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Hollow Knight: Silksong has been delayed from the first half of 2023 to an unannounced date (twitter.com)

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[–]LinkWink[S] 437 points438 points  (18 children)

If you can't access Twitter:

Hey gang, just a quick update about Silksong.

We had planned to release in the 1st half of 2023, but development is still continuing. We're excited by how the game is shaping up, and it's gotten quite big, so we want to take the time to make the game as good as we can.

Expect more details from us once we get closer to release.

[–]TheThunderOfYourLifeIn WAKA WAKA We Trust 195 points196 points  (9 children)

Well, glad to know this doesn’t seem to be a Metroid Prime 4 situation of the nuclear restart. Maybe similar to Bayonetta 3.

[–]Para_Boo 78 points79 points  (0 children)

Though the devs repeatedly kept saying that development was going fine, going over the development blog posts thry released after the game came out (and in general comparing the presentstion of Bayo 3 to Bayo 1 and 2) paints a rather different picture.

[–]dogman_35 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Kinda hard to compare, honestly. It's an indie game.

There's no real deadline. It's just a couple of dudes saying "You know what, we have more ideas. Let's take a bit of extra time to do them."

It's not like 100+ people going "Dear god, we have fucked up. Oh christ."

[–]JayZsAdoptedSon 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Bayo 3 still had a real bad reorg. Like there is one open world looking level from the original pitch of Bayo 3 but the rest of the game was a more traditional linear level

[–]MBCnerdcore 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Probably more like Sports Story

[–]TheThunderOfYourLifeIn WAKA WAKA We Trust 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, better comparison

[–]IIIlllIIllIll 13 points14 points  (1 child)

I’m never upset with delays. Love to see it from a team that wants to release a quality product.

[–]Skyblue_2049 13 points14 points  (1 child)

I wonder how big it’ll be compared to HK, which was already 30+hrs ignoring all that combat dlc.

[–]Faith-Leap 0 points1 point  (0 children)

man I finish games slow, hollow knight was about 100 for me, and elden ring about 250. Both first blind playthroughs where I did my best to explore and do everything

[–]PorkshireTerrier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Take all the time you want , when it finally comes out it should be cool

[–]blackthorn_orion 706 points707 points  (30 children)

Wild to think this game was actually demo'd and playable at E3 2019.

Like, don't get me wrong, they should definitely take as much time as they need. Just saying I would never have guessed back then that it still wouldn't be out in May of 2023.

[–]razorbeamzON THE LOOSE 272 points273 points  (17 children)

They probably scrapped almost everything at some point.

[–]siphillis 191 points192 points  (10 children)

Or what they showed was more smoke-and-mirrors than they want to admit. Think Halo 2 at E3 2003.

[–]FeederPiet 76 points77 points  (3 children)

I mean yeah it was a demo of one level plus boss iirc. And they also probably use the same engine as before. Makes you wonder what they thought the release date would be when they decided its time for promo in 2019.

[–]siphillis 25 points26 points  (0 children)

The Freedom Planet 2 team announced their game in 2016 with the expectation that it would drop the following year.

They finished it last September.

[–]ACID_pixel 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Was that promo or just, demo and testing? Is it that outlandish for them to bring that to E3 in 2019 even if it wasn’t coming for a bit? They didn’t advertise it as an upcoming release at the time, I don’t think

[–]FeederPiet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With the little bit of marketing experience i have I would think their plans changed drastically at least once. They went radio silent for 4 years after that.

[–]Lazyade 28 points29 points  (0 children)

I suspect it's more that they have no deadline and enough money to keep developing for as long as they want. The game's scope probably very quickly ballooned into something much bigger than they originally planned (even after it went from being HK DLC to its own game) and has most likely only gotten bigger from there as they continuously think of new things to add and tweak.

Hopefully it means the game will be amazing but sometimes perfectionist types really need limits just to stop themselves from falling down rabbit holes of perfection-seeking and never actually releasing anything. The urge for improvement can never be sated, at some point you just have to call it done.

