlines. It had absolutely nothing to do with nobody getting attention when they released Silksong and everything to do with Team Cherry being well known for making an amazing game that people wanted more of.

Indie games aren't just for niche crowds anymore. Certain indie developers have cemented their place among the greats by creating exceptional games that rival the multimillion AAA slop that some companies churn out year after year and the fact that very few indie developers fall into this category should tell you it's not just a "flavor of the month" thing either.
 
AdamK47 said:
I've been very confused as to why this game is getting so much hype. Then I figured it out...

The snowball effect of news and media surrounding this game reminds me of the release of Stray in 2022. The lack of any other substantial AAA releases puts this game in focus by game journalists and content creators. They have very little else to create content off of. People get inundated by it all and ultimately buy into the hype. The same thing happened with Stray when it released during a similar drought.

These Indie devs couldn't have picked a better time to release.
Click to expand...
I mean it's not my thing either but I think that you are way underselling it.
It actually brought Steam to its knees when it was released. It's insanely popular, my kids have been playing it non stop since it came out.
 
First game sold 15 million copies. Granted I thought it was mainly Switch but yeah it's been doing quite well on Steam and even PSN.
 
Kaido said:
Mission successful! Silksong crashed:

* Playstation store
* Steam
* Microsoft store
* Nintendo's eShop

www.theguardian.com

Hollow Knight: Silksong launch crashes online gaming stores

Steam, the Nintendo eShop and Playstation Store among those that crashed on Friday, unable to cope with demand for the Australian-made game
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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These guys are going to make close to half a billion from these two games. Let that sink in.

First game has sold over 15 million copies, this game is going to match and exceed.

Steam peak is 587,150 daily. Crazy numbers.
 
Artorias said:
These guys are going to make close to half a billion from these two games. Let that sink in.

First game has sold over 15 million copies, this game is going to match and exceed.

Steam peak is 587,150 daily. Crazy numbers.
Click to expand...

They deserve it!!
 
Currently 20 hours in and I'm barely halfway through the game. Compared to the 20 hours it took me to 100% the first game, this one is significantly more difficult. A lot of the bad reviews are coming from people saying certain bosses/arenas are too difficult, which I can agree with one of them (screw those red ants), but the rest of the game is simply learning an enemy/boss and reacting accordingly.
 
Ok, I'm kinda getting where some of the hate about difficulty is coming from. There's some areas in the later portion of the game that I believe are optional, but my only complaint is how far away the rest bench is located. As you start nearing Act 2, benches are no longer near the boss doors and as you progress into late-game powerups, you can access certain areas that were previously blocked off which generally contain a challenge boss/arena, but the rest bench is miles away and behind a horde of difficult enemies. So every time you die while trying to learn how to kill the boss/arena or simply try to figure out how to progress (there's some really fun, but fairly difficult platform sections) through an area, you'll have to cut a swath through a large amount of enemies every time and hope you don't die and lose all your Rosaries (there are some caveats to this, but they're mild spoilers so I'm not mentioning them).

Still incredibly fun though.
 
I've been playing this a little. I think I'm 9-10 hours in. Been generally enjoying it, though Metroidvanias aren't my favorite genre.

I hate runbacks, so I'm thinking about modding them out. For now, I'll just suck it up.
 
While I love this game, I do not foresee myself ever playing this one again. I've replayed Hollow Knight three more times since I beat it years ago and it's still incredibly fun, but this one is just hard for the sake of being hard. I've had to take this on in chunks because of how frustrating some bosses have been on top of the fact that my controller starts hurting my thumbs after a while, but after 46 hours, I think I'm close to the end.

If you want to skip the optional areas, this is one of the best games of this year. If you're like me (both a casual but also someone who wants to explore everything and 100% everything if possible), this game can easily turn into a nightmare. Also, I still hate those fire brothers with a burning passion (no pun intended).
 
Stg-Flame said:
While I love this game, I do not foresee myself ever playing this one again. I've replayed Hollow Knight three more times since I beat it years ago and it's still incredibly fun, but this one is just hard for the sake of being hard. I've had to take this on in chunks because of how frustrating some bosses have been on top of the fact that my controller starts hurting my thumbs after a while, but after 46 hours, I think I'm close to the end.

If you want to skip the optional areas, this is one of the best games of this year. If you're like me (both a casual but also someone who wants to explore everything and 100% everything if possible), this game can easily turn into a nightmare. Also, I still hate those fire brothers with a burning passion (no pun intended).
Click to expand...

I have had way more issues with the platforming than the bosses. Just finished Mt Fay, holy hell what a pain in the a**. And now that I have the double jump it has f'ed up the float, I try to just jump and float but it double jumps into the spikes...

I have found all the bosses up to this point to be reasonable (still hard) once I figure out their attack patterns.
 
quikah said:
I have had way more issues with the platforming than the bosses. Just finished Mt Fay, holy hell what a pain in the a**. And now that I have the double jump it has f'ed up the float, I try to just jump and float but it double jumps into the spikes...

I have found all the bosses up to this point to be reasonable (still hard) once I figure out their attack patterns.
Click to expand...

diff.gif
 
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