Highlights
- Hollow Knight: Silksong has encountered multiple delays, leading to a prolonged silence that has disappointed the game's community.
- Team Cherry could consider shadow-dropping Silksong to generate a burst of hype and punctuate the end of the long development cycle.
- While a shadow-drop release for Silksong is possible, it may not be the best choice because the multi-platform release could potentially overwhelm the small development team.
It looks like another year has gone by without any significant news about Hollow Knight: Silksong. Fans have been paying close attention to every industry showcase, even things as small as Nintendo Indie Directs, and nothing has surfaced on the scale of 2022’s day-one Game Pass trailer. In fact, with the ongoing situation involving the Unity engine, some are now worried that the game has been internally delayed again. With an ongoing wait since 2019, Hollow Knight: Silksong is clearly in no rush to finish development, but its community still feels bummed about the prolonged silence.
Going into 2024, there is some hope that the game will be shown soon, but there are no guarantees. Hollow Knight's surprise success in 2017 was compounded with its sequel's absence to keep Silksong on everyone's minds, like Elden Ring was in the leadup to Summer Game Fest 2021. Elden Ring's DLC walking the same road as Silksong isn't much of a comfort, and fans will continue to scrutinize every gaming showcase for signs of either. At this point, any Silksong trailer drop could be considered unexpected, but a full launch could also accompany it, even if that may not be in the game’s best interest.
5 Soulslikes That Came Out Since Hollow Knight That Silksong Can Learn From
Many games have come out between the launch of Hollow Knight and its sequel Silksong, so the latter should take note of what they've done right.
Shadow-Dropping Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Possible At This Point
Sometimes, products are announced and released without warning, regardless of whether they or their release window were known beforehand. This occurrence has been dubbed a “shadow-drop,” and has made for plenty of surprises over the years, like the launch of EA's Unravel 2, or 2023's own surprise release of the Xbox exclusive Hi-Fi Rush. Shadow-dropping something as anticipated as Hollow Knight: Silksong or Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC might feel anti-climactic, but both games' massive, active fanbases should dominate gaming discussions and drive sales regardless.
Benefits of Shadow-Dropping Hollow Knight: Silksong
The shadow-drop format lends itself well to Silksong in a couple other ways, too. For one, a core appeal of Hollow Knight is diving deep into its world and unraveling its secrets. Sending the fanbase scrambling to get the game would delay secrets and spoilers getting posted online a little, and it would help foster the common Soulslike experience of everyone exploring a new title together. Plus, it's just fun to imagine Hollow Knight: Silksong's sudden big reveal being punctuated by its launch after being silent for so long. Unfortunately, a scenario like that is not only unlikely, but would also be irresponsible.
Giving Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Launch Room Would Be Best
One of the biggest reasons why Hollow Knight: Silksong won't be shadow-dropped is that it still needs room to breathe. Fans have been hyping the game up for years, even getting it trending many times, but there was no actual news for the wider public to latch onto in any of those cases. Even revealing Hollow Knight: Silksong's release date a month before it's out would give a window for that news to spread, allowing people to hear what Silksong’s selling points are and increase sales.
Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Release Should Respect Its Community
Many of those sales would be pre-orders, and there's no guarantee Hollow Knight: Silksong’s initial launch will reach every platform at once. The first Hollow Knight’s rollout was gradual, starting on PC and then slowly coming to Nintendo Switch and other consoles. Silksong has promised a lot compared to its predecessor, and among those is a large platform list that its small development team may not be able to handle all at once. Giving present and potential fans the chance to digest Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release would still be a triumphant return without the need for anything as drastic as a shadow-drop.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Franchise
- Hollow Knight
- Platform(s)
- PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series S , Xbox Series X , PC , macOS , Linux
- Developer(s)
- Team Cherry
- Publisher(s)
- Team Cherry
- Genre(s)
- Metroidvania
