The 2010s saw the rise of Hollow Knight, now a fan-favorite in the gaming community. However, in its early days, it was merely a promising Metroidvania among many. Originally, Team Cherry aimed to develop a game smaller in scope than what Hollow Knight eventually grew into, and discussions surrounding their Kickstarter goal took place just days before the campaign was set to launch.
This information stems from an interview with Team Cherry co-directors Ari Gibson and William Pellen, originally conducted in 2018 and recently published.
The pair revealed that the Kickstarter target of AU$35,000 was established to reflect “the scale of game that we intended to make at the time.” Pellen noted that they “were debating” whether to reduce the goal by $5,000 just a couple of days before it went live, influenced by how limited they believed the game’s scope would be.
“That number was to create a Metroidvania that was very small. It was really like a small thing,” Gibson explained, with Pellen chiming in that the game would have been “like two hours or something.”
Ultimately, Hollow Knight garnered approximately $58,000, enabling the development team to “make it a level bigger,” as stated by Gibson. “Thanks to the funding we received entirely from that campaign, we were able to work for a period of two years, essentially allowing the project to expand further.” Additional financial support from the Indie Fund also played a crucial role in progressing their work.
Team Cherry seems to have a knack for expanding their projects beyond their original concepts. Marketing representative Matthew Griffin revealed in 2023 that the upcoming sequel, Hollow Knight Silksong, had been postponed beyond the first half of the year due to its considerable expansion. Given the limited previews we’ve seen, it appears that the previous reports may have undersold the game’s growth.
As Hollow Knight Silksong prepares for a brief return during the Nintendo Switch 2 launch, Xbox reminds players that the Metroidvania will be available from day one on Game Pass.