"Silksong is an unbeatable product": Metroidvania dev understandably concerned as Hollow Knight Silksong delay pushes it closer to their own game

gamesradar.com:

Hollow Knight Silksong fans were a bit disappointed to see the game delayed to the second half of 2023, and at least one other indie Metroidvania developer was also a little concerned by the news because it means increased competition for the tail end of the year.

Lead level designer Enrique Colinet of The Game Kitchen noted that Silksong is now much closer to the late summer release date of Blasphemous 2, the promising sequel to perhaps the grisliest Metroidvania around. Colinet joked in a tweet (opens in new tab) that "I think I'm legally allowed to publicly display how a panic attack looks like in games development." 

In follow-up comments (opens in new tab), Colinet clarified his thinking: "It's not a direct issue with sales, it's about presence in media and social media. Releasing too close to Silksong will overshadow our presence and will slow down our growth. Silksong is an unbeatable product, so better to stay away from its release, especially if we share a genre." 

Interestingly, he noted (opens in new tab) that the original Blasphemous once faced similar headwinds: "Back then we were way more concerned about Bloodstained eating us. In the end, Bloodstained launched three months prior to our game, so everything worked fine."

We still don't have an exact release date for Hollow Knight Silksong, so it's currently unclear just how close it will be to Blasphemous 2, but there's no doubt it will now be closer, which could well lead to the tense competition Colinet mentioned. Blasphemous is also great and has a following of its own, of course, but few games command the loyalty and anticipation of Silksong, so it's a very legitimate obstacle, especially within the Metroidvania space.  

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