Shacknews Indie Game of the Year - Hollow Knight: Silksong

After eight years of anticipation, Hollow Knight: Silksong was everything we hoped it'd be.

When you wait eight years for something, it’s hard for it to live up to your expectations. After numerous delays and extended periods of silence, Team Cherry finally delivered Hollow Knight: Silksong this September and it quite literally took the gaming world by storm. Silksong managed to take down digital marketplaces on PC and consoles as players rushed en masse to see what Team Cherry had been cooking.

And cook they did. Hollow Knight: Silksong is a sprawling adventure that feels bigger and better than its predecessor in every way. As we explored new corners of this world, we braved a wide variety of environments, each bringing unique platforming challenges that kept us on our toes and forced us to hone our skills.

Speaking of honing our skills, Silksong presents a brutal—at times unforgiving—combat experience. The world is littered with bosses, each providing a soulslike experience in which you need to recognize patterns and be patient, striking only when the moment is right. By the nature of the game design, we unintentionally stumbled into many a boss room, initially paralyzed with fear before locking in for another cinematic duel. Hornet’s floatiness and fresh set of abilities make each boss battle feel like a dance as we zipped back and forth across the screen. It always felt supremely satisfying when we toppled a boss that we’d been struggling with for far too long.

The original Hollow Knight was already a beautiful metroidvania, but Silksong is downright gorgeous. The colors pop right off of the screen, and all the scenery and backdrops made us stop and stare every time we entered a new area. It’s in these moments you can see the result of Team Cherry’s lengthy development cycle; everywhere you look is rich with details.

Team Cherry not only delivered one of the most anticipated games of the decade, they did it on their own terms. It’s the perfect example of what an independent studio can accomplish when given adequate time and resources, the kind of success story we needed in an increasingly bleak gaming landscape. We’ll spend the rest of winter trying to tie up the last of those optional bosses.