The sequel to the beloved Hollow Knight finally released on September 4th this year and took the gaming world by storm. Since its announcement in 2019, Hollow Knight: Silksong became the most anticipated game in the gerne, but can Team Cherry's second game live up to the many years of hype? Well, you already know it can... But let's discuss it anyway.
A vinyl record collection was announced today by Nintendo. Not by Nintendo Japan, mind you, but Nintendo of Europe and America, which is unusual. Well, according to Bill Trinen in an interview with Variety, this is an experiment, where they are gaging the interest in such physical soundtrack releases, while in Japan the CD has remained as a popular format.
They are probably underestimating the collector's value of these items, where I have imported some of the soundtracks from Japan, even though I rarely listen to CDs nowadays. And I know of other Zelda fans who have imported these as well. Records are much fancier, of course, where we actually have a record player at home, which we use every now and then, like for a fancy evening. So, I might be getting this.
Four different versions will be available... You can either go for a 2LP "best of" with 34 tracks, or an 8LP collection with 130 tracks. And each of these come in a standard edition with black records and a limited edition with colored records.
Update: the prices for this are quite heavy. It's 190€ or 195$ for the 8LP Limited Edition. And 60€ or 50$ for the 2LP Limited Edition. You can find full track listings in the My Nintendo Store:
Nintendo has dropped a new trailer for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. The game launches in less than two weeks, on November 6th, and it doesn't seem like Nintendo's marketing knows what to do with it...
It's like they want to throw out as many games before Christmas as possible, where there is something coming every two weeks now. But the focus is clearly on Kirby Air Riders, which has gotten two hours of Nintendo Direct content and a whole demo. Meanwhile, there is complete radio silence about Metroid Prime 4 and they are only doing some social media posts for Age of Imprisonment.
They haven't even unmasked any of the other three sages yet, only Ardi's face was revealed. What's the big deal? Who's supposed to get excited to play as those characters when we don't know anything about them? Even the cannon fodder looks more interesting so far (see down below).
Maybe Nintendo should have taken more time with this. Introduce us to the new characters one after another. Release a demo, like they did with Age of Calamity. And launch the game in January, where nothing else is coming out in that month, because it's January...
Today's trailer also seemed chaotic. There this is weird cut in the middle, where the dragon tear drops and then the tone completely shifts, almost as if those are two different trailers mashed together. I'm also sad that they are still going with the Tears of the Kingdom main theme. It's a beautiful theme, no doubt, but Age of Calamity had its own theme, which was absolutely fantastic. And that doesn't seem to be the case this time.
At least the game sets itself apart on other ends. We can see some new bosses, where one of them is a more humanoid form of the Gibdo Queen, which looks really cool. And there is an early form of Colgera, which has red hair like Ganon. We saw some similar foes in the previous trailer and maybe they are all meant to be early evolutions of the Scourges, but it still gives me hope that they will be playable eventually.
In any case, I'm really liking the new creature designs so far, that's something that goes absolutely beyond what they did with the previous games. The same goes for supporting units:
This comes from the official website, which Koei Tecmo has updated today and now features the Mysterious Construct and the Korok dude in the character sections, where the latter is called Calamo. But it doesn't stop there, we also get another entry with the above guys, labeled as "warriors of all kinds". You can also spot some of the in the trailer after the cut in the middle.
We've already seen that you can take over secondary units this time, but it looks like they are doing a great job of making them look very unique and not just something that came out of the random character generator for Breath of the Wild. I'd love to know how they get handled by the game and maybe they will drop some more info about this soon, but likely we will have to find out ourselves.
Some of their weaponry looks very similar to the save data bonus, the High Guard's Sword and Claymore. So, maybe those are for equipping these type of characters?
After Zelda II now comes Metroid II. And there isn't really much to say here. While I have a soft spot for the game, there is only one catchy tune here to listen to: the SR388 Main Theme. Most of the rest is just atmospheric noise.
The soundtrack of the remake was much better on that regard and I'm hoping they won't wait years before they add this one. Same with Metroid Dread. And now that Metroid Prime 4 is coming in less than two months, you would expect the soundtracks for Echoes and Corruption, maybe even Hunters. But maybe they are going to tie this to the corresponding Nintendo Switch Online releases, starting with Metroid Prime 2... Maybe next month?
But what needs to be added first and foremost is Super Metroid. I can't believe that this isn't part of the library yet...
Imagine that the next big Zelda game for the Nintendo Switch 2 releases. You've been looking forward to it for years and while it may have some rough edges, it's a fun and innovative title overall, a strong contender for game of the year... But months after release Nintendo announces paid DLC for the game, which costs as much as Hollow Knight: Silksong and doesn't really add any substantial content. Instead, it's a simple game mode, where your goal is to collect as many Rupees as possible within a time limit.
That mode is fun in theory, but not really worth the additional price point. But to add some incentive to play (and buy) it, there will be time-limited events, which can score you exclusive armor pieces, which you can't get otherwise. It's a practice used by many mobile and free-to-play games to create "FOMO" and incentivize player retention, except that this won't be for some mobile game, like Super Mario Run, but for a full-priced title, which requires an arguably overpriced DLC on top.
