So earlier this month William Pellen and Ari
Gibson made the long drive from their home
in Adelaide, South Australia to E3 here in
the United States.
[AMERICA!! FUCK YEAH!!]
Aw yes, America, the home of the free. Now
don’t get me wrong, America definitely has
its own list of problems but despite all that,
I’m still proud to be an American. Sure,
we may not have those cute koala bears like
they do in Australia. But you know what, that’s
just fine. Who wants koala bears anyway? Like
90% of them have chlamydia.
So why exactly did Team Cherry come down to
E3 and risk getting gunned down in the streets
of LA? Well, two things. First of all, they
likely came over to eat some of the finest
cuisine America has to offer. The second reason
was to promote the release of Hollow Knight
on the Nintendo Switch. Now the Nintendo Switch
has sort of become an indie developer’s
wet dream. As a Switch owner myself, I can
tell you that indie titles are all we have
to play while we wait for the next Wii U port
to come out. Shovel Knight’s launch on Switch
sold faster than any other platform release,
and the game was almost three years old by
then. And Celeste has sold better on Switch
than on any other platform as well. So yeah,
Hollow Knight is probably going to do pretty
well. Team Cherry is probably swimming in
piles of gold as we speak.
But it wasn’t just the Switch release that
Team Cherry had for us. They also showed off
some new footage for Content Pack 3, Gods
& Glory™. And no, Lifeblood doesn’t count
as a content pack, that was a “Major Update”.
It’s a totally different thing. But if new
footage wasn’t enough, Team Cherry also
held a Reddit AMA on r/nintendoswitch. We
learned a little bit about Gods & Glory™
as well as some other cool information. According
to Ari Gibson, the snail from the Weird and
Wonderful World trailer got cut from the game
because it was too big. Okay, really Ari?
If fucking Ridley can get his giant ass into
Smash Bros, I’m pretty sure Gary the Snail
here can fit into your little indie game.
Also, Hollow Knight 2 confirmed for 2028.
Anyway, between this new AMA and the gameplay
footage shown at E3, there is a lot to talk
about.
So let’s start by looking at the details
Team Cherry gave us in the Kickstarter update
first announcing Gods & Glory™. In this
post, Team Cherry teased that the update would
feature a new game mode. Now when I first
heard this, I thought it was obviously going
to be some form of Hollow Knight Battle Royale.
People have been begging Team Cherry for this
game mode since the Kickstarter began back
in 2014. I for one would love to run around
and smack other players with a fucking frying
pan. Well maybe not a frying pan, but you
get the idea.
Well, it turns out I was wrong, because during
the Nintendo Live Treehouse Event, Ari and
William showcased some of the new update and
explained that Gods & Glory™ would be Team
Cherry’s take on a boss rush mode.
“But we didn’t want to just make a boss
rush mode, we wanted to do it in our way.
And what that meant was, we wanted to integrate
it completely into the game experience. We
wanted to make sure there’s a narrative
in there. We wanted to make sure that it’s
all part of the Knight’s journey, and it’s
not like a separate divided mode from them
to play.”
So in other words, Team Cherry wanted to fit
a boss rush mode into the game that still
made sense lorewise. And to do this, Team
Cherry has introduced a new character called
the Godseeker.
But before we get into that, let’s talk
about the mechanics behind this new boss rush
mode. What we see in the Treehouse Live event
is that there are different arenas in this
new area called Godhome, where the Knight
faces off against a selection of bosses. The
player also has the option to bind certain
abilities to make the match more difficult.
The game appears to keep track of which bindings
you’ve beaten each area with. After William
defeats the last boss, we see one of the five
empty notches get filled on the archway above
the door. This makes me think that the other
four notches represent each of the different
bindings that the player can enable for the
arena.
In this first arena, we see William Pellen
face off against the Vengefly King, the Dung
Defender, The Mega Moss Charger, Hornet and
Paintmaster Sheo. Now during the Treehouse
event, Ari Gibson mentioned that some of the
old bosses were being tweaked for this new
boss rush area. We can actually see this in
the footage provided. In the original game,
the Knight could fight the Massive Moss Charger,
but here, it’s the Mega Moss Charger.
