The Leniency Given to Todd Howard’s Starfield Isn’t Being Extended to Hollow Knight: Silksong

Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight was a massive success for fans of indie titles. The side-scroller was received with high acclaim and cemented its place as one of the games that truly defined the Metroidvania genre. However, in 2025, the anticipation surrounding Hollow Knight: Silksong, the promised sequel, has reached its limit.

Disgruntled fans seem to believe that this game may never actually see the light of day. Announced in February 2019 as the sequel to Hollow Knight, the game has faced numerous delays. Despite all this, Team Cherry seems to remain tight-lipped about its development. 

It’s not surprising that an independent studio like Team Cherry is taking too long. Initially, this silence was accepted as part of the indie studio’s meticulous process. However, patience has run thin as the years have dragged on. What is interesting to see though is how fans are treating Hollow Knight: Silksong when other AAA titles have seen similar patterns of hype, most notably, Bethesda’s Starfield.

How are Starfield and Hollow Knight: Silksong similar?

When Starfield was first announced in 2018, Bethesda seemed to suggest that the game would have come out in 2022. However, with Bethesda and Todd Howard facing multiple hurdles, it took a bit longer than they’d first thought.

Yet, despite all of this the Starfield team managed to get some information out even if all of it wasn’t related to gameplay alone. This kept the hopes up for people waiting to try out Bethesda’s space odyssey. 

For the Hollow Knight fanbase, however, disappointment has become a recurring theme. Team Cherry’s silence since their last substantial update in 2019 has left fans feeling abandoned. All fans have gotten are from third-party sources that the game is still being developed.

Give us some sort of proof then, honestly love hollow knight and been waiting forever for silksong but damn it’s been awhile, something to keep the faith in it would be nice instead of “it’s real and will release”

— Purrito Supreme (@TalenReion) January 21, 2025

It’s been 6 years since it was announced. I have lost all hope. At this point Silksong is just a gaming myth like the Bloodborne remake.

— Kino (@ZoieNolan1) January 21, 2025

Literally no one cares anymore. The team got into some money from the first game and got lazy every since. They’re not relevant to the industry anymore, they dropped the ball. It’s an inside joke to my gaming friends now how sad this company is after promising so much.
Btw this… pic.twitter.com/r8l4dOihut

— Jason (@jasonniko1234) January 21, 2025

“Will release soon” pic.twitter.com/CSW2j2UWqB

— Logican TBR (@LogicanTBR_) January 20, 2025

Fans of Hollow Knight have lost pretty much all hope for a sequel to their beloved franchise especially after Geoff Keighley announced that Hollow Knight: Silksong would not feature in Gamescom 2024.

Does Hollow Knight: Silksong deserve the Starfield treatment?

With a similar developmental journey, the question is whether Hollow Knight fans need to be a little more apologetic to Team Cherry. An incredibly successful game like Hollow Knight will definitely gain a lot of traction and the announcement of a sequel will keep fans asking for it.

When compared to Starfield, a completely new IP, the hype for Hollow Knight: Silksong was certainly a lot larger. However, when a large game like Starfield can launch a lot faster than an indie title, it may look a bit different to fans.

It would be beneficial to remember that Hollow Knight was incredibly successful and fans expect more or less the same kind of success for its sequel. The state of Starfield at present wouldn’t really fill people with hope as the game faced many bugs and issues post-launch.

Hence, staying patient and waiting for a completed game wouldn’t exactly be the worst idea. Yet, excitement may die down, especially for indie titles when a game’s developers go completely silent.

With fans on the brink of abandoning the idea of a second Hollow Knight game, Team Cherry may need to reconsider their approach to communication. So far their silence has only fueled fans’ frustration and distrust.