After years of not showing up to the party, Hollow Knight: Silksong made a brief appearance at Gamescom Opening Night Live this week. It opened the show with what was essentially a “proof of life” reel, and is playable on the showfloor in Cologne right now. Team Cherry also teased a “special announcement” for the long-awaited Metroidvania just before the show, separate from the short clip we saw on stage. Knowing this presentation was coming probably softened the blow of its fleeting appearance, and now, we know the “special announcement” is the one fans have been waiting for. Hollow Knight: Silksong finally has a release date.
Silksong will come to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, and Switch 2 on September 4. The announcement came after a gorgeous trailer showcasing its fast-paced, action platforming combat, a vast assortment of weirdos and bosses to fight, and its beautiful 2D environments.
It’s kind of a relief for all those years of hype and memes to come to an end in a short 2-minute trailer. Silksong was absent from game showcases for so long that even people who didn’t play the original were in on the joke, spamming stream chats asking for when Team Cherry’s next game would finally show up. If the studio had come out with a longer promotional campaign, it would have been pretty exhausting. It’s better to have this announcement less than two weeks ahead of release and just put people out of their misery. If you’ve never played the original, you’ve got enough time to play through the whole thing before the sequel. I might finally download Hollow Knight on my Switch 2 over the weekend. I know ex-Kotaku staff writer Moises Taveras will be proud.
Also, shoutout to Team Cherry for getting Silksong out before October, which has so many games that I’m exhausted looking at the list.