Hollow Knight was first released in 2017, advertised as a game developed by Team Cherry. It’s categorized as Metroidvania, a sub genre of action-adventure games, which is a blend of Metroid and Castlevania. It focuses on nonlinear exploration and guided progression including the usage of keys and items to unlock certain areas.
The plot involved an insectoid vessel, referred to as The Knight, who explores the fallen kingdom of Hallownest to stop the Infection caused by Radiance, who is a dream goddess of light. After the release, fans were overjoyed when they announced a second game, many just didn’t expect the development to take 8 years.
Two members of the Heritage staff are known enjoyers of the Hollow Knight games, Dr. Shipley being one of them. “I bought Hollow Knight years ago because it was cheap, and it turned out to be cool,” Dr. Shipley said. “I bought Silksong on release day because of that.”
Silksong was initially released on September 4th, 2025. It was released to the Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles, but it was also available on Steam. It’s a game of the same genre as the original Hollow Knight, Metroidvania. Many fans say that Silksong was worth the wait because of its refined game play, beautiful graphics, and combat mechanics. Many even say it’s harder than Elden Ring, another game popular for its difficulty. “I’d probably put it at an 8 or 9 [out of 10] in terms of difficulty, it’s pretty freaking hard.” Mr. Peace said, the other member of staff who frequently plays the Hollow Knight games. Silksong also briefly held the title for highest-rated game on websites like Metacritic and Opencritic after its release, and achieved a perfect score on many websites.
The Hollow Knight series was created by a development team called Team Cherry, a small indie games team in South Australia. They have three core members: Ari Gibson and William Pellen, who are both co-founders and co-directors, and Jack Vine, who is the main programmer. They created the team in 2014 with the goal of creating games inspired by classic adventure titles. Although their team is quite small, they do occasionally use contractors for specific parts of development. It’s surprising how this tiny group of people managed to make 2 elaborate games with a well thought out plot. All endings to the game are equally canon, which gives players a choice when it comes to lore-related writings.
The plot follows a new protagonist, Hornet, as she’s captured and taken to a new kingdom called Pharloom, a religious kingdom afflicted by the “Haunting.” The curse within this game is one of the primary opposing forces within Silksong, and it’s a mind-controlling plague that causes the bugs populating this fictional world to fall into a period of religious madness before becoming aggressive, their bodies reanimating. It derives from the main antagonist Grand Mother Silk, who created the Weavers to produce her song. When they rebelled and imprisoned her, her influence seeped out and the Haunting spread throughout the kingdom. Because it’s silk-based, it influenced the spread significantly as Grand Mother Silk could control the infected bugs of the kingdom.
Hornet is a descendant of the Weavers, which is an advanced silk-manipulating spider-like species, she is also the half-sibling of the protagonist from the original game. She acts as an antagonist in Hollow Knight, but becomes an ally later after finding out that Knight may be the only hope against the Infection. In this game, she must embark on a deadly pilgrimage to a citadel to figure out the reasoning behind her capture. Pharloom is much bigger than the original kingdom Hallownest, which gives fans more to explore and makes the game more difficult than the original.
The main antagonist of Silksong is Grand Mother Silk, one of the main bosses of the game. She’s a deity-like being who is referred to as the mother of the Weavers. Grand Mother is a powerful, ancient being, and is the primary source of silk within the kingdom. She also creates some of the other bosses in the game including Lace, who she created to be her daughter. Knowing this, because Herrah the Beast is Hornet’s mother, that means Grand Mother Silk is technically Hornet’s grandmother, and Lace is her aunt. The Knight is also within this family tree, as he is Hornet’s half sibling by way of the Pale King.
The release of the long-awaited game Silksong definitely lived up to the hype with its elaborate plot and fun game mechanics. “They’re very particular, like your timing has to be specific,” Mr. Peace said. “It makes the mechanics great, but also extremely frustrating too.” The plot helps to further develop the story from the first game and gives our protagonists a family tree to reference. If you haven’t already, take a look at the game and see if it peaks your interests!