Sounds like something that Nintendo would never do? Well, they are doing it right now, with Donkey Kong Bananza:
To be fair, the DK Island & Emerald Rush DLC from the latest Nintendo Direct looks quite neat, but it is something that you would expect from a free update, similar to Luigi's Balloon World in Super Mario Odyssey, not something that costs an extra 20 bucks. And to make things worse they have also announced time-limited events for it, which is the only way of getting certain statues (and potentially even certain outfits in the future). The first of those "Chip Fevers" will happen between October 28th and November 4th, so only for a week.
I don't have a Nintendo Switch 2 yet, but I've planned on getting one soon for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. And Donkey Kong Bananza has been on the top of my list of other games to buy for the system, even above Mario Kart World. Now... I'm not so sure about that anymore, because I'm absolutely sick of such event nonsense, where you're obliged to play the game on certain dates. "Play the game now or miss out later!" At the same time I like my games to be "whole", so it's hard for me to ignore.
This is a singleplayer game first and foremost. And with those there should be no such obligations. You should be able to buy and play all of it whenever you want, without potentially missing out. And maybe they will repeat these events. Maybe they will update the DLC in a couple of years, so that you can still get the exclusive rewards after the events are over. If that happens, I won't have much of an issue with it. But as of now this is looking scummy.
Next they'll add a monetized gacha system to Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, since this has been working out nicely for Fire Emblem Heroes...
Team Cherry isn't done with Hollow Knight: Silksong. In their interview with Bloomberg, they've stated that they already have ambitious plans to add more to the game. The original Hollow Knight also got four content updates, where the Godmaster expansion effectively became a whole boss rush game within the game.
After completing Silksong, here are some ideas of how the new title could be expanded in various ways. Beware of spoilers for the late game!
My first journey through Pharloom has come to a closure. I've collected the last missing things for the 100%, completed the Hunter's Journal, gotten all mementos, and then faced the final final boss... very often. Needless to say that this post will contain spoilers for all that, so read at your own risk!
Slowly but surely, I'm nearing the end of the game, where I've been diving into Pharloom's past to collect all four old hearts, filling out the Hunter's Journal, and returning to some of the mini-game activities. So, I'm technically ready for the final final boss, but I'm also somewhat stuck at 99%.
Just like its development, Hollow Knight: Silksong doesn't want to end. But I mean this in a good way, where this is by far one of most extensive Metroidvanias so far. The third act really turns everything on its head, making it feel like a whole new game has started. Combine this with having obtained the last ability needed to reach places, it gave me reason to re-explore all of Pharloom, where there truly was something new to discover everywhere.
My goal was to get most of the optional content done, where I have arrived at 96%. I've fought a number bosses, followed a familiar face all over the map, did some deliveries to the farthest corners of the world, searched for the last fleas, participated in a variety of mini-games, found the missing Crest and silk skills, and upgraded my needle one last time.
In one month Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment will see its release already and they haven't really shown that much of the game yet. Well, there was a demo at the Tokyo Game Show and maybe we will also see a public demo on Nintendo Switch 2 this month, like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity did before...
But today there was an update to the official website with new screenshots and character art. The big reveal were the names of the four sages, where we don't have the official localization yet, they roughly translate to the following:
Update: by now we also have the official translations from Nintendo of America:
For the latter they have added an artwork with her mask off, but the other three still remain as we know them from Tears of the Kingdom, where I suppose that this will change eventually.
Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't go with the sage names from Ocarina of Time (and The Wind Waker) – Darunia, Ruto and Nabooru, as well as Medli / Medlo. After all, this is an Imprisoning War and we have Rauru as well. But I suppose they didn't want to create more confusion and make it perfectly clear that this isn't to portray the era of Ocarina of Time in any way or form. And of course it helps to make these characters feel distinguished. On the other hand it would have been nice if the Divine Beasts were named after them, since their designs came from the sage helmets.
They've also introduced a new character, Ranaria / Lenalia, who acts as Zelda's maid and is wearing the same dress as her, though it's probably not as flattering... This maid reminds me of Impa from Oracle of Ages & Seasons. You can already see how this is meant to be a kind-hearted comic relief character, but probably won't end up on the playable roster. But it's nice to see the distant past fleshed out like this.
Overall, it feels like they were really trying to make this title stand on its own legs. While it's still derived from Tears of the Kingdom, there is so much new material here that this has the potential to truly become its own story and to be recognized a such, unlike the Hyrule Warriors games before it. And that's exciting.
After aimlessly wandering through all of Pharloom without knowing what to do, the game eventually had mercy and offered me a different path for its supposed ending, one that involves something a little too close to Hornet's former home. Thus, I was able to enter the game's third act, which lets you experience the kingdom of Pharloom in a different state. Here I saw parts of the Citadel, went back to Bone Bottom, the Wormways, the Deep Docks and even further below...
Last time I have beaten the game... But following in the footsteps of its predecessor, there is more to the world of Silksong than it appears, and I was now trying to find out what needs to be done to potentially experience a different ending. This journey of self discovery brought me into the Putrified Ducts and into the Slab. I also settled a score at Bilewater, fought some of my comrades, and found a new home for the fleas.
