"It's a common occurrence for me to download the newest, hottest video game, only to briefly tinker around with it before moving on to something else. Over the years, it's been challenging to pinpoint why this is. And while there's surely a number of different factors that contribute to this, I eventually realized what was behind this block with Silksong: I'm afraid to play it."
"Hornet takes on the Bell Beast. I'm not scared of the game itself or its content--while there are some gnarly and unsettling sights in the world of Hollow Knight, it's not a particularly scary game. Rather, I'm afraid of getting lost. I'm afraid of the uncertainties ahead as I progress through the labyrinths of Pharloom and the indecision that comes with each split path. I'm afraid of not knowing where the next bench will be as I stray farther away from a safe haven--as the probability of dying suddenly and losing my rosaries increases."
The player installed Hollow Knight: Silksong at launch but has barely progressed and remains behind many peers who have finished the game. Storefronts crashed at release, and lengthy spoiler-filled conversations circulated online while the player has only defeated the Bell Beast, an early boss. This pattern repeats with new games: initial excitement followed by brief tinkering and abandonment. The core barrier is fear rather than dislike of content—fear of getting lost in Pharloom, fear of uncertain branching paths, fear of straying from benches and losing rosaries, and a broader metroidvania-driven anxiety that leads to shelving playthroughs.
Read at GameSpot
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