With how long it takes for games to get made these days it's only natural that some become lost within the shuffle, yet gamers were overjoyed to finally be blessed with a release date for one of the most anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 titles.
While Grand Theft Auto 6 might have been the title on everyone's lips for a long while – especially following the disappointing reveal of a delay earlier this year – there is one particular game that you might have spotted in the chat of pretty much every event for the past six years.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is the follow up to the highly acclaimed 2017 indie game with the same name (sans subtitle), and the reveal of a sequel just two years after its predecessor was released had plenty of people ready to jump back into the Metroidvania world.
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Little did they know what would follow though, as following that 2019 reveal – which included a gameplay demo, no less – there would be radio silence on the game for the next three years.
It then got a second trailer in 2022 revealing that it would be coming to Xbox Game Pass, but following that there would be another three years with no further updates leading many to wonder if the game was ever going to actually come out.
Thankfully Gamescom 2025 gave fans the news they've been desperate for, as developer Team Cherry has finally revealed when you'll be able to get your hands on Hollow Knight: Silksong — and it's a lot sooner than you might think.
What is the release date for Hollow Knight: Silksong?
As revealed in a new release trailer from Team Cherry on YouTube, Hollow Knight: Silksong will finally launch on September 4, 2025 — just two weeks from the announcement yet 2,380 days since it was first shown off to the world.
The game will be available on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, alongside PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S — with the latter two benefiting from day one Game Pass access.
It ends a long streak of people posting clown-makeup related memes before and after every big gaming event where Silksong was repeatedly absent, and the close proximity of the game's launch to the release date reveal is perfect for anyone who simply couldn't contain their excitement otherwise.
Why did Silksong take so long to release?
While the short answer is that game development takes a while, especially with the small team that developer Team Cherry has, a detailed new report from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reveals the particularities behind the 'delay'.
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"We've been having fun," explained Team Cherry co-founder Ari Gibson, adding that "this whole thing is just a vehicle for our creativity anyway. It's nice to make fun things."
This directly contradicts the theory that many people held that Silksong was in 'developer hell' — a state where the game isn't progressing as planned, leaving it effectively in limbo with no clear sign that it'll ever be finished.
"It was never stuck or anything. It was always progressing," Gibson continued. "It's just the case that we're a small team, and games take a lot of time. There wasn't any big controversial moment behind it."
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Perhaps what harmed the game's reputation the most was how early they showed off gameplay – arguably a necessary part of securing vital Kickstarter funding – leaving players to wonder what they were doing all these years if the game was developed 'enough' at a point over half a decade ago.
We'll soon see if the finished product was worth the excruciating wait for many fans in just under two weeks time, but it's now left people searching for the next title to hang their hopes on being shown at upcoming events. Half Life 3, anyone?