Relatively little is still known about Team Cherry's upcoming Hollow Knight: Silksong, the highly anticipated follow-up to a fan-favorite indie metroidvania from 2017. The small developer has confirmed a general overview of its plot and new mechanics, but details like a release window are still in the air. Team Cherry skipped the opportunity to talk about Hollow Knight: Silksong at E3 2021, but another game in that same genre was revealed by Nintendo during the conference: Metroid Dread.
Much like Silksong will continue the story of the original game, Metroid Dread is the official "Metroid 5," a 2D platformer following up 2002's Metroid Fusion. Both titles share a number of surface-level similarities, from their female protagonists in Hornet and Samus to familiar backtracking mechanics using new upgrades that are hallmarks of the metroidvania genre. However, the setting and narrative beats of each also speak to the same lesson about game design for sequels: The power of placing familiar characters in brand-new environments.
Hollow Knight: Silksong's Pharloom
The original Hollow Knight takes place in Hallownest, a labyrinthian ant hill-like kingdom set underground that has fallen into disarray and ruin. Hornet is the daughter of Hallownest's former ruler, the Pale King, and the spider queen Herrah. She is tasked with protecting the ruins and figuring out a way to stop the spread of the Infection which plagues it. Because of this heritage and duty, Hornet is keenly aware of most everything in Hallownest, including its darker secrets the player slowly uncovers.
However, promotional materials for Hollow Knight: Silksong show the story is predicated on the idea of Hornet getting captured and brought to a new kingdom called Pharloom - also withered from its former glory. Though Hornet was not the lead in Hollow Knight, she is arguably its most important character; one who interacts with and reacts to the world around her more than the silent protagonist Knight. Giving her a new land to see and characters to meet provides an opportunity to flesh out her character even more, which is an exciting prospect.
Metroid Dread's Planet ZDR
Unlike the Hollow Knight franchise, Metroid has a storied history going back to its NES debut in 1986. In that time, Samus Aran has visited a host of different planets and met various species, even without counting her appearances in Super Smash Bros. Many of these games are not known for their extensive casts of characters, but they were a very clear inspiration for Hollow Knight in terms of presenting players with deeply atmospheric worlds to explore.
Across her mainline adventures thus far, Samus has visited the Space Pirate home planet Zebes and the Metroid-filled planet SR388, with Metroid Fusion taking place in a Galactic Federation research station orbiting the latter. The Metroid Prime series and games like Other MÂ offer more planets and characters, for better or worse, and this gives players the chance to see Samus at various points in her career as a bounty hunter.
Metroid Dread will take her to an entirely new planet called ZDR filled with alien lifeforms and the nigh-unstoppable E.M.M.I. robots that used to be DNA-extracting machines. These elements should play into the narrative established by Fusion that Samus has been fused with Metroid DNA, but they will also give her a place with new lore to uncover similar to Hornet in Pharloom.
What players will learn about both characters in their respective adventures remains to be seen, but the benefits of this approach to sequel design are clear based on each examples' potential. Giving a character challenges they've never seen before in an unfamiliar land is a perfect way to reveal more about them. Metroid fans will get the chance to experience this soon when Metroid Dread releases in October, but Hollow Knight fans have to wait for more information to be announced.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is in development for PC and Switch.
