- Primary Subject: Hollow Knight: Silksong (Full Release Version)
- Key Update: While Hollow Knight: Silksong delivered solid Metroidvania gameplay upon release, its prolonged seven-year wait and secret-heavy marketing created hype that ultimately overshadowed the final game.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: January 20, 2026
- Quick Answer: Extended development silence generated unmatched fan anticipation that made the guessing game and community hype more thrilling than the actual, play-it-safe sequel.
Team Cherry certainly created something truly special with Silksong. As someone who has played it, I can confidently say it has certainly lived up to its name as Hollow Knight's sequel, improving on nearly everything its predecessor did.
However, as fun and amazing as it may be, a particular problem stands out. Fans of the game will remember that Silksong took roughly seven years to develop. The time spent on development was long, agonizing, and even frustrating, but it was eventually worth it to many once it was finally released.
While I think that the game has met expectations, the issue I find with it is that the wait for it was much more exciting and interesting. How can that be? Given that fans have claimed it as one of the top-quality Metroidvania action-adventure titles to be played?
For one, it's due to the amount of uncertainty there was. Back in the early days before Silksong's release, we barely knew anything about what the game would entail. Unlike its competitors, Team Cherry barely did any advertising for the game and mostly relied on Hollow Knight's reputation to help the sequel gain the attention it needed.
The developer did provide some information in a few video game trailers and posts, but the information and minimal marketing were spread out thinly over the seven-year wait time. It didn't help that Team Cherry never provided a clear date when the game would release. This resulted in fans playing a guessing game of whether it would come in one year or the next.
While that level of uncertainty can be considered annoying, it felt like a brilliant move. Without a definitive release schedule, it made people consider what kind of content Silksong would offer. Granted, there were small snippets of what to expect, but there were so many other possibilities that could come with them, as fans thought that the silence meant Team Cherry was hard at work in fulfilling them.
Admittedly, I was part of the crowd who believed that there would be numerous surprises to look forward to, and the ideas running through my mind kept me excited for Silksong's release. Then the game came out, and while I was still mesmerized by what it had to offer, it didn't really do anything crazy or innovative to warrant the long wait.
I would even go as far as to say it played it too safe, as it's basically just Hollow Knight but with a little more vertical gameplay and a taller protagonist. Fans who've played the game might think the same way, believing there was potential for so much more.
Again, Silksong isn't bad by any means, given that it did a bunch of things better than its predecessor, but the lack of expectations being met made it feel like it didn't live up to the long wait fans had to endure. The other reason the game's development period was better than the release itself is that it gave people something to look forward to.
This can be true for any video game with a long wait time, but Silksong did it in a way that really hyped fans up for years. Back then, it was supposed to be DLC for Hollow Knight, and people were fully prepared for it. However, Team Cherry scrapped that idea and announced that it would be its own standalone, fully fledged game instead.
This made everyone excited, as such a decision meant that it was packed with so much content that it couldn't help but be anticipated. So, when Team Cherry released the Silksong development announcement with a teaser, you can bet there was a huge uproar of excitement.
This made people look forward to every major gaming event, such as Summer Game Fest or the ever-popular The Game Awards, as each one could provide some information on the game. For the most part, they didn't, with only a Nintendo Direct offering a vague release window and Gamescom providing the first playable demo in the same year, 2025.
Team Cherry eventually provided the actual date when Silksong would be playable. While it may have been saddening and even frustrating that nearly all the events prior shared nothing about the game, given how much anticipation there was, it cannot be denied that the lack of information helped attract a lot of attention.
And because of that, people tuned in to everything, hoping for any news, and increasing the reputation of Team Cherry's project. Then Silksong came out, and people loved it, but now it's mostly remembered as a fine sequel and nothing more. Tuning in to gaming events for Silksong's release and hoping for any news was honestly more exciting and enjoyable than finishing what we got. While that may sound disingenuous towards Team Cherry's efforts, it's what I feel, and how I believe others do as well.
The game makes up for the long release time, but the wait certainly gave the community more than the actual release. Perhaps the future DLC can make things better for Silksong, but as it stands now, it's the perfect example of the anticipation overshadowing the final product.
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