What We Know About Hollow Knight: Silksong — One of the Biggest Games of the Year

Fans of Hollow Knight have been waiting for the sequel for almost seven years. During all this time, Team Cherry maintained strict radio silence, as a result of which their next project acquired a semi-mythical status, comparable to Half-Life 3. Gamers endlessly speculated about when Hollow Knight: Silksong would be shown, and actively discussed why development was taking so long, fearing the worst. Finally, the wait is coming to an end — the new Hollow Knight will be released in just a couple of weeks. Ahead of launch, Team Cherry brought a demo to gamescom, and many first impressions of the game have already appeared online. Let’s break down the key details available so far.

The first Hollow Knight is often called one of the best Metroidvanias of all time, so it’s no surprise that a large and dedicated fan community has formed around it, keeping interest in the sequel alive all these years.

Of course, one can argue over which Metroidvania truly deserves the title of the greatest, but the original Hollow Knight has the quality needed to claim that throne. Team Cherry, a studio of only three people, managed to create a project with a unique atmosphere, a memorable visual style, intriguing lore, and, most importantly, one of the most carefully designed virtual worlds in gaming. The regions of Hallownest form an engaging interconnected web of levels filled with countless secrets — an essential aspect of any Metroidvania.

On top of that, Hollow Knight stands out for its well-thought-out progression system, excellent boss battles, and perhaps the perfect balance of difficulty: the game is welcoming to newcomers, yet full of hardcore challenges for those seeking pain and suffering.

While everyone was waiting for news about Silksong, gamers split into two camps trying to explain the prolonged silence from the developers. The first group was convinced the sequel was stuck in development hell — that the creators had run into serious difficulties and didn’t know how to get out of them. The second group’s theory was that Team Cherry was simply swimming in millions earned from the first game’s impressive sales, taking their time with the next project at their own pace.

If you leaned toward the latter version, congratulations — you guessed right. Jason Schreier interviewed the developers, who explained why the project took so long. According to co-founder Ari Gibson, there was no drama:

Over the years, Team Cherry expanded only slightly, hiring just a handful of additional people, which naturally affected the pace. The developers also admit they simply got carried away with the process of creating the game itself. The second co-founder of Team Cherry, William Pellen, said this:

The main heroine of Silksong is Hornet — the defender of the kingdom from the first game, who in the sequel finds herself in a new land called Pharloom. Breaking free from captivity, Hornet embarks on a dangerous journey to the top of the kingdom, toward a shining citadel. Along the way she fights numerous enemies (the developers added over 200 new types of foes and 40 bosses), solves puzzles, and uncovers her destiny.

The Silksong demo brought to gamescom was split into two parts: players could try the Moss Grotto or the Deep Docks. The first area is relatively simple, while the second caused the press and exhibition visitors quite a lot of trouble.

The key takeaway most people reached after the demo is that this is a refined Hollow Knight. It’s the same formula with similar structure and gameplay — which is exactly what the vast majority of fans of the first part were hoping for: an expansion, not an entirely new dish. Levels are still labyrinthine, filled with hidden passages, and the controls remain highly responsive.

That said, Silksong is not without its own identity. At the very least, the sequel has become noticeably more dynamic than the first game. Hornet is more agile than the Knight — she can climb over obstacles, and her attacks are delivered with greater precision.

She has access to a new ability called Bind, which encourages risky behavior in combat. By spending Silk — Hornet’s unique energy — she can instantly restore three health masks at once, instead of just one, and she can do this both on the ground and in the air. However, this requires fully replenishing Silk first, which is most quickly achieved by engaging in combat. In the original game, healing was significantly slower.

Since Hornet is such a nimble character, Team Cherry leveled the stakes by increasing the speed of her opponents as well. This fundamentally changed the rhythm of the combat system and added new depth to the fights: precise dodges and parries have become much more important.

The main new feature is the so-called Tools. Now, using a crafting system and found materials, players can create items that expand Hornet’s combat options. For example, you can craft a throwing knife or something akin to a bomb. Tools can be used repeatedly, but each has its own reload conditions. For instance, to wield the Silkspear — a weapon delivering powerful strikes — you must fight enemies to recharge its uses.

That’s all for now. What other innovations the developers have built into Hollow Knight: Silksong, we’ll discover at launch. The game releases on September 4 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, as well as previous-generation consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.