Latest news with #HollowKnight
Washington Post
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
The new ‘Shinobi' embraces the ‘pure craft' of hand-drawn 2D gaming
There's a myth that true immersion into video games requires three dimensions: sidescrollers are good for nostalgia, but the future belongs to photorealistic 3D worlds. But a range of recent games like indie darling 'Hollow Knight' are proving millennia-old, 2D hand-drawn art will endure in video games. Ben Fiquet, a Parisian artist who founded game studio Lizardcube, now contracted by Sega in the Japanese firm's efforts to revive languishing intellectual property from its troves, remains dedicated to the craft. Fiquet is creative director for Sega's new title 'Shinobi: Art of Vengeance,' scheduled for release Aug. 29 on Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and PC platforms. Fiquet says he created Lizardcube to be a beacon of light for 2D animation in gaming, inspired by award-winning '90s game developer Dave Perry, who created that era's visually stunning 'Earthworm Jim.' The studio's effort is backed up by several critically acclaimed 2D games with Sega's 'Streets of Rage 4' and the Wonder Boy series. 'The inherent power of 2D lies in its straightforward simplicity: the artist's vision brought directly to life,' Fiquet tells The Post. 'There are no tricks or deceptions, just pure craft. While it can be challenging to elicit player emotion, I believe 2D can resonate more deeply, strongly and lastingly.' Sega of America visited The Washington Post newsroom with a PlayStation 5 console and an early copy of 'Shinobi: Art of Vengeance.' The publishers believe the game speaks for itself once in the player's hands, and they're correct. The feel of the game requires the mental agility and focus of a fighting game, with a free-flowing combat system that includes juggling combination attacks in the air, counters and follow-up techniques like rolls and dive kicks. Sega knew Lizardcube was perfect thanks to the studio's success in translating the arcade brawler 'Streets of Rage 4' for the 21st century while retaining its crunchy spirit. Kagasei Shimomura, director of Sega's content production department, is a longtime producer since the company's golden era of the 1990s. As part of the now defunct Sega Ages project, which brought classic titles to modern platforms, he's been a key figure in keeping Sega franchises alive after the turn of the century, when Sega famously exited the video game console business in 2001 to become a publisher and developer for other platforms. The company is most famous for creating Sonic the Hedgehog, but in recent years, its found success in role-playing games focused on Japanese culture with the Like a Dragon series, focused on yakuza life, while the multi-million selling Persona series features young adult fantasy adventures. This success gave Sega newfound confidence in reviving classic franchises from its golden era. 'When launching the Ages project, our first task was to select a series to bring back, and the one that always came to mind was Shinobi,' Shimomura said. In 2023, Sega announced a full-court press of franchise revivals across the company, and Shimomura once again made reviving Shinobi his priority. 'And when it came to bringing that title to life, only one name came to mind: Lizardcube,' he continued. 'I contacted them right away and was surprised to learn that they were also very passionate about the Shinobi series and had hoped to work on a game someday. That settled it for me. Lizardcube was a must-have developer for the new Shinobi title.' The company has tried a dozen times to revive the Shinobi series, including an ambitious dalliance into 3D gaming with a 2003 PlayStation 2 title that was well received but saw limited success. Lizardcube's entry will be the first Shinobi game in 14 years, and its return to the two-dimensional plane is deliberate. 'Sega's revival project is guided by the principle of lore meeting innovation,' Shimomura said. 'This means we don't simply enhance the visuals of past titles, instead we break down the original works to their very core, redefine their inherent appeal and combine them with new elements that will excite today's players.' One of the consistent features passed down from Shinobi's arcade lineage is punishing difficulty. But in a welcome move for anyone hoping for a more relaxing time, Lizardcube's game provides multiple options to make the experience easier, including making the player's iconic white-clad ninja protagonist Joe Musashi hit harder while taking more damage. The game features stunning layered backgrounds depicting futuristic mashups of Japanese traditional and urban environments, including busy cityscapes dotted with digital and street artwork. A robust skill tree can be filled out with many collectibles found through battles and exploration within a surprisingly nonlinear level design that pushes players against every axis of the map. It also includes arcade-like challenges for a more focused experience on platforming and action without any narrative beats. The animation is exceptionally fluid, highlighted by lovely black ink brushstrokes of traditional Japanese paintings. Creating evocative and immersive images with 2D hand-drawn art is a different kind of challenge from 3D games, Fiquet said. 'While not overly complex, it demands skilled artists and a pipeline capable of handling it,' he said. 'Most modern hardware is optimized for rendering intricate 3D assets, but managing thousands of stacked images presents a different challenge.' In many ways 2D renderings are less flexible, he said, 'requiring all decisions to be made well in advance.' 'Shinobi: Art of Vengeance' is shaping up to be a vanguard title for Sega's efforts to galvanize its arcade roots. More broadly, and considering Lizardcube's pedigree and passion, it'll be another brushstroke in 2D art's durability even in the fast-evolving medium of video games.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
