Australian developer Team Cherry has kept quiet while developing Hollow Knight: Silksong, but that silence will hopefully come to an end sometime soon. Since February 2019, fans of the original Hollow Knight have done their best to stay patient while waiting for the sequel to one of the best indie Metroidvanias ever made. Hollow Knight: Silksong has enormous expectations sitting on its back because of how quickly Hollow Knight became an all-time classic, but hopefully its considerable development time shows through once Silksong is out.

Plenty of other great games have been released in the meantime, so Hollow Knight fans should not be left wanting for Silksong alternatives and placeholders. FromSoftware’s open-world Soulslike conversion Elden Ring is chief among them, with both it and its Shadow of the Erdtree DLC providing great ways to kill time while waiting on Silksong. At this point, even Team Cherry has had enough time to be inspired by Elden Ring, and Hollow Knight: Silksong’s massive 2D fantasy adventure could be close enough to Elden Ring’s to incorporate one of its best features.

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The Hype for Hollow Knight: Silksong vs. Elden Ring DLC Has a Key Difference

Both Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree and Hollow Knight: Silksong have a lot of hype behind them, but whether that hype can last might be in question.

How Elden Ring Lets The Player Decide Its Conclusion

Every player’s adventure through the Lands Between is unique to them, illustrating the strength of Elden Ring’s open-world format. Tarnished can venture off in any direction and be met with various challenges and storylines, some of which can have very long-reaching consequences. Some side quests go as far as rewarding Mending Runes or alliances that seem like they should have story-altering consequences, and many of them, in fact, do. Although Elden Ring technically has six endings, four are variations on the same ending, while the other two have slightly different variants.

Elden Ring’s Branching Endings, Explained

While the Age of Fracture simply sees players become Elden Lord, using the rewards from either Goldmask, Fia, or the Dung Eater’s quest lines can produce the Age of Order, Age of Duskborn, and the Blessing of Despair, respectively. Despite their visual similarities, the implications of each ending significantly impact Elden Ring’s narrative. Finishing Ranni’s quest for the Age of Stars, and uncovering the Three Fingers to become the Lord of the Frenzied Flame, offer more distinct results, and further diverge if players earn Ranni’s romantic dialogue or sacrifice Melina before gaining the Flame. Unlocking all of these endings involves exploring the furthest reaches of Elden Ring’s massive map, but the sense of accomplishment and discovery makes it all worth the effort.

Silksong Could Do More With Hollow Knight's Multiple Endings

Hollow Knight is no slouch when it comes to alternate endings, sporting three by default, another two at the end of its Godmaster content, and a secret add-on with Mr. Mushroom. Even so, the way the base-game endings are framed implies defeating the Radiance is Hollow Knight's “true” ending, and Godmaster’s endings are both alternate paths to roughly the same result. Hollow Knight: Silksong has the chance to emulate Elden Ring instead of its predecessor here, packing in many more optional endings that actually conclude the story in a meaningfully different way.

Pharloom Is Primed To Hide Alternate Endings Everywhere

Silksong’s plot isn't currently known, but its assumed scope should be big enough to accommodate the kind of large-scale quests that Elden Ring used to prep its endings. Preliminary information has already revealed that Hornet will spend Silksong climbing the kingdom of Pharloom, and that there are secrets hidden at its base as well. That alone provides at least two endings, but more could be done through Hornet conversing with NPCs and venturing to the distant corners of all of Pharloom's layers. Not only could there be silk-based Mending Rune equivalents, but Silksong could also outdo Elden Ring and include endings outside the typical final boss location. The sky's the limit for Hollow Knight: Silksong, and taking some inspiration should help it reach those expected heights.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Franchise

Hollow Knight

Platform(s)

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series S , Xbox Series X , PC , macOS , Linux

Developer(s)

Team Cherry

Publisher(s)

Team Cherry

Genre(s)

Metroidvania

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