bitofarambler

“Why did this society, which otherwise seems completely alien, just happen to evolve a conspicuous element that’s uncannily similar to an element in human history?”

The game was designed to include gothic architecture and medieval society, rather than those elements evolving within the game.

It’s natural that the game would be designed with elements of human society and history given that humans designed the game around the character of a “knight”, calling to mind swordplay, castles, legends and chivalry.

If the story was all about food delivery in Adelaide in 2011, the setting and language would be very different.

Since the HK stories focus on fantasy swordsmanship, fallen castles and knights, strongly associated in the human world with chivalrous poems of legends(King Arthur, for example), the descriptions and dialogues of HK reflect that.

Could be!

Lofty, broad poetry is the HK games bread and butter, but now I’m looking forward to playing the Chinese version after I finish my English game, or at least directly comparing the texts.

They’re already overjoyed, what’s one more piece of good news?

I’m not sure what that screenshot is supposed to be directly comparing, you’ll have to ask that commenter.

The difference in the Chinese characters and words themselves is that the Silksong words are more complex, like using “无”(without) rather than the simple negative “no”, even “台”(platform) has a dozen different meanings depending on the context. The HK characters more concretely refer to single or limited actions and objects, while the Silksong characters are more complex and dynamically significant, depending on a lot of context to discern any specificity.

If all of Silksong is translated like that, it indicates the Chinese translators have focused on translating the overall shadowy, legendary, poetic atmosphere of the game throughout the descriptions and dialogue linguistically, which is contrary to the brief, down-to-earth descriptions and dialogue of much of the English source text. It seems like an artistic choice by the translators, but apparently not one that is resonating with some of the Chinese-speaking audience.

“…completely different ideas of the word medieval.”

That is likely due to our staggered familiarity with the games, which you haven’t played. Your screenshot is from one of the areas outside the collapsed castles and cities, without any narration or dialogue, and is consequently non-representative of the setting and atmosphere.

Bearing in mind that medieval only refers to one aspect of the setting mentioned above, it’s an accurate descriptor for Hollow Knight and Silksong: Medieval refers to the time after the bygone era of royal society, fallen castles and a decimated population left behind after the apparent invasion and collapse. Even in your screenshot early on in the game, you can see evidence of some higher society collapsed by that gilded metal.

The Hollow Knight games are all about a wandering knight/warrior returning long after the collapse, working their way up to a central castle structure, “The Citadel”. What used to be a thriving world and society with centralized authority has been reduced to destroyed cities and towns, abandoned, shadowy brick and mortar rooms and roads, some shuttered churches and scattered huts lit by candles. Evidence of grander past societal achievements are the physical setting of the game in the forms of great broken bridges, mechanical mechanisms that few are capable of operating or maintaining, and importantly to this thread, “the language aspects of medieval society” can be seen throughout all game text as anachronistic linguistic references to a bygone higher world, both structurally and socially.

“the characters don’t even resemble humans!”

They are not humans, they are bugs, which is where the “fantasy” descriptor comes into play.

If you like video games, you should give HK or Silksong a whirl. They are great games and a lot of what I have had a very fun time describing will be both apparent and described in-game after you’ve spent time in their world.

HK games are not set in China, but they are both firmly set in a medieval fantasy world, with knights, legends, superpowers and archaic language.

There is not much to ridicule about the literary poetry of Hollow Knight or Silksong; the mystery and grand imagery in their official description and dialogue is central to their overall historical fantasy worldbuilding.

Regarding Harry Potter, a very different modern urban fantasy setting, a Silksong phrase like “They forget your heart, bound in slumber and servitude” would be out of place(could be a Goblet of Fire clue). That phrase, however, fits squarely and properly into the medieval fantasy setting of Hollow Knight and Silksong. Both HK games are set among the ruins of a legendary, vaunted kingdom, where chivalry and remnants of castle courtesy live on.

The dramatic, archaic poetry present in HK and Silksong is a natural aspect of the game’s dramatic, archaic setting.

I am curious about the Chinese translations directly compared to the original English and how the official HK English compares to the official Silksong English.

The search-engine retranslated English from Chinese from English is very obscure.

Some Chinese is blunt, some is poetic.

Some English is blunt, some is poetic.

Original Silksong:

“They see your peace, driven of faith and toil.”

Nobody has to like poetry, but HK game language is steeped in archaic poetry, grandeur and metaphor.

There are several things to keep in mind:

The official Chinese itself makes literary sense, and is within the dramatic, haunting medieval atmosphere of the games.

From what I can read(I lived in China for 7 years and have translated Chinese wuxia comics), the Silksong quotes you shared have been search-engine retranslated to English to be unnecessarily and deliberately obscure.

The first Silksong line can easily be retranslated differently; a literal Google translation of a translation will obviously yield unsatisfying translations. Do you know the original English quotes translated into Chinese?

The Silksong translators have apparently chosen to use words like “without” rather than “no” for dramatic effect. You can translate the character for “without” as no, but the irate fans have not.

The Silksong translators have chosen to be more dramatic and poetic this time around.

It’s completely fair that people don’t like them, but the official Chinese translations themselves are not as complicated as they are being presented and fit within the poetry and medieval drama of HK.

Thank you, I thought that one sounded familiar! Let me take it out until I can confirm.

I can confirm Garmond’s exclamations.

That is very close to the English text of both the original Hollow Knight and Silksong.

Opening game description:

"They see your beauty, so frail and fine,

They see your peace, woven of faith and toil,

They forget your heart, bound in slumber and servitude,

When you wake they shall see your truth"

Dialogue

“May you ease your shell within, that your strength renewed can carry you higher.”

“this is the final bell, it shall be rang the last time ever.”

“Scoundrel! Fiend! Who dares wake brave Garmond from his well needed kip?”

“Hold there sister! A great beast stalks this land, swooping and screeching like an ill mannered tyrant!”

The HK games deliberately exist and speak in dramatic and archaic language in a world with knights, citadels, legends and lords.

The main complaint seems to be that it is translated like a wuxia novel, which is incorrectly stated to be against the tone of the game.

Wuxia describes very near exactly the tone of Hollow Knight games: a lone, chivalrous but low-born warrior wandering the land fighting their way through a mythical world of bad guys, following legends and righting wrongs while journeying toward the ultimate prize/destination.

Coupled with zero examples of “bad translations”, I’d take this article with a shaker of salt.