"Anything related to Silksong releasing would be the doom of the project," lead on gorgeous Hollow Knight fan game once worried, but after 2 years of work it looks like it will launch this year
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Hollow Knight Silksong madness may have reached a new peak. For years, "Fine, we'll make our own game" has been a jokey motto – one of many – for the Skong faithful, fed up with waiting for Team Cherry's long-anticipated sequel (finally coming later this year) and pondering the feasibility of making one for themselves. But, thanks to a devoted team of fans, a convincing Hollow Knight fan game is now very real and shooting for a 2025 launch, and it looks and sounds so much like the genuine article, you'd be forgiven for initially thinking it's a new Silksong showcase. That game is Godgrounds, an unofficial Hollow Knight fighting game that started with the work of just two people back in 2023. Lead developer Rockm recently shared an update on the team's progress with the Hollow Knight Reddit community, and I immediately had to learn more about it. "For quite some time, I had the belief that our project mainly profits off the fact that the [Hollow Knight] fans are starved, so anything related to Silksong releasing would be the doom of the project," Rockm tells GamesRadar+. "I moved on from that belief. It was wild back then. Although, even today, on every single ]Nintendo Direct], I follow one gold rule: always bet on nothing happening." "r/silksong should be considered an institution," Rockm observes. Correct. The Godgrounds team has grown considerably, especially after production ramped up in 2024, with programmers, artists, animators, composers, voice actors, SFX engineers, and even "popular figures in the Hollow Knight community" answering Rockm's call for aid. Around 20 people have touched the project so far, with most being artists. The work of composer Davide Trivella, a sample of which is available on YouTube, is a clear standout to me. "I have to admit, I am impressed by the team I've managed to build over time, it's full of very talented people," Rockm says. Previously, Rockm considered both an arena-type map taking inspiration from "traditional fighting games like Street Fighter or platformer fighting games like Brawlhalla" alongside a more open map showing off character mobility, but "production turned out to be slower than anticipated and this approach was inefficient, so we decided to go fully on the combat system." However, Godgrounds will combine elements of both types of fighting games. The team is hoping to have local multiplayer for two players, a lobby screen, a complete map, and perhaps additional characters eventually. The cast started with Hornet, a side character in Hollow Knight who was promoted to protagonist for Silksong, but more characters are planned. "We are very, very confident that Godgrounds will release its first version/demo this year," Rockm says. "The game will receive updates from there forward." "Fighting other players is the overall objective of the game. We have brainstormed about adding progression systems in the future to make the game more engaging. The game is mainly aimed at Hollow Knight fans and players who like fighting games. Of course, not all Hollow Knight fans are fighting game enthusiasts, so we will make an effort to make the gameplay feel similar to Hollow Knight." All of the assets in Godgrounds are original, Rockm says, pointing to a clause in the terms of service for Team Cherry, which reads: "Making and selling original items that you designed and made yourself, based on the world or characters of Hollow Knight, is extremely fine. However, we don't give permission for anyone to use graphics from in the game or official marketing materials created by us – even if you add a scratchy texture to it in Photoshop or whatever. This includes character art, wallpapers, spritework etc. etc. created by us here at Team Cherry." "Therefore I made the decision to make every asset from scratch and 100% original, whilst aiming to imitate the original art style of the game as much as possible," Rockm says. Team Cherry PR and marketing led Matthew "Leth" Griffin "mentioned in the [Hollow Knight Discord] server that small fan games were completely fine, however, if they [were] monetized [...], he would have to intervene," Rockm adds. "I assume the project is completely fine," Rockm says about Godgrounds, "as long as it's free and contains no monetization practices. I've given thought on the prospect for some time, and while, yes, it would be great to be able to make profit out of the project, sell it for a price, or be able to publish it on Steam (even if it's free), so we have access to achievements and overall a wider audience – it's something we can't do due to their policies. "I've had the idea of contacting TC or Leth in the future once the game's more advanced in development to see if we are allowed to continue development, and if so, if there could be a sort of "exception" or "official-approved collaboration" and have the project reach a new stage in terms of what we can do with it. But this is more of a distant possibility rather than an actual goal of the project." The future of Godgrounds is still malleable, but it has a lot of momentum behind it and some incredible art to show for it. You can follow the project on Twitter. Hollow Knight: Silksong dev deals psychic damage, hinting at future "DLC" for the Metroidvania which fans aren't convinced won't "turn into a full-fledged game that takes 8 years to develop."
