Hollow Knight: Silksong is a 2025 Metroidvania game created and released by Team Cherry, an independent game studio from Australia. It is the follow-up to Hollow Knight, which was released in 2017. The game was made available on September 4, 2025, for Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
The story follows Hornet, a former protector of the princess of Hallownest, after she is captured and taken to the unknown land of Pharloom. Players explore the large, connected areas of this kingdom, fighting enemies, solving platforming challenges, and completing quests using different skills, tools, and movement techniques. Initially planned as extra content for Hollow Knight, the project grew in size over time. In February 2019, Team Cherry announced it would instead be released as a full, separate game.
Silksong was praised for its graphics, music, story, world design, and gameplay. However, some players found the game’s difficulty to be very high. By mid-December 2025, the game had sold more than seven million copies, with many more players accessing it through Xbox Game Pass.
Gameplay
Hollow Knight: Silksong's gameplay is similar to its earlier version, Hollow Knight, which includes 2D platforming and combat. Some changes have been made, such as the player character moving more agilely and healing more quickly. Side quests, called "Wishes," are recorded in a journal. These quests are given by non-player characters or found at quest boards.
Equippable "Tools" are grouped into three types: blue and yellow Tools help in different ways, while red Tools are usually offensive weapons. Red Tools are activated by the player and have a limited number of uses. These uses must be restored with Shell Shards, a type of in-game currency, at Benches. Hornet has limits on how many Tools of each color she can use. These limits change depending on the play style, called "Crests." Each Crest also affects how fast and far Hornet's attacks can reach. Additionally, each Crest has a unique feature, such as increasing damage when avoiding attacks or allowing Tools to be restored without resting at a Bench.
When attacking enemies or interacting with objects and locations, Hornet collects "Silk" in her storage. Silk can be used to heal, restoring three health points (called "Masks") at once. Silk can also be used to activate "Silk Skills," which are special attacks unlocked by finding remnants of the Weavers and their society as the game progresses. Tools, Crests, and Silk Skills can be adjusted at Benches, which also provide healing and act as respawn points after all health points are lost.
Throughout the game, Hornet unlocks new movement abilities that improve her mobility and help in combat. These include a claw-like tool that acts like a grappling hook, a cloak that helps her ride wind currents to move upward or fall slowly, wall climbing ("Cling Grip"), and a jump that sends her upward using her Needle ("Silk Soar").
Plot
Silksong takes place after the events of Hollow Knight and follows Hornet in the kingdom of Pharloom. Pharloom is a ruined religious kingdom suffering from the "Haunting," a madness that affects bugs and causes their dead bodies to be brought back to life through Silk. Hornet is a descendant of the Weavers, a group of advanced bugs who can control Silk. She is captured by a group of veiled bugs and taken to Pharloom. There, she learns about her connection to the kingdom, travels across the land, meets bugs affected by the Haunting, and helps others achieve their goals to restore the kingdom.
Hornet escapes her captors and falls into the Moss Grotto. She discovers that her captors were followers of the Citadel, a holy place located at the top of Pharloom that draws many pilgrims. Hornet decides to climb to the Citadel to learn why she was captured. During her journey, she meets remnants of the Weavers and gains their power. She also meets pilgrims, residents of Pharloom, and travelers from other lands. She encounters Lace, a being made entirely of Silk who teases Hornet throughout her journey.
As the story progresses, it is revealed that the Weavers were spider-like bugs who were once controlled by Grand Mother Silk, a powerful godlike being. At first, the Weavers believed Grand Mother Silk was their mother, but they later rebelled after learning the truth. The Weavers trapped Grand Mother Silk inside the Cradle, a structure on top of the Citadel. Over time, Grand Mother Silk influenced other bugs, causing the Haunting. Some Weavers left Pharloom for Hallownest, a different kingdom, and one of them, Herrah, eventually gave birth to Hornet.
Hornet eventually reaches the Citadel and enters the Cradle, where she fights and defeats Lace. Lace is revealed to be another creation of Grand Mother Silk, who is unhappy with her existence. After this, Hornet confronts Grand Mother Silk. The battle can end with Hornet defeating Grand Mother Silk and taking her power, becoming the new ruler of Pharloom, or a parasite inside Hornet consuming both of them.
If Hornet has completed many tasks and fulfilled most wishes, she can work with the Caretaker, a guardian of a shrine in the Citadel, to create a trap called the Soul Snare, which can defeat Grand Mother Silk. This allows Hornet to access the final part of the game. After the trap is set, Hornet holds Grand Mother Silk during the battle and activates the trap, only to find it opens a portal to the Void. The Void pulls Grand Mother Silk into the portal. Grand Mother Silk tries to pull Hornet with her, but Lace saves Hornet out of anger toward her mother and is pulled into the Void instead.