[–]Alili1996 36 points37 points  (1 child)

Or maybe they're comfortably off from their profits from Hollow Knight and don't feel obliged to work full time and instead prioritize their personal lives and families.
Honestly, not dropping a release date was a really smart move on their side

[–]CarighanMetroid Prime 4 confirmed! 26 points27 points  (1 child)

Yeah I imagine from the looks of it, this is like Subnautica: Below Zero and was once meant to be an expansion, not a whole new game, then it bloomed into one, and that in turn has now necessitated scrapping everything probably multiple times over.

That, or they just spent all the money on cocaine and hookers. Which would be fair!

[–]BrotherVaelin 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Cocaine is rather expensive in Australia too

[–]bunt_triple 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Wasn’t it originally announced as DLC for the first one? I could see it being less that stuff was scrapped and more that the project has been expanded into a proper sequel.

[–]skyhighrockets 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Wild to think this game was actually demo’d and playable at E3 2019.

Building a vertical slice is one of the earliest milestones in game dev. The problem comes when you then have to build and glue together all the other slices that make the whole.

[–]telionn 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Imagine being a UFO 50 fan. That game was playable in 2017 and still has no hint of a release date.

[–]ktlevesque 63 points64 points  (3 children)

Covid amnesia is real with this one.

[–]MoonBayleef 47 points48 points  (2 children)

Australia was really locked down during 2020-2021, I can definitely see this affecting development of an indie studio

[–]smurfsarecommunists 29 points30 points  (1 child)

The majority of the lockdowns were in Melbourne though while most other places were pretty open. Team cherry isn’t based there so that’s probably not it

[–]Neyface 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Yeah exactly. I'm from Adelaide (where Team Cherry are based) and we were pretty well off during Covid and not locked down the way Melbourne was.

[–]Danny_Eddy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Did COVID set them back in production, as well?

[–]BronzeHeart92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was that long, huh? Meanwhile, I for some reason had this idea that the Cult of the Lamb of all games was in development like forever only for it turn out to be a more recent project than initially thought.

[–]mightynifty_2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Given that the game engine and base moveset existed in the first game, the E3 demo probably just had a couple new features in a small area. Everything since then could have just been art, level design, and tweaks to the game mechanics.

[–]Tan11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it may just be that they're in zero rush with the game, which makes sense, they have no reason to be with how much money the first game made and them being indie. And it's likely better for us in the long run, a project done at a steady and methodical pace is likely to be higher quality.

[–]CurlyDarkrai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It took the Cuphead dlc 5 years to come out. A dlc. 5 years. Yeah I know mdhr is an indie studio and the hand drawn animations, but they should have hired more people for silksong

[–]Siege2Sage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Developing a game is long and difficult especially when you're building the game from the ground up. AAA game developers will usually take 4 to 6 years to make one complete game, including level designs, character models, etc. An indie studio would take even longer.

I'm not surprised it takes them that long. That's pretty normal in development.

[–]Loisbel 188 points189 points  (18 children)

Glad to know that HK fans are patient

[–]WintertimeFriends 136 points137 points  (17 children)

lol do -not- go to that the sub…. It’s not gonna be pretty

[–]Aafinthe3rd 125 points126 points  (1 child)

I mean it's better now than ever. All people wanted was literally any communication, and they got that, finally.

[–]GoldRedBlue 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The real meltdown was on the Metroid subreddit after the Sept 2022 Direct. They were absolutely convinced the Prime Remaster was coming out in November for the 20th anniversary release... They lost their shit when nothing Metroid related was in that Direct.

And then to every one's shock, Prime Remaster arrives in Feb 2023. Which actually is the 20th anniversary of its release... in Japan, that is.

[–]DeithWX 12 points13 points  (0 children)

They're actually taking it really well.

[–]Archargelod 15 points16 points  (3 children)

Whatever it is, it can't be worse than r/Pikmin

[–]Three_Headed_Monkey 12 points13 points  (2 children)

Until the Pikmin 4 reveal. Imagine the catharsis and excitement!

