For years, fans of Hollow Knight: Silksong have been eagerly waiting for its sequel, Silksong. Many assumed the long wait was due to development issues or delays behind the scenes, but according to Team Cherry, the truth is much simpler: the game just kept getting bigger.
In a new Bloomberg interview, studio co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen explained that Silksong was originally planned as a small DLC expansion for the original Hollow Knight back in 2017. The idea was to create a slightly smaller world with Hornet as the playable character. But as development went on, the team kept adding more content, expanding the world, and even introducing a mission system to encourage revisiting earlier areas.
What started as “just DLC” has now grown into a full-blown game—possibly even larger than the original Hollow Knight. And thanks to the massive success of the first title (selling over 15 million copies worldwide), Team Cherry never felt pressured to rush things. Financial stability gave them the freedom to polish and expand Silksong at their own pace.
“There were never any real problems with development,” Gibson noted. “We’re just a small team, and making a game of this size takes time. No drama, no crisis—just steady progress.”
Interestingly, the team is already looking beyond release day. Gibson hinted that DLC could follow after launch, teasing that their future plans are “pretty ambitious.”
In Hollow Knight: Silksong, players won’t be stepping back into the shoes of the Knight. Instead, they’ll control Hornet, the agile and acrobatic character from the first game. With her higher jumps and faster movement, the level design has been built to highlight her unique abilities.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is set to launch on September 4 for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles.