Hollow Knight: Silksong's Development Time Could Be a Bad Omen

Summary

It has now been five years sinceHollow Knight: Silksongwas first announced, and there still has yet to be any news on the sequel’s release date. The anticipated follow-up toHollow Knightwas originally slated for an early 2023 release, but developer Team Cherry chose to postpone the game’s release to make sure the game is up to par with fan expectations. Although the reasoning behind delayingSilksong’s release is commendable, such a lengthy development cycle could be a bad sign.

Theexcitement forHollow Knight’s sequelseems to have reached its apex as many fans are wondering when they will finally get another update. Since the sequel’s announcement back in 2019, there have only been a handful of updates from Team Cherry, and this raises some questions about whether a long-runningHollow Knightfranchise is sustainable or not.

Hollow Knight: Silksong Tag Page Cover Art

The Future of Hollow Knight Could Be Limited

Hollow Knightis one of the biggest indie successes in recent memory, and the sequel has a lot of pressure to live up to, so the careful development is understandable. It’s also worth noting thatTeam Cherry is a small studiothat only consists of three people.Hollow Knight’s success is a great achievement for such a small team, but this could also be bad news for fans who are hoping for moreHollow Knightin the future.

After Silksong, Team Cherry May Need To Expand

OnceSilksongfinally sees the light of day, Team Cherry may benefit from growing its team if the ultimate goal is continuing theHollow Knightfranchise. Of course, the studio could still remain small in order to keep its charm, but adding a few more members to its team may be the best decision to keepHollow Knightgoing. There are hopes from many fans thatSilksongwill finally be releasedsometime this year or 2025, but Team Cherry remains silent.

If developing a sequel has taken this long, that doesn’t sound promising for any potential third entry in theHollow Knightfranchise. There is a lot of pressure on Team Cherry, which has to be stressful for the small team, and adding some extra developers could help make the development of future games run smoother. Although there is also speculation about a potentialshadow drop forSilksong, it’s more likely that Team Cherry is incredibly diligent in its work, and that’s an enormous amount of work for just three people to handle.

Team Cherry’s Future

For a three-person team, the studio has created one of the greatest Metroidvania titles of the twenty-first century, and it will be exciting to see what their future has in store. However, the stakes for Team Cherry are pretty high right now, andan update onSilksongis long overdue. The release date for the highly anticipated successor is still a huge mystery, and that’s worrisome.

It would be a shame ifSilksong’s long developmentended up giving Team Cherry a bad reputation after such high praise and support from both players and critics. Although it’s great that the studio wants the game to be as polished as possible before it’s released to the public, Team Cherry needs to get the ball rolling sooner or later. Seeing an indie studio like Team Cherry defying the odds and becoming even stronger would be great, but the studio may need to embrace growing just a little bit if it wants to continue theHollow Knightfranchise.