Hollow Knight: Silksong devs believe "the real world generally underestimates players," but Team Cherry trusts fans to "engage" and figure the Metroidvania out: "You can guide them a little bit, and that's enough"

Hollow Knight: Silksong is "noticeably harder" than its predecessor, but that doesn't mean the Metroidvania sequel misjudges its players' capabilities – in fact, developer Team Cherry's design of the new game relies on fans' capacity to quickly pick things up with just a little push.

Speaking in a recent interview with ACMI, co-directors William Pellen and Ari Gibson dive into the process of development – one Team Cherry was admittedly "having fun" with – and cover everything from level design to world-building. Towards the end, Gibson explains how Hollow Knight: Silksong doesn't misjudge its players' ability to get through the game, even with how challenging it may be at times.

That's because the players feel inclined to "engage" with everything without being instructed on how to do so – there's no need for them to be. "The real world generally underestimates players – especially young people – and it certainly underestimates their capacity to deal with things, and their ability to glean information, or be interested and be engaged," states Gibson. "But with our players, you can guide them a little bit, and that's enough."

Gibson concludes: "They'll engage, they will dig in, they will find all that other stuff." At this point, it's pretty safe to say that he's absolutely correct. Although the Hollow Knight sequel has only been available to play for a couple of weeks, players have been downright loving it. Not only have countless folks completed the Metroidvania in its entirety, but there were speedrunners wrapping it up in under 2 hours after literal days.

Here's to one very dedicated community that "will dig in" indeed, and even more Silksong shenanigans in the future – I'm sure there'll be plenty, especially with Team Cherry previously teasing ambitious DLC for the sequel, too.

Silksong's first area was only added after Team Cherry realized it needed a softer intro: "We're trying to be kind of respectful to the player. We're not trying to baby them"