Summary
For the time being,Hollow Knight: Silksongis still under wraps. Announced in February 2019, the 2D action-platformer metroidvania has been the focus of speculation for over five years, and no surefire signs of its release have appeared yet. There was a brief moment of hope when the June 2022 Xbox and Bethesda Showcase claimed that every title present would come out within a year of the show, butHollow Knight: Silksongmissed that window. Statements from playtesters and social media activity have indicated that the project is still alive, but there’s no substitute for an official announcement.
There’s good reasons whyHollow Knightfans are still waiting forSilksongafter this long, however. Back in 2017, the successful Kickstarter titleHollow Knighttook the internet by storm, gaining in reputation as it spread from PC to consoles.Hollow Knightsmartly merged the metroidvania genrewith choice elements of Soulslikes, all while boasting an enormous, polished adventure in an affordable and charming package. The originalHollow Knight’s Steel Soul Mode and post-launch support even gave it replay value, at least the first part of whichHollow Knight: Silksongwill replicate with its own Silk Soul Mode.
Silksong’s Silk Soul Mode Is Based On Hollow Knight’s Steel Soul Mode
Steel Soul Mode is an alternative to Classic Mode thatHollow Knightplayers unlock after beating the game for the first time. It’s a permadeath mode that ends after one death; the only other changes of note are that the Rancid Egg merchant Tuk is deceased, and the redundant Shade-recalling Confessor Jiji is replaced by the Rancid Egg-buying Steel Soul Jinn. BeatingHollow Knight’s Steel Soul Modeunlocks a couple of achievements and grants a unique menu style, but that’s about it. Nowadays, Steel Soul can be seen as a speedrun training tool, given that optional challenges like Dream Bosses or Godhome don’t trip its permadeath.
What Steel Soul Reveals About Silksong’s Silk Soul
Aside from Steel Soul Mode’s victory screen teasing eitherSilksongorHollow Knight’s challenging DLC, and Jinn sporting a similar design to an enemy seen in aSilksongtrailer, the mode doesn’t have anything else to offer. That seems to be whyHollow Knight: Silksong’s advertised Silk Soul Modeis planned to be a transformative experience compared to a normal run.Hollow Knightdeveloper Team Cherry has mostly kept the mode’s contents a secret from players, only confirming that it is a postgame unlock, and that it “spins the game into a unique, challenging experience.”
Potential Features Coming To Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Silk Soul Mode
It sounds like Silk Soul Mode is going to be a more built-out experience than Steel Soul Mode was, with more impactful changes than simple permadeath. That’s not to say that permadeath is out of the question, but givenhow much largerHollow Knight: Silksong’s map seemscompared to its predecessor, it may be best to rein in any endurance-based challenges. Fan speculation has run wild about what this could mean, and one theory interprets the mode’s name as referencing Hornet’s Silk, which replaces the firstHollow Knight’s Soul resource, becoming her new health bar.
While that is a good theory, it’s far from the only one. Silk Soul Mode could bring a sweeping list of changes toHollow Knight: Silksong, including:
In making Silk Soul Mode so different from normalSilksong, Team Cherry could implement harder content similar to the Dream Bosses and Godhome intoSilksongitself, ensuring that the extendedHollow KnightDLC period leading toSilksong’s creationisn’t repeated. Any more details will have to wait untilHollow Knight: Silksongitself is ready to be shown.
