Team Cherry Ripe
Odd tagline, since this already looks like peak to me.
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Hollow Knight: Silksong was originally announced back in 2019, and has since experienced a development that can only be described as “protracted”, before the recent announcement of its September 4 release date. There was even a point where the game was seemingly confirmed for a 2023 release, yet here I am, writing this instead of replaying Silksong for the third time. Small Adelaide studio Team Cherry have been hard at work on the game for years, but as a Bloomberg article by Jason Scherier covered, they thankfully weren’t experiencing any of the nasty development woes we’ve heard about at many other studios. No writers’ block, no technical issues, and definitely no financial issues after the record-breaking sales of the original Hollow Knight – these people just really enjoyed making their video game and couldn’t stop coming up with cool new ideas, right up until they had to. Until the incoming free updates, of course.
The Silkposting Continues
Y’know what, I’d pay it.
The Hollow Knight fan community went a bit stir-crazy over the Silksong, to the point that the trend of Silkposting – making fake announcements of a release date and other forms of goofball trolling – went into overdrive recently. Even the members of Team Cherry joked that actually releasing the damn game would just ruin their fun – not so! Jump on the Silksong subreddit (195,000 members strong!) and you’ll find no slowdown whatsoever. Whether it’s “clarifications” that Team Cherry actually meant September 4th 2026, “giveaways” of zero Silksong keys to zero community members or just memes about the power to spot a silkpost without needing the telltale flair, the community doesn’t stop. I doubt even playing Silksong will slow them down.
A Lot Of Platforms For A Lot Of Platforming
IT WAITS.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is sure to sell huge numbers at this point – not just because the original game has apparently hit the 15 million mark, and not just because the leaked price of US$20 is so good (hopefully that means it’s only thirty of our local dollarydoos) but because the game will be available pretty much everywhere. All current consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X and S and the new Nintendo Switch 2) and all older consoles (PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch) will of course have Silksong, given how simple it is to run 2D sprite-based games on modern hardware. The game is obviously coming to Windows as well, but not just Windows – MacOS and Linux will see proper native versions arrive alongside everything else. That Linux version is especially good for me, as it means it will run natively on my Steam Deck OLED’s SteamOS operating system, eliminating the possibility of compatibility issues or glitches from the translation layer. I plan on buying the game for both Deck and Switch 2, partly to support such an affordable and high value game, but also because I’d really like to do a small article comparing the two. Silksong being such an easy-to-run game means that its limits will be defined more by the platforms, and I want to see if the Switch 2’s higher resolution, framerate and screen size can stand up to the Steam Deck OLED’s superior contrast ratio and lower input latency. What will you be getting it on? Will you go for a portable option? Or do you accept nothing less than the full 2160p 120fps experience only available on the dedicated home consoles (the Switch 2’s HDMI bandwidth being an unfortunate limiter here)?
Relief
Baby Steps | Now Releasing on September 23
Baby Steps stepped the hell away, to the tune of two whole weeks.
But now, let’s bask in the joy – Silksong is nearly here, and one of those very long waits that we only occasionally see in the gaming industry is finally over. Thankfully this is looking to be less Duke Nukem Forever and more The Last Guardian – or possibly even better, with every bit of footage or demo coverage pointing to a genuine masterwork that may just eclipse the original Hollow Knight. So much so that many indie titles have delayed their games outright from fear of the GTAVI-like power of this incoming Cherry bomb. Silksong has been on a long journey – Hornet began as merely a “2nd playable character” stretch goal in the original Hollow Knight Kickstarter, before expanding into a DLC, then into a standalone game, and finally into a seemingly massive beast of an experience – 40 new bosses is nothing to sniff at. What a time to be a gamer.
