Indie studio Team Cherry, developers of the metroidvania masterpiece Hollow Knight, recently revealed their next project. What was originally believed to be an expansion to their debut title, Hollow Knight: Silksong, as it turns out, is full-fledged sequel, and one that is looking as excellent as its predecessor, at that. In the update where they announced it, Team Cherry also provided a few updates.
For starters, they provided updated sales figures for Hollow Knight. At last count, the game had crossed 1.25 million sales across all systems, thanks to sales being boosted by exceptional performance on the Nintendo Switch. Sales figures since then have more than doubled, and Hollow Knight now stands at 2.8 million units sold worldwide.
There’s more good news for Hollow Knight fans- if you were a Kickstarter backer of the first game, you’ll be receiving the upcoming sequel for free. “Thanks to the incredible support of players and Kickstarter backers, what started out as a tiny game jam idea has become a game bought and played by over 2.8 million people,” the developers wrote. “As a backer, your support made this happen, so you’ll of course be receiving your copy of Hollow Knight: Silksong 100% free.”
That said, Team Cherry also noted that the Nintendo Switch has become the platform of choice for many people, not least for their own game. As such, all Kickstarter backers for the original Hollow Knight from the $10AUD and above tiers can choose to receive their free copy either on PC or on the Switch.
Team Cherry also went on to detail how those with even higher tier backing for Hollow Knight will be receiving free copies. “Higher tier backers who received multiple copies of Hollow Knight will also receive multiple copies of Hollow Knight: Silksong, the same rules apply as for Hollow Knight,” the developer wrote. “You can elect for your primary copy on either Nintendo Switch or PC, with all additional copies as PC versions.”
Meanwhile, Team Cherry also confirmed that on PC, all Hollow Knight: Silksong copies “will be supplied as both a Steam Key and a DRM free version”.
Finally, the developers also stated that though a few systems were notably missing in the Hollow Knight: Silksong announcement, the game might still end up coming to them. “More platforms may happen!” They wrote. “Just remember, we’re 3 people, already working rather hard, so we haven’t committed to anything else just yet. We don’t wanna collapse before we get this massive bug kingdom ready for you.”
So, excellent news all around. Backers of the first Hollow Knight will doubtless be elated with the news, while staunch Steam supports and PC users will be glad for the game’s availability on Steam, and its lack of DRM measures.
Hollow Knight is currently available on PC, Mac, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. Hollow Knight: Silksong, meanwhile, is due out for the Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, and Linux, with no release date currently provided.