There might be some hope for Hollow Knight fans.
Six years have passed since Hollow Knight: Silksong was first announced, yet the game’s release date remains elusive. Fans of the original 2017 Metroidvania have grown increasingly impatient, but recent activity from the developers at Team Cherry has sparked fresh speculation regarding the long-awaited sequel.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is the long-awaited sequel to the hit Metroidvania game Hollow Knight. The original game was released in February 2017 on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, macOS, and Xbox One and has gone on to greatly influence the Metroidvania and platforming genre.
Updates on the game have been sparse. The game was featured in a few pop-ups and the Microsoft Bethesda Games Showcase in 2022, but since then, its absence from the spotlight has become a meme in the gaming community.
It all started with chocolate cake
This all changed when cryptic posts on the internet sparked hope among Silksong fans. The buzz began on 15 January, when eagle-eyed Redditors noticed that William Pellen, co-director of Team Cherry, had changed his X (formerly Twitter) profile picture to an image of a chocolate cake. Pelle followed up with a cryptic tweet.
Coincidentally, the following day was Nintendo’s official announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2. Because of this, fans began to wonder if Pellen’s tweet was somehow connected to the reveal.
The sleuthing didn’t stop there, with many reverse-searching the cake image and discovering that it matched a recipe for Brooklyn Blackout Cake on the Bon Appétit website, published on 2 April 2024. The Nintendo Switch 2 Direct presentation is scheduled to take place on 2 April 2025.
Adding to the mystery, fans analysed Pellen’s new X handle, @everydruidwaswr. Some speculated that “wr” might stand for “wrong” or “was wrong,” possibly referencing Druid of the Moss Temple, an NPC from Silksong. Pellen’s display name also changed to “little bomey,” which fans linked to Little Boomey, a wine from Southern Australia, where Team Cherry is based. However, the spelling discrepancy muddled the theory further.
This led to some fans believing that Team Cherry might have launched an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) to promote Silksong.
“The cake was a lie”
All of these sounds quite far-fetched, and on Saturday (18 January), Hollow Knight youtuber fireb0rn doused the hopes of many by posting an update on social media.
Team Cherry’s marketing and publishing chief, Matthew “Leth” Griffin, had clarified the situation. Griffin stated, “there was no Silksong ARG and that the changes to William's account and the tweet were a nothingburger. Apologies to have misled everyone. The cake was a lie.”
Griffin echoed this sentiment on the official Hollow Knight Discord, saying, “It wasn’t [an ARG]. But it was still some impressive sleuthing skills by the fans... like ya’ll are WAY beyond those 2020 riddles now.”
Devs confirm that Silksong will be released
Despite this clarification, speculation has continued. When asked directly on X if Team Cherry had abandoned Silksong, Griffin reassured fans, tweeting, “Yes the game is real, progressing and will release.”
It’s worth noting that when Silksong was originally announced, Team Cherry confirmed launch platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, and Nintendo Switch. Whether or not the game will debut alongside the Switch 2 remains to be seen.
Hollow Knight fans were quick to react, with one post on X (formerly Twitter) by X user @idk_jako summarising what most of the community felt at the time:
While the confirmation from Griffin reassures plenty of fans, others like X user @DailyyDelphox were skeptical, asking “Haven’t you guys been saying this for years though?” and looking for more solid updates on the game, while X user @joavictorof called the response “Disastrous communication.”
It looks like everyone will have to wait until April to see if the speculation is indeed true—or if Team Cherry still has nothing to show by then.