After waking up, Hornet finds Pharloom in ruins. Grand Mother Silk and Lace are trapped in a cocoon at the bottom of the Abyss, the deepest part of Pharloom, surrounded by a sea of Void. Because of Grand Mother Silk’s resistance, threads from the Void have grown from the ground, making Haunted enemies stronger. Hornet realizes these threads will cause Pharloom to collapse. She talks to the Caretaker, who is part of a group of spellcasters called Snail Shamans, and learns that Grand Mother Silk is fighting the Void to save Lace. To reach her, Hornet works with the Shamans to find a flower called the Everbloom, which can block the Void, by collecting the hearts of fallen rulers from her memories.
Using the Everbloom, Hornet dives into the sea of Void to reach the cocoon. She defeats the Void-corrupted Lace and purifies her. Grand Mother Silk, now very weak, gives Hornet her final power to escape, but the Everbloom breaks before they can reach the surface. The Knight, the main character from the first game, appears and saves Hornet and Lace, carrying them out of the Void. With Grand Mother Silk gone, the dark threads disappear, freeing Pharloom from the Haunting and the Void.
Development
Hollow Knight: Silksong was first planned as extra content for Hollow Knight. This content, which would let players control a character named Hornet, was being developed even before Hollow Knight was released. At first, the game was meant to take place in Hollow Knight's Hallownest. However, Team Cherry found it difficult to fit Hornet into Hallownest because the world was designed for a character of a different size. Instead, the team created a new world. Because they often added more details during development, this new world eventually became a full sequel to Hollow Knight.
In the February 2021 issue of Edge, Ari Gibson and William Pellen, co-founders and co-directors of Team Cherry, shared details about Silksong's development. They described their process as carefully managing how much they added to the game. Gibson explained that their approach involved testing many ideas through challenges like bugs, caves, and ruins. Pellen said the team planned to build the game gradually, without knowing all the final details at first. They also mentioned that Silksong would not be harder than Hollow Knight, aiming for a similar level of challenge. However, they noted that enemies in Silksong deal more damage than in Hollow Knight, which was done to create a gameplay experience that shifts between full health and near-death states. To balance this, Hornet's healing ability was made faster and stronger than the Knight's.
In August 2025, a Bloomberg article provided more information about Silksong's development. Gibson and Pellen explained that their original plan was to create a smaller world than Hollow Knight and include a system that encouraged players to revisit areas. However, they expanded the game's map as development continued. The team chose to share little about the game's progress during development, as they wanted to focus on making the game and avoid revealing too many details before release. Bloomberg suggested that the long development time was partly due to Team Cherry's small size and their focus on creating a polished experience. Pellen said the final years of development were spent adding polish and details. Gibson described the process as "enjoyable" and "very satisfying." Both developers said they could have kept expanding the game but decided to stop to avoid further delays. Instead, they plan to add extra content after the game's release, as they did with Hollow Knight.
In September 2025, the ACMI Game Worlds exhibit shared details about Silksong's map. Additions to the map were made up until August 7, 2025, and some areas, like the "Red Coral Gorge," were removed during development. A zine included in the exhibit featured quotes from Gibson and Pellen. Pellen said, "we have a plan… but the plan is never so fixed that it can't change later." They also addressed the game's difficulty, with Gibson explaining that Hornet is faster and more skilled than the Knight, so enemies had to be more complex. He added that players can reduce difficulty through exploration, learning, or avoiding challenges entirely.
Release and marketing
Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced on February 14, 2019, in a trailer. A developer diary video shared more details about the game. After the announcement, GameSpot reported that updates were occasional and not frequent. In March 2019, the developers released an update that included descriptions and images of characters appearing in Silksong. They thanked fans for supporting the announcement of the sequel.
Silksong was playable at E3 2019, at the Nintendo booth. A Nintendo Treehouse livestream also showed the game. Team Cherry posted a new blog entry shortly after, explaining that the area "Greymoor" is one of the largest they have ever created. The post also described more gameplay details. In December 2019, Team Cherry shared another blog post. It included a two-track preview of the soundtrack, composed by Christopher Larkin, and an update about the number of enemies developed (165 at that time). The post also focused on a group of characters described as "members of a scholarly suite."
