Hollow Knight: Silksongis the highly-anticipated sequel toHollow Knight, one of the most successful indie titles in the past decade. Although little information has been revealed aboutHollow Knight: Silksongover the years, it’s clear that it will feature Hornet, a new protagonist exploring the kingdom of Pharloom.
The kingdom of Pharloom is different from the originalHollow Knight’s setting of Hallownest as it reflects Hornet’s verticality and nimbleness. Designed to be far more spacious with tangible traps and dangers, Pharloom offers a different challenge as Hornet attempts to ascend to the top of the kingdom.Hollow Knight: Silksongimproves upon the original’s mechanics in a number of ways and Pharloom’s design is a fundamental part of that.
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How Pharloom Reflects Hornet’s Gameplay
With the protagonist change to Hornet inHollow Knight: Silksong, much of the gameplay has been changed fromHollow Knight. Hornet is far more acrobatic than the original Knight and uses an aerial style of combat with her thread of silk. To represent this change, the setting of Pharloom has much more open-space and verticality than the claustrophobic level designs of Hallownest. The concept of verticality is an important theme inHollow Knight: Silksongbecause Hornet’s main goal is to ascend to the Citadel at the top of Pharloom.
Hornet is able to run faster, jump higher, and can grab ledges easily which allows Team Cherry to design Pharloom with fewer constraints than Hallownest. This also implies thatthere will be new challenges inHollow Knight: Silksongthrough the enemies and traps that players will encounter. With Pharloom’s expansive design, it’s natural that enemies will have more ways of chasing or evading Hornet’s attacks. With the introduction of a crafting system and tools, the kingdom of Pharloom will likely match these mechanics with more tangible dangers from the environment.
Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Interactive World
Anotherinteresting mechanic introduced inHollow Knight: Silksongis the quest logfunction. Although the originalHollow Knighthad quests, they weren’t organized into a log or split into different categories. With the quest log, Pharloom becomes much more interactive than Hallowsnest as NPCs will give players different tasks in order to gain abilities or items. Furthermore, Hornet can speak unlike the original Knight, allowing her to develop relationships with the inhabitants of Pharloom. As a result, Pharloom’s world is more interactive inHollow Knight: Silksong.For example,earning the trust of the residents will affect players' journeys.
Hollow Knight: Silksongwill also introduce more interactive environmentsin Pharloom. Although Hallownest was diverse in its level design, Team Cherry aims to make Pharloom a more immersive experience through the environments. Some of the zones like the lava-filled Boneforest from the originalHollow Knighthad to be cut due to time constraints but will appear inHollow Knight: Silksong.In general, Pharloom promises to have more varied areas now that Team Cherry understands what sort of level designs will work in the game. With Pharloom, players will be able to interact with the world around them much more and exploration will be more closely linked to Hornet’s story.
Hollow Knight: Silksongis in development for PC and Switch.
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