Looks like Silksong’s secrets include a Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Easter egg

Hollow Knight: Silksong contains what could be a cheeky reference to this year’s prior headline success story from a smaller developer, Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Are you playing Team Cherry’s new metroidvania? Here’s how to find that Easter egg. Beware mild area and equipment spoilers from this point on.

Briefly, you’ll need to head west of Wormways and play your needolin at the nearby Weavenest Karn. Alas, you might need to cough up 500 rosaries for a Simple Key in order to access the place, if you haven’t already. The needolin, for context, is a musical instrument that sometimes reveals apparitions and other ghostly activity, when plucked in the right area – read our Hollow Knight: Silksong walkthrough hub for more. In this case, Hornet’s lonely ditty will trigger some phantom text about sleep and entrapment, which includes the phrase “for those who come after”.

We first learned of this from Reddit, spawning ground for any and all videogame Easter egg reports and also, any number of fakes. Our James then dug out his savegame from our Hollow Knight: Silksong review and confirmed that the sequence is real.

“For those who come after” is the name of a beloved orchestral track from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s a key phrase in the game’s story, uttered by characters laying down their lives in the quest to stop the Paintress. It’s also, of course, a fairly everyday bit of writing, the kind of line that adorns many a memorial work, and the reference could be accidental. But the shared musical context inclines me to believe that Team Cherry intended the connection.

I do hope it’s intentional. I love this kind of embedded compliment. It reminds me of when the Alien: Isolation devs wrote a whole in-game skit about hairdryers to express their fondness for Cara Ellison’s Guardian preview. (My equivalent for that is the High On Life devs derisively including my Eurogamer “Avoid” in their accolades trailer.)

I also very much like that the apparent link is revealed through music, as though Hornet’s soulful string-plucking had flittered across the void of commerce and raised an echo from the art nouveau necropolis of Expedition 33. There you are, I’ve overegged the pudding now.

Sandfall Interactive appear fond of Silksong themselves – they’ve posted some congratulatory art featuring Hornet and Clair Obscur’s Maelle. Let’s see if the good vibes persist come GOTY voting time.

Silksong’s other secrets include a mystery cameo from Eric Barone, creator of Stardew Valley, and a hidden mode that probably isn’t the kind you’re hoping for. I think it’s safe to say that there’s much else to discover.