by Matt McAnally
Hollow Knight: Silksong was finally released on September 4th, 2025, after 7 years of fans of the previous game waiting painstakingly for its release. Team Cherry, the developers of the game, finally decided to release it, which then went on to break multiple online stores where it was being sold due to the sheer number of purchases all at the same time.
Team Cherry is a gaming company from Adelaide, Australia, made up of only 3 people, despite releasing some of the most popular indie games in modern history. When they released their most popular game yet, Hollow Knight: Silksong, many other game developers were forced to postpone their own games’ releases out of fear that Silksong would take their only chance at an award and take a lot of attention from them. The game also went on to break many online stores, including Steam, with more than half a million concurrent players on launch.
I have experienced some, but not all, of what Silksong has to offer, yet I have already fallen in love with the visuals, music, and even the great challenges it brings. These are all somewhat similar to Team Cherry’s previous game, Hollow Knight, which I have played through multiple times. All except for its early-game challenges, which have proven much harder than the early beginnings of the first game, because of the majority of enemies dealing double damage, which was almost strictly a late-game feature in the original, making the gameplay very punishing. This is balanced out by the healing mechanic, healing three healths at one time as opposed to the previous game’s one; however, it takes more resources from the player, which could instead be used for powerful attacks. Other reviewers describe it as a “constant risk vs. reward scenario,” deciding whether to “attack and end the fight quicker or heal to last longer.”
Apart from its challenging gameplay, Silksong is still a beautifully designed game, with its amazing visuals and map design. Jake Green from Tech Radar says, “Team Cherry has managed to make even the simplest passages feel thick with dirt, fog, and dust. Light is expertly used to add extra volume and scale.” Many reviewers, including Green, also praised the game’s character design, stating, “Silksong is at its best when you’re fighting a boss. Every single one is memorable: equal parts deadly and stunning”, as well as describing the protagonist as “sharp, confident, and stoic.”
When describing the content of the game, the sheer amount of it is a large topic. One reviewer from NewGame Network said, “Even after credits, I felt like another entire game was waiting for me, buried under optional content and secrets.” This same reviewer also acknowledged the versatility of the game. One player might quickly go through all of the main content in around 15 hours, while others may like to take their time and get through more optional content, such as quests, and take closer to 40 hours to complete the game.
These quests are a large, yet controversial place for criticism for some reviewers. Some described the quests as annoying and simply acted as filler content to make the game larger. However, other reviewers said that it simply encouraged players to explore more and spend more time in certain areas to discover more secrets. The latter is the viewpoint that I resonate more with, however, as I believe that most quests have much care put into them in order to give life to what would seem to be some of the more meaningless characters otherwise.
Sources:
https://www.techradar.com/gaming/hollow-knight-silksong-review
https://www.newgamenetwork.com/article/2933/hollow-knight-silksong-review-pharlooms-brutal-beauty
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