Hollow Knight: Silksong's Chinese Localization Criticized, Team Cherry Promises Improvement

“Hollow Knight: Silksong,” a highly anticipated title, has encountered a notably different reception among Chinese players compared to its global audience. While the game boasts an impressive 80% overall positive rating worldwide, its Simplified Chinese version has garnered a mere 42% positive score from nearly 20,000 users. This disparity stems primarily from widespread criticism regarding the quality of its Chinese localization, which players describe as uniquely flawed and out of sync with the game's intended atmosphere. The development studio, Team Cherry, has promptly addressed these concerns, publicly committing to enhance the translation in the upcoming weeks.

The core of the issue lies not in grammatical errors, but in stylistic misinterpretations, as articulated by industry experts. Tiger Tang, known for his work on the Chinese localization of the 2020 RPG “Omori,” highlighted that Silksong's Chinese text often reads like a traditional 'Wuxia' novel, rather than capturing the game’s authentic tone. This creative divergence has led to dialogue that, at times, reportedly descends into incoherence, drawing comparisons to an amateurish theatrical performance by translation expert Loek van Kooten. The stark contrast in quality is further emphasized by the fact that only two individuals were credited for the Chinese translation of “Silksong,” a significant reduction from the six translators who worked on the first game.

Adding another layer to this controversy, one of the credited Chinese translators, Hertzz Liu, has faced accusations of divulging confidential information about “Silksong” on social media platforms. Screenshots shared by Reddit users suggest that Liu, under the pseudonym 'Hertzzz' on the Chinese platform Tieba, revealed details such as an estimated pre-Christmas release date and insights into the localization process. This alleged leak, initially dismissed as a hoax by some, now casts a shadow over the translation's integrity and the handling of sensitive project information.

The term “review bomb” typically implies an unfair coordinated effort to lower a product’s rating; however, in this instance, player dissatisfaction appears to be a legitimate response to a perceived deficient product. Given the extensive and fundamental nature of these reported translation issues, a comprehensive overhaul of the Chinese localization seems necessary. Such an undertaking would likely require considerable time and resources from Team Cherry to ensure the game meets the expectations of its Chinese fanbase and aligns with the overall quality of “Hollow Knight: Silksong.”