So it looks like some of the more lackluster
bosses might be getting a tune up, which is
pretty cool. Maybe they’ll finally give
Nosk those badass wings that got cut from
the game. Another character that might be
getting a treatment is the Hollow Knight,
albeit in a slightly different way. We see
a brief glimpse of the Hollow Knight during
the Gods & Glory™ teaser trailer. Something
important to note here is that the Hollow
Knight is lacking the giant crack on his shell.
This crack first appeared at the start of
the game, when the Radiance began seeping
out of the Hollow Knight and can be seen during
the battle with the Hollow Knight. Also it
looks like the Knight is wearing armor. The
armor plating on his shoulders is clearly
absent on the statue found in the City of
Tears. So it looks like we might be facing
a younger version of the Hollow Knight, with
a moveset possibly more based on swordplay
than just mindless attacks.
They also show off the Radiance in the teaser
trailer. Is it possible we are going to get
another fight with her too? Will she be any
different? The Godhome looks a lot like where
the Radiance battle took place, so maybe these
two beings are more closely related than we
realize.
Anyway, once the Godseeker’s quest is finished,
a new mode is unlocked, which dataminers have
been able to figure out is called God’s
Glory. There is also a sprite design for the
new mode. So is this just another version
of the Boss Rush Mode? That seems pretty weird
since it is listed with Normal Mode and Steel
Soul Mode. Maybe this new mode will be tied
to the whole “glorifying charm” aspect
Team Cherry announced in the Kickstarter update.
Alright, so we talked about some of the mechanics
of this new update. Now let’s talk about
lore.
In the Treehouse event, we see the Knight
unlock the chains on a cocoon with a simple
key. Then the corpse of a giant bug falls
out. Now I think it’s fair to argue that
this is the Godseeker. Obviously the creature
was chained up, like the Kickstarter update
said. Also, the creature can be dream nailed,
allowing the Knight to enter an area called
Godhome.
But this is where things get confusing. The
kickstarter update talks about how the Godseeker
quest will expand the player’s romance options.
Is Team Cherry saying we can romanic this
corpse?
♫I’ve been really tryiiinnnggg, baby!♫
[THUD]
Of course it seems like the Godseeker might
still be around in the Godhome. I assume that’s
her sitting on the throne during this battle.
Maybe the bug we find in the Junk Pit is just
a carrier for the Godseeker. It’s a pretty
common theme that we see with both Grimm and
the Pale King. In the Treehouse event, there
is never any opportunity to talk to this character,
so we still don’t know what Team Cherry
is talking about with all of the this romance
stuff.
So yeah, why is a chained up cocoon sitting
in a junkpit in the Royal Waterways? The easy
explanation, and my own personal belief, is
that the Godseeker was yet another powerful
being that the Pale King attempted to hide
away from the world. It’s pretty obvious
that the Pale King didn’t really want to
share his kingdom with other powerful beings.
He locked away the Radiance. He deemed lifeblood,
a blue liquidy goop connected to another powerful
being, a heresy. And he possibly had the grubs
imprisoned because of some holy power they
had. It is kind of strange, though. The Radiance
had three layers of protection over her, while
the grubs were spread out and hidden all across
Hallownest. But the Godseeker can be unlocked
with a simple key. I gotta say, the Pale King
got a little lazy with this one.
Similar to Grimm, I am guessing that the Godseeker’s
quest will involve something to do with keeping
herself alive. As for what this quest is,
my guess is that the Godseeker is searching
for a being that is worthy of the title “God”.
The Kickstarter description for the content
pack reads “Take your place amongst the
Gods in an epic celebration of Hallownest's
Glory and the final chapter of the Knight's
journey.” So the Godseeker watches you fight
all of these bosses, and by the end, might
elevate you to the status of God somehow.
So how does finding a God help the Godseeker
prolong her existence? I don’t know. It’s
possible that she seeks out Gods so she can
kill them or maybe have crazy bug sex with
them to create another more powerful baby
God bug thing. I know that sounds weird but
it’s pretty par for the coarse when the
rest of Hollow Knight’s lore is concerned
One final note, In the Switch trailer, we
see that the Godseeker is no longer on the
throne. Is this because she only watches each
arena fight once, or is there some other reason
why she isn’t there? Do we have to kill
her or something?
