It’s official:Hollow Knight: Silksongis coming in 2025. The most recent Nintendo Direct gave fans of the indie smash hit a brief, four-second taste of the highly anticipated sequel, as well as a release window for sometime later this year. That four-second clip provided a lot of information, including a sample of a new environmental quirk that players never saw before in the firstHollow Knight.It implies thatHollow Knight: Silksongis headed in directions that the first game never dared to go.
Fans ofHollow Knightwill have noticed that Hornet is far more agile and acrobatic than her predecessor, the Knight, and the level design shown for the sequel speaks to this.In previous trailers ofHollow Knight: Silksong, Hornet has been shown utilizing her environment in brand new ways. She uses wind tunnels to gain a vertical edge, grappling hooks to traverse impassable gaps, and attacks as a sort of double jump. She also has access to many of the Knight’s abilities, including the dash and wall jump. However, those four seconds of footage at the Nintendo Direct showed that Hornet has other obstacles her predecessor never had to cross.
Hollow Knight: Silksong to Introduce Sloped Environments
One of the most prevalent changes from the first game shown inthe Nintendo Direct Switch 2 revealwas a sloped platform that Hornet slides down. Hornet is shown in an environment covered in what looks like either cotton balls or, more thematically, silk balls. Hornet reaches a spike-covered gap in the slope, does an acrobatic spinning flip jump over the spikes, and lands gracefully on the other side before continuing her slide downwards. It is the first time that players have seen a sloped environment like this inHollow Knight.
This environmental change is in line with Team Cherry’s vision forHollow Knight:Silksong. On the developer’s official website for the game, Team Cherry states that players will be able to “Engage in lethal acrobatic action” and “Wield a whole new suite of nimble moves” as Hornet. It seems that these nimble moves will include sliding down sloped platforms. This runs counter tothe level design of the firstHollow Knight, which maintained flat platforms throughout, even in its more vertical sections.
Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Premise Teased New Environments
The kingdom ofHollow Knight: Silksongis also set to be larger than the first, which would lend itself well to Hornet’s nimbler playstyle. That said, the official website states that the player’s goal will be to “ascend to the shining citadel at the top of the world.” Ascend is the key word here. Rather than moving deeper into the world to reach the goal, Hornet will be climbing up. This may limit the number of sliding sections in the game, but that’s not to say that the whole game will be moving in a down-to-up direction. If the firstHollow Knightis any indicator, players will likely have to go down sometimes to go up. Such isthe nature of Metroidvania-style games.
It also begs the question of what other types of environments players should expect inHollow Knight: Silksong. Maneuverability seems to be the key here, and previous trailers have shown environments with a lot of moving parts. How Team Cherry plans to incorporate all of these new environmental pieces to create variety in the level design waits to be seen. Whichever direction Team Cherry intends to go – up, down, sideways, and now diagonally – players should have faith that they are holding off on revealing too much because they want to maintain a degree of surprise whenHollow Knight: Silksongfinally drops later in 2025. The four-second Nintendo Direct clip and previous trailers are just a small taste of what’s to come.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
WHERE TO PLAY
Play as Hornet, princess-protector of Hallownest, and adventure through a whole new kingdom ruled by silk and song! Captured and brought to this unfamiliar world, Hornet must battle foes and solve mysteries as she ascends on a deadly pilgrimage to the kingdom’s peak.Hollow Knight: Silksong is the epic sequel to Hollow Knight, the award winning action-adventure. As the lethal hunter Hornet, journey to all-new lands, discover new powers, battle vast hordes of bugs and beasts and uncover ancient secrets tied to your nature and your past.
