Hollow Knight: Silksong – new details revealed

As promised, this month’s issue of EDGE has a big feature on Hollow Knight: Silksong. The magazine covered new gameplay details, shared insight from developer Team Cherry, and more.

Here’s a roundup of the notable tidbits:

– 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