Hollow Knight: Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong is a game by Team Cherry, the Australian studio behind Hollow Knight. It began as a planned expansion for the original game, with Hornet as a playable character, before growing into a standalone sequel. Team Cherry announced that change in February 2019. Rather than returning players to Hallownest as its original, silent protagonist, Silksong puts Hornet at the center of a new journey. Hornet was a recurring character and boss in Hollow Knight, where she wielded a needle and thread and played a significant role in the story of Hallownest.

Silksong opens with Hornet captured and taken to Pharloom, a kingdom described by Team Cherry as haunted by silk and song. Her route runs upward toward the kingdom's shining citadel, reversing the downward exploration associated with much of Hollow Knight. Along the way, she encounters unfamiliar settlements, characters, and enemies rather than simply revisiting Hallownest. Team Cherry's announcement named coral forests, mossy grottos, gilded cities, and misted moors among Pharloom's locations. The game's title points to elements central to this setting and to Hornet herself: silk is part of her identity and her equipment, while song is woven into Pharloom's mystery.

Hornet's movement and combat distinguish Silksong from its predecessor. She can leap, dash, and use her needle in fights against creatures designed for Pharloom. Team Cherry promised more than 150 new enemies in its original announcement, alongside new bosses and tools for Hornet to craft. Defeated enemies yield materials that can be used to make weapons and traps. The game also introduces quests: its announced categories include hunting rare beasts, solving mysteries, and searching for lost treasures. These objectives are recorded in a journal, giving Hornet specific tasks beyond reaching the citadel. Benches, platforming challenges, and large interconnected areas retain recognizable elements of Hollow Knight's design.

Christopher Larkin, who composed Hollow Knight's soundtrack, returned to compose the music for Silksong. Team Cherry revealed the project with a trailer showing Hornet in motion, the new kingdom, and its adversaries. A playable demo appeared at E3 in 2019, offering a look at areas including Moss Grotto and Deep Docks. Silksong was the focus of an Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase trailer in June 2022, which showed more traversal and combat. Its history as an expansion helps explain the continuity with Hollow Knight, but its new protagonist, setting, quest system, and enemy roster mark it as a separate adventure.