Developing video games was the wild west in its infancy, with highly influential titles like 1980's Rogue coming from just a handful of individuals. The Nintendo Entertainment System helped solidify an industry around major console platforms after the video game crash of 1983, though competition with Sega would eventually be superseded by the "big three" manufacturers: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. This moved video games in the direction of bigger and more expensive AAA releases, but a glut of successful indie games pushed by the Xbox 360's digital Xbox Live Arcade fostered a space for modern gems like Hollow Knight.

The democratization of knowledge and tools via the Internet made it so, theoretically, anyone can develop a video game. Yet it's hard to imagine a storefront like Steam that's filled to the brim with small independent works without a foundation set by games like Super Meat Boy, Braid, or Castle Crashers. Modern titles have been given room to flourish and, at times, redefine genres. Crowdfunding often sets passion projects such as Shovel Knight and Undertale up for success, and five years on it's still clear why Hollow Knight fans ask about its sequel come every industry showcase.

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Hollow Knight: The History of a Surprise Phenomenon

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Hollow Knight developer Team Cherry is a small team based out of Adelaide, South Australia. The three people highlighted on its website are co-directors Ari Gibson and William Pellen, as well as coder Jack Vine. On November 18, 2014, Gibson launched a Kickstarter for Hollow Knight under the Team Cherry name, also mentioning artist Rohan Fraser, promising "a beautiful and mysterious 2D adventure through a surreal world of insects and heroes" that had its earliest roots in a character designed for the Luden Dare game jam 2013.

While the 2D metroidvania had fans early on, with 2,158 people backing its Kickstarter, it wasn't quite the smash success of campaigns like Shovel Knight (which raised over $300,000 on its $75,000 goal) or Mighty No. 9 (which raised $3.8 million on its $900,000 goal). Asking for $35,000 AU, Hollow Knight raised $57,138 AU - around $41,000 USD. This only covered about half the stretch goals Team Cherry lined up, but crucially it hit the tier for a second playable character.

The game officially released on PC come February 24, 2017, and there it began to pick up steam. Audiences fell for its blend of 2D Metroid-style platforming with challenging melee combat, high-risk enemy encounters, and subtle worldbuilding reminiscent of FromSoftware's Dark Souls series. Players take command of The Knight, a silent protagonist who journeys through the abandoned kingdom of Hallownest to discover what led to its ruin and, ultimately, save its insect inhabitants from impending demise. Hollow Knight was nominated for Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards 2017; though it lost to Cuphead, the run-and-gun boss rush title styled after 1930s animation from studios like Fleischer.

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While Cuphead has remained a successful venture for Studio MDHR, receiving both a Cuphead spin-off show on Netflix and its Delicious Last Course DLC this year, Hollow Knight has also been looked upon with increasing fondness. Four free DLC expansions launched between August 2017 and 2018: Hidden Dreams, The Grimm Troupe, Lifeblood, and Godmaster; collectively fleshing out the world with more collectibles to find and tasks to complete. The game released for Nintendo Switch in June 2018, followed by PS4 and Xbox One that September.

It maintained a popular standing well beyond that, with Hollow Knight randomly breaking its Steam concurrent player record in August 2021. Team Cherry's debut venture has become a regular sight at speedrunning events like Games Done Quick, and fans have modded in features including multiplayer to extend its shelf life further. Yet the game never received its promised second playable character. Instead, Team Cherry announced Hollow Knight: Silksong in February 2019, an entirely new adventure starring warrior-princess Hornet that would also be offered to the original 2,158 Kickstarter backers for free.

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How Hollow Knight Has Impacted the Games Industry

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A gameplay showcase for Hollow Knight: Silksong was part of the Nintendo Treehouse livestream at E3 2019, and a small look at the game featured in Edge magazine's February 2021 issue (available digitally in December 2020), but news has otherwise been sparse. November 10, 2021 marked 1,000 days since Silksong was revealed, and fans have little to go off of outside a February 2022 release window suggested by last year's Nvidia GeForce Now leak. Clearly this was not prophetic.

Given Team Cherry's small stature, it's easy to assume progress has been slow thanks to the trials and tribulations of game development exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the team has kept fervor alive thanks to merchandise released by vendors including Fangamer, as well as crossovers like Dead Cells' "Everyone is Here" update in November 2021.

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The indie gaming space has also been inundated with projects reminiscent of Hollow Knight in the years since it released. For example, 2021's Ender Lillies: Quietus of the Knights and the upcoming Have a Nice Death (announced at The Game Awards 2021) both offer different spins on the familiar 2D action-platformer set in a dark, lore-rich world. Mongoose Rodeo's Crowsworn even wears Hollow Knight inspirations on its sleeve, naming Team Cherry's game alongside FromSoft's Bloodborne and Capcom's Devil May Cry in its Kickstarter which raised over $1.25 million last July.

Even so, Hollow Knight: Silksong's presence at Nintendo's E3 2019 showcase led to a pattern. Fans have asked about Silksong at nearly every Nintendo Direct to follow, as well as other industry events like E3 and The Game Awards. The certainty of this has become almost comical, but it's easy to see why people are so adamant. Hollow Knight came out of nowhere five years ago and skyrocketed a small indie team to stardom, leaving fans to ponder about the intriguing world of sentient bugs that was so artfully brought to life in a game many feel surpass even mainstays like Metroid. Silksong will release eventually, but the original game has left its mark whether or not that sequel lives up to the hype.

Hollow Knight is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. Silksong is currently in development.

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