Silksong – Sea of Sorrow Announced

Team Cherry has announced the first big expansion for Hollow Knight: Silksong on their blog, featuring a small teaser trailer. It will be called Sea of Sorrow, adding a maritime area to the game, amongst other things. Two months ago I had discussed my DLC ideas for the game and this was right on top of the list.

This first free expansion will most certainly add the missing "Pharloom Bay" area, which we saw in the earlier trailers, but didn't make the cut. This included a new port town, with lots of barnacles around, and will likely be placed to right / east of Bilewater.

Another part of it is the "Lifeblood Spire", which is probably the facility that we can see in the new trailer. They haven't shared any details, but it looks like their DLCs will be going in the right direction.

They give "2026" as a release date, but be careful with that... Team Cherry has a reputation now for taking their time. But to be fair, they had released all content updates for the original Hollow Knight within 18 months from the game's launch, so it's probably going to be in the first half of 2026.

Hollow Knight: Silksong (Review)

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.

Hollow Knight: Silksong – DLC Ideas

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!

Silksong Journal, Entry 14

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!

Silksong Journal, Entry 13

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%.

Silksong Journal, Entry 12

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.

Silksong Journal, Entry 11

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...

Silksong Journal, Entry 10

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.

Silksong Journal, Entry 9

Back to a big screen, I've completed the Threefold Melody quest and reached the top of the Citadel. This means I've explored the rest of the Whispering Vaults and the Cogwork Core, as well as the High Halls and finally the Cradle, with a detour into the Wisp Thicket in between. And technically I have now beaten the game, but as with the first Hollow Knight it's rather questionable and there is still more to discover.

Silksong Journal, Entry 8

This week I was visiting a Zelda community gathering, so my progress is rather limited, but here and there I'm using a quiet hour to play some more Silksong. The screenshots in this post will have a different format than usual because of this. 

Another ramification is that I mainly focused on side quests, so the only new area that I have explored is the Memorium. The main goal was finally upgrading my needle a second (and third) time, however. For this I had to complete the "Great Taste of Pharloom" quest, where to delicacies were still missing.

Silksong Journal, Entry 7

Next on my list of detours was Mount Fay. Once you have the Clawline, you can reach this icy area from the Slab. And I climbed the whole thing for my biggest achievement in the game so far. Spoilers for this whole area ahead. In addition, I visited the Sands of Karak and finally challenged an old advisory.

Silksong Journal, Entry 6

Oh, behold the glory of the glorious Citadel! After getting to the second act of Hollow Knight: Silksong, I've had some of my best times with the game so far, but also some of my most frustrating ones. By now I have reached a certain point right at the center of the Citadel and explored most of the Choral Chambers before that, with detours into the Underworks, the Slab, and the Whiteward. I also got caught up in a variety of distractions all around Pharloom, where I have been playing courier quite a bit...

Silksong Journal, Entry 5

After running a number of errands all around Pharloom, it was now time to reach Hornet's initial goal: the Citadel. There are two major options for you to get there, the path of the pilgrim and the path of the sinner, where I've been trying my luck with both, starting with the former on the Blasted Steps. But eventually I also ended up in the Bilewaters and the Mist. Spoilers for all these areas ahead!

Silksong Journal, Entry 4

After liberating Bellhart, I was mainly absorbed in side quests, back-tracking through the lower spheres of Pharloom, fulfilling some wishes, and fighting some optional bosses, including one that has given me a hard time previously. I also took a brief look at the Sinner's Road...

Silksong Journal, Entry 3

Well, I didn't get as far as over the weekend as I had hoped... The weather was too nice and the bosses were too hard. My goal was to reach the Citadel, and I came close by taking a look at the Blasted Steps, but I'm not there yet. Since my previous entry, I was busy with clearing the rest of Greymoor, exploring the Shellwoods and the Hunter's March, before finally freeing Bellhart for some much needed progress. Spoilers ahead for all these areas!

Silksong Journal, Entry 2

Today I've been playing for a couple more hours, where for the most part I've been going back and forth on the horizontal, instead of gaining some altitude, but I've reached a higher area eventually. My journey went to the Deep Docks, the Wormways, the Far Fields, and finally Greymoor. Keep that in mind when reading.

