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Team Cherry upgrade the excellent Hollow Knight with Vulkan for Linux

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Team Cherry have given their excellent action-platformer metroidvania Hollow Knight a bit of an upgrade, which you can test out on Steam in a fresh Beta test.

Not played it before? You're missing out. Hollow Knight is a classically styled 2D action adventure across a vast interconnected world. Explore twisting caverns, ancient cities and deadly wastes; battle tainted creatures and befriend bizarre bugs; and solve ancient mysteries at the kingdom's heart.

Originally released in 2017 it's had quite a few free content updates, with this brand new Beta test mainly for an upgrade of the Unity game engine they use from 2017.4.10f1 to 2020.2.2f1 which is an absolutely huge jump and upgrade to do. For the Linux version, they're also switching from OpenGL to Vulkan. Not just that though, here's what else they added and fixed up:

  • Added "Borderless" option to fullscreen in video options
  • Fixed uncollected Grubfather rewards being miss-able
  • Enabled controller rumble (only supported for certain configurations, e.g. Xbox One controller on Windows)
  • Fixed the Soul Tyrant battle in pantheons getting stuck after being defeated sometimes
  • Fixed death loop if moving too high during Absolute Radiance phase 2
  • 64-bit is now required for Windows
  • Vulkan is now the default graphics API for Linux
  • Other minor fixes


To access the Beta, you can right click on the game in your Steam library and find the Betas tab on the left. In the dropdown box it's the only one there:

So why are they doing this for a multiple year old game? Well, they're currently developing Hollow Knight: Silksong, which will no doubt be using the same base game engine. Making sure it's all in good shape for the next game is probably why they're doing this.

You can buy Hollow Knight from Humble Store, GOG and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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8 comments

PJ Feb 24, 2021
the previous version worked without a hitch on my end. But I'm happy to see this new one - gives me another excuse to hop in and spend some more time with "Hollow Knight". This game is among the best platformers I've played and the style is simply amazing.
no_information_here Feb 24, 2021
Great to see them committed to long-term support for Linux. I am looking forward to Silksong!
slaapliedje Feb 24, 2021
They adding rumble support to the Steam controller?
seanbutnotheard Feb 24, 2021
Quoting: PJThis game is among the best platformers I've played and the style is simply amazing.

Agreed. As an old man in internet terms (now in my 40s), few games really grip me and compel me to complete them any more. This one did.
M@GOid Feb 24, 2021
Quoting: slaapliedjeThey adding rumble support to the Steam controller?

I just tested it. Rumble is available as a option, but is not working in the 4 controllers I tested, including the Steam Controller.
PublicNuisance Feb 25, 2021
Hopefully they add this to the GOG version as well.
ugly Feb 27, 2021
Quoting: PJthe previous version worked without a hitch on my end. But I'm happy to see this new one - gives me another excuse to hop in and spend some more time with "Hollow Knight". This game is among the best platformers I've played and the style is simply amazing.
I thought so too.

But there was one error that I didn't notice until I saw it mentioned elsewhere. There were some textures that didn't show in the Linux version. One example was the banker's building that would show up as all black. It was just that with the atmosphere of the game, the all black textures didn't look totally out of place.
Rooster May 8, 2021
Quoting: ugly
Quoting: PJthe previous version worked without a hitch on my end. But I'm happy to see this new one - gives me another excuse to hop in and spend some more time with "Hollow Knight". This game is among the best platformers I've played and the style is simply amazing.
I thought so too.

But there was one error that I didn't notice until I saw it mentioned elsewhere. There were some textures that didn't show in the Linux version. One example was the banker's building that would show up as all black. It was just that with the atmosphere of the game, the all black textures didn't look totally out of place.

Can confirm, the banker's building is still all black. I haven't switched to the beta though.
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