Hollow Knight Silksong has finally landed on PC and console, though several storefronts are showing up as crashing. The long-awaited sequel to one of the best Metroidvania games ever was a long time coming, and following a surprise release date announcement at Gamescom Opening Night Live, it officially launched on September 4, 2025.
First announced back in 2019, Hollow Knight Silksong is perhaps second only to GTA 6 when it comes to new games we've wanted so very desperately for an incredibly long time. We're keeping you posted over on our Hollow Knight Silksong release day liveblog if you're keen to see play-by-play impressions, but if it's information you're after, look no further. Here's the full story behind Hollow Knight Silksong, including how much it costs how much it costs and where you can play it right now. (That feels surreal to type.)
Hollow Knight Silksong is out now
Hollow Knight Silksong's release date was September 4, 2025, so the game is out right now.
Team Cherry put out a special Silksong release date announcement video following a brief mention that it was "definitely coming in 2025" during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025. It's so close we can almost touch it.
The release date was a long time coming. Originally, Silksong was set for an early 2023 target before getting pushed back. Team Cherry's Matthew Griffin confirmed the initial delay back in the day, noting in a statement that while "development is still continuing," the scope of the project requires more time. "We're excited by how the game is shaping up, and it's gotten quite big, so we want to take the time to make the game as good as we can," added Griffin.
Hollow Knight Silksong platforms
The Hollow Knight: Silksong platforms have been confirmed as Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, and PC – via Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store.
Following the Switch 2 Direct in April 2025, it was clarified that Silksong will be coming to Nintendo's current and next-gen consoles, which is certainly exciting for those planning to get their hands on a Switch 2 this year.
Hollow Knight: Silksong on Game Pass confirmed
Hollow Knight: Silksong is on Game Pass as Day One title, meaning that those with a subscription are able to play it right now with Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass for PC.
Hollow Knight Silksong trailer
Above you can watch the debut Hollow Knight: Silksong reveal trailer, which Team Cherry used to announce the game to the world for the very first time all the way back in February 2019.
The two-minute trailer began with Hornet's kidnapping, showing her breaking free to explore lush meadows and dank underground passageways. The trailer showed there are new enemies to conquer, new bosses to fight, brand new friends to meet along the way, and new towns to explore, complete with NPC characters and their associated quests.
Hollow Knight Silksong gameplay
As for Hollow Knight: Silksong's gameplay, initially, the only footage we had to go off was from the debut trailer. That is, until Gamescom 2025! We recently had the opportunity to experience a Silksong hands-on (which you can also watch in video format above) and played the game for 30 minutes. During that time, the game played much like you'd expect after watching the teasers, with Hornet jumping into action, as she bounds and leaps over enemies with finesse.
Hollow Knight's blend of platforming and 2D combat is returning for Silksong. In fact, Team Cherry has made the platforming distinctly more acrobatic with Hornet than with the Knight in the original game: the new protagonist is akin to a gymnast compared to the Knight, deftly flipping over huge enemies with ease.
Our time with the game was a marvel. We got to play two stages: the Moss Grotto (a verdant stage, forming the introduction to the world) and Deep Docks (a mechanical hellscape from later in the game). Difficulty definitely spikes just like the previous title, as the Deep Docks had us dying multiple times as we had to think quickly on our feet and go from simple platforming to watching all of Hornet's tricks be thwarted by enemies in the blink of an eye.
Healing also works differently in Silksong than in Hollow Knight. Instead of slowly refilling her health like the Knight did, Hornet can instantly heal three health nodes, and not only that, but she can also do this on the move. However, Hornet has a Silk meter, and healing three nodes of health immediately empties the bar.
Hollow Knight Silksong story
If you've played Hollow Knight, you'll no doubt remember Hornet, who frequently got in the way of the player character, but ended up becoming their ally partway through. Hollow Knight: Silksong actually switches out protagonists, replacing the Knight with Hornet for this new adventure.
In this new game, Hornet finds herself kidnapped, and spirited away to a kingdom called Pharloom. Said to be "haunted by Silk and Song" according to developer Team Cherry themselves, Silksong's basic plot puts Hornet right at the bottom of this new kingdom, and tasks her with ascending to the top of the kingdom and reaching a shining citadel to find out the truth behind her kidnapping.
Additionally, there's also going to be side quests for Hornet to take on. These sound a lot more fleshed out than in the original Hollow Knight, as Silksong actually allows you to keep track of all your side quests in a journal. Perhaps this is an opportunity to tell more stories outside of the main plot of Silksong.
Hollow Knight Silksong development
Hollow: Knight: Silksong actually began development as another DLC chapter for the original Hollow Knight. Set to star Hornet, developer Team Cherry quickly realized the scope of the DLC was far bigger than they anticipated, so they actually carved out the space for a full-blown sequel starring Hornet instead.
Looking at the sequel now, it's not hard to see why. Hollow Knight: Silksong's debut trailer boasted of over 150 brand new enemies, including new bosses to fight in addition to this. In fact, there's brand new features for the sequel, like the ability to craft weapons, tools, and traps from materials gathered off of fallen enemies.
If you liked the music of the original game, then we've got good news for you, too. Original composer Christopher Larkin has returned to collaborate with Team Cherry to score Hollow Knight: Silksong, which means the new adventure promises to have memorable tunes for punchy moments.
In an interview with Bloomberg following the release date announcement, Team Cherry spoke on the long development, confirming that there "wasn't any big controversial moment" behind it taking almost seven years to make, but that it was rather down to the fact that they were a small team and they needed the development time to ensure they brought to life a game they wanted to make.
Team Cherry co-founder Ari Gibson also mentioned the initial plans for DLC and how that then expanded into the full-blown sequel we're set to see arrive in September.
"[W]e were recognizing that it [the then DLC] was going to become another giant thing to rival the scale of Hollow Knight or probably exceed it," Gibson said. "And then because of how we work, obviously the world ended up being just as big or bigger. And the quest system existed. And the multiple towns existed. Suddenly you end up six, seven years later."
Hollow Knight: Silksong DLC
Team Cherry has already teased plans for possible Hollow Knight: Silksong DLC.
In the aforementioned Bloomberg interview, co-founder Gibson spoke on the development following the release date news, and expressed excitement for what's to come after.
"The most interesting thing now is what can we add to it next," Ari Gibson said. "We got a plan. Admittedly, some of the plans for that stuff are kind of ambitious as well, but hopefully we can achieve some of it."
"Launching it is obviously quite exciting," Team Cherry's William Pellen also said. "What comes after for us is equally as exciting."
Check out one of the best roguelike games, or even some of the fantastic games like Hollow Knight that are out there just waiting to be played today.
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