Games Inbox: When is Hollow Knight: Silksong coming out?

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Unsexy job
The Nintendo Direct was great, and besides, I later realized the same thing I’ve been saying at every one of these events for the past few years: where’s Hollow Knight: Silksong? It was announced five years ago and we haven’t seen much of it since then. Assuming it comes out this year, it will be seven years since the last one, which seems like an insanely long time for an indie producer.

Except that being an indie game means that the challenge isn’t in managing massive teams and crafting high-tech scenes. I believe the development team is actually very small and I’m sure the budget isn’t that big. So what’s up? I suppose the mission is creeping in more than anything else, especially since it was originally intended to just be DLC.

I think it’s a good example that today it’s not a problem to make not only blockbusters in the style of Spider-Man 2, but also relatively modest indie games. Developers need to learn how to humble themselves and focus on something that can be made relatively quickly and cheaply. That doesn’t mean the game has to be worse, it just has to be made more efficiently – to actually come out.

I agree with everything the ex-Sony guy said about focusing on AA and less high-tech graphics, and I think the problems with Silksong prove that it’s a problem that’s creeping into everything now. Since it wasn’t at any of the shows, I’m guessing the release date won’t actually be this year, but more likely 2025 or later.
Goulash

Everyone loves Zelda
I love how all the fans seem to have embraced the new Zelda game right away, all the fan art was adorable. I wish they would call it The Legend Of Link: Zelda’s Adventure or something, but I think it might not have quite the same marketing appeal.

I have to say that I really like the idea of ​​the game. The whole idea of ​​cloning common items and monsters and using them in unlikely puzzle-like situations seems really clever, especially considering how many there are. It’s by far my most anticipated game of this recent showcase season and proof that you don’t need big budgets or complex stories to make a good game, just smart ideas and fun gameplay.

If Nintendo is going to make lower budget spin-offs like this every year there is no main game then I’m all for it. Impa can also get by with her own game and Shiek – because I don’t get the feeling she’ll be in Echoes Of Wisdom? Or was Shiek supposed to be a guy? Come to think of it, I’m not sure how much of a disguise it was meant to be.
Farquinn

GC: We think the figure is male.

As expected
I agree 100% with all the praise for FromSoftware lately, both for their approach to treating their developers well and the quality of their work. Seeing Shadow Of The Erdtree become the highest rated DLC of all time was incredibly encouraging to play on Friday, although it’s basically nothing less than I would have expected.

For my money, FromSoftware is definitely the best modern developer. Nintendo is less consistent than people like to pretend, and for me Naughty Dog just doesn’t show enough interesting gameplay to be considered. However, they are the complete package, and we haven’t really put a foot wrong since Dark Souls.

I can’t wait to find out what they’re working on next and if it’s a sequel or a new game, I’ll be there day one, no questions asked. Although I would fully expect the reviews to be nothing but positive as usual.
Focus

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A new age of heroes
As a huge fighting game fan, I can’t stress enough how surprising the announcement of Marvel Vs. Capcom collection was. This is huge news! I had a blast watching the reactions of well-known players in the fighting community like Justin Wong and Maximillian who lost their minds over the news. The #FreeMvC2 movement has become a reality!!

The only sour note from this reveal was that Capcom isn’t releasing an Xbox version, another worrying sign that Microsoft’s console is losing visibility to PC. I expect to double up on the physical Switch version and the digital PC version without cross-play, but it’s disheartening for Xbox players that they have no way to enjoy this fantastic collection.

Marvel is back baby! Time to take you for a ride!
Bristolpete

Out soon
There’s something encouraging about the impressive reveal of a new game with an impending release date attached.

But we’re spoiled because Astro Bot and Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom were revealed 18 days apart with release dates 20 days apart in September.

Along with the rest of the good Direct and the Xbox preview, it’s been a great couple of weeks.
Simundo

Maybe next year
I pretty much agree with GC’s assessment of summer showcases. PlayStation was an embarrassment, Summer Game Fest was boring, and Nintendo and Xbox were great. Personally, I’d put Nintendo ahead of Xbox in terms of the number of games I’m interested in, but both were positive shows that were fun to watch and didn’t last too long.

I understand that maybe Summer Game Fest just had to roll the hand that the publishers were dealt and what they want to show, but I don’t see what on earth Sony was playing at. I saw Bluepoint this week talking about how they are still working on the original game, so why wasn’t that shown? Is Sony pretending to show pre-rendered trailers above if that’s all they had?

It would be nice to know they have at least one traditional game in development. You couldn’t move into third-person narrative games last gen and now we have, huh? Wolverine in 2026? Obviously they have more games, but which ones are they and why don’t they want to show them? I have a feeling that fans will be asking themselves this question even in five years.
Hoskins

Directly remastered
I was really pleased with what they showed at the Nintendo show, but I was a little disappointed that there was no mention of remasters/remakes for Zelda: Twilight Princess, Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

I have a lot to look forward to on all three platforms, so I’m happy with that.
Andrew J.
PS: Bargain alert: Islets are currently on sale for £7.49, for a week from the second day. It’s a Metroidvania that had good comments about it when it came out, I can’t remember if GameCentral
still reviewed it.

GC: We never played it, but it had a reader function on it.

Double-A forever
Better than Nintendo Direct expected, but still fairly low key outside of Metroid Prime 4, I thought. It looks like Nintendo’s best developers are now working on the Switch 2, giving smaller teams a chance to shine with these more limited titles. Metroid Prime 4 definitely showed up on the regular Switch, I’m not convinced it will be a hit yet, Prime 2 and 3 are decent games after all and didn’t build on the classic original.

With this move to the Switch 2, I feel like Nintendo won’t fall into the traps that Sony and Microsoft have with inflated budgets and development times. The shorter, arguably more double-A titles they’ve released over the past few years (besides Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, of course) show what can happen. Even if the new Switch is indeed a performance for the PlayStation 4 or even the Xbox Series S, the games will probably only be a modest evolution of what we had on the Switch, using the new tools in smart and clever ways, in addition to higher graphical fidelity.

Ray-tracing would be a good example of this, from the more sophisticated shadow levels in the next Mario to the detailed real-time reflections used to solve shrine puzzles in the next Zelda. I’m sure the boffins at Nintendo will come up with more sophisticated applications like the recent Zelda physics engine. Obviously, this means that these games (above resolution and performance) may not look much better than current Switch titles, as all the new oomph will go towards background processing tasks.

If they’re fun to play, should we care that Nintendo games still “look a generation behind” if the boundaries are being pushed elsewhere? Some fans will probably be upset if the next Zelda doesn’t look as good as Ghosts Of Tsushima or Mario 3D as good as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, but I’m pretty sure they’ll play a lot better and be more forward thinking.
Marc

Inbox is also running
I was wondering if any readers can recommend a good external battery/charger for the Switch? I have two long flights coming up at the beginning of July and I’d like to play Super Mario RPG to pass the time. But apparently the battery life on it isn’t great. If anyone has experience with this, please let me know.
ANON

I never felt old enough to read a Banana game story. Don’t people really have a better way to entertain themselves or make money?
Jove

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