In June 2020, Team Cherry began a series of riddles that revealed non-player characters and short videos of Silksong once solved. These riddles continued into July. One of the characters revealed was "Seth," created by a fan named Seth Goldman, who was battling terminal cancer and wished to meet Team Cherry. In December 2020, an issue of Edge magazine shared details about Silksong, including screenshots and quotes from Gibson and Pellen. In May 2021, Team Cherry's marketing and publishing director, Matthew Griffin, stated the team was still working on the game and had no plans for announcements during E3 2021 or its general period.
A new trailer was shown at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase in June 2022. It revealed that Silksong would be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch, for PC and Xbox Series X/S. No release date was announced in the trailer, but Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, and the Xbox Twitter account stated in a tweet that all games in the showcase would release within twelve months, suggesting a release by June 12, 2023. The account later confirmed this date in a reply. In September 2022, Sony confirmed in a tweet that the game would come to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. On May 10, 2023, Griffin stated the game was delayed, explaining that development was still ongoing and the game had "gotten quite big." He said to "expect more details once we get closer to release."
On February 14, 2024, marking five years since the game's announcement, Griffin posted on Discord that Team Cherry was "still hard at work on the game." After nearly a year of silence, in January 2025, Griffin responded to online rumors, stating Silksong was still in active development and planned for release.
During a Nintendo Direct presentation for the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 system on April 2, 2025, Silksong was shown in a sizzle reel, with a 2025 release date and new footage. Soon after, Nintendo sent new screenshots of the game to press. On May 1, IGN announced that Silksong would appear at ACMI's Game Worlds showcase, opening on September 18, 2025. The exhibit included sprites from the game, information on boss fights, and the ability to play Silksong. It also shared a partial spritesheet of Hornet. On June 8, Silksong was shown at the 2025 Xbox Games Showcase as part of the ROG Xbox Ally reveal trailer. It was confirmed to be available on the console day one, with the console planned for a Holiday 2025 release. Griffin later clarified the game would release before Christmas 2025 and was "not tied to a console release."
On July 28, a new Silksong demo was announced for playable at the Xbox booth during Gamescom 2025, starting August 20. The demo was later confirmed playable at the Nintendo booth on August 7. On August 19, Team Cherry announced a "special announcement" on August 21. A Bloomberg interview with Gibson and Pellen was also scheduled for that day, stating it would "explore why Silksong has taken seven years to develop." On the same day, Silksong appeared at Gamescom Opening Night Live, where it received new footage. Two days later, the Bloomberg interview was published, and the "special announcement" aired on YouTube. It was the game's release trailer, ending with the reveal that the game would release on September 4, 2025.
The announcement of the game's release date just two weeks before its release caused some indie games originally set to release around the same time to delay their dates to avoid being overshadowed by Silksong. Others, such as Hell Is Us, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, and Cronos: The New Dawn, kept their original dates. Team Cherry did not send out review codes for Silksong. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier stated they did this because organizing them was difficult as a small team and because they believed it would be unfair for critics to play the game before Kickstarter backers and other players. When the game released on September 4, Steam, the Nintendo eShop, the Microsoft Store, and the PlayStation Store all experienced errors. Steam was temporarily taken offline, making the platform inaccessible for many users. During the first three days of its release, Silksong had over five million players, including one million via Xbox Game Pass and three million via Steam.
On December 15, 2025, the first free downloadable content (DLC), titled Sea of Sorrow, was announced in an animated teaser trailer. It is scheduled for release in 2026 and will feature Hornet's "voyage across and beneath the salt-stricken seas," with "new areas, bosses, tools, and more" added upon release. The trailer and descriptions led to speculation that the DLC might include content that was cut from the original game.
Reception
The playable Silksong demo shown at E3 2019 received good reviews. IGN writer Tom Marks said he liked "its combat and movement even more than the original," and believed "Silksong has the potential to be even better than the original." Ozzie Mejia of Shacknews praised the "a lot of detail in the environments and in the backgrounds." Matt Miller of Game Informer called Silksong a "worthy sequel" early, saying "the part of Hornet's adventure shown keeps the high quality from the original." Melanie Zawodniak of Nintendo World Report liked how fast Hornet could move vertically, as she thought such movement was "too slow in Hollow Knight." Even though the demo was short, she was sure "Team Cherry is putting as much skill and passion into the project as in their first game."
The demo shown at Gamescom 2025 also received similar praise. Adam Newell of Destructoid called the demo "stunningly beautiful with its lush visuals and animations," and said he was "hooked from the start." Josh West of GamesRadar+ said "there is a lot of detail in its visual and audio design that is exciting to experience. The gameplay is smooth, and Hollow Knight's rough edges are fixed to make movement the focus." Wesley LeBlanc of Game Informer said "if what I played today is any indication, Silksong will follow in Hollow Knight's footsteps—I really enjoyed what I played."
