You read the headline correctly — Hollow Knight: Silksong was officially revealed to the world five years ago today, on 14th February 2019.
The sequel to Hollow Knight, Silksong follows your rival-turned-friend Hornet, who is captured and taken to the kingdom of Pharloom, where she must escape and reach the top of the kingdom to find a "shining citadel". Hornet's adventure was originally planned as DLC for the acclaimed indie hand-drawn Metroidvania, but developer Team Cherry eventually expanded it into a full-blown sequel.
Over the past few years, news on Silksong has been pretty sporadic, with 2019 being the most jam-packed, including character reveals, details on new areas, and even a Nintendo Treehouse: Live at E3 2019.
Fans have been clamouring for updates, keeping themselves busy in amusing ways — such as drawing the Knight every single day. But the biggest update came in 2022 when Xbox featured Silksong in its E3 presentation — a presentation where every game mentioned would be coming out in "the next 12 months".
That obviously didn't happen, and we haven't had a new release date for the game since the May 2023 update. In fact, we haven't heard a peep from Team Cherry on Silksong since. Fans did spot asset updates in the backend of Steam last September, but that's really it.
We didn't think we'd be sitting here five years down the line à la Metroid Prime 4 (which was "rebooted" five years ago) still waiting for it, but here we are. And honestly, Team Cherry, take all the time you need.
Will 2024 be the year we finally get Hollow Knight: Silksong? Can you wait much longer? Vote in our poll below and let us know in the comments what you think.
Comments 58
This game doesn't exists. Even if it shows up at the Xbox Event tomorrow I'll pretend it still isn't real.
Tbh I kinda forgot all about this game. If it does exist then it better be known soon cause it looks like the hype is dwindling now.
As much as I respect the desire of an indie like Team Cherry to remain small to retain creative control, I don't think it's worth it. Once your creation becomes part of popular culture, you kinda have a responsibility to deliver new work every now and then.
I'm sure I'll be very excited once this game releases but as of right now, I don't exactly feel impatient anymore. I've already waited this long so I don't mind waiting longer 😅
in order to celebrate, im listening the its amazing OST!!
@Twilite9 They absolutely have no responsibility to do anything. These are people making a game, it's their game and they can do as they please. I don't even understand how someone can have thoughts like this, much less share them.
@Twilite9 ?
I get the impatience, considering how long it's taking, but I couldn't disagree with the broader gist of this sentiment more. They don't have a responsibility to release games on some arbitrary time-table you dictate. They're working on their game, and they'll release it when they're ready.
Which is something I appreciate more about indie game development in general: a commitment to releasing complete, quality products vs the messy, half-finished, early access scams that pollute the AAA market.
It’ll be ready when it’s ready, same with Prime 4. All I need to know is that they’re working on it and I’m good.
@Twilite9 They literally don’t owe anybody anything
It'll arrive when it's ready, but is it so hard for Team Cherry to just admit the game is still in development? Not even a simple progress check or update. At this point, I don't even blame the fans for being frustrated anymore, companies cannot go silent on game development for months/years at a time. Especially to the backers who already paid for the game during the kickstarter.
Katana ZERO fans be like: Lol, hold my beer.
Also... Katana ZERO fans waiting for the non-existing DLC 🤝 Hollow Knight fans waiting for the non-existing game.
I can kind of see where Team Cherry is coming from with any silence: the reputation of video game fans overreacting has only seemed to grow over the years. It may seem safer to them to communicate absolutely nothing until they have good news.
@Twilite9 I don't even know where to start, so I won't! Interesting opinion!
@Twilite9 Thank you, I had a really good laugh at the level of entitlement in your post. They don't owe use anything. Their only responsiblity is to their families. The longer they can stretch out work on these popular games, the longer they avoid the type of financial insecurity most indie developers live with.
To those frustrated by my comment:
This is not coming from a sense of self-entitled fandom. It's a de facto consequence of long intervals between projects: your audience will dwindle the longer you wait.
Dev time and quality is a tricky balance, but it's entirely possible to be unbalanced towards the latter.
@Vyacheslav333 I want more Katano Zero in my life so bad.
Metroid Prime 4 fans: Those are rookie numbers.
The subreddit for Silksong is threatening to delete itself if they do not get news in the next direct. If I were team Cherry I would need to delay the game another six months while I tried to compose myself from laughing at that threat.
