Hollow Knight: Silksong, the long, long awaited sequel to the beloved 2017 indie hit Hollow Knight, will not make it out in the first half of 2023 (hardly surprising at this point, since we’re already well into May). Matthew Griffin from developer Team Cherry made the announcement on Twitter, saying simply that “development is still continuing,” and declining to give an expected release window for the game.
In fact, Silksong has never had an official release date. But it made an appearance in trailer form during Microsoft’s June 2022 showcase, which purported to only feature games due out in the following 12 months. (Silksong is hardly the only casualty from that showcase, which also featured Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and several other games which have been delayed into late 2023 and beyond.)
“We had planned to release in the 1st half of 2023, but development is still continuing,” Griffin wrote. “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. Expect more details from us once we get closer to release.”
Hey gang, just a quick update about Silksong.
We had planned to release in the 1st half of 2023, but development is still continuing. 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.
Expect…
— Matthew Griffin (@griffinmatta) May 10, 2023
Griffin’s message effectively rules out any appearance by Silksong in the Xbox and Summer Game Fest showcases filling the hole left by this year’s canceled E3. Team Cherry’s refusal to commit to a release date for Silksong is probably just a sensible precaution, although the wording of the tweet does not suggest the game will be out soon. A late 2023 release or slip into 2024 seem likely.
Silksong was first announced in 2019, but Team Cherry’s subsequent yearslong silence about its development, with the exception of that 2022 trailer, has turned desperate fans’ futile hopes for news from any and every platform-holder showcase into a kind of meme. Originally conceived as an expansion for the original Hollow Knight featuring that game’s antagonist/ally Hornet as the main character, Silksong has grown into a full-fledged sequel — and, it appears, quite an ambitious one.
Whenever it does appear, Hollow Knight: Silksong will be released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. It will be available on Game Pass from day one.