Highlights
- Hollow Knight: Silksong could learn from Metroid Dread's E.M.M.I. pursuers, adding a horror element to the game.
- Pursuers create dynamic exploration and enhance the feeling of dread, fitting well into Hollow Knight's dark fantasy aesthetic.
- Hornet's acrobatic movement in Silksong would play perfectly into the chases incited by a pursuer enemy type, changing how players interact with level design.
Hollow Knight: Silksong has had an infamously quiet development cycle. Many other games have been announced and released during this long wait, leading to a slew of comparisons along the way. Among its many peers in the Metroidvania genre, the acclaimed Metroid Dread has a very valuable lesson for Hollow Knight: Silksong to learn.
Metroid Dread made great use of the "Pursuer" trope, an enemy type common to horror games that intently stalks the player within limited locations. The pursuers in Metroid Dread are known as E.M.M.I., menacing robots that will kill Samus without hesitation if she wanders into their territory too carelessly. Hollow Knight: Silksong is the perfect game to revisit this trope once again.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Should Deliver on a Boss Fight The Original Only Teased
The original Hollow Knight had a thorough collection of bosses, but it skipped a potential one that could easily return in Silksong.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Could Learn from Metroid Dread's E.M.M.I.
E.M.I.I. Give Metroid Dread a Terrifying Identity
Pursuers are most synonymous with boss enemies in the Resident Evil franchise, which itself has exploration inspired by the level design of Metroidvanias. They are enemies designed with the primary purpose of scaring the player. Rather than being fodder to mow down, or even a boss settled in an arena, pursuers stalk the protagonist throughout the narrow world they're trapped within.
As the mother of Metroidvanias, with an aesthetic that leans heavily into sci-fi horror, Metroid is the perfect home for this trope. Metroid Fusion featured SA-X, a terrifying imitation of Samus hell-bent on chasing her down. In many ways, Metroid Dread serves as a sequel to Metroid Fusion, so it's no surprise that the E.M.M.I. were added into the mix.
Metroid Dread ramps up the danger against Samus, with E.M.M.I. embracing the pursuer enemy type more prominently than ever. The E.M.M.I. were designed to aid Samus on her mission, but have instead gone haywire, with her as their primary target. The player is meant to cautiously sneak past them rather than confront them directly, as E.M.M.I. can only be killed by a special energy.
Metroid Dread's E.M.M.I. Could Be Silksong's Secret Weapon
E.M.M.I. create an immense feeling of dread any time Samus has to pass through one of the zones they patrol. Getting the chance to finally kill one of them is equally thrilling, with a triumph over one being one of the most consistently satisfying feelings in the game. Pursuers like the E.M.M.I. primarily serve to make exploration more dynamic. After all, any player will be forced to think twice as carefully when they're fully aware they have a target on their back. Likewise, it's an enemy type that functions incredibly well as a goal post.
E.M.M.I. can roadblock progression without feeling arbitrary. That way, when the player does manage to defeat one, it has the added benefit of unlocking more of the world to explore. With engaging exploration and challenging boss fights being such key features of Metroidvanias, adding an enemy type similar to the E.M.M.I. could give Hollow Knight: Silksong just the edge it needs.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is the Perfect Home for Horror
Beyond simply sharing a genre with Dread, Hollow Knight: Silksong is uniquely well suited to an inclusion like this. After all, the world of Hollow Knight is a frequently dour one. Though it's possible Silksong is planning to take things in a slightly different direction, Hollow Knight wears Dark Souls inspiration on its sleeve.
Hallownest is, for all intents and purposes, a fallen kingdom. It is full of ruined structures, and infested with wretched remnants of its former glory. The most obvious example is the titular boss fight with the Hollow Knight, a former hero corrupted into a terrifying menace. Though Silksong will not take place in Hallownest, it's not hard to imagine an intimidating enemy stalking through some of the environments revealed so far. Likewise, it's hard to imagine the game intends to reinvent the wheel regarding its inspirations.
Instead, Silksong is likely to remain influenced, at least in certain sections, by the same dark fantasy aesthetic as its predecessor. This makes it all the more likely the game could receive a pursuer enemy similar to the E.M.M.I. Furthermore, a seemingly integral aspect of Silksong's design is Hornet's acrobatic movement, which would play perfectly into the horrific chases this enemy type incites.
Hollow Knight: Silksong including such an enemy in conjunction with Hornet's agility would both fundamentally change the way the player interacts with the level design, and strike real fear into them every time they do. Most importantly, it is an enemy type that would fit right into the game's setting, and further enhance the environmental storytelling of Hollow Knight.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Franchise
- Hollow Knight
- Developer(s)
- Team Cherry
- Publisher(s)
- Team Cherry
- Genre(s)
- Metroidvania
- Platform(s)
- PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series S , Xbox Series X , PC , macOS , Linux
