Silksongs
ISSUE #313
Yesterday was Labor Day. Which means I’ve accidentally been operating as if today were Monday. Until about two hours ago, when I realized that tonight would not involve me being able to sit down and watch the U.S. Open, or even Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. No—it be me Wyrms again that were due.
No matter. A four-day week is a break for all, and I have been replaying 2017’s Hollow Knight, fists rocketing to my hips and springing to my feet like a board every time I say it. And I’m playing it because Silksong (its sequel) is finally coming out on Thursday.
I first started playing Hollow Knight in July 2020. Here's what I wrote about it (I knew what day it was back then):
“Today, I lie buoyant on my summer sheets, television screen paused on the video game I just can't stop playing. Its pause gives me a little break from dying—at the hands of giant insects; in puddles bubbling with acid; on the spikes placed in pits laid by deranged urban planners. Somehow I find the resolve to come back to life, every reset its own act of bravery, thumbs branded with the pain of the deaths before.
It's a hard game—hence all the dying—and its name is Hollow Knight. In it, I hold the reins of a tiny bug warrior, dressed in a white helm and tattered cloak. It is my job to protect this avatar; I guide him as we fight through worms and beetles deep in the tunnels of an underground city. Artful and engaging, the game is flush with purples and the vivid blues of a decrepit kingdom that's no longer safe […]"
It goes on, except I'm cooler now, I would think [comments closed].
I figured the long-awaited sequel to Hollow Knight would never actually come. Now, it's at my doorstep, and I’m rushing again through the Howling Cliffs. The Ancient Basin. The Royal Waterways. I try! to balance it with 13 pages a night.
One thing that rocks about Hollow Knight is the music. Video games have always been about it, in one way or another—remember the Super Mario Bros. theme? I bet you do. That bad boy’s as popular as “Jeopardy (Theme),” or “Wipeout.”
From the minute we started making beep boxes, we’ve been writing music for them, because of them. Vaporwave, chiptune, chillwave, chop house (made up)—here's where we are at our most recent save.
From the minute we started making these little beep boxes, we’ve been writing symphonies for them, and also inspired by them. Vaporwave, chiptune, chillwave, chop house (made up)—whatever you call it, the genre’s been blossoming. Here’s what we got as a sampler.