Hollow Knight: Silksong: release date, trailers, gameplay, and more

By Jesse Lennox Updated August 21, 2025

Team Cherry, the three-person team behind Hollow Knight, has been toiling away at the expansion-turned sequel Hollow Knight: Silksong for what feels like forever at this point. It is easily the game that has stayed on our list of upcoming video games the longest, but the end is finally in sight. Despite being an indie game, this title has more hype behind it than even the biggest PS5 and Xbox Series X games do. If you don’t know why the internet at large is constantly talking about this game, I’ll fill you in on what all the excitement is about.

It’s finally happening! After years of delays and waiting, Hollow Knight: Silksong will arrive on September 4, 2025. Team Cherry released a trailer just under two minutes long to make the announcement, showing off more gameplay before giving fans what they’ve been asking for for years: a firm release date.

After such a long wait, Silksong is coming to just about every console under the sun. You can get it on PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2, and PC.

The reveal trailer for Hollow Knight: Silksong debuted in February 2019, showing off even more of the gorgeous animation and gameplay we saw in the first game. The trailer, naturally, focuses on the new playable character we previously did battle with in Hollow Knight, Hornet. Hornet is more than just a visual change from The Knight, too. She can speak, for one thing, giving her far more personality. William Pellen was quoted in an interview regarding Hornet’s character, stating, “She’s able to express her aims and intentions and stuff, which then means that you can’t really hide her intentions or objective from the player. So there’s still heaps of mystery, but the player will quickly — even if you haven’t played Hollow Knight — get a basic idea of who Hornet is, her attitude, and her starting goals.” The trailer also highlights several key details the game will have, including 200 new enemies, 40 new bosses, friendly NPCs and towns with quests to take, and tools to find and use.

While the art style is unmistakably Hollow Knight, all the settings shown are completely new. From the little shown in this trailer and some more gameplay footage, some story elements have come together. After escaping a cage, Hornet finds herself in a new kingdom called Pharloom, far removed from Hollownest, where a new and unknown curse has infected most of the bug population. Here, she will need to platform and fight her way to the citadel at the very top, which is a direct contrast to how progression in Hollow Knight was primarily a descent. The trailer did show a ton of varied environments Hornet will explore on her quest. If there was one thing the first game nailed, it was in its ability to tie together so many believable, detailed, and visually unique locations in a way that felt natural. We expect the team to accomplish nothing less with Silksong in that regard.

Hollow Knight: Silksong showed up in a surprising place with a trailer at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase in 2022. Not only was this the first time we saw the game advertised as coming to another platform besides Switch and PC, but it was also revealed to be coming to Game Pass the day it launches. Unfortunately, this trailer didn’t give any indication of when that day would be. Instead, we were simply treated to more gameplay to look forward to.

The release trailer was light on story, but did state that the goal will be to “ascend to the peak of a haunted kingdom.” This could be done to mirror the original game, where most of the exploration sent the player deeper down.

Silksong isn’t breaking away from the Metroidvania genre the first game was so beloved for. We will have another new, interconnected, and sprawling world to explore. Because Hornet is more of a character, and from what we have seen, NPCs also seem more important, and it looks like there will be more quests to take on as well. Of course, we can also count on a ton of new abilities to find and learn that will open up previously inaccessible areas and expand on your combat options simultaneously. Like her ability to speak, it appears that the main difference this game will have from Hollow Knight is in Hornet herself. Another quote from the developer explains that “Hornet being taller changes everything.” We can see that in action in the trailer as well. Not only is Hornet a much larger character than The Knight, but she has a faster base movement speed, higher jump height, and the ability to grab and climb up ledges.

Hornet fights with her signature needle, as opposed to the nail The Knight wielded, and has a wider move set for attacks than simple slashes to learn. Also unique to Hornet is a crafting system. Using materials called shell shards gathered in your adventure, you will be able to craft new weapons and tools to aid in both combat and traversal. A few confirmed craftables are the Pimpillo Bomb, a large explosive weapon; the Sting Shards, which shoot out spikes when Hornet is hit; and a throwing weapon called Straight Pins.

We also have confirmation of a Silk Soul mode that unlocks after completing the game for the first time. The original Hollow Knight had a Steel Soul mode that makes death permanent and makes a few NPC changes. Odds are Silk Soul mode will offer a similar level of challenge, but the exact details of what this mode will do, beyond “test your skills in an all-new mode that spins the game into a unique, challenging experience,” are unknown.

Even though we have a release date, and it is just around the corner, preorder pages haven’t gone up on any platform yet. You can still wishlist the game, but keep an eye on the official Silksong website for updates.

That said, anyone who was a backer of the original game will still get Silksong for free as part of their backer rewards, and it will be included on Game Pass as a day one title.