Hollow Knight: Silksong

***Hollow Knight: Silksong*** is a Metroidvania action-adventure video game developed and published by Team Cherry for Windows, macOS, Linux and Nintendo Switch. Released on 4 September 2025, it was originally announced in February 2019 as a sequel to the 2017 game _Hollow Knight_.

## Gameplay

_Hollow Knight: Silksong_ is a 2D Metroidvania action-adventure game, which takes place in a haunted kingdom inhabited by bugs.

The gameplay is similar to that Hollow Knight. The player controls Hornet, an insect like creature who uses a needle to fight enemies. During her adventure, Hornet finds many hostile creatures. The game has 165 confirmed different enemies. Hornet will also find many friendly non-player characters.

_Silksong_ has a quest system, with characters asking Hornet to do what they want. The quest system has at least four sections: Hunt, Gather, Wayfarer and Grand Hunt. Hornet will be able to craft weapons and tools from materials.

The checkpoint system from the first game returnd in _Silksong_.

Instead of using soul to heal like the Knight from _Hollow Knight_ did, Hornet uses silk. She can near instantly heal three empty masks on the move using an ability called "Bind" instead of needing to stop and slowly heal one mask at a time like the Knight, which could put it in danger from receiving more damage. However, this depletes her entire bar of silk. Upon death, instead of leaving a Shade like the Knight did, Hornet instead leaves a cocoon of silk that refills all 8 notches of silk in her bar when broken. Hornet loses the main currency of the game, rosaries, upon death without the Rosary String item and they cannot be regained.

## Plot

Hornet finds herself captured and taken to the kingdom of Pharloom, which is said to be "ruled by Silk and Song." Hornet must climb to the top of this kingdom to reach a citadel in order to find out why she was brought to this strange kingdom. This is opposite with the progression of _Hollow Knight_, which involves descending into the depths of Hallownest and trying to stop the infection plaguing the Kingdom. Along the way, she fights many powerful opponents including knights, warriors and assassins.

## Development

Team Cherry is a small indie development studio based in Adelaide, South Australia.

_Hollow Knight: Silksong_ was announced on 14 February 2019 in a trailer and with a developer diary video sharing more information about the game. The game will be released for Windows PC, Mac and Linux, with Nintendo Switch being the only console to receive the game at launch.

During the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, it was revealed that the game would be coming to Xbox Game Pass through PC and Xbox Series X/S. It was also revealed that the game would be coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Originally, Hornet was planned as a second playable character to be included in a downloadable content pack (DLC) for _Hollow Knight_, funded as a stretch goal in the game's Kickstarter campaign.  Eventually, Team Cherry decided to expand the DLC to a full sequel. While in the process, Team Cherry revealed some of the character animations for Hornet and Steel Assassin Sharpe, a villain from the game.

The developers released an update about the game in March 2019, sharing descriptions and images of characters who will appear in _Silksong_. They thanked the game's fans for supporting them about the announcement of the sequel. Team Cherry released a playable demo of the game at E3 2019 that had two areas: Deep Docks and Moss Grotto.

In December 2019, Team Cherry released a preview of the game's soundtrack, composed by Christopher Larkin, as well as an update on the total number of enemies currently developed, with a focus on three enemies, described as "members of a scholarly suite."

In April 2025, the game was confirmed to release later that year. In May 2025, the game was confirmed to be at ACMI's upcoming Game Worlds exhibition. In June 2025, Team Cherry marketing manager Matthew Griffin confirmed that the game would release before Christmas 2025. In August 2025, the game was confirmed to release on 4 September 2025.

## Infobox (video game)

- **title**: Hollow Knight: Silksong
- **developer**: Team Cherry
- **publisher**: Team Cherry
- **engine**: Unity (game engine), Unity
- **platforms**: Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
- **released**: 4 September 2025
- **genre**: Action-adventure game, Action-adventure, Metroidvania
- **modes**: Single-player video game, Single-player
- **artist**: Ari Gibson
- **composer**: Christopher Larkin