Summary
When it comes to painfully long gestation times,Hollow Knight: Silksongsits right up there withRed Dead Redemption 2andBeyond Good and Evil 2, leaving fans of the firstHollow Knightto grasp at just about any piece of news, hoping for some release date information. Whenever an industry event or showcase rolls around, countless players watch with bated breath,expecting to seeSilksong, and usually being disappointed by the result. At this time, Team Cherry has yet to nail down a firm release date for the sequel.
But the thing is, the wait forHollow Knight: Silksonghasn’t actually been that long, at least in comparison to games likeBaldur’s Gate 3, which released over two decades after its predecessor. The firstHollow Knightcame out seven years ago, with the last DLC for the game,Godmaster, dropping in summer of 2018. Putting this into perspective, the gap isn’t that significant, especially when game development has been known to take upwards of five or six years.Silksongwas first revealed just a year afterGodmaster’s release, and the five years since have been an exercise in managing expectations and dealing with disappointment.
It’s also worth remembering that Team Cherry is a three-person studio, so a longer development period ought to be expected.
Team Cherry Shouldn’t Feel Pressured to Show Off Hollow Knight: Silksong Prematurely
The Wait for Silksong Has Been Long, But Only Relatively
Silksonghas recently been rated in Australia, leading many to believe that the game will come out sometime this year, despite no official announcement from Team Cherry. This sort of wishful thinking, while it may or may not be realistic, is indicative of the painful relationship so many gamers have had withSilksongmarketing and PR: if there’s news about the game, however small, it will be viewed as evidence that the game is coming soon. Then, when the game is missing from a showcase like Summer Games Fest, or when Team Cherry remains silent on the matter of a release date, there’s a sense of disappointment.
The firsttrailer forHollow Knight: Silksongdropped five years ago, and it did a great job of hyping players up for an ambitious new chapter in theHollow Knightfranchise. But hype is fickle, and often leads to frustration or disillusionment—a dichotomy that has been seen time and time again in the world of gaming.Silksong’s first reveal trailer, though not accompanied by a release date, planted a seed in the minds of many players, making them believe that the game would be launching relatively soon. Then, when Team Cherry delayed the game indefinitely, disappointment started to grow.
Team Cherry Should Keep Expectations In Check
Maybe arelease date forSilksongwill be revealed soon, and maybe it won’t. Many expect the game to come out this year, but it could very well drop in 2025 or even later. The game will take as long as it needs to be as good as possible, and players should be at peace with that. At the same time, Team Cherry plays a role in managing these expectations.
Everyone’s excited to see more ofSilksong, but if a new trailer comes out and it isn’t paired with a firm release date, it could end up exacerbating frustrations, stoking the flames of hype without giving players concrete information about what to expect from the game. IfSilksongstill doesn’t have a release datethat Team Cherry feels confident about, then that’s completely fine, but the developer should play things close to the chest in that case. MoreSilksongnews, be it a press release, gameplay trailer, or something similar, should only see the light of day when Team Cherry has a specific, imminent release date in mind.
