Hollow Knight fans were in for quite a surprise at Gamescom 2025, learning that there were mere days away from playing a much-awaited sequel to Team Cherry’s beloved platformer that took the world by storm in 2017. If you haven’t had the chance to play it, know that its popularity is earned, with the game’s setting, combat, world-building, and overall experience proving to be quite refreshing and very interesting to its players.
The adventures of an insectoid warrior in a land devastated by an unknown epidemic won over many players, myself included, with its charming take on a desolate world. With a world that kept expanding in every direction, and a lot to discover and do within its confines, Hollow Knight quickly caught my attention, and rarely lost it thanks to its charming visual style and excellent combat design.
However, with eight years of little to no updates about its sequel despite a lot of hype, Team Cherry’s recent shadow drop of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date has me very excited for what is shaping up to be another success story for the studio. From what I’ve seen of its gameplay, Silksong could very well take the fight to some of this year’s best titles, too.
As a game that was originally meant to be a DLC chapter in Hollow Knight, whose size and scope increased to make it a sequel, the hype surrounding Silksong is clearly justified. But what makes it so special in comparison to its predecessor?
Let’s find out!
Familiar But Fresh
One of the first reasons that comes to mind is the game’s choice of protagonist. By choosing Hornet as the central character of the game’s new setting, Team Cherry has cleverly tied its two games together in a way that can allow returning players to feel a sense of continuity, while newcomers could be curious to know what makes Hornet such a crucial part of the franchise.
As the former Princess, her martial skills are beyond question to anyone who faced her in the first game. Her origins are as compelling as her motivations, and it will be interesting to see how her adventure is taken forward in the new game as she takes on whatever threats are in her way.
Her abilities also make her the perfect choice for exploring a larger, more complex world. I’m very curious to see if we’re going to uncover more about her past and her relationship with characters from the first game with whom she has deep ties to.
But Hornet’s only one part of the equation when it comes to what has me convinced that Silksong is going to steal the show in 2025.
New Fights to Face
Hollow Knight’s excellent combat mechanics were made even better by the enemies its players were using them against. There was a staggering variety in some of enemies that the Knight faced down in the first game, and some truly creative enemy designs that pushed my skills to the limit, thanks to their clever designs and intuitive use of the environment during those epic battles.
Silksong seems poised to cleverly build on that key strength, and it’s a decision that could spell out very good news for the upcoming title. Pharloom is set to house more enemy types, bosses, and benches for Hornet to discover, spread out over a world that is also significantly larger than the one that came before it.
It’s a sequel where ambition has been carefully balanced against insightful explorations of everything that was great about the previous title, and Team Cherry’s excellent designs and visual style are sure to keep things very engaging in meaningful ways.
Hornet’s speed and agility, showcased in gameplay demos, already point towards a more refined, offense-based combat loop that encourages an aggressive approach even more than the original game. With specific mechanics being tweaked to encourage a more approach from its players, Silksong has the potential to overtake its predecessor in ways that even the most diehard Hollow Knight fan might not have expected.
But the core design philosophies that made exploring Hollow Knight 1 such a treat continue to underline the new game. Simply tweaking the way they are executed this time around makes me believe that Hollow Knight: Silksong could very well be the culmination of a journey that Team Cherry started nearly eight years ago.
But wait. There’s more.
Balancing Continuity and Change
Yet another reason for why I’m absolutely stoked to play Silksong is the manner in which Team Cherry has tweaked its systems to present a more refined experience.
Take the new Rosaries, for example. Replacing Geo from the previous game, you collect them from defeated enemies only to lose them in the event of your defeat. That’s now a fairly old way of punishing defeats that has found its footing in many great titles today. But Team Cherry has added a twist to that particular tale, adding in a mechanic in which using a string to tie your Rosaries together prevents you from losing them when you die.
On its own, that might seem like a fairly uninspired way to attract players who worry that their skills may not let them enjoy the experience in its entirety. But when you consider the larger world and improved enemy roster, it’s a change that signifies a more balanced approach to character progression, presenting a challenge while also mitigating a lot of the frustration that could arise from having to redo difficult segments in a world that’s as large as Pharloom.
It’s equally likely that the Soul mechanic from the first game remains untouched, which is great since facing the Shade enemy was quite entertaining and will continue to be in the new game. Once again, it’s a great way to blend the old and new, with Team Cherry playing to its franchise’s strengths while mitigating potential weaknesses.
The Shell Shards are another intriguing addition. They’re slated to be upgrade mats to be used on crests and tools, which might be Silksong’s version of the equippable perks that we got to see in the first game. Team Cherry has made these items craftable now, and if my guesses are correct, that could give players a lot of control over their build.
If the game allows repeccing via the use of Shell Shards, it could mean that Hollow Knight: Silksong could feature a build variety that puts the 2017 title on its back foot, allowing players to have more ways to adapt to any given situation. That’s another win when factoring in the new enemy types and bosses, many of which might need a respec or two before you get it right.
All of that has me quite excited for Silksong, and the best part about my optimism for the title is that I’m not alone.
A Community of Fans
The importance of Hollow Knight’s success cannot be overstated when analyzing the hype surrounding Silksong in the long run-up to its release. With that being said, the game has received a lot of positive attention every time it made a public appearance, with E3 2019 being a great example.
Reactions to a playable demo of the game echoed many of the sentiments that I’ve expressed here, with a lot of praise directed towards the manner in which the game improved on what came before it in meaningful ways that directly impacted how the experience felt to its players.
It was arguably why the game received the Most Anticipated Game at the 2021 edition of the Unity Awards, and is perhaps why it received similar feedback to E3 2019 at Gamescom 2025. It’s evident that Team Cherry has used the intervening years to add polish to an already refined experience, making Silksong a potential benchmark in visual and graphics quality in addition to a solid gameplay loop.
With the game sitting on the wishlists of around 4.8 million users on Steam, it’s clear that it has garnered a lot of hype among players as well. And with a $20 price tag, making it all the more accessible, it’s clear that Team Cherry has taken a very comprehensive look at the value proposition they aim to deliver with Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Considering that the game is going to be bigger than the original title, and perhaps take longer to beat, along with multiple endings potentially making a return, Silksong is going to be quite the entertainer at a price point that would absolutely justify its presence among 2025’s greatest hits.
While I’m always cautious around games that generate this much hype prior to their release, I think it’s safe to say that Silksong could recapture the magic of its predecessor and build on it in ways that make the new title all the more special. We’ll have to wait and see if all the fuss was worth it, but I just know that it’s going to be quite the entertainer, and perhaps the greatest performer of the year.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
