A contracted playtester on Hollow Knight: Silksong has apologized to the Metroidvania's fans after a rant on Discord about the state of the game.
In a series of messages captured last week and shared to the Silksong subreddit last night, a playtester known in the community as Graig aired their frustrations around reactions to the fact that Silksong didn't appear at The Game Awards. Graig - who has previously been cited as the game's lead playtester - took aim at fans desperate for an update, saying, "I see [developer Team Cherry] work so hard to get the game out and it's annoying to see people disrespect them so much."
Graig went on to say that the reason that the developers don't issue updates on the game is that "there simply are no fucking updates. The game is being made - when there are updates, you will get them." He also claims that Team Cherry is wary about engaging with the community because "if they do anything other than a release date, they will get crucified" and that "they hate giving spoilers, so the less info you have, the better going in."
Silksong's lead playtester's comments regarding this subreddit's complaints and the xbox release window. from r/Silksong
A significant proportion of Graig's ire is also aimed at Xbox. Last summer, the company claimed that every game at its E3 2022 showing would be playable within 12 months. Silksong was included in that event, but was eventually delayed out of the first half of this year. As Graig points out, it was far from the only game to miss that deadline (Starfield was also a high-profile delay from that event), but he claims this is because Xbox made up "a bullshit release window."
As much as their comments don't appear to have been wholly appreciated by the community, plenty of fans on the Silksong subreddit have been relatively understanding, suggesting that their insatiable hunger for the game is little more than a group coping mechanism, but acknowledging that it can likely be irritating from the outside.
Earlier today, Graig himself took to the subreddit to apologize for his "outburst." He says "I was emotional after reading about three days' worth of posts being angry at my friends. People I know are working their hardest to deliver a beautiful piece of art to their community." However, Graig also acknowledges that his rant was "immature," but that they had forgotten the public nature of the Discord they were posting in. They also state that they don't work in-house at Team Cherry, but have "contacted [sic] to them in the past." Again, the community was relatively quick to bury the hatchet, praising Graig for apologizing.
The Silksong community is unlikely to change its tune - after years of waiting and still no release date in sight, the constant cycle of hype and almost inevitable disappointment seems to be something of a game now. Nevertheless, with a 2023 release date all but entirely off the table, eyes will be set on every major game event throughout 2024.
The Hollow Knight: Silksong delay underlines the importance of communication.