Metro
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Silksong release date teased for Christmas by Xbox but it could be sooner
While it's easy to doubt Xbox's insistence that Silksong will be out by Christmas, developer Team Cherry has since corroborated it. After only being referenced during Summer Game Fest as part of the reveal for a Deadpool VR game, the long awaited Hollow Knight sequel Silksong made a proper appearance at the recent Xbox showcase, if only to promote the new handheld devices from ASUS. According to Xbox president Sarah Bond, Silksong will be available 'at launch and in Game Pass' when the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X release later this year, during the Christmas gift-giving season. It's easy to be sceptical when, during its 2022 showcase, Xbox promised Silksong would drop within the next 12 months (spoilers: it didn't and was later formally delayed), but it sounds like the sequel will not only be out this year but earlier than initially suggested. While Bond's comments seemed to imply that Silksong will arrive part and parcel with the ROG Xbox handhelds, Matthew 'Leth' Griffin –marketing and publishing manager for developer Team Cherry – says that the game's release is not tied to any specific console release. Plus, he insists that Silksong will be out before the Christmas season, so you could be playing it by the end of autumn. 'I confirmed before holiday – we are not tied to a console release,' writes Griffin, making sure to emphasise the 'before.' Strangely, this detail was not shared by Griffin on his public social media accounts or the official Team Cherry accounts. Instead, it was shared on Discord, but was soon picked up by the Daily Silksong News account on X. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. This wasn't in the video, but Leth explicitly confirmed that Silksong will release BEFORE the holiday, and that they are not tied to Xbox's console release. — Daily Silksong News (@DailySilksong) June 8, 2025 Initially intended as DLC for the original Hollow Knight, Silksong's development saw it balloon into a full-on sequel, which Team Cherry confirmed back in 2019. More Trending It has now been more than six years since that announcement and details on the sequel have been almost non-existent beyond a few scant appearances at the occasional gaming showcase. As such, it's become a running joke that Silksong is never going to come out and its eager fanbase has expected it at every gaming showcase, only to be left disappointed. Although its constant absences have cultivated a sense of self awareness among fans. The big Nintendo Switch 2 showcase from April gave fans renewed hope, when it briefly showed Silksong with a vague 2025 release window. And while a proper trailer remains MIA, it's looking increasingly likely that the game will drop in the coming months. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Best of Summer Game Fest 2025 trailers – Mortal Shell 2, Game Of Thrones and more MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 games list – everything you can play right now MORE: Call Of Duty Black Ops 7 reveals story details but not Nintendo Switch 2 version
Forbes
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
We Finally Know When ‘Hollow Knight: Silksong' Is Coming Out, Sort Of
Hollow Knight: Silksong During today's big Xbox Showcase, the Xbox maker revealed a bunch of exciting upcoming video game releases: Double Fine's new adventure title, Keeper; new DLC for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle; Ninja Gaiden 4, a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 demo you can play right now; a Persona 4 remake; the Black Ops 7 reveal trailer; a new Xbox handheld console and much more. It was during the Xbox handheld console segment that fans of Hollow Knight got a piece of welcome news. The long-awaited, highly-anticipated follow-up to the game, Silksong, is finally coming out. While we don't have an exact release date yet, we do know that it's launching alongside the ROG Xbox Ally handheld system this year during the 2025 holiday season. Xbox president Sarah Bond said the game will be available to play "at launch and in Game Pass when the Ally releases later this year.' You can see the game on the new Xbox handheld in the trailer below: Silksong was announced way, way, way back in February, 2019. Team Cherry has been teasing players ever since. Hollow Knight is one of the best Metroidvanias ever made, and the wait for its sequel has been grueling – though perhaps less grueling than Grand Theft Auto VI, The Winds Of Winter or the mythical beast known only as Half-Life 3. Silksong features a new playable protagonist, Hornet, and will feature an entirely new kingdom to explore. Hornet, the princess of Hallownest, will be more agile and quick than The Knight, and will face speedier enemies. All told, lots of good news from Xbox today. Certainly there seems to be more in the pipeline for team Green than for PlayStation at the moment.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hollow Knight: Silksong disappointment hits its peak as Team Cherry gets a mention at Summer Game Fest, only to be replaced by Deadpool VR
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. There was an audible groan as Geoff Keighley name-dropped Hollow Knight: Silksong on stage at Summer Game Fest, only to bait-and-switch us with a Deadpool VR game. Obviously, we've been waiting for Silksong for years, so when Keighley read a fake note from his production team which riffed on the idea of 'you can put that Hollow Knight Silksong trailer away and replace it with this', you know he knew exactly what he was doing. To be clear, he said the words "Hollow Knight Silksong trailer," and then threw them back in our face. The Deadpool VR game looks like it might be pretty good if you're into that kind of thing, with plenty of pretty gnarly movement and the kind of potty-talk you'd expect from the merc with a mouth. It's even a very impressive bit of voice work, Neil Patrick Harris standing in as Wade and doing such a good job that I genuinely thought the devs had managed to pin Ryan Reynolds down. It's got the vibes down, but the problem is that the vibes really don't account for dangling what would have been the show's biggest announcement in front of players. The wait for Silksong has been so long that I'm pretty sure we've heard a joke like that on a major, potentially even Keighley-shaped stage in recent memory. But it's at fever pitch right now because, as we get into one of the biggest announcement periods of the year, Hollow Knight: Silksong 's Steam backend has been a veritable hive of activity. That might mean nothing, but when you've had a community on tenterhooks for years, a bait-and-switch like that one is doubly hurtful. Keep all the way up to date with our Summer Game Fest schedule.
