While many highly anticipated indie games are set to release throughout this year, the most talked about indie title continues to beHollow Knight: Silksong. However, Team Cherry recently revealed thatthe expected release ofHollow Knight: Silksongwill not be happening. While the developers previously expected it to launch in the first half of 2023, it appears the game needs more time to be fully polished.
Hollow Knight: Silksongwas announced as the sequel toHollow Knightin 2019 and has been in development for the past four years. It may go without saying that fan expectations are quite high due to the positive reception of the original. Sadly, Team Cherry has been largely tight-lipped regarding a concrete release date, though it does appear they are optimistic about the game releasing in the second half of 2023.
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Hollow Knight: Silksong Might Be Overshadowing the Indie Scene
As a result of many people eagerly awaiting the release ofHollow Knight: Silksong, the Metroidvania action-platformer has become a gravity well forindie games releasing in 2023. The longer this indie game remains unreleased, the more attention is focused on it. Even now, fans are hoping that further details on the sequel will be released at this summer’s Xbox Games Showcase.
With so much focus onHollow Knight: Silksong, it has left some wondering if the sequel is overshadowing the rest of the indie genre. Prior to its launch,Elden Ringhad a similar effect on the video game industry with people enthusiastically awaiting a release date only to see the game be delayed, too.
Memes about how the Soulslike title would never actually release became normal, but this rarely shows any detrimental effect ongames likeElden Ringthat were extremely well-received nonetheless. The main difference surrounding the hype forHollow Knight: SilksongversusElden Ringis that the latter was not created by an indie company.
Unfortunately, for an indie game to distance itself from the gravity well thatHollow Knight: Silksonghas become may be difficult. Small companies that plan to release a game around the same time frame may be met with less discussion and fewer concurrent players. The only solution here may be to try for an earlier, or much later, launch date.
For instance,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomsaw millions of playerssimultaneously flocking to explore Hyrule on its May 12 release date. This sparked a debate about whether indie developers could not—or should not—announce any news about their own games on this day. It was also largely agreed upon that trying to debut another game around the same time would be tough.
On the other hand, many games that share or explore similar elements toHollow Knight: Silksongcan benefit from its popularity. The recently released gameRusted Moss, a hybrid twin-shooter Metroidvania is one such example, with a storyline focused on fairy folklore and a uniquely designed world that observes players grappling about the map. The traversal mechanics inRusted Mosshave been compared toHollow Knight: Silksongand as such the game may have seen an increase in players due to these similarities.
Of course, none of this is to say thatHollow Knight: Silksongdoes not deserve to be one ofthe most highly anticipated games of 2023. It is unfortunate that the game has become such a powerful black hole that it continues to dominate the indie scene, though, and a confirmed release date in the near future will hopefully give other indie games room to breathe.
Hollow Knight: Silksongis currently in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
