And I looked, and behold a pale hornet: and the game that came with her was Silksong, and release delays followed after. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of Steam, to kill with needle, and with thread, and with parrying, and with the bugs of the earth.
This week, the Maw has the great pleasure of dining upon the frenziedly awaited sequel to Team Cherry’s metroidvania Hollow Knight. James saw it at Gamescom and deemed it “faster, prettier, and harder” but also, “safe”. FOOL. There can be no safety in the time of Silken singing. The past month has been a steady avalanche of new PC games noping the heck out of early September to avoid being stung to death by this deceptively tiny predator. Here are the projects that are standing their ground.
Monday 1st September
- Bad Cheese is a first-person psychological horror inspired by 1920s animation in which you are a fretful mouse keeping house while Mom’s away. Remember Dad’s pills and stay out of the emmental labyrinth, y’hear?
Tuesday 2nd September
- The legions of Super-Earth are burrowing underground in a bid to escape Team Cherry’s approaching locust cloud. Helldivers 2’s spelunkin’ Into The Unjust update is out today.
- Neyyah is a new Mystlike from nu-MicroProse. Are you a Mystliker or a Mysthater? There can be no compromise.
- Otherskin is a third-person action-adventure with grandiose alien environments, featuring a lady in a morphing powersuit. Metroid meets Stellar Blade.
- Metal Eden is a hyperactive first-person shooter featuring another lady in a morphing powersuit. Metroid meets Doom Eternal.
Wednesday 3rd September
- If you find Paper Mario disgustingly low-brow, perhaps you’ll get your kicks from paper-folding platformer Hirogami, you snob.
Thursday 4th September
- Glass shatters, mountains shudder and all vertebrate lifeforms spontaneously wet themselves as the Silksong begins. But what’s this? A valiant few games have formed a motley choir and are trying to drown Team Cherry out.
- Hell Is Us is a gloomy third-person odyssey with notes of soulslike and Returnal, plus the voice of Adam Jensen.
- Kemono Teatime is a perfectly nice game about running an artisanal teahouse for catgirls.
- Adventure of Samsara is a 2D metroidvania follow-up to Adventure on the Atari 2600. Dear lord, a 2D metroidvania launching alongside Silksong. The humanity.
- Dig & Decode is about excavating the puzzle chambers of a long-dead Earth, turning archaeological relics such as *squints* earphones into fuel for your spacecraft.
- Casebook 1899: The Leipzig Murders is a detective point-and-clicker featuring top hats, smokestacks, beards and exclusively German vocals. Let’s see you outsing the Germans, Silksong! They wrote, like, half the good operas.
Friday 5th September
- NBA 2K26 is a basket-weaving simulation in which challenge is created by people rudely throwing a ball at you. Nobody ever thinks of the basketweavers.
- Shuten Order is the latest from Too Kyo Games, a team led by Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka. Co-developed with Neilo, it’s a whiplash blend of genres including visual novel, stealth and escape room.
- Cronos: The New Dawn is the new sci-fi horror shooter from Silent Hill 2 remakers Bloober.
Provisional plans at the Treehouse this week? James is in the hotseat for our Silksong review, which will be coming after launch because Team Cherry aren’t giving out press codes. I can’t blame them for saving themselves the hassle – going by wishlists and recent Hollow Knight player stats, this game is going to make 20 quintillion dollars.
Jeremy and Ollie will also be Silksinging in the name of guides. Mark has his eyes on the Elder Scrolls modding scene, but may also find time for a quick Helldive. I, meanwhile, am trying to work out whether I care enough about metroidvania these days to do a Hot Take. How are things looking at your end?