Let’s shift gears and talk about the Nailmasters.
So the three Nailmasters, Sheo, Mato and Oro
were all trained by the Great Nailsage, who
we know is Sly. Nailmaster Sheo, who lives
in Greenpath, eventually gave up his nail
to pursue a different craft, drawing Nailsmith
like he draws those french girl. The other
two Nailmasters, Oro and Mato, don’t seem
to get along very well.
The two have very different personalities,
with Oro, the brother found in Kingdom’s
Edge, wanting you to leave him alone. Mato,
who resides in the Howling Cliffs, however,
says that he basically considers the Knight
his child after meeting it like twice. Oro
seems to detest Mato’s sense of loyalty
and honor, and his Dream Nail dialogue implies
that Oro’s choices in life were justified
in his eyes, but that Mato won’t even listen
to him. Also, Oro is the only Nailmaster who
charges Geo in order to receive training.
The main conflict between these two bugs is
that Oro owes something to Mato. Mato reassures
us that he has not forgotten about this debt,
while Oro tells us that Mato will have to
wait a little while longer. Considering the
fact that Oro charges Geo for his lessons,
I’m guessing he owes Mato money. But that
doesn’t help us understand what Oro’s
lifestyle choices were. Was he turning tricks
on the street or something?
More interesting than the Nailmasters, however,
is our good buddy Sly. We know that Sly is
the Great Nailsage who trained all of the
Nailmasters, but we don’t know much about
how Sly ended up as a shopkeeper in Dirtmouth.
However, there’s a little bit more to his
story that is worth looking into. When we
first meet Sly, he is being influenced by
the infection. He has one line here that is
pretty interesting:
“...Esmy... how much deeper do we have to
go…”
We have no idea who Esmy is, but I think I
have an idea about where she might have gone.
When Sly is presented with the Shopkeeper’s
Key, he correctly guesses that we found it
in the Crystal Peaks. He claims he has no
idea how they key ended up there, but that
doesn’t make sense. Did Esmy lead Sly into
the Crystal Peaks, resulting in some sort
of event that caused Sly to lose both his
key and Esmy? Or did Team Cherry just put
it there because, well, it has to go somewhere?
I don’t know, but I do hope Team Cherry
gives us a little more info on this story
I’ll briefly mention here that a lot of
people have speculated that Sly is actually
Mighty Hegemol, one of the Five Great Knights.
This is mainly because of his small size and
his proximity to the location of Hegemol’s
armor. I know I said before that Hollow Knight’s
lore is vague enough for any interpretation
to be viable. Well, that’s not true. There’s
no way Sly’s actually Hegemol, and there’s
no way that you could convince me otherwise.
Okay, so how are these four characters going
to be used in the upcoming content pack? Are
they just boss fights, or is there any more
coming in the future? Well, at the very least,
we’ll be able to Dream Nail them for just
a little bit more lore, but I don’t think
Team Cherry can fit all of the lore for Esmy
in just a few Dream Nail dialogues. Another
thing that Team Cherry can do is add more
information about these bosses using the Hunter’s
Journal. The journal entries are an easy way
to add lore into the game. I mean they even
have a Hunter’s Journal entry for the Seal
of Binding. Now how does that make sense?
I mean, you wouldn’t “hunt” a seal.
Okay, bad example.
But considering the Hunter has entries for
the Grimm Troupe characters and the Grey Prince
Zote enemies, using lines from texts he definitely
wouldn’t have access to, it seems like his
Journal is becoming less and less grounded
in the reality of Hollow Knight. I’m not
saying I want Team Cherry to stop doing this.
In fact, I have a couple of things I’d like
them to add Journal entries for. Regardless,
whatever method they chose, I hope Team Cherry
is at least able to find a way to add in at
least some new lore for these guys.
One important thing to note about Gods & Glory™
is that it is the last big update for the
Knight’s journey, so this is Team Cherry’s
last chance to cover some important details.
