The Last Judge, the big chapter 1 boss of Hollow Knight: Silksong, is a pretty good encapsulation of how the game's combat sandbox evolved since the original Hollow Knight. Even developer Team Cherry reckons The Last Judge would be a slower, squatter boss if it had appeared in Hollow Knight rather than Silksong.
Team Cherry's Ari Gibson and William Pellen discussed the evolution of Silksong in a recent interview with the ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image) in a guide book available via the centre's online store. In a broader discussion of how boss behavior changed in Silksong – from move select to move-and-movement select under the hood – they single out The Last Judge as an example of Silksong's more agile design language.
"Even The Last Judge's shape still mirrors Hornet's design, with her being a taller character," Gibson says. "I think if The Last Judge had existed in the previous game, it would have probably been more like a big, round blob... the equivalent of The False Knight."
The False Knight, of course, is one of the first proper bosses of the original Hollow Knight: a big ol' boy with a big ol' club. Classic. As someone who once described Hollow Knight bosses as video game-grade Round Dudes with more predictable movements than a clock's minute hand that can't hold a candle to Silksong, Gibson's comparison is mighty interesting.
"Everything was squishier and squatter and slow because everything reflects and works against the protagonist," Gibson adds.
In separate but similar comments, Pellen mentions how Hornet's design not only inspired some enemies very directly, but also contributed to the heightened danger of the world of Silksong.
"The basic ant warrior [in Silksong] is built from the same move-set as the original Hornet boss – the same core set of dashing, jumping, and dashing down at you, plus we added the ability to evade and check you. In contrast to the Knight's enemies, Hornet's enemies had to have more ways of catching her as she tries to move away."
