By Willa Rowe Published April 17, 2024
Today, Wednesday, April 17, Nintendo held a short Indie World Showcase. The tension in the air was palpable long before it started, as fans thought this might finally be the showcase to give us the long-awaited indie Metroidvania Hollow Knight: Silksong—the follow-up to 2017’s critically acclaimed Hollow Knight— either in the form of a release date or (fingers crossed) a shadow drop. Alas, the twenty-minute showcase came and went, and there was no sign of Silksong, despite the chat spamming references to it and clown emoji. How many more showcases can we take without Silksong?
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Fans are starting to get restless now that the game has passed five years since first being revealed. The restlessness comes from a lack of any real information about the game. The last time the Silksong showed up in a major way was during a 2022 Xbox Showcase that promised it would be released in the following six months. Then developer Team Cherry delayed the release. Now, Silksong has become something of a meme, with fans joking every time a showcase happens (even unrelated ones) that “THIS is the ONE where Silksong appears!”
Despite all of this, there was reason to believe that the recent Indie World Showcase would be the one where Silksong appears. Earlier this month, on April Fools’ Day, the game received an ESRB rating that was not a joke, and in the weeks following it’s been rated in Korea and Australia. While not a sure indicator, a game typically receives a rating fairly close to its actual release date. When Nintendo announced an Indie World Showcase, it seemed like the natural place for Silksong to appear. But again, it did not show.
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At this point gamers are like Charlie Brown—constantly fooled into trying to kick the football, hoping that this time, it’ll be different. The original Hollow Knight never had to deal with this level of hype, but now Silksong is at threat of buckling from the weight of expectation. What happens if it doesn’t show up at the next major showcase? Do fans still try to kick the football? Or does the untenable hype give way to a massive wave of disappointment when Silksong finally does release, since it not only has to be better than its predecessor but also better in every way than the game fans have spent years building up in their minds.