ER's Competition Insights

Silksong Is Finally Coming. So Why Do I Just Want to Move On?

Emmanuel Rosier — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 13:21:39 GMT

Every Nintendo Direct, every Xbox Showcase, every indie event… the same question echoed: “Where is Silksong?”

Don’t get me wrong — Hollow Knight is a masterpiece. It deserves praise. But the sheer cultural weight of its sequel has grown so outsized that it feels like the indie scene revolves around a single, unreleased game. And now that it’s finally about to arrive, I find myself less excited and more relieved.

⏳ A Quick Chronology of the Wait

February 2019 — Silksong is officially announced. Originally planned as Hollow Knight DLC, it evolves into a full standalone sequel.
2019–2021 — Occasional updates and interviews keep fans hopeful, but no release date is given.
June 2022 — At the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase, Microsoft confirms the game will launch on Game Pass within 12 months. That promise expires quietly.
February 2024 — On the fifth anniversary of the announcement, Team Cherry reassures fans development is ongoing.
June 2025 — At the Xbox Games Showcase, Silksong is reconfirmed for 2025, still without a date.
August 21, 2025 — Team Cherry finally announces the launch date: September 4, 2025.
September 4, 2025 — After six and a half years of waiting, Hollow Knight: Silksong releases worldwide across PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo (including Switch 2), and launches day one on Game Pass.

The myth is about to meet reality.

💡 Why Silksong Became the Indie Messiah

Hollow Knight’s legacy: Universally acclaimed, often held up as the gold standard for modern Metroidvanias.
Fan devotion: A huge, vocal community hungry for more.
The vacuum effect: Silence created obsession — every non-appearance got dissected.
Media amplification: Press, creators, and fans alike turned “Where’s Silksong?” into cultural shorthand.

Meanwhile, other high-quality follow-ups haven’t sparked the same level of frenzy. Slay the Spire 2 and Dead Cells 2 are sequels to critical darlings, yet their announcements landed with a fraction of the noise. The difference? These games weren’t teased for six years, nor wrapped in the aura of mystery that has turned Silksong into something almost mythical.

🔙 We’ve Been Here Before

Duke Nukem Forever — Announced in 1997, released in 2011. Fifteen years of hype turned into one of gaming’s biggest disappointments.
The Last Guardian — Delayed for seven years. Released to solid reviews, but robbed of its cultural moment.
Half-Life 3 — Never announced, but its absence alone shaped memes, speculation, and endless hype cycles.
Cyberpunk 2077 — A cautionary tale of expectations so high that no launch could possibly deliver.

🎮 The GTA of Indie Games

Some have even called Silksong the “GTA of indie games”. But is it?

Silksong is a single-player, story-driven Metroidvania in a diverse indie landscape where success is shaped by taste, style, and cultural fit. It doesn’t set a universal baseline for the whole industry — and it shouldn’t have to.

GTA VI, on the other hand, hasn’t even released yet but is already positioned to raise the bar for AAA: scale, quality, live-service ambition, even potential user-generated content. It’s likely to become the benchmark every blockbuster will be compared against.

Silksong will be important, but not in that way — and that’s perfectly fine. What feels less fair is how its outsized hype casts such a long shadow over the rest of the indie scene.

📝 Why I’m Ready to Move On

I want Silksong to succeed. I’ll play it. I’ll probably love it.

But I’m also ready for this chapter of the industry zeitgeist to be over. Indie games shouldn’t live in the shadow of a single “messiah.” There are too many other voices, visions, and risks worth celebrating.

On September 4, 2025, Silksong will finally be here. And when it does, I’ll be happy — not just because I’ll finally get to play it, but because we can finally move on with our lives. 🚀