[–]JayZsAdoptedSon 19 points20 points  (7 children)

r/SpidermanPS4 and the one piece of key art

[–]Pennarello_BonBon 3 points4 points  (3 children)

What is this referring to?

[–]skyhighrockets 9 points10 points  (2 children)

“one of very few promotional stills we‘ve seen from the SM2 teaser back in 2021 and it seems to be literally everywhere else too (like the back of the recent prequel comic), so it’s just the foundation for shitposts now.”

[–]198XAD 9 points10 points  (1 child)

feels like you're downplaying a bit, Hasbro has figures for Marvel Legends, which has, you guessed it, this image. Every single news article I've seen that wanted to use an official SM2 art? this image. someone sent an artwork they got signed by Yuri Lowenthal.... it was this image. it honestly feels like they know they can get away with not communicating since it'll sell on release date because it's a follow up to the 2018 game so they're not putting in the effort to market this at all

[–]JayZsAdoptedSon -1 points0 points  (0 children)

But like … we know that’s not the case. Imo if it doesn’t get a story trailer or gameplay by next month, its 100% delayed

[–]Dragmire_Afterlife 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm going to scream when I get to that spot in game

[–]Khar-Selim 0 points1 point  (1 child)

is this referring to the puddles or something else

[–]JayZsAdoptedSon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Lmao, no that was like a small group of people back in 2017. This is about the lack of info about the sequel and the absurdist memes spawning from it

[–]Serafiniert 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don’t know. Looks really tame over there rn.

[–]thedoctorisin7863 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, hollow knight fans are just grateful for some kind of update on the game. They don't even care it's been delayed

[–]LegacyLancer 133 points134 points  (10 children)

I've never played hollow knight but even I want them to release this already.

[–]piratekingdan 72 points73 points  (9 children)

It’s good to be patient waiting for good things. It’s also good to play Hollow Knight.

[–]DoeMeansAFemaleDeer 57 points58 points  (13 children)

I wish Sidebar games went this route with Sports Story. The pain of a bad sequel is MUCH worse than the pain of waiting for a good one.

[–]Billy_Rage 26 points27 points  (2 children)

While true, some times you literally need to release a game or you will run out of money. Or it will get to the point the game will cost too much and you won’t make a profit.

[–]Lazyade 16 points17 points  (1 child)

Team Cherry is like a 3 man dev team and Hollow Knight has sold over 2 million copies. Even taking sales and platform cuts into account I imagine they could probably drag development out for several decades if they wanted, or retire even.

[–]Fluxriflex 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also I'm sure they've gotten some long-tail sales from re-releases on new platforms and people who just haven't picked it up yet, which hopefully is enough to give them reasonable salaries.

[–]cubine 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I kinda feel the opposite, I wish they hadn’t bothered adding all the other sports and turned out a solid golf sequel within 2 years

[–]Pool_Shark 4 points5 points  (3 children)

Oh no is sports story terrible? I’ve had it on my list to check out though I did find the lack of conversation concerning

[–]starchimp224I'm really feeling it! 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I loved the first one. Only played probably 20 minutes of the sequel. It’s really buggy too

[–]DoeMeansAFemaleDeer 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It’s super buggy and unfinished. They’ve had some updates for it, but it’s still far from a finished game. There is a hidden room in the game that has game developers talking about the development hell they went through. It’s really the only way they have communicated with the fans. It’s weird.

[–]BeigeSportsmen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not anymore. They updated it so all the devs in the Secret room say positive things now.

Very telling.

[–]A_Lone_Macaron 6 points7 points  (4 children)

Is the game that bad? That’s disappointing.

[–]assissippi 1 point2 points  (3 children)

It's pretty bad. It's buggy as hell and while you can now beat it chunks of content are missing. There's a whole tennis side quest that just kind of ends in the middle because the content is missing. Even the golf is worse somehow

[–]A_Lone_Macaron 2 points3 points  (2 children)

YIKES. They literally released an unfinished game???

[–]assissippi 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yea and what was finished was a lot of fetch quests and poorly explained mini games. I beat it and had an okay time but I wouldn't recommend it. There's even a hidden room where some of the devs shit on the team and making the game.

