As I write this, the clown costume I pulled out for June’s Xbox Games Showcase is already back in the closet: Hollow Knight: Silksong will not be seen there.
Only a few days ago, the Marketing manager of the indie title reported on Twitter and reveal that the release of Silksong was actually planned for the first half of 2023, but now delay had to become. The time span promised by Xbox last year is therefore not being met and my nerves is slowly no longer able to cope with this back and forth.
Hollow Knight: Silksong – A Romantic First Announcement
To explain my state of mind, we have to take a little trip back in time: Was Silksong originally known as big paid DLC fr Hollow Knight planned, the announcement was made on Valentine’s Day 2019 that the project should now become its own game. The accompanying trailer is two minutes long and shows the protagonist Hornet exploring a new kingdom.
The trailer has been viewed 3.4 million times on the Team Cherry channel alone, plus over 6 million on the Nintendo of America YouTube channel. The fans are excited and with almost 10 million viewers only with the first trailer has Silksong shot itself into the spheres of the most popular indie games of all time.
(Patience) threads and radio silence
It’s been more than four years since the announcement, and official news about the game can almost be counted on one hand since then. Given the size of Team Cherry very understandable: The Australian development studio consists of only a few employees and if Silksong is even remotely as grandiose and polished as its predecessor, then it just takes time.
It’s a pity Lack of Communication Nevertheless: Since December 2019 there has not been a blog entry on the official website, the sparse news about Silksong is compiled by fans in exchange with the marketing manager at Discord or from interviews by Team Cherry.
The extreme commitment of the fans
And you have to give the fans one thing: They show commitment. Twitter user DailySilksong in particular has put his heart and soul into the game and published it for almost 850 daysso for over two years, a new video every day under the premise: Is there any news about the eagerly awaited Metroidvania successor?
His YouTube channel has more than 80,000 subscribers, and he has more than 20,000 patient fans following him on Twitter. Even if most of his videos are less than 30 seconds long and you can already see from the thumbnail that there is nothing new, that’s all perseverance more than impressive and is obviously also appreciated by fans.
A promise from outside
The level of anticipation for Hollow Knight: Silksong can also be regularly observed in the live chats at events: Not a Nintendo presentation goes by without countless fans banging their buttons and calling for the indie sequel. Then rose on June 12, 2022 the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase down like an angel from digital heaven, one in his hands specific release period.
All games shown there should be released within a year, i.e. by June 12, 2023 – including Hollow Knight: Silksong. A circumstance that can also be repeated on request in a tweet expressly affirmed. Meanwhile, Team Cherry itself kept a low profile: The Australian team did not intervene and had no announcement ready.
That’s exactly what we said.
— Xbox (@Xbox) June 12, 2022
Fans were skeptical as to whether Xbox had really consulted with the developers or whether they were just making big noises. It has now turned out: Yes, the plan was indeed Hollow Knight: Silksong within this period to publish if one generously ignores the last two weeks of June. The fact that nothing came of it is already at the beginning of the article – so it’s just a matter of waiting.
Swallow the disappointment and look to the future
Wrongly so Mario-Schpfer Shigeru Miyamoto I’ll spare the quote attributed to me about postponed games at this point: Everyone knows that more time leads to better results and the developers are just people with hopefully normal working hours without a crunch. So I can only swallow the disappointment that arose, especially in view of the very sporadic communication.
Somewhere I’m also to blame for my misery: Apart from the release period of Xbox, no official date has been mentioned and that I am from Hype there Fans I can’t blame Team Cherry for that either. Until the time comes and Hollow Knight: Silksong really sees the light of day, one or the other update for the game may be released – even without a release date.
