Did I return at 10:01 AM to collect my Hornet pin? You betcha. To my dismay, the Nintendo reps were not permitted to hand out the limited edition Silksong pins until the general public doors opened at 10 AM. Once the Moss Mother ate dirt, the demo concluded, leaving me wanting more. I’m not-so-quietly pleased I was filmed bashing this bug into oblivion, showing Hornet’s nimbleness and my l33t skills. Fortunately, I managed to navigate to a boss encounter against the Moss Mother, a relatively straightforward bout by Hollow Knight’s standards. However, the demo did not have a map available, so I did get turned around a couple of times. Only then can you hold “a” to regenerate what I believe to be all health lost to that point. While I didn’t fully grasp Hornet’s recovery system in the already-noisy PAX environment, it appears that she recovers damage by collecting a full spindle of silk from smashing enemies and objects. Also, her down-attack moves at a 45-degree angle diagonally instead of straight down, creating more chances to lash out at enemies just out of reach. Most noticeably, she possesses greater vertical and lateral quickness Hornet can grab and boost up from ledges, which is reflected in the level’s greater sense of verticality. Playing as popular Hollow Knight NPC, Hornet, I immediately noticed the difference in her abilities from the original adventurer. After a short while, she shot out several lines of silk, shattering the cage and falling to the overgrown mossy surrounds below the bridge. The demo commenced with a cutscene showing a captured Hornet being transported across a bridge in a cage by a group of worker bugs.

So, what did I do 9 AM on Friday morning of PAX Australia during the media early access hour? Instead of beating the lines for the triple-A behemoths on show, I made a hornet-line directly to the Silksong booth. More Hollow Knight action? Yes, bloody, please. You bet I was excited when Silksong was announced as a fully-fledged sequel. For hours upon hours, it conjured a continual sense of discovery and challenge to a standard few other games reach. I adore Hollow Knight just as much as Ollie did in his review. Here’s what Chris and Ollie thought about it! If you weren’t lucky enough to be at PAX Australia this year, or couldn’t wait in line the hour to play it, then lucky for you we were lucky enough to go hands-on with it.

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