As of late August 2025, Silksong was on the wishlists of about 5.2 million Steam users, more than any other game on the service at that time.
Because the game took a long time to develop, fans often hoped for news about Silksong to appear at game showcases. After many times when no news was shared, fans eventually thought this hope was not logical and used clown images to show this. The most popular images were edited screenshots and fan art of Hollow Knight, showing its main character wearing a clown wig and nose.
On 16 January 2021, the YouTube fan channel Daily Silksong News started tracking and reporting updates on the game every day, leading to over 1,600 videos. Almost every video had the same script: "Today is [date]. This is [host name], your host for today bringing you your daily Silksong news. There has been no news to report for Silksong today. This has been your daily news for Silksong for today, [date]." Only 48 videos reported news before the game's release on day 1,693. The channel's main host, Araraura, was interviewed by PC Gamer writer Harvey Randall and WIRED writer Megan Farokhmanesh. Many videos were also hosted by other social media personalities.
In January 2025, Pellen posted a cryptic tweet, changed his profile picture to a piece of cake, and updated his account. A reverse image search linked the photo to a cake recipe posted on 2 April 2024. Several details about the tweet and account changes seemed connected to 2 April, leading fans to believe the changes were a clue hinting at Silksong news during the upcoming 2 April 2025 Nintendo Direct. Team Cherry's marketing and PR manager, Matthew Griffin, later said the changes were not important. However, Silksong did appear in the Nintendo Direct, where it was given a 2025 release window, which made some fans think the changes were hints from Pellen.
Because Silksong often had little news for long periods, users on the r/Silksong subreddit—called "Skongers"—created jokes, memes, and groups. These included fake posts, called "Silkposts," to trick readers into thinking there was news about Silksong. In July 2025, the subreddit "sacrificed" four users by banning them to "secure Silksong's release," which was covered because it was so strange.
Hollow Knight: Silksong received "universal acclaim" according to Metacritic, a review website. OpenCritic said 97% of critics recommended the game. In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 32 out of 40, with each giving it an 8 out of 10.
Many critics said the game was a good sequel to the original and praised its bigger, more ambitious ideas. Others liked the low price for such a large game. The art design was praised as beautiful. Ashley Schofield of Video Games Chronicle said the game had beautiful layering and detailed backgrounds, which made the world of Pharloom feel large and deep. The game's soundtrack was also praised. Christian Donlan of Eurogamer called it "haunted, playful, and endlessly beckoning," and Simon Fitzgerald of Push Square said it created the right mood for different situations. Tom Marks of IGN said the writing was strong throughout. Will Bedingfield of NME said Hornet's "sharp, amusingly standoffish dialogue" was more interesting than the original game's silent main character. Marks of IGN said she was an excellent hero with a different tone from the original. Schofield of Video Games Chronicle said the character details and humor in side-quests were highlights of the writing.
Reviewers noted that Hornet moves faster and more smoothly than Hollow Knight's main character. Will Bedingfield of NME said she "slashes her needle in bouncy flourishes," and Ashley Schofield of Video Games Chronicle praised the smoothness and precision of Hornet's controls. The game's world was praised for being detailed and fun to explore. Tyler Colp of PC Gamer said the world design helped explain the story and encouraged exploration. Boss battles were praised by Oscar Taylor-Kent of GamesRadar+, who said they were well-designed with different types of fights.
Critics said Silksong was harder than its predecessor. Some parts of the difficulty were controversial, like long "runbacks" to return to bosses, more enemy damage than in Hollow Knight, fewer resources, and the difficulty of using Hornet's diagonal "pogo" ability, especially for platforming. Some reviewers liked how the difficulty made the game feel unique, connected the gameplay to the story, and gave a sense of achievement. Others, like Ashley Schofield of Video Games Chronicle, said the difficulty was tiring and made exploration less enjoyable. Reviewers were also mixed about the side-quests, with some praising their world-building and others calling them "uninspired" and "monotonous."
Because the game was highly anticipated and had no pre-orders, Silksong caused Steam, the Nintendo eShop, the Microsoft Store, and the PlayStation Store to crash when it launched. Players could not buy or download the game at first. The game reached over 100,000 concurrent players within 45 minutes after release, peaking at over 500,000 active players during the first day. It reached third place on Steam's list of most played games and, as of launch, was the 29th most played game ever.
The increased difficulty of Silksong compared to its predecessor received mixed reactions from players. Some mods to make the game easier were created a few days after release.