Man plans, god laughs — only in this case, god is a tiny bug with a really sharp sword. Hollow Knight: Silksong comes out Sept. 4, marking the conclusion of a years-long hype cycle. It comes with just two weeks of advance notice. Already, no less than five games have shifted their planned release dates out of next week, some by months. I really only have just one question: What the hell, you guys?
First announced in 2019, Hollow Knight: Silksong started out as an expansion to developer Team Cherry’s incandescently popular Metroidvania, but quickly evolved into a full-sized game. Despite hints in 2022 that it would release within a year, it was delayed indefinitely in 2023, and has largely stayed absent from gaming publicity events since. Along the way, Silksong became a bona fide meme, a staple in subreddits, YouTube chats, and social media feeds. But this isn’t to discount the widespread anticipation: The original Hollow Knight has sold an estimated 15 million copies — a massive number for any game, let alone an indie.
It makes sense that other smaller games would want to steer clear of the impact zone. More than the big studios whose games are buoyed by massive marketing budgets, the life or death of an indie game is often dependent on positive word of mouth during its release week. Let’s imagine, reasonably, that Silksong sucks all the air out of the room upon release. If no one is around to talk about your new game, did it even come out?
Within 24 hours of Team Cherry’s announcement, two games slated to release in the same window — horror game CloverPit and Metroidvania Aeterna Lucis — were both delayed. Since then, more game companies have followed suit. Publisher Devolver Digital moved Baby Steps, the next game from walking sim maestro Bennett Foddy, back two weeks. Developer Sunny Side Up shifted its cozy game Little Witch in the Woods to Sept. 15. The action roguelike Megabonk is now out on Sept. 18. (Its developer Vedinad called Silksong “peak” on X.)
Perhaps the most scathing announcement of a delay came from Demonschool publisher Ysbryd Games, which pushed the Persona-inspired tactics RPG out to Nov. 19 and lamented in a news release, “Crueler still, that we should find out with such short notice.” Demonschool developer Necrosoft Games said in a statement on Bluesky that the delay was a publisher-driven decision, noting: “We aren’t mad at Ysbryd but at the situation. Dropping the GTA of indie games with 2 weeks notice makes everyone freak out.”
Representatives for Team Cherry did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
I’m so sorry for the inside baseball, but the surprise announcement of a release date for a game this important also scatters the gaming press. Over the past few weeks, we at Polygon have been sketching out some editorial plans for September. Part of this process involves identifying which games our staff should cover, and then determining which of those staffers actually has the time and bandwidth to cover them appropriately, whether that’s tentpoles like Borderlands 4 or comparatively under-the-radar games like Hirogami. It’s a balancing act. Yes, we strive to devote as much time as we can to unearthing hidden gems you may not have otherwise heard of. We also want to provide coverage of games that we know, thanks to data tools, that Polygon readers love to read about.
Now Silksong is here. Guess what we’ll devote the bulk of our coverage to? Guess what other sites will likely devote the bulk of their coverage to?
Too many games come out every month for any one website to write about everything; playing games takes time, writing about games takes time. The games media constantly has to make these sorts of decisions, and Silksong is one of those new releases that’s simply too big not to cover. Media attention smaller publishers could’ve counted on is no longer going to happen as planned. The word of mouth that could’ve at least been estimated is now, for some, silence. (One Polygon writer has devoted hours to playing Demonschool for assignment. That coverage will now be held until we get closer to the game’s November release.)
Of course, Team Cherry is well within its rights to do what it wants with its new game. And given the buzz around Silksong, no matter how or when it comes out, there’s almost no chance this thing doesn’t light up the charts. But in the years since Hollow Knight first broke indie game containment — arguably revitalizing an entire subgenre and not-so-arguably inspiring countless clones, not to mention literally millions of fans — Team Cherry attained great power. Now here’s one for the class: What’s the other half of that phrase?
