We all love success stories, especially triumphs that pushed through despite overwhelming odds, and we’re in the midst of one right now, namely Hollow Knight: Silksong. The long-awaited Hollow Knight sequel is the hottest game on Steam right now, peaking at 535,000, and the weekend has only just begun. Surprisingly enough, Hollow Knight and even Silksong could’ve been thwarted by negative Reddit sentiments more than 10 years ago, as was pointed out in a now-viral post:
A Reddit user of r/videogames managed to dig out one of the gaming subreddits’ most hostile facades. 10 years ago, the alleged best friend of Hollow Knight‘s developer shared the then-upcoming game’s trailer, and it was partially met with highly upvoted negative sentiments. One of the top comments even explained that “the market is currently saturated with side-scrolling platformers, so I feel his game may not do as good as he hopes.”
Another one, which had higher upvotes, also seemed torn on another Metroidvania game, “Apparently it’s not that unique because it has some resemblance to the 2 other actually well developed side scrollers out there. You guys, that’s like comparing CoD to Battlefield. Similar, but significant differences.” Of course, we all knew what happened in the next few years after Hollow Knight got released.
Hollow Knight: Silksong, for the record, is now being treated as the GTA 6 of indie games, where smaller or lesser-known developers are avoiding releasing their games at the same timeframe so they don’t get ignored or overshadowed. 10 years ago, top comments like the one displayed above could’ve made a developer think twice or even discourage them, but ultimately, the famed Hollow Knight quality shone through the Reddit filter.
Is the Internet Friendlier to Indie Games Now?
Hollow Knight‘s success certainly proved just how indie games can trade blows with AAA games and silenced many past critics. People in the Reddit thread are recalling Hollow Knight‘s negative reception now swear by how the landscape has changed vastly for indie titles, “Man people were rough back then too haha,” points out one Reddit user. “So redditors have always been overwhelmingly negative.”
Nevertheless, Hollow Knight and Silksong’s continued success is a testament to how artists, developers, and creators should never be discouraged by negative sentiments from online strangers. Consequently, the top comment saying that the genre is saturated might have contributed to Hollow Knight‘s success, as when it came to the final version, the game had what it takes to be better than most other Metroidvania games. And any budding indie dev earning harsh comments for their projects needs only look to Hollow Knight as a beacon of hope.
