The Metroidvania subgenre has been popular for quite some time now. Getting its start back in the ‘80s with the release of classic titles from franchises such as Metroid and Castlevania, the subgenre offers fans a unique blend of 2D side-scrolling platform gameplay in addition to including a vast world to explore. In recent years, this style of game remains popular with titles such as Ori and the Blind Forest and Axiom Verge. However, one game from the subgenre in particular is having a recent surge in popularity: Hollow Knight.
Released in 2017, Hollow Knight quickly became one of the best Metroidvania games on the market. Developed by a relatively small group at Team Cherry, the level of polish on display in the game far exceeded most gamers’ expectations. Taking place in the melancholy world of Hallownest, players control a small warrior bug. Using Hollow Knight’s powerful spells and abilities, the player must take down numerous challenging foes in an attempt to find answers to what happened to the game's despondent land. Hollow Knight sold over 1 million copies on PC in 2018, but somehow in 2021 more people are playing the game than ever before.
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Recently, it was revealed that Hollow Knight has broken its all-time concurrent player count. With over 12,891 gamers checking out the game on Steam at the same time, it’s incredible to see the player count rise to this record level over 4 years since release. The number of fans playing the game has been rising for a couple months now as this breaks another record set back in June of this year. Before these recent records, the previous record for concurrent players in Hollow Knight was set back in April 2020 at 11,508. However, the explanation for the game’s resurgence in 2020 likely rests with the Humble Bundle which offered the Metroidvania as part of a collection of items with proceeds going to stop the spread of COVID-19.
One reason for this renewed interest in the game could pertain to fans growing anticipation for news about the sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong. Originally announced back in 2019, the developer gave fans a glimpse at gameplay in an announcement trailer. In addition, the developers at Team Cherry shared even more details about the game in a developer diary along with featuring a demo at E3 2019. Since this initial flurry of news, gamers have been left mostly in the dark in regards to the development status of the project. While the pandemic possibly could have impacted the release date, it will be interesting to see when players finally get to learn more details about the highly-anticipated title.
It’s exciting to see a title like Hollow Knight that combines challenging boss fights reminiscent of the Dark Souls series with 2D platforming continue to get support from fans this many years after launch. Whether fans are replaying this classic title or experiencing the world of Hallownest for the first time, hopefully this game will help them pass the time until the sequel releases in the future.
Hollow Knight is available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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Source: SteamDB