Silksong has been sent back in time to the N64 era with a fan-made demake, and I shudder to think of how hard it would be with 5th-gen controls

Hollow Knight Silksong N64 demake screenshot
(Image credit: Botão Select)

The time-honored demake tradition has come for Hollow Knight: Silksong, sending Team Cherry's brutally difficult Metroidvania back to the N64 era.

Created by the talented game dev and artist Gustavo Barros, who goes by Botão Select on YouTube, this exceptional Silksong N64 demake takes the smooth, vibrant visuals from the game's Moss Grotto location and mutes down the colors, blurs the resolution, and adds about a hundred thousand polygons for texture. The result indeed looks like Hollow Knight: Silksong traveled all the way back in time to about 1996, which is pretty neat!

You can check out the full video on the creation of the demake in the YouTube video above, which is in Barros' native Portuguese. It's also worth noting that Barros has confirmed that the demake is "more of a scene than a game" at this point, and thus isn't available for download, but added, "I'll think about" making a full version.

Frankly, as visually impressive as the demake is, I truly shudder to think about how mind-numbingly hard this game would be with an N64 controller and the fifth-generation's slippery, clunky controls. People who manage to beat games like Silksong are made of tougher stuff than me, but I'm convinced that, burdened by 30-year-old controls, no one would be able to beat it.

Silksong is way harder than Hollow Knight, and my theory is that Team Cherry became evil masterminds without even realizing it

Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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