Jack Wagner, Editor

PHILADELPHIA – It is difficult to say if there has ever been a game release as anticipated or as unexpected as that of “Hollow Knight: Silksong.” Made by a small independent game studio based out of Adelaide Australia, the game has sold over 3.2 million copies just on steam since it was released on Sept. 4. 

Silksong’s predecessor, “Hollow Knight,” has sold 15 million copies to date, making it the 9th best selling indie game of all time. Reviewers praised the art style, combat and deep lore of the world it created. One review called it “a high watermark for metroidvania,” the genre of video games defined by large, confusing maps requiring a large amount of backtracking that “Hollow Knight” falls into.

With so much excitement stemming from the first game, “Silksong’s” announcement in Feb. 2019 was met with enthusiasm. By the time of its release earlier this month, Silksong reached almost 5 million wishlists on Steam, making it the most wishlisted game on the platform by a wide margin. But, the road to success has not been without bumps.

One of the things that defined the wait period for fans was silence. After a well-received demo at the E3 gaming convention, developer Team Cherry would post rare updates, with little information about the state of the game or expected release dates until May 2023, when one member tweeted about a delay from their anticipated 2023 release. A popular meme arose in the community due to the lack of new information where a picture of the game’s protagonist, Hornet, wearing clown makeup would be posted before any upcoming game showcase to poke fun at people getting their hopes up.

On Aug. 21, Team Cherry posted a two minute release trailer giving “Silksong”’s official release date, Sep. 4. The quick turnaround before the release surprised not only fans, but also other indie developers who intended to release their games in the same window. At least eight of these developers decided to delay their games instead of risking competition with “Silksong.”

“‘Silksong’ is a game we look up to with awe as developers and eagerly anticipate as players,” developer Sunny Side Up tweeted about their decision to delay their game, “Little Witch in the Woods.” “Given its immense influence, we fear that launching ‘Little Witch in the Woods’ on the same day would not only dishearten our dedicated team but also disappoint our devoted audience.”

Developer Necrosoft games said of their publisher Ysbryd Game’s decision to delay the release of their game “Demonschool” due to “Silksong,” “Dropping the GTA of indie games with 2 weeks notice makes everyone freak out. Ysbryd is being a good partner and paying for the delay.”

The game, “Hell is Us,” decided to keep to its Sep. 4 release day, with creative director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête saying “to shadow drop something like this is a little callous,” citing difficulties that would have arisen had the team decided to move their release due to “Silksong.”

“Hollow Knight: Silksong” received a 9/10 review from IGN and currently has a score of 91/100 on Metacritic. The game has been successful by all metrics, though only time will tell if it lives up to the standard set by its predecessor.