The Wait Is Over
Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced in February 2019 as a free DLC that grew into a full sequel. Over six years of anticipation followed, punctuated by occasional glimpses of gameplay that always looked extraordinary — and occasionally crushing bouts of silence that sparked every "release date" meme the internet could produce.
On September 4, 2025, it launched. And it was worth it.
Silksong follows Hornet, the antagonist-turned-playable from the original game, as she awakens in Pharloom — a kingdom of silk and temples, ruled by an oppressive ritual cycle she must dismantle. The tone is immediately darker than Hollow Knight's underground melancholy. Pharloom is luminous and ornate on the surface, but the systems beneath it are brutal.
Combat: Faster, More Aggressive
Hornet's kit centers on her needle and thread. She's fundamentally more aggressive than the Knight — her bouncing attacks are faster, her recovery is quicker, and her tool set (traps, silk abilities, binding techniques) rewards players who can maintain offensive pressure rather than those who turtle and wait.
The result is a combat system that feels distinct from Hollow Knight while preserving everything the original's design philosophy valued: precision, punishment for mistakes, and enormous satisfaction for mastery.
World Design
Pharloom is roughly the same size as Hallownest but built vertically rather than horizontally. The hub structure emphasizes upward progression, and the late-game interconnections — when you realize how areas you explored early connect to the final stretches — are as elegantly constructed as anything in the genre.
The NPC writing continues Team Cherry's tradition of characterizing entire societies through minimal dialogue. Every conversation in Pharloom implies a larger world that you're only seeing a fraction of.
What Critics Said
""Silksong is one of the finest action-platformers ever made. The wait was long, but this is exactly what it needed to be." — IGN, 9.5/10
""Team Cherry has done the seemingly impossible: delivered a sequel that doesn't merely live up to the original but expands what the genre can accomplish." — PC Gamer, 94/100
Metacritic: 92 | Steam Rating: 96% Overwhelmingly Positive
Verdict
If you played Hollow Knight, Silksong is not optional. If you haven't, play Hollow Knight first — Silksong will mean considerably more. Both games are available at prices that make the question of whether they're worth it almost laughable.