@Twilite9 I really don’t understand this logic. You think a significant portion of Hollow Knight fans are going to skip on Silksong when it releases because it took too long to come out?
I think we will hear from it in 2024, not sure about the Direct or Summer fest, though. I'm not in any hurry, it's not like we're starved for good games anyways, and my backlog isn't getting any smaller.
If anything I'm glad they are working on delivering a complete experience instead of a fragmented one
I can't imagine any fan of HK being confused about why this game has taken so long.
My son asks me about this nearly every night before bed......
@larryisaman
Thanks that's precisely the point I'm trying to make: Hollow Knight fans will always be there if the dev takes a decade. That audience which includes you, me and everyone on this site, is already in the bag. But the broader audience will dissipate if you keep them waiting for too long.
I work in film production, so I might be biased.
It's true that not everything needs to be franchise. But the Hollow Knight universe is so special that it deserves to be more than 1 or 2 games.
They should have sold the ip to Activision or EA or even Disney. We would be on Hollow Knight 6 now and would also have several mobile games and probably a few spinoffs.
All the Hollow Knight fans would get a full 8 hours every night just knowing they could play as The Knight in Fortnight.
And we’d all be pleasantly sick of the franchise and be talking about the good ole days when it was handled by a small team who wasn’t hell bent on booty calling our wallets every chance they got.
Learn how to manage an IP, Team Cherry. This is the future. Integrity is for the weak.
@Twilite9 I think that while releasing it sooner rather than later has some benefits, the absolutely raucous celebration when the game releases will at least attract a good few people. On top of that the mythical reputation the first game has in the realm of indie games will give it the reputation so that when people hear that there's a new Hollow Knight game they'll at least know that that's a fairly big deal. Now that I think about it, the radio silence could work out well for them, because no one outside of the hardcore fanbase is remembering about this game's development. So when they burst down the door with a release date and trailer, it's the first time these people have heard about this game in a long time, instead of being reminded about the game and its development. When it does come out, they don't feel tired of hearing murmurs, they remember it exists for the "first" time.
Also, I really hope they make at least a few more Hollow Knights as well, that universe is too amazing to leave it to only a couple stories.
@Diogmites It took me a second to realize that was satire, gave me a good scare.
@Twilite9 What’s the “broader audience” for Hollow Knight though? It’s a popular game but it’s still niche in pretty much every way- anyone who liked it enough to buy a sequel will be there when it releases regardless of how long it takes. Any fan in that “broader audience” will still be made aware of the game when it inevitably dominates the conversation once it releases.
@chiiizu Well there weren’t any indicators that i was being sarcastic in the first couple sentences, so your fear was legit. I’ve never played HK, but i respect the team’s creative integrity.
@Ralizah " They don't have a responsibility to release games on some arbitrary time-table you dictate. "
While I agree with you in theory, here's the thing though, they are the ones who gave the date when they agreed to put it in the Xbox E3 where everything was supposed to come out in 12 months, and that was 20 months ago. So yeah, take as long as you need, but once you announce to the world "This game will be out within a year" you can't then expect people just to forget that after the year goes by. And if they didn't want to be in the Xbox E3 but MS did it against their will then they should have sued MS and won enough money to finish the game by now. 😂
@Spoony_Tech My kid used to ask me at dinner, but they stopped b/c they went to college, so now it only comes up every couple of weeks.😂
I gave up on this game, I liked Hollow Knight but it had issues that drove me crazy and prevented me from finishing it. Silksong seemed like it would fix some of these problems, but it's been so long since we last heard anything about it. I don't even think I'll play it even if it did release this year...
I think all the little bugs in the game are dead by now D:
Is this the year I finally get Metroid Prime 4 or Metroid Zero Mission?
I think it's quite easy why its beens delayed !!!
A certain nintendo switch 2 ,what a launch game xbox is not doing very well why not make it a switch 2 exclusive for a bit 🤔
@Botty1973 Because it runs fine on the Nintendo Switch, no need to make it exclusive when you can sell many more on the current system. Doesn't make sense.
@rjejr Did Team Cherry tell Microsoft to go ahead and say that or did Microsoft just come out and assume that? We have know idea what Microsoft is doing and nor do they apparently because only one game came out in those 12 months lol
@rjejr I don't disagree that they've severely mismanaged expectations about the release date, mind you. They should have been more careful with their messaging unless they were sure their game was closer to full completion.