Silksong Journal, Entry 1

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure this will be a good idea, but I'm going to give it a try nevertheless. Usually, I only do these logs for new Zelda games, but I have done one for Metroid Dread about four years ago, where Hollow Knight is very close to home and checks all those boxes of what I love about the Action Adventure genre.

Silksong Launching September 4th

Hollow Knight: Silksong is real and coming out... in two weeks already! Today's "special announcement" by Team Cherry was actually the launch trailer for the game, where at the end they give the release date, surrounded by droning void. I was expecting more, to be honest, like Ari and William talking about the game a bit, but at least they didn't shadow-drop it on us, so we get some time to prepare. I won't be able to take vacation for this one, however.

There is an interview with Bloomberg, where they talk about what has been taking them so long. I had speculated about the state of Silksong over a year ago and I wasn't all too worried back then, saying that they have the luxury to take all the time the they need. And this happens to have been exactly the case. With such a small development team things take longer, of course, but they were also having fun, always coming up with new ideas and being able to quickly implement them into the game. Thanks to the success of Hollow Knight they also had the financial means to polish the game for as long as they wanted. They kept their team small and that money together, so they didn't have to rush things.

However, I was completely wrong about one thing. I thought that they might go the route of Tears of the Kingdom, where once the game is shipped, this will have been it. It will be everything they sought it to be. But this isn't the case. They had to make a cut eventually to get the game finished, but they are already having ambitious ideas for add-ons. So, the story of Silksong might continue for quite some time and we're in for a ride.

And according to the trailer, we're already looking at a meaty meal. 40 bosses are about as many as Hollow Knight had at the end with all its expansions, including the ridiculous boss fest, Godmaster. There are many more normal foes as well, over 200. And we're actually getting multiple towns this time, an elaborate quest system and much more sophisticated game mechanics, which also added a lot to the development time.

The demo featured at gamescom is actually quite similar to the one from 2019, featuring the same "levels", only running in a more recent version of the game. But it's a testament to how much more polish the games has received in those six years. The devil is in the details.

Silksong News Incoming

Team Cherry has just announced an announcement for Hollow Knight: Silksong, coming this Thursday, in less than 48 hours. I had a feeling that they will do their own thing once they are ready, so I rarely ever expected any major news about the game to drop during a Nintendo Direct, Xbox Games Showcase, or whatever. But it will be very interesting to hear what has been taking them so long.

Anyway, we might also get a glimpse of the game later today during the gamescom Opening Night Live, because Geoff Keighley has put on his clown nose (which is generally a reference to Hollow Knight fans expecting some Silksong news at any gaming-related presentation). And there will be a new playable demo of the game featured at the gamescom, which opens its doors in Cologne tomorrow. I won't be there in person, but I'm excited to finally see more of the game nevertheless.

If this truly comes out in 2025 still, then this could become a major Game of the Year contender for me and many others. 

Nintendo Switch 2 Direct Roundup

That was quite the show. I'm not blown away, where I have to get this new console right away on June 5th, but it fell in line with what I was expecting yesterday. For the most part. In the topic of Zelda it even exceeded my expectations, but we'll get to that.

It opened with Mario Kart World, the big launch title. It looks like this is Nintendo's only new game at launch, the rest will be third party stuff or "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" games. And I was completely wrong about this game, because all these years I was convinced that they will go deeper into the crossover direction to make it more distinct from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Well, they will make it more distinct from that, but in an entirely different way – by going in the direction of open world driving games, like The Crew or Forza. They are also going all in when it comes to characters (and their customization), seemingly exceeding Mario Kart Tour here. Well, there will be a Nintendo Direct about the game on April 17th, explaining more.

Another "launch title" is the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which lets you discover the system virtually. This would be neat if it were for free, but it isn't. Who is going to buy this? Not me, that's who. And I'm not sure what to think about the handicapped basketball game, but it doesn't look fun. It will probably flop like ARMS, but at least ARMS was fun to play and had awesome character designs.

The whole voice / video chat part was incredibly awkward, where I was wondering if the C on new button stands for "Cringe". Also, that's stuff that was already possible on the Wii U 10 years ago, at least to a degree. Microphone and camera support are not a novelty that will sell this system over the original Switch, but they are treating it like one. And the screen-sharing was already lacking badly during the presentation, this is just embarrassing.

