Hollow Knight: Silksong And The Strange System of Hype

It’s hard for me to imagine a more highly anticipated game in recent gaming history than Hollow Knight: Silksong. Almost every Nintendo Direct or Sony State of Play since the game was announced back in 2019 has generated a tsunami of memes in hopes the game would get a detailed trailer or release date announcement—heck, even Geoff Keighley tried to get in on the joke.

I was as excited as anyone to see Hollow Knight: Silksong get a surprise release date during Summer Games Fest 2025; however, some of that excitement was dissolved by the news that followed the announcement. At the time of writing, at least seven games have been delayed due to Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release—two of which, Demonschool and Little Witch in the Woods, I was personally really looking forward to.

As a game journalist and critic, even though I’ve made a great effort to understand what goes into making and releasing a video game, I still consider myself an outsider looking in. I keep... Read more