After months of anticipation, the 2021 Game Awards have finally come and gone. The show was packed with gaming news and accolades this year. Starting as early as the pre-show, and even earlier if a viewer had caught The MIX Picks, tons of games were revealed, re-revealed, and given new details. It was an impressive show, doubly so considering that it was the industry’s return to in-person events with a live audience. Manygames were celebrated with awards and nominations, and the evening seemed to go off without a hitch.
Not everyone got everything they wanted out of the show, however. A number of games and companies were absent from the event.Rumored games like a major Sony remakeand aChrono Crossremaster never showed, and Nintendo was almost entirely absent aside from a brief look at some indies coming to the Switch. Among those was an even more conspicuous absence:Hollow Knight: Silksong, the upcomingHollow Knightsequel from Team Cherry. This action-platformer with Soulslike elements hasn’t been shown for a while, and it seems to be taking the in-attendanceElden Ring’s spot as the Soulslike community’s white whale.
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Recapping Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Development History
The story ofHollow Knight: Silksongbegan withHollow Knight’s original Kickstarter, which included a stretch goal to make the rival character Hornet playable. Despite how many updatesHollow Knightgot post-launch, this feature never came, though fans were content with what they had. Suddenly, in February 2019, a trailer and developer diary were released forSilksong, the sequel toHollow Knightfeaturing the more agile Hornet exploring the kingdom of Pharloom. The initial reveal had a huge amount of information, and a miniature update came a few months later detailing some of the characters. The fanbase was hyped, but it was made clear that the game wouldn’t be done for a while.
Fortunately, there was still plenty of information to share.Hollow Knight: Silksongwas featured at the Nintendo Treehouse E3 2019 livestream, and a post-E3 wrap-up also contained plenty of information. A holiday sign-off from Team Cherry came in December 2019, showing off some late-game enemies and detailing theHollow Knight: Silksongsoundtrack by Christopher Larkin. The game then went silent for a full year, only to suddenly return on the last day of 2020. EDGE Magazine had released a huge exclusive article detailingmany features and information aboutSilksong, with the level of detail bordering on excessive. Unfortunately, it seems like another silent year was in the cards.
Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Wait Feels like Elden Ring’s
It has now been over one thousand days, or almost three years, sinceHollow Knight: Silksongwas first revealed, and fans are getting desperate. Despite Team Cherry indicating that the game was nearing completion in January of 2021,Silksong’s release date is still unknown. Throughout the past year, fans have made a habit of gettingHollow KnightorSilksongto trend on Twitterevery time a Nintendo Indie World presentation happensdue to sheer excitement. It isn’t unlike how anxious FromSoftware fans became whenElden Ringwas first announced at E3 2019, and didn’t have any further updates until E3 2021.
Unfortunately, with what might be December’s biggest gaming event now concluded, the hope forHollow Knight: Silksongto appear in 2021 is fading. An Nvidia GeForce Now leak from a few months ago suggested thatSilksongcould release as soon as February 2022, but the time to announce that grows short. It would be poetic (and more than a little unfortunate) to haveHollow KnightandElden Ringcome outin the same month, but there’s no telling yet if this window is accurate. Fans are left waiting forHollow Knight: Silksongnews much like another community waited forElden Ring, and hopefully their wait will end in the same joyful way.
Hollow Knight: Silksongis in development for PC and Switch.
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