Team Cherry’sHollow Knightis generally considered to be one of the best metroidvania-styled games ever made, which is a testament to the talent of the small team which worked on it. Given the first half of that genre moniker, it’s easy to draw comparisons betweenHollow KnightandNintendo’s classic 2DMetroidgames, both action-platformers where players attain new skills as they progress that allow them to explore larger sections of their respective maps. However, whenHollow Knight: Silksongreleases, it would be interesting to see it take more inspiration from another Nintendo franchise:Pikmin.
ThoughHollow KnightandPikminoccupy disparate genres;Pikminserving as more of a real-time strategy game with puzzles based around wrangling its titular vegetable-shaped critters; they have a lot of aesthetic similarities.Hollow Knighttakes place in a universe of sentient bugswho occupy a maze of caverns underground, meanwhilePikminfollows intergalactic explorers the size of bugs who find themselves on Earth.Pikminhas an element of metroidvania-style progression itself, with different colored Pikmin able to access new areas in older locations, so it would make sense for the games to overlap more. Specifically,Hollow Knight: Silksongcould make good use ofPikmin’s comparative sense of scale.
Though they’ve both been sized up in theSuper Smash Bros.series, Olimar; the protagonist ofPikmin,Pikmin 2, andHey! Pikmin; as well as Alph; one of three protagonists inPikmin 3; are canonically miniscule. Hocotatians and Koppaites, respectively, are less than an inch tall. Thus, when either species winds up on Earth (called PNF-404) they are surrounded by plants and man-made objects like flowerpots and tin cans that are comparatively giant. Some entire areas are made possible by human constructions, for example portions of the Perplexing Pool inPikmin 2and many of its caves are constructed out of ceramic pool tiles.
The originalPikminhas Olimar searching for pieces of his ship, the S.S. Dolphin, which leaves the sense of scale relegated to environmental details. Subsequent entries focus on collecting objects that people can more easily recognize and use to compare sizes.Pikmin 2is all about finding treasures that are based on real-world objects, for instance branded soda bottle caps and knit gloves.Pikmin 3follows the three Koppaitesas they search for different fruits to sustain themselves and save their home world from a famine.
Having this sense of scale benefits the adventurous vibes of thePikminfranchise, as it’s easier to imagine the uphill battle of being tiny in a giant’s world when comparing the protagonists to fruits and playing cards as opposed to their own technologies. That’s whereHollow Knight: Silksongcould take some cues.
While the audience playingHollow Knightis keenly aware that the world is full of insects like pill bugs and mantises, they never really encounter any remnants of a human society that can give the world a grander sense of scale. This isn’t required; searching the remnants of Hallownest is fascinating in its own right because it gives a distinct impression of what the once-thriving kingdom looked like. Humans may not even exist inHollow Knight’s universe, butbringing Hornet to the brand-new kingdom of Pharloomoffers the opportunity to see what it would be like if humans did exist.
A human may not have to appear personally inHollow Knight: Silksongto achieve this goal. Like inPikmin, Hornet could come across objects like bottle caps left behind by a seemingly alien source. However, there is room for her to encounter beings beyond her comprehension, withHollow Knight: Silksongtaking a page fromLittle Nightmaresby leaning into encounters with massive bosses that the audience recognizes as either human or some other domesticated animal. Some might feel this would take away from the unique, detached universeHollow Knightestablished, but it could also be a fun way to add more spectacle and challenge into the anticipated sequel.
Hollow Knight: Silksongis in development for PC and Switch.
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