It isn’t controversial to allege that Hollow Knight revitalised or even reinvented the Metroidvania genre. The incredible thought that went into its mechanics and world design was complemented by pitch-perfect art direction and music, and its universe of beetles in a decaying environment was so humanised and affecting that it became one of the most universally loved indie games ever.
It has been 8 years since it’s release and fans have been going crazy with anticipation for it’s followup, Silksong, which was not helped by the fact that developer Team Cherry had scant regard for normal PR practices like frequent updates, previews etc (refreshing really).
And then out of the blue, after many had dismissed Silksong as being something that will never materialise, the release date is announced as being two weeks from now.
It’s very conveniently timed to coincide with a “tummy bug” i’m planning to have.
1 Like
Silksong will go on sale Thurs 3rd and unlock Fri 4th, priced at 20USD (R385 last i checked).
The pricing and lack of preorders seems to be a conscious response to industry practices as of late and hopefully it will contribute to game publishers respecting their audience a bit more. No?
EDIT i have realised that i am not to be trusted with complicated things like what day of the week it is - i was autopiloting on the received wisdom that games launch on Fridays.
IT’S OUT!!! But not really, because all the storefronts are buckling under the demand.
Something quite significant happened on Thursday, in my opinion. An independent game developed by a core team of three, with a conspicuous lack of PR, NO review copies, NO preorder option and a gestation period of 7 years, crashed all 4 major digital storefronts due to concurrent demand. Steam alone showed 500,000+ concurrent players within 3 hours of release (while the US was still at work). It did this because the team had earned trust and proven substance.
I point this out because I have noticed that quality has become rare - I see this in chatbots that can’t answer questions, search results that completely contradict themselves and hilariously atrocious Amazon movies that are basically extended product placements.
When substance happens, everything else seems pedestrian by comparison. It is tempting to think that all this was intentional anti-strategy but i’m not sure - i think the team just looked at the circus that is the industry today and said, “this doesn’t help us ship”.
The modest pricing has caused a bit of a stir among the industry as well, and I suspect this may be the catalyst for a bit of course-correction. The ZAR price was also way lower than the exchange rate would suggest, having expected a R400 prce tag but instead paying R185 which equates to ±9 euro.
