Hollow Knight Silksong Is Real—and Reddit Was Dead Wrong

What to know

• A 10‑year‑old Reddit post downplayed the promise of Hollow Knight—calling it just another side‑scroller in a crowded genre.
• In reality, Hollow Knight went on to sell over 15 million copies and become a genre-defining indie hit.
• Its sequel, Silksong, is launching on September 4 2025 across PC, consoles, and Xbox Game Pass Day One, priced around $20.
• Multiple indie developers are shifting their release dates to avoid releasing alongside Silksong’s hype.

In 2015, Team Cherry’s first project was still little more than a Kickstarter dream. When the trailer for Hollow Knight appeared on Reddit, one user skeptically argued that the game was “fine” but unlikely to succeed in a saturated 2D side-scroller market.

Other users chimed in, agreeing that its art was nice but doubting it would ever stand out.

A decade later, those dismissals read like comedy in hindsight. Hollow Knight became one of the most acclaimed indie games of the past 20 years, blending hand-drawn art, intricate world-building, and demanding combat into a title that has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. What began as a tiny Adelaide studio’s experiment now stands as a cultural landmark.

The long road to Silksong

Originally conceived as DLC, Silksong quickly grew beyond its scope. The choice to focus on Hornet, a fan-favorite character from the first game, gave Team Cherry room to expand their universe while avoiding re-treading the same ground. For fans, this isn’t just more Hollow Knight—it’s a reimagined experience with sharper difficulty, greater depth, and new mechanics.

Originally conceived as DLC, Silksong has evolved into a massive standalone sequel. It features Hornet as the protagonist, over 200 new enemies, 40+ bosses, around 100 benches, quest systems, two new currencies, and craftable tools—a clear leap in scale from the first game.

The industry jiggles

The announcement of Silksong’s release date has had wide ripple effects. Several indie titles—like Demonschool, Baby Steps, Aeterna Lucis, Clover Pit, and Faeland—have postponed their launch dates to avoid being overshadowed. This highlights just how culturally significant Silksong has become—an indie behemoth influencing release calendars industry-wide.

The comparison to Grand Theft Auto VI’s effect on release calendars is not an exaggeration. For the first time, an indie sequel is commanding the type of industry gravity usually reserved for blockbusters. This signals how profoundly Hollow Knight has reshaped indie visibility and market expectations.

The skepticism voiced in that old Reddit thread serves as a compelling contrast to where Team Cherry stands today—demonstrating that vision, passion, and craftsmanship can defy expectations and “prove Nostradamus wrong.”