Hollow Knight

– Hornet can travel faster and is more acrobatic than Knight
– Can mantle or clamber onto ledges as well
– Caves around Hornet have expanded to accommodate her height
– Team Cherry approached the enemy design differently since Hornet is a fast and competent fighter
– Cancel out of mantling animations to gain height faster
– Enemies are more complex
– One enemy disguises itself as a discarded skull
– Another enemy is like the Moss Charger, but has more legs and accelerates as it goes with more complex patterns
– Magic isn’t as prominent in Pharloom, but there are strange things happening like pilgrims involved with cult-like behavior
– Hollow Knight: Silksong starts out by getting players acclimated to old and new systems
– More varied areas to start out with, beginning in Moss Grotto and then going into the lava-moated ‘boneforest’ area, which was cut from the first game
– This plays host to the hub town of Bonebottom and the bell-lined tunnel known as The Marrow
– Many early enemies and falling hazards now give out two hits to the health bar
– Hornet can heal with Bind, an ability that uses the silk she gathers by hitting enemies to bandage wounds
– Three masks instead of one
– Team Cherry’s Ari Gibson: “… you spend more time either at full health or almost dead, and the gameplay is kind of snapping between those two states”
– You’ll come across strings of beads, and they can be broken at any point to use as currency
– While strung, you’ll keep the beads if you die; they’re like a banking system
– Some vendors will string beads up for you so that you can pay them a small amount and get them to put back onto strings
– There are around 100 different benches that come out of the floor when approached that act as save spots
– Difficulty intended to be around the same as the first Hollow Knight
– Those that haven’t played the first game can jump in here easily
– Hornet has tools that can be crafted or replenished at benches by using Shell Shards from enemies
– Pimpillo Bomb: area-of-effect blast
– Sting Shards: extend spikes in mid-air or when struck with a weapon
– Straight Pins: can be thrown like kunai
– Straight Pins can be modified to become Tri-Pins to throw three at once
– Hornet learns these tools and their modifications from Pharloom residents
– Hornet is a strong personality with a clear role, and she speaks
– Players will be able to see “a variety of strange places”
– Initial goal is to get to the Citadel, which is at the top of the world
– Hornet’s Crests: customizable, themed loadouts
– Hornet can take on different tasks for NPCs
– Keep track of tasks with noticeboards scattered throughout the world such as Bonebottom
– Tasks go along with the organically unfolding quest lines of the first game
– Tasks seem to involve combat challenges, finding secret locations, and more
– One task, “Gather” has players rounding up Mossberries and bringing them to the Druid of the Moss Temple
– Hollow Knight composer Christopher Larkin is back
– Hornet lost her traditional strength after time being bound in a cage, and is now sort of restoring it; the Weavers are helping her
– Silk Spear: get a superpowered forward lunge and cut through sticky web barriers; uses part of Hornet’s silk supply
– Last Judge: foe that fires rings of flame

“You could say ‘we’ve finished all the content of the game and are in final testing,’ but even THAT doesn’t say anything about release schedule – my own personal philosophy is that you should not announce a release date until you have a build that could be released, and then you’re just giving yourself some time to fix additional bugs and market a game.”