I'm not sure if the coral region in those Silksong trailers were scrapped for a reason, but seeing what it most likely looked like in it's prime, then then seeing the Blasted Steps and the Sands when you play the game is... yikes. Seeing the lore mentioning water and then seeing absolutely no water, sand everywhere and the place just looking dead is?? I know that there's not like, an overflow of lore in general, but it kind of gives the impression (in most areas) that the land's former glory is just lost to time, especially in the areas that changed drastically. Hell, look at Verdania.
The MUSIC in the area too, it's probably one of my favorites in the game. It's very somber and I just generally found it beautiful. Pairing it with the visuals, and Sands of Karak easily just makes me... upset? I don't remember the last time I've felt genuinely upset at a game because of the storytelling instead of me just sucking. The area was definitely the reason I actually slowed the hell down and looked at the other areas more deeply and... holy shit. Verdania is just gone, straight up. Blasted Steps and the Sands of Karak are sandy and dried out, the only things (that I noticed) left over is the coral. Don't even get me STARTED on the Putrified Ducts and Bilewater. The latter is miserable—also with a beautiful soundtrack I've never noticed ingame somehow—but I still feel a sense of loss for it. What did it used to look like? What did the enemies use to look like??
What the hell did the Citadel do to this kingdom.
I know this isn't the most elegantly worded but, I honestly love Silksong and the worldbuilding it does. I'm glad I held onto the naive hope that Team Cherry would catch lightning in a bottle twice, because they absolutely did for me and I'm really fucking happy about it.