Silksong patch 2 was released just days ago and fixed a bug that nearly torpedoed my own playthrough, but developer Team Cherry saved the real big news for today: the game's notoriously bad Chinese translation is getting an overhaul, seemingly next month.
Hollow Knight: Silksong launched in great shape and saw glowing initial user reviews on Steam (among other platforms), but it soon took a Steam review beating once Chinese users learned just how awful its localization had been for the region. This is the single biggest ding to the game's Steam review score, and it's not even close.
With non-English reviews filtered out, Silksong currently sits at 91% positive on Steam. With global reviews factored in (and the overwhelming majority of negative reviews being Chinese), that drops to 82% – still a "Very Positive" score that many games would be happy to have, but far below its English score as well as the original Hollow Knight's 96% positive rating (97% for English-only reviews). It's also well below where I'd rank the game, but then, I'm not a rightfully unhappy Chinese gamer.
Team Cherry was quick to promise improvements for Silksong's Chinese translation, and in a new blog post, it says those fixes are incoming. After patch 2, the studio's "first priority remains to improve Silksong’s Simplified Chinese translation," it says.
"A new script, by a well-regarded team, is already well underway. We're expecting this new translation to be delivered in 3-4 weeks, with implementation to follow immediately after," Team Cherry continues.
The current Chinese version of Silksong is so bad, it seems, that Team Cherry has advised users to "consider shifting over" to a fan-made mod that retranslates the entire game. Team Cherry tips its hat to this "talented group of Hollow Knight fans" and says "we've heard good things about the mod."