@Spoony_Tech If you were making a game and someone was putting it in a video I think it's up to you to find out what systems they are saying a game is going to be on and when they are going to release. If a company comes to you and asks "Is it ok if we promote your game in our big E3 video?" and you say "OK" b/c of all the free publicity so you don't bother asking those questions than that's on you and you deserve the blowback. Now I'm not talking death threats or harassments or any of that BS garbage, but I think it's legit for people to ask when a game is after you promote it in a big E3 event saying it will be out in 12 months. 🤷♂️
@rjejr once again only one game released in that whole sizzle reel in that 12-months. So who's to blame all the companies that didn't release a game or Microsoft for saying it?
@RBRTMNZ I dare that sub to commit to the threat. Funniest thing I've read today.
The real question is whether this or Metroid prime 4 will release first.
Imagine being an elderly Kickstarter backer and dying before the game you backed finally gets around to being released.
@Joeynator3000 Do you mind elaborating? What issues frustrated you and drove you to abandon it?
@Lightsiyd Mainly difficulty and the fact that some bosses were far away from save points, so it would constantly take an eternity to get back to the boss multiple times.
Silksong is the new Metroid Prime 4 or Metroid Prime 4 is the new Silksong. It's up to you
@Joeynator3000 Metroidvanias are the genre that usually make me feel like getting 100%, but I admit I had to give up on Hollow Knight around 92% (I guess) due to the harsh difficulty. But it's a wonderful game, nonetheless
@Twilite9 Wow a responsibility? They don’t owe anyone anything, do I think their communication can be better? Absolutely, but to say they have a responsibility? It’s their stuff they can do whatever they want with and and release it whenever they feel like it, in fact they didn’t even have to make it at all.
@Spoony_Tech Both MS and the companies making the games. I don't think it's that hard or too much to ask to hold people responsible. Now what their level of responsibility is, well that's a very large gray area, but I'm not absolving them for their silence.
And besides, didn't this company already take people's money for this original DLC game years ago on kickstarter? If I'd have given them my money all those years ago in 2015 I feel I can ask them where it is. 🤷♂️
It is nice they aren't charging those people extra for it, but it's been nearly a decade, so I have no problem with asking, b/c at some point we're all thinking HalfLife 3.
I heard the game is just so good the development team decided against releasing it for fear of collapsing society as we know it overnight.
Will be a launch title for Nintendo's next gaming console, its the only logic explanation.
Coming from an avid fan, the delay will indeed affect the "buy now" desition since I will be more critical of the game concidering the time the "spend" working on it. When they announced, the game seem very polished and far into development, so this either is a business decision or what they showed was video rather than actual gameplay.
It's gotta just be a sequel at this point right?
I’ve bounced off Hollow Knight a couple of times. Everyone praises it but the punishment for death is enormous, the lack of direction is frustrating and is made worse by everything looking the same. Maybe there is a great game in there, but it starts so terribly i don’t want to give it a shot. Both Guacamelee games are far better and I’d love a third
Blasphemous 4 will be out before Hollow Knight 2. And I’m ok with that.
@Ralizah On the same page then. 👍
The hype on this one forced their hands real good. If they F4CK it up, lights out.
Since this game is taking so long to release, and Team Cherry postponed it several times, I must think they had some genius ideas ... what could it be to keep working on it for so long ... it will be a huge game full of surprises or else ... why did it take so long?
At least that's what I'm wondering.
I'm sure the reason it's taken so long is that whenever they get close to finishing they go into bug squashing mode and end up deleting all the characters from the game and having to restart.
@Elock
Have you ever made it as far as the Mantis village? I ADORE this game but I can understand why people bounce off early on. The first couple of areas can be tricky to navigate as they are pretty desolate and the game doesn't give you the basic navigation tools for free. Additionally the lack of core abilities out the gate (especially the dash) means the combat feels really harsh at the start.
If you do give it another go I would use a guide to help you brute force through the first 2 areas.
@AJWolfTill i didn’t use a guide the other couple of times i started it, so I’ll have to give it another go
I think we'll probably at least see it and it could even launch this year, but I doubt it will be during a Direct and even less so the next one whenever it happens, Summer Game Fest or another event seems more likely to me.
And as much as I'd like people (including me eventually as I haven't played the first Hollow Knight yet) to be able top play it sooner rather than later, I'm glad Team Cherry is taking its time in order to make the game they want to make!
Take your time fellas. We don't want another "Sports Story"
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