Hollow Knight fans were left with an all-too familiar feeling of dismay after 2024's E3-esque video game summer showcases came and went with no word on sequel Silksong.
Fans of the franchise took to social media to share their disappointment after the June Nintendo Direct, which premiered yesterday, June 18, had announcements for Mario, Zelda, and even long-missing game Metroid Prime 4: Beyond — but no Hollow Knight: Silksong.
"All the major summer showcases have now aired, and we still haven't heard anything new from Silksong," wrote ResetEra user cvbas in a post with more than 10,000 clicks. "What gives?" Fans in the comments admitted to growing concerned for the game, which hasn't received any official updates in over a year when developer Team Cherry delayed it out of early 2023.
"I obviously want them to cook as hard and as long as possible, but I think some communication is still necessary," said SirKai. "At this point I just feel bad for the guys at Team Cherry. It has to be tough to have this insane amount of expectations on your shoulders," added Greywaren.
"We got Prime 4 before Silksong," complained a Reddit user, referencing the aforementioned Metroid game which was essentially missing for seven years. Another posted a quote from Team Cherry in May 2022, after Silksong won the "Most Anticipated Game Award from Unity. "It can't be too much longer, surely," the developer said.
Just dropped my Hornet statue it's a rough day for Silk Song copers pic.twitter.com/c3sih6joLO
— Andy Cortez (didn't pay) (@TheAndyCortez) June 18, 2024
Silksong was announced on February 14, 2019 as a Hollow Knight expansion turned full sequel focused on Hornet from the original game. "Almost from the very start, Hornet’s adventure was intended to take place in a new land, but as we dove in, it quickly became too large and too unique to stay a DLC, as initially planned," Team Cherry said at the time. "We do know that makes the wait a little longer, but we think the final, fresh world you’ll get to explore is worth it."
Hollow Knight Silksong isn’t a real game. We collectively hallucinated it.
— Tamoor Hussain (@tamoorh) June 18, 2024
We got Metroid Prime 4 before Silksong ?
— Daily Silksong News (@DailySilksong) June 18, 2024
The developer then went quiet for two years, only emerging in 2021 to announce it wouldn't have anything to say about Silksong at E3 that year, perhaps inadvertently setting the expectation that fans should expect news unless Team Cherry says otherwise.
Another year passed and Silksong finally reared its head, as the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase of 2022 revealed the game would be coming to Microsoft's console and Game Pass on day one. Further hope was inspired as Xbox had said everything shown at the event would be released within a year. That, obviously, did not happen.
The last time Team Cherry issued an update on Silksong was in February this year, when the studio's PR and marketing chief Matthew 'Leth' Griffin posted a brief comment to say it was still "hard at work on the game."
Thoughts now turn to upcoming showcases and the potential for an appearance in August at Gamescom, where Microsoft may host an Xbox event.
Image Credit: rookideperdido on Reddit
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
