There isn’t any denying that the hype prepare for Hole Knight: Silksong is in contrast to something we have ever seen for an indie sport. Within the days main as much as its launch, a number of different small studios delayed their video games to remain out of Silksong’s means, one thing typically reserved to create space for the Grand Theft Autos of the gaming world. The sequel’s launch led to Steam and the Nintendo eShop crashing (the dearth of preorders performed a job right here, after all) and noticed the metroidvania sport high out at 587,000 concurrent gamers on Valve’s platform alone. The sport additionally launched on PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Sequence X|S, Swap, and Swap 2, plus it is obtainable on Game Cross. With that in thoughts, the entire participant numbers for Silksong are enormous, showcasing that the online memes and anticipation for the sport to indicate up at occasions had been true indicators of gross sales success.
All of this mentioned, it is begun to really feel unlikely that Silksong’s launch will ever be matched by one other indie sport. But as Yoda mentioned: There’s one other.
One indie sport that might take the complete gaming world by storm is Haunted Chocolatier, the follow-up to Stardew Valley. Certain, it isn’t a direct sequel to the perennially well-liked farming simulator (that might be within the playing cards finally, although). Nonetheless, Haunted Chocolatier shares the same visible presentation and can supply a bigger world than Stardew Valley, in accordance with creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone. The RPG will see folks residing in a haunted citadel and making chocolate, which requires gathering elements. It is a “town game” like Stardew Valley, per Barone, although Haunted Chocolatier will lean extra into the action-RPG style. Oh, and it could simply be set in the identical world as Stardew Valley.
Haunted Chocolatier was introduced in late 2021, so the wait has already been years lengthy at this point–similar to Silksong. Barone has mentioned the sport will concentrate on thriller and whimsy, including to the attract for an viewers that loves discovering secrets and techniques on their very own and thru on-line communities. But the obvious purpose Haunted Chocolatier will likely be an enormous occasion when it launches is discovered just by glancing at Stardew Valley’s concurrent gamers on SteamDB. The farming simulator has averaged 100,000 gamers over the previous month and, regardless of releasing again in 2016, peaked with over 235,000 folks taking part in on the similar time simply final yr.
When evaluating the 2, it rapidly turns into evident that Hole Knight does not swim in the identical waters for Steam concurrent gamers as Stardew Valley. Not solely does Stardew Valley have quite a lot of gamers, it has quite a lot of engaged players–ones that hold coming again to the sport and assist it keep its excessive recognition. It is presumably an unfair comparability, as the previous is strictly solo whereas the latter has co-op multiplayer. But it is also attainable that Stardew Valley merely has a much bigger fanbase, which may catapult Haunted Chocolatier to even better heights than what we simply witnessed with Silksong.
There’s one different level to contemplate as nicely: Stardew Valley is the best-rated sport of all time on Steam.Certain, platform availability may reduce its full influence, however Haunted Chocolatier continues to be primed for a monstrous debut. And if it follows go well with with Stardew Valley, it may very simply begin on PC earlier than finally coming to virtually each platform, together with cell units. Oh, and as for business influence, it is price citing that Devolver Digital co-founder Nigel Lowrie has already told IGN that he screens Haunted Chocolatier in case they should alter launch plans round it.
Nonetheless, there’s additionally an argument that the subsequent Silksong cannot be predicted. Nobody ever anticipated Hole Knight to be a phenomenon–just try this decade-old Reddit submit in regards to the sport for affirmation. Moreover, a few of the hottest Steam video games of all time seemingly landed out of nowhere. Palworld has seen over 32 million gamers since popping out in early 2024, a mind-boggling quantity. Had been you conscious that there’s a sport referred to as Banana on Steam that sees about 100,000 gamers every day? Certain, it being free-to-play definitely balloons these numbers, however not many individuals would count on a sport about clicking on a bit of fruit to create that type of long-term engagement. The probability to gather a uncommon banana and presumably promote it for precise cash clearly has its attraction.
One other latest instance of this phenomenon is Peak, a co-op climbing sport that sees gamers working collectively to ascend a mountain. Fascinatingly sufficient, it is the other of Haunted Chocolatier and Silksong from a developmental perspective. Peak got here collectively throughout a month-long sport jam, although co-developer Aggro Crab had beforehand pitched the idea.
The solely factor that appears sure is that the indie house will proceed to shock us with distinctive experiences which may take years to land in our arms, or presumably seem virtually magically out of skinny air. Possibly Silksong is a novel second, one thing that may’t be replicated. Or possibly it is one other landmark occasion that will likely be surpassed finally, however not forgotten by those that skilled it.