Of course, things like the Weavers and the
trilobite statue in Beast’s Den can be saved
for the Hornet DLC, but this isn’t the case
for everything.
I think there is a good chance that we will
finally find out how the Hollow Knight grew.
I don’t think the Hornet DLC can answer
this question, because Hornet was either not
born or just a baby when the Hollow Knight
was sealed away. We know this because the
White Lady says that Hornet and Herrah spent
little time together. At this time, Herrah
would have to be put into sleep as a Dreamer,
and the Hollow Knight was presumably already
fully grown.
The only theory I really ever hear for the
Hollow Knight’s growth is that it was a
side effect of taking in the infection. Which
is possible, but the growth seen with the
infection is usually more of a mutation, causing
things to look unnatural. The Hollow Knight
looks like a creature that grew normally.
But then again, what the fuck is normal in
this game?
Another thing that Team Cherry might expand
on in this update is the lore surrounding
the Snail Shamans. During the Reddit AMA,
someone asked Team Cherry if the Snail Shamans
would be explained any further, to which William
replied “Yes?” We don’t know much about
the Snail Shamans. There’s only one that’s
still alive in the game, and he tells us that
he is somehow bound to the ancestral mound.
What is interesting about the snail shamans
is that they appear to be made of Void. The
main reason I believe this is because the
shamans in the Crystalized Mound and the Soul
Sanctum explode into black orbs, which isn’t
really a think regular bugs would do. Other
than the Knight and the bugs in the Soul Sanctum,
the Shamans are the only creatures still around
who know how to use soul, indicating that
their history in Hallownest goes back a long
time.
Now there’s lots of other little chunks
of lore Team Cherry could throw into this
content pack. Lifeblood, the grubs, the Colosseum
of Fools, whoever the fuck Tuk is looking
for.
But of course there’s one very important
piece of lore that we simply cannot ignore.
Bretta. As I’m sure you all remember, Bretta
left Dirtmouth in Content Pack 2 to go and
find her true love, since neither the Knight
nor Zote were good enough for her. Personally,
I think the Hunter is a perfect match for
Bretta. Please, consider the following. Bretta
left Zote because he claimed to be a great
warrior but really wasn’t. The Hunter is
basically everything that Zote isn’t, so
Bretta would probably like him. Both the Hunter
and Bretta are writers. The Hunter has his
descriptive journals while Bretta has her
sensual fanfiction. That’s clearly something
they could bond over. And then there’s the
proximity of Greenpath to the Howling Cliffs.
And finally, this kills two birds with one
stone. The Hunter’s arc really just sorta
stops. It would be a damn shame if Team Cherry
didn’t do anything else with his character.
Now you might be thinking, Team Cherry is
most definitely going to just kill Bretta
off. And that is a fair point. I mean, Team
Cherry has a pretty damning track record of
this. Just look at Cloth.
♫Mm, whatcha’ say??♫
♫Mm, that you only meant well?♫
And Tiso.
♫Mm, whatcha’ say??♫
♫Mm, that you only meant well?♫
And Quirrel.
♫OCEAN MAN!♫
♫TAKE ME BY THE HAND♫
But I really hope things turn out differently
this time. Please, Team Cherry, I know you
watch my videos. Please for the love of God,
don’t kill Bretta. I mean, yeah she’s
kind of an asshole, but still, she doesn’t
deserve to die.
So yeah, that’s about it for this video.
The main take away from all this is that Gods
and Glory™ is gonna be fucking huge! You
can tell that Team Cherry is going all out
on this. I mean, if seeing Chunky Fluke in
action doesn’t get you excited for this
update, then I don’t know what will. I guess
we should talk about when this update might
release. In the Reddit AMA, Ari Gibson said
that the update was heading into internal
testing, which is a good sign. In the kickstarter
update announcing the Switch launch, Team
Cherry said that the new content pack would
be coming out shortly afterwards. So that’s
good. Let’s see if we can find a clip of
Ari saying that with his own mouth.
“This is an upcoming content pack that we’re
gonna release for free in the coming months.
It’s called Hollow Knight”
GOD DAMMIT!
