Highlights

• Hollow Knight: Silksong has been highly anticipated by fans since its announcement in 2019, but there is still no release date.
• Other Soulslike games such as Dead Cells and Blasphemous have provided competition in the genre since the release of the first Hollow Knight game.
• Hollow Knight: Silksong could benefit from adding unlockable weapons and a multiplayer mode to enhance gameplay and engage the fandom.

Although 2023 has been a thriving year for video games, Hollow Knight fans are still waiting for their franchise to get some love. First announced in February 2019, two years after its predecessor’s release, Hollow Knight: Silksong has been hotly anticipated by metroidvania and Soulslike fans ever since. Hollow Knight: Silksong is expected to retain all the first game’s strengths, but nothing more will be seen of it until Team Cherry deems it closer to release.

In the meantime, Soulslike players have had plenty of other games vying for their attention. Genre progenitor FromSoftware never stopped releasing titles, and the many developers inspired by them have gradually been completing their own projects. Hollow Knight still has a reputation as one of the best 2D Soulslikes, but other titles like Dead Cells and Blasphemous have given it some competition since it was released in February 2017. To secure its crown, Hollow Knight: Silksong should pay attention to what other Soulslikes have accomplished since its first installment launched.

Blasphemous 2

Speaking of Blasphemous, it and its sequel were released in the years between the two Hollow Knight games. The main draw of these Catholicism-inspired action-platformers is their equally graceful and grotesque art, but their combat and movement are nothing to sneeze at, either. Blasphemous 2‘s new weapons merged these aspects, those being the sword, flail, and rapier/dagger combo. At the beginning of the game, players choose one of these weapons to navigate Blasphemous 2’s world with its unique traversal abilities, and eventually gain the other two for full map access.

Hornet’s needle can’t be as easily replaced as The Penitent One’s original Mea Culpa blade, as it is thematically linked to Hollow Knight: Silksong’s silk-focused setting of Pharloom. Even so, adding variety to her basic attacks and movement with unlockable weapons would be a smart addition. It would also make for a big moment late in the game, as Hornet’s varied set of Tools would leave players unprepared for the introduction of even one additional moveset.

Salt and Sacrifice

Another 2D platformer Soulslike series is the Salt games, the first of which, Salt and Sanctuary, actually predates Hollow Knight. Salt and Sacrifice has launched in the years since, and not only did it introduce interesting progression involving hunting for Mage bosses, but it also enhanced the first game’s local co-op with online functionality. By allowing two players to complete the campaign together, Salt and Sacrifice stands out as one of the better co-op Soulslikes.

Hollow Knight fans following its content creators have likely seen multiplayer mods in action. Even if Hollow Knight is focused mainly on its single-player experience, the fandom would still appreciate a multiplayer mode in Silksong. Several Hornets running around would feel stranger than several Knights, but Team Cherry including the feature would be a boon to fans on every platform.

Remnant 2

While the Remnant games may appear to be roguelike third-person shooters, they are actually a unique breed of Soulslikes expanding the ideas found in Bloodborne‘s Chalice Dungeons. There is a lot more to find in these titles than one would expect, and, even more so than the Salt games, they are best done with cooperators. Remnant 2 has refined its procedurally-generated world even further, and its core gameplay and level design supports its procedural campaigns without wearing too thin.

Remnant 2’s randomized area progression has its place, and it isn’t in Hollow Knight: Silksong. However, Silksong could realistically take the Bloodborne route and hide a procedurally generated bonus dungeon in a side area. This could even replace the first Hollow Knight’s Colosseum of Fools in the Kingdom’s Edge, with the terrain actively changing alongside waves of loosely-organized enemies. It could only be optional, but still fun enough to be worthwhile if done right.

Lies of P

In 2023, Soulslike fans were taken by surprise thanks to a Pinocchio-inspired action-RPG from South Korean developers Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio. Lies of P has a lot of strong elements, but something nobody expected was the game taking after Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as well as Bloodborne. Parrying plays a large role in Lies of P’s combat by building stagger, breaking some enemy weapons, and even charging extra Estus Flask-equivalents once they’re all spent.

Hornet’s fighting style in Silksong remains similar to her boss fights in Hollow Knight, consisting of mobile strikes interspersed with traps and area-of-effect moves. However, Hornet’s Kingdom’s Edge and Godhome fights include a parry stance, opening the door for an equivalent in Hollow Knight: Silksong. Balancing this may be difficult given how dodge-centric Hollow Knight’s combat normally is, and how Hornet’s mobility complements that. Even so, it would provide an interesting twist to Silksong‘s combat that could even become the harder Silk Soul mode’s centerpiece.

Elden Ring

As FromSoftware’s most successful Soulslike yet, Elden Ring unites the Dark Souls trilogy’s strengths with the player choice inherent in an open world. Tarnished are encouraged to find their own way through both the Lands Between and Elden Ring’s many builds, with new challenges and rewards unfolding in every direction. In allowing players to engage with what they want, at least until the narrow endgame, Elden Ring has made itself more palatable to a wide audience while maintaining FromSoftware’s trademark difficulty.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is a 2D metroidvania rather than a 3D open world, but it has already made preparations to recreate Elden Ring’s feeling of player agency. Not only did the first Hollow Knight become almost nonlinear after a couple areas, Silksong enhances the mechanical freedom of the original’s Charms with the Tool and Crest systems. Accounting for its long development time, Hollow Knight: Silksong is likely going to be a massive game, and hopefully the wait for it will be just as worthwhile as Souls’ fans wait for Elden Ring.