Team CherryHollow: Knight Silksong is getting review bombed by Chinese fans over its translation in that region, and the devs have now responded.
It’s safe to say that Silksong is off to a flying start. Not only did it crash many storefronts at launch and overtake the original’s player count record within minutes, but it’s also been flooded with positive reviews on Steam.
At least, that’s the case in most regions. In China, the game is being review bombed over its wonky translation, with one expert comparing it to a “high-school drama club’s Elizabethan improv night.”
Silksong hit with thousands of negative reviews in China
If you head over to the Steam reviews for Silksong and filter by region, while most areas are listed as overwhelmingly positive or just positive, the Chinese version is overwhelmingly negative. In fact, only 38% of the nearly 32,000 reviews are positive.
The reason for this reception in China is the questionable translation of much of the game’s dialogue. Although the characters themselves speak gibberish, the story is told through text boxes, so being unable to understand them essentially makes the story impossible to follow.
Team CherryTranslation expert Loek van Kooten called the dialogue Silksong’s “real final boss” in a lengthy blog post, where he also converted some of the text back to English to prove how tricky it is to read.
“With nary a spirit nor thought shalt thou persist, bereft of mortal will, unbent, unswayed. With no lament nor tearful cry, only sorrow’s dirge to herald thine eternal woe,” one passage read. “Born of gods and of the fathomless abyss, grasping heaven’s firmament in thine unworthy palm.”
Related
Silksong devs promise to fix Chinese translation
The complaints have been heard loud and clear by Team Cherry, as marketing and publishing lead Matthew Griffin promised fans that they would be working on a fix very soon.
“To our Chinese speaking fans: We appreciate you letting us know about quality issues with the current Simplified Chinese translation of Hollow Knight: Silksong,” he said in an X post. “We’ll be working to improve the translation over the coming weeks. Thanks for your feedback and support.”
Another major complaint about Silksong has been its crushing difficulty, so be sure to check out our guides on Mossberry locations and how to upgrade your Needle to make the early game easier.