Not content with FromSoftware games getting all the love/hate for their torturous swamps, Team Cherry decided to concoct its very own in Hollow Knight: Silksong in the form of Bilewater - a poisonous, thorny swamp area, as the name suggests, that serves as somewhat of a difficulty barrier between Act 2 and Act 3. And, now, Silksong's devs have answered for their crimes.
"It's all in the name," Team Cherry co-founder Ari Gibson told Bloomberg when asked what on Earth the devs were thinking with the sometimes brutal area. "It also acts as something of a final test in Act 2. It's the hardest challenge that act presents, but it's also the primary gateway into Act 3. If players manage to overcome the enormous challenge that Bilewater presents, they're probably quite capable of overcoming the challenges that Act 3 will now bring."
Silksong co-lead William Pellen has a simpler answer: "We just love a big swamp. We wanted some kind of poison status for ages." The silk-draining waters certainly gave me a few premature grey hairs, but Pellen also enjoyed that Bilewater offers "a different sort of pressure" than other areas since it "pushes back in a different sort of way."
In Pellen's view, there's also "at least one element that's not exerting constant pressure on you" while you're dodging exploding bugs and whatnot. It's the wistful, almost melancholic music. A sad piano, a crying violin, and a ghostly choir do a lot in the context of Bilewater. And, as Pellen says, "it's a trick that worked in White Palace," the first game's infamously tough level.
