Hollow Knight: Silksong’s development cycle has been painfully long, but as abnormal as this might seem for an indie game sequel, this is one situation where it isn’t all that inexplicable. Announced in 2019,Silksongfinally received a fresh release update in the recent Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, which briefly highlighted the game alongside a2025 launch window. The cycle has been significantly longer than the two years and change that passed between the 2014 Kickstarter reveal of the original Hollow Knight and its 2017 release, and the frequent radio silence has been even worse.
While keeping track of possible updates and speculation is part of my job, when it comes toSilksong, I personally settled into an “it comes when it comes” attitude years ago.Hollow Knightis one of my favorite games of all time, but I have plenty to play in the meantime, andI trust Team Cherry to release something compellingwhen all is said and done. The original game’s extraordinary ambition seemed like a simple enough explanation for how the sequel’s development could get out of hand, and a newly released interview doubles down on that perspective.
Hollow Knight Was Planned As A “Very Small” Game
Hollow Knight’s Kickstarter Changed Things
Unless you’re talking about the insect-friendly scale of its world, the last thing you could fairly callHollow Knightwould be “very small.” The game’s $14.99 price tag belies a sprawling Metroidvania experience that outclasses most of its peers in its depth of content, an incredible value prospect that helped it become a hit. In aSource Gaminginterview conducted in 2018 and published in full just this month, however, Team Cherry co-director Ari Gibson mentions thatthe original plan was to create a Metroidvania of a much less significant scale, plans that shifted with the success of the Kickstarter.
Hollow Knight’s Kickstarter sought AU$35,000 of crowdfunding, a number apparently bumped up from just AU$30,000 days before launch, and ultimately raised $58,000.
Looking at the end result, it’s clear thatTeam Cherry went above and beyond what would have been necessary to create a satisfying game experience, and that was done with relatively limited funding and the financial necessity of a reasonably efficient turnaround. Take off those constraints, and it’s easy to see how things have shifted withSilksong.
Silksong Is Capable Of More Unchecked Ambition
Far More Money & Time
Considering the enormous success ofHollow Knight,Team Cherry has far more money and time to burn withSilksong, and it’s not all that surprising that the team is going the distance with it. While it might be entirely possible to outdo the ambition of the original game in three or four years of development, the quest togo above and beyonddoesn’t have to stop there, and it obviously hasn’t.
This time around,the primary source of pressure is simply the weight of increased audience expectations, and that’s an issue that might delay development rather than speed it along. While the constant hunger for a release certainly gives Team Cherry some sense of a ticking clock, it’s just as likely to be paralyzing, much like George R. R. Martin’s seeming inability to finish anotherA Song of Ice and Firebook afterGame of Thronescatapulted the books from fantasy bestsellers to global phenomenons.
Team Cherry Might Be Its Own Worst Enemy
The Quest For Greatness Is Tough
At some point, you’ve got to call it a wrap and ship the product, andTeam Cherry might be making the whole affair harder upon itself than necessary. IfSilksonghad released years ago and maintained the high standard of the original game, it wouldn’t have needed to reinvent the wheel. Most fans weren’t asking for more than new enemies, areas, and a continuation ofHollow Knight’s polish. After six years, though, theweight ofSilksongexpectationshas only increased.
Team Cherry’s capacity and drive for greatness is a blessing and a curse, but I’d ultimately rather have it that way than any other. Even ifSilksongdoes turn out to be overstuffed and unfocused by comparison, I’d rather see a real swing for the fences, and we wouldn’t have gotten the originalHollow Knightwithout that ambition. I just hope it all coheres into something that Team Cherry is happy with, because ifHollow Knight: Silksongturns out to be the stepping stone for yet another bigger and better project, we might not see that one for another decade.
