“Hollow Knight: Silksong,” a hand-drawn, exploration, and dynamic combat video game was released on Sept. 4. by Australian development studio Team Cherry. The game was long awaited by fans of the studio’s original game, “Hollow Knight,” which released in 2017. The hype generated by existing fans drew in over 2 million new players to “Hollow Knight” in the two weeks following the announcement of “Silksong”’s release.
On release, major gaming brokers such as Steam, Xbox, and Playstation all faced major server outages due to the sheer volume of individuals attempting to purchase “Silksong.”
Ryan Killian, a junior, was lucky enough to avoid such issues on release, especially given that he took special care to buy it as soon as possible.
“I took the day off on that Thursday, September 4th,” Killian said.“All of my teachers probably thought I was insane or sick or something, but anybody who actually knew me was like, ‘He’s staying home to play ‘Silksong’ isn’t he?’ and the answer was yes. I logged 13 1/2 hours on the very first day.”
Killian was not alone in his priorities. Statistics and Geometry teacher Nicholas Balanc reported an even more extreme choice among his friends.
“One of my buddies took two days off, spent the whole five-day-long weekend playing,” Mr. Balanc said.
Well aware of “Silksong”’s release, Mr. Balanc mentioned that some of his students were attempting to purchase the game during school. “Silksong”’s exact release time was 10 a.m. EST.
“There were a few kids who were trying desperately during the day it came out to try and buy it on Steam,” Mr. Balanc said. “It was fun to watch–they were trying. It didn’t work very well.”
Following “Silksong”’s release, a lot of fans began to express how difficult the game was, largely by implying that playing “Hollow Knight” was a tutorial for the next entry in the franchise, Killian backed this position.
“If you’re not good at video games, you’ll get your face mashed in because it is HARD,” Killian said. “It was meant for people who had already got to the true ending on the original ‘Hollow Knight.’”
Mr. Balanc, who mentioned having just beaten the true ending of “Hollow Knight,” following “Silksong”’s release, took a similar, but more open position.
“I mean… No, I’m good at games,” Mr. Balanc said. “I know there are a couple bosses that are going to whoop me, but it’s the same way. I’m playing through ‘Hollow Night,’ and some of those ghost bosses are obscene.”
Given the overwhelmingly positive critical reception of their first game, ‘Hollow Knight,’ many fans expected Team Cherry to set a higher price point for “Silksong,” but instead were met with the same $20 price tag.
“I think that it’s a step in the correct direction,” Killian said. “You could’ve bought Nicki Minaj in Call of Duty Modern Warfare II for $40, but instead you can get all of ‘Hollow Knight: Silksong.’”