Then we learned what the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games are all about, which are going to include Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, among others. These will offer HDR, better resolutions and frame rates, but to give this a nice twist, Nintendo will add new features to them that are only possible on the Nintendo Switch 2. Metroid Prime 4 will have an additional control scheme with mouse controls and the two Zelda titles will be accompanied with new smartphone apps, but also now have a second set of save files.

This wasn't part of the Nintendo Direct, but a number of games will also receive free updates to improve performance, which includes the Link's Awakening remake and Echoes of Wisdom (see here). And that will be lovely.

As expected, the Nintendo Switch Online offerings will now also include a Nintendo GameCube library, but only as part of the Expansion Pack. The Wind Waker is one of the first games in it, which in hindsight explains why they won't bother with porting over The Wind Waker HD at this point. But maybe we will get enhanced versions of the Wii U remasters in some years...

The slightly more interesting game here is probably SoulCalibur II starring Link. I always wanted this to come back, though I also would have preferred the remaster on Switch with Link in it.

Also as expect, there will be massive wave of 3rd party games, including Elden Ring and even an exclusive game by FromSoftware, Duskbloods. I honestly couldn't tell if this was a Bloodborne remaster/port or a new game, because it all looks the same to me, but it's impressive that Nintendo was able to land this deal, since FromSoftware has been very loyal to Sony.

And there will be a variety of 3rd party games coming to the Switch 2 at launch, like Cyberpunk 2077, making up for the lack of first party titles other than Mario Kart World. Not that it needs much else – a lot of people bought the Switch for Mario Kart only. No DOOM: The Dark Ages, though, that's a bit disappointing, especially since they made the first two games magically run on the Switch. But I wouldn't play that on Switch anyway...

Street Fighter VI, though, that's a game that appeals to me on console, but it doesn't look like the game will be available physically. Instead there will be the new "Game-Key Cards", which can be used like game cards, but will simply enable you to download and play the game in question. Not exactly what I'm looking for...

It's almost funny how one of the most anticipated titles for any Nintendo Direct was just mentioned very briefly with Hollow Knight: Silksong. And it's scheduled for 2025 according to Nintendo, but I believe it when I see a life sign from Team Cherry. Remember that two years ago Microsoft claimed that the game will release within a year...

Also, why is this a Nintendo Switch 2 game now? They had a demo of Silksong on the Switch at E3 2019, six years ago! And it ran perfectly fine. The original Hollow Knight had 60FPS and its sequel should use the same engine and everything. They also had announced it for Nintendo Switch as part of their Kickstarter program, back when this was still supposed to be DLC for Hollow Knight. So, why is this a Nintendo Switch 2 game all of sudden?

The same could be asked about Hades II. Why does this need to be a Switch 2 game when Hades runs fine on the Switch? Of course you will get even better frame rate and resolution on the new system, so there is nothing against a Switch 2 version, but you would think that this something that comes for both systems. Update: it is. I forgot that it was already announced for Switch as well. So, in the end this isn't a big deal and both titles will probably just released for both systems at the same time.

The big surprise and highlight for me in this Nintendo Direct was, of course, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Well, this is a game that I had expected to be a thing eventually – I've mentioned the idea several times on my blog and it's really a no-brainer. I also wanted to explore this idea for a while now, but I thought there was more time to do so, since I didn't really expect this to be shown already. I always thought that after Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes in 2022 Koei Tecmo directly started working on the next Nintendo collaboration, but since Tears of the Kingdom wasn't released yet at the time, this couldn't be it. So, instead I kept expecting a "Xenoblade Warriors" first. But maybe they got early access to Tears of the Kingdom, since it technically was finished in 2022, just entering its polishing phase.

Anyway, they are really riding on the success of the open world Zeldas here. Not only is Breath of the Wild getting an upgraded version, but Tears of the Kingdom as well. There will be five new amiibo of the sages, also coming out June 5th. And they are doing this new Hyrule Warriors game already. Something tells me that the next 3D Zelda will probably turn this into a trilogy...

The big bouncer at the end was Donkey Kong Bananza. It's the open world'ish 3D Donkey Kong game where there had been rumors about this for ages. So, no new 3D Mario yet, but this looks a lot of fun as well. I love how they are mixing your typical Nintendo platformer magic with this sheer brute force, it's something special.

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In  the next days I will talk about a variety of topics from today in more detail. This will include Mario Kart World, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrades, and more. This blog will certainly get much livelier from now on.