It’s become too difficult to wait for Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release.
On Feb. 24, 2017, now almost eight years ago, one of the greatest games of all time was released. Genre-defining and innovate, Hollow Knight was a masterpiece in nearly every way. The player is placed in the character of the Knight — a small, cute but also hardy protagonist. With the Knight and his iconic nail sword, the player is sent to explore the often-treacherous underground kingdom of Hallownest.
Completely hand-drawn and dripping with gothic charm, Hollow Knight’s world feels simultaneously intimate and epic: the characters are mostly bugs, yet they inhabit vast, shining castles and richly melancholic cities.
As you play the game, with its brilliant exploration, compact combat, sentimental moments and satisfying upgrade system, it’s hard not to fall in love.
I sure did.
Hollow Knight was a formative game for me, who found it a couple of years after its release when I heard my friend playing the soundtrack’s title song on the piano, piquing my interest in where it came from. By the way, did I mention this game has one of the most phenomenal, epic and atmospheric soundtracks of all time? No? Well, it does. “Nightmare King,” from the Gods and Monsters DLC, is not only one of the most thrilling and imposing boss fight songs of all time, but it’s also just a great track to listen to.
Hollow Knight introduced me to the Metroidvania genre at large, defined by vast and interconnected 2D landscapes, character and plot progression based on exploration, and tricky but satisfying platformer puzzles. What’s more, Hollow Knight’s prolific environmental storytelling, satisfying difficulty and other “soulslike” qualities gave me the confidence to dive into the “3D Metroidvanias” that are FromSoftware’s entire catalogue of Soulsborne games. I owe a lot to Hollow Knight, and it’s a game that I continue to keep close to my heart — even though I’ve never completed the endgame in Godhome and likely never will, not in my wildest dreams.
So, when Team Cherry, the small Australian-based indie development team behind the game, announced a sequel to their masterpiece in a reveal trailer in early 2019, I and every other Hollow Knight fan rejoiced. Incoming was a sequel that appeared from the trailer a worthy successor to the brilliant game, building off the mechanics of its predecessor with upgraded movement and combat systems while seemingly keeping all the original game’s charm. It was beyond exciting, and so we waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
And here we are in 2025, still waiting.
Despite an initial projected release date of 2023, the game has been delayed indefinitely, and fans’ theories have repeatedly been proven wrong.
Now it’s February 2025, and we’ve received practically no official news about Silksong’s release. Indeed, the most recent development in the story came shortly after Jan. 15, when Team Cherry co-director William Pellen changed his profile picture on X to a photo of a slice of chocolate cake alongside a tweet that said: “something big is coming. keep your eyes closed tomorrow.”
Thus began a complicated and absurd hunt for clues in what many fans thought was an alternate reality game (ARG) hinting at an April 2025 Silksong release alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct gaming event.
Such clues included similarities in the dates of the Nintendo event and the date the chocolate cake recipe was published — April 2 — and a loose connection between Pellen’s new X handle and an Australian-based wine company.
Despite the desperate search on the part of fans, however, Team Cherry’s marketing and publishing chief, Matthew Griffin, connected with the community “to confirm there was no Silksong ARG and that the changes to William’s account and the tweet were a nothingburger.”
“The cake was a lie,” said Griffin.
He later tried to appease frustrated fans by tweeting that “the game is real, progressing and will release,” but at that point, the damage was already done.
So, what now?
Griffin’s tweet may have been a nothingburger itself to throw fans off the trail, and April 2 may see Silksong news or even a full release — but at this point I’m done waiting.
If the game comes out, I’ll be ecstatic and Team Cherry will have my money within seconds, but I wouldn’t count on a release.
I can understand the lengthy development, so I try not to complain too much about it.
Team Cherry is made up of only three people — Ari Gibson, William Pellen and Jack Vine — with Griffin managing marketing and Christopher Larkin producing the soundtrack. Five people to create, advertise and polish the sequel to the biggest Metroidvania game, let alone one of the biggest video games in recent years, is astounding.
Moreover, the pressure to create something as phenomenal as the original, and the fear of failing to live up to fans’ expectations, must be staggering — something George R.R. Martin knows all too well.
But it’s still gut wrenching. Hollow Knight has surpassed the status of cult classic at this point: it’s a certifiably legendary video game for me and countless others. There’s just something about its crisp gameplay and unique charm that propels it to such a high standard. Some may argue fans put it on a pedestal, but I’d argue there’s a reason so many lists about Metroidvanias compare them to Hollow Knight: it’s the gold standard.
If it stood on its own, perhaps looking for other games to try and get the same rush would be enough, but we’ve been baited with a sequel and left on the line for six years. At this point, it’s almost cruel.
The way I’m feeling may have something to do with the headlines I’ve seen about Silksong’s being dethroned as the most followed and top wish-listed game on Steam. Some are upset, but I’m honestly not surprised. Monster Hunter Wilds, the new leader in both categories, has an imminent release date and seems exciting in its own right.
With Silksong’s only form of update being that it “is real,” it’s hard not to feel discouraged. Until there are some more concrete developments or a physical game to speak of, I will not eagerly anticipate Hollow Knight: Silksong; the pressure’s simply too much, as the ARG debacle plainly shows.
When it comes, it comes, but until that day I won’t expect it. I’ll never abandon hope, but the sorrow of not having Silksong is too great, and I respect myself better than to wither away in desperate anticipation.
Maybe I’ll just replay the original.