Hollow Knight and its sequel, Silksong, are often celebrated for their challenging gameplay, but their true brilliance lies in the way their stories are told without ever saying much at all. These games primarily utilize atmosphere and small details to speak louder than any exposition-heavy cutscene or dialogue ever could, and the result is a type of storytelling that stays with players long after they put the controller down: environmental storytelling.
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This technique is utilized heavily in Soulslike games, and it heavily favors gameplay-focused experiences. It is precisely because it relies on the player’s ability to observe and interpret. To understand why Hollow Knight and Silksong resonate so deeply with their massive fanbase, it helps to break down how their design choices transform the world, characters, and gameplay into tools for the narrative to be told through.
Hollow Knight’s World as a Narrative
The ruined kingdom of Hallownest in Hollow Knight is the story itself. Every location the player explores carries the weight of what came before, inviting quiet reflection rather than telling the player directly what happened. Crumbling architecture and scattered corpses form an unspoken history of a civilization that thrived and then collapsed under its own weight, a common general setting for Souls titles. After all, the dead cannot speak, and that fits perfectly, utilizing a narrative device that does not rely on dialogue being spoken. The game rarely spells out why this decay occurred, but its environments make that loss palpable.
Silksong follows this tradition but shifts the focus to Pharloom, a kingdom alive with systems and cultures still struggling to sustain themselves. Pharloom is not the corpse of a fallen empire but a fragile society teetering on the edge of potential collapse, offering a fresh variation on the environmental storytelling that defined Hollow Knight. The player is once again invited to discover the truth of the larger story through the state of the world itself, and this act of piecing together history becomes a narrative experience all on its own merits.
The genius here is subtle, yet impactful. By refusing to over-explain, Team Cherry, developer of both Hollow Knight and Silksong, places the burden of inference on the player, making the story feel like a personal adventure as if they are the only ones undergoing the journey. Players gather their own understanding of Hallownest and Pharloom’s circumstances, not because the games hand them a nicely written summary, but because they have seen enough fragments to comprehend meaning on their own. Both games rely on the player to pick up the pieces of the puzzle, and that binds the player to the world beyond what direct dialogue ever could.
Revealing Characters Through Action
Characters in Hollow Knight are most often defined by what they do and not what they say. The Knight, the protagonist character, is a blank vessel, yet their silence in the face of the overwhelming odds speaks volumes more than words could potentially convey. Even characters, like Hornet, embody this philosophy. She is introduced not through backstory or excess dialogue, but through battle. Her movements and strikes communicate her agility and resolve long before the player learns anything else about her.
In Silksong, Hornet takes center stage, which is significant because she is already defined by her actions by this point. Unlike the Knight, Hornet speaks on rare occasions, but even then, her dialogue is short and sparse. Her story is told through her movement and her precision. She fights with elegance, showing the player her character rather than describing it. This is the classic narrative trope of “Show, don’t tell”, and this choice aligns perfectly with the design ethos established in Hollow Knight. A character’s identity is communicated through their gameplay, their role in the environment, and the way they interact with the player.
This method of storytelling also makes player engagement more valuable. When you defeat a boss, you come to understand that foe’s desperation or obsession simply by the way they fight, no line of dialogue necessary. Each encounter is an interaction of personalities through mechanics, not exposition. The player walks away understanding characters, even if their names and histories remain shrouded in haze.
Emotion Intensifies Through Gameplay
At the heart of both Hollow Knight and Silksong is this powerful idea: that emotions can be portrayed accurately through the act of play. The deliberate combat rhythm in Hollow Knight emphasizes perseverance and skill, giving the player a sense of the actual danger, which fits perfectly with the environment storytelling present. This creates a lived experience of endurance that mirrors the themes of loss and determination in Hallownest’s story.
Silksong builds on this concept by reversing the experience. Hornet heals instantly, but only in short bursts and often in the heat of combat. The result is a system that communicates urgency and precision. Where Hollow Knight taught the player patience and persistence, Silksong emphasizes agility and adaptability. These mechanics are not random design choices. They reflect the personality of the protagonist and set the emotional tone of the entire narrative, and it is honestly brilliant to utilize gameplay elements to convey the setting in such a way.
Hollow Knight and Silksong serve as strong reminders that quality storytelling in games does not need to be told overtly. By weaving meaning into the world, into character action, and into gameplay itself, Team Cherry demonstrates masterful use of environmental storytelling that feels both subtle and enduring. These stories do not end when the credits roll. They live on in the impressions they leave and in the unspoken histories players piece together of their own volition. The results speak for themselves: games that stay with players beyond the ending, fueling both lasting memories and a fanbase eager for Team Cherry’s next creation.
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