It's hard to overstate how eagerly Hollow Knight fans have been awaiting its sequel, Silksong, five years after it was initially announced. And now, they got a little bit of hope, in the form of an Xbox Store page.
Today, with little fanfare, Hollow Knight: Silksong got an official listing on Microsoft's website. There's no release date, no trailer, no pre-orders, or anything of that sort outside of wishlisting, but it's something, right? Right?
Oh, and one more catch: it just so happens to be April Fools Day, which has some fans treating the mysterious listing with a healthy amount of skepticism.
"Today I will not be fooled by SilkSong release dates. I will not be fooled by SilkSong announcements of any kind," wrote Twitch Director of Community Marketing & Production Merry Kish on X/Twitter. "My head is clear and my heart is open you cannot destroy me I have prepared my soul for today you rat bastards."
Today I will not be fooled by SilkSong release dates. I will not be fooled by SilkSong announcements of any kind.
— Merry Kish ☮️ (@MerryKish) April 1, 2024
My head is clear and my heart is open you cannot destroy me I have prepared my soul for today you rat bastards.
To be clear, there's no indication that this is some kind of cruel April Fools Day joke by developer Team Cherry or Microsoft, but it also doesn't tell us a whole lot about where the highly anticipated sequel is. A game can be listed on the Xbox store for any number of reasons, including routine backend work, and some listings go up well in advance of release. Silksong has also had listings on several other stores for some time now, including PSN and the Nintendo eShop.
But with a game as anticipated as Silksong, any crumb of information will spur all kinds of speculation. Even Xbox Portfolio's Senior Content Planning Manager Nick Zuclich ever-so-innocently highlighted the listing on his own X/Twitter:
Hmmm? https://t.co/5mEzisT6bC…
— Nick Zuclich (@NickZuclich) April 1, 2024
A new cool game to wishlist?! ?#HollowKnighSilksong pic.twitter.com/DQBZaJYxoM
Whatever that listing may or may not mean, Hollow Knight fans have no idea how know how to feel about all this, especially because of the dubious timing. As @Shayy_TV on X/Twitter puts it: "team cherry deciding to put the store pages up for silksong on april 1st is the ultimate chad move"
team cherry deciding to put the store pages up for silksong on april 1st is the ultimate chad move
— Shayy (@Shayy_TV) April 1, 2024
(yes, it's actually real, it's not a prank)
silksong getting store pages on april fools is a personal attack and i won't have this shit https://t.co/GrnTrgOH4R
— Moises Taveras (@PlatanoRanger) April 1, 2024
The r/HollowKnight subreddit was also hesitant to get their hopes up, with u/Plopop87 writing, "I love how the Internet is wrapped in so many layers of irony today that no one can tell whether people are just falling for jokes or feeding into them."
"Wake up babe, new silksong cope just dropped," added u/Responsible-Long-891.
As some pointed out on both Reddit and X/Twitter, the Xbox page does have an ESRB rating (Everyone +10), leading to speculation that it at least must be in some sort of playable state. However, it's worth noting that, per the Entertainment Software Rating Board's website, "ESRB raters do not play through games during the rating process for a variety of reasons," instead relying on disclosures from the developer.
Still. It's something!
Silksong is ESRB rated! This is not a drill! https://t.co/GEPL6tyJEO
— James Galizio (@Theswweet) April 1, 2024
hollow knight silksong got an esrb rating we're so back ??
— megga_styler (@MeggaStyler) April 1, 2024
Other fans, well, are all over the place, but are mostly just praying that this means some kind of impending news on Silksong.
now that silksong has a microsoft store page WHEN ARE WE GETTING A RELEASE DATE pic.twitter.com/ozeYeHZCIL
— ★ lily ★ (@pawsomelily) April 1, 2024
The SILKSONG...IS REALLL pic.twitter.com/lYTXa8wK1c
— AbdHellDiver ??/?? (@Abdelcisaill) April 1, 2024
Hollow Knight Silksong got an Xbox store page and is now available to wishlist.
— Kami (@Okami13_) April 1, 2024
Lots of Xbox people hyping this up, are we getting news soon?! ? pic.twitter.com/OpwnPzLPcQ
It's little wonder that fans are so hungry for information more than five years after Silksong was first announced on February 14, 2019. The sequel was shown off during a June 2022 Xbox-Bethesda Showcase, seemingly confirming that it would be arriving in the following year (it obviously didn't). In May 2023, Team Cherry said it had planned to release in the first half of 2023, but that it would be delayed.
"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," Team Cherry’s marketing and publishing lead Matthew Griffin said at the time.
Obviously, you don't get a sequel this anticipated without a beloved predecessor. Hollow Knight was a hit among fans and critics alike following its 2018, with IGN writing in our 9.4/10 review that its "rich world and incredible depth of content will make you want to explore its caves for dozens of hours."
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