[–]Kirbyclaimspoyo -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

You're surprised?

[–]StrictlyFT 39 points40 points  (6 children)

GTA VI is coming out first, Metroid Prime 4 too probably

[–]TheGardenBlinked 32 points33 points  (4 children)

Followed by F-Zero Switch, Golden Sun 4 and Ice Climbers LABO

[–]jakehosnerf 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Golden sun had 2 sequels already

[–]L-Ocelot 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not golden sun the lost age or that DS game. A big fat 2

[–]TheGardenBlinked 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Noted, thanks

[–]Jimmyn19 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And Punch Out!!

[–]pokefire44 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Deltarune chapter 7 going to come out first

[–]StunningSamson 97 points98 points  (0 children)

Don’t worry guys! In 15 years you’ll get a VR game that ret-cons the timeline. It’ll be called Hollow Knight: Alex

[–]KingK96And they call "you" the Radiant Hero? 24 points25 points  (2 children)

This game is the prime example of why Devs shouldn't announce a game unless it is 100% within a year of releasing at the absolute maximum. Look at Silksong, Prime 4, GTA VI, Elder Scroll's VI, ect. People just lose there minds and turn into animals over the smallest scent of a possible detail.

Octopath 2 and FE: Engage went over super well when they were announced months before their release. It's enough time to build up hype while also keeping interest held.

[–]Lucienofthelight 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This one started as a kickstarter campaign stretch goal as a Hornet DLC for the base game. They couldn’t show nothing until then because people have already put their money into it.

[–]Kirbyclaimspoyo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pikmin 4...

[–]bisforbenis 47 points48 points  (4 children)

Yeah it’s cool, Hollow Knight is probably my favorite game ever so I’m cool with them just doing what they need to do, they obviously know what they’re doing

[–]lexcrl 6 points7 points  (2 children)

same. good things are worth waiting for. until this comes out, i have wayyy too many games in the backlog to occupy my time

[–]txdline -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

List gets longer with time so not sure that helps. Unless for you, you'll move it to the top of the backlog when available.

[–]slaythespirelover 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Games like Silksong are worth putting other things to the side for a bit.

[–]dr_gmoney 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah same. I backed it on Kickstarter cause the trailer looked cool. Then couldn't believe how good of a game it was. Coincidentally, I just started my first replay of the game 3 days ago and I'm back to being shocked at how good it is. It's like the exact formula for my perfect game.

I really look forward to Silksong, but for what they provided me for a measley $15 (and they told all OG Kickstarter backers they'll get Silksong for free), they have as much time as they need in my eyes.

[–]DarkBomberX 18 points19 points  (1 child)

I really hope what's happening is development is going well but they keep figuring out ways to make the game cooler.

[–]PM_TO_ME_ANYTHING 18 points19 points  (0 children)

That's how it became its own game in the first place so probably lol

[–]BlueKyuubi63 18 points19 points  (0 children)

If Elden Ring can be released, so can SilkSong. Eventually

[–][deleted] 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Ahem..

r/SilksongIsntReal

Been saying this for a while now

[–]lorez77 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I’m starting to think it’s vaporware too.

[–]DisheartendIt's dangerous to take flare! Go alone. 2 points3 points  (0 children)

could have told you that first half is almost over.

[–]jacksonattack 11 points12 points  (3 children)

Time to run back that classic quote from our boy Shig Knight:

“A delayed game is eventually good, a rushed game is forever bad.”

[–]DwayneTheBathJohnsonWoomy! 14 points15 points  (2 children)

Except delayed games are sometimes bad. I understand why people like to look to this quote for comfort, but delays aren't always good for a game. Just look at Duke Nukem Forever.

[–]oSo_Squiggly 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also at the time rushed games couldn't be patched. Not that I'm advocating for studios to come out with buggy messes.

[–]tiger331 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I mean the game that came out wasn't even the game that it started as

[–]MoeMoa 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Take your time! HK was and is gold.

[–]Jimmyn19 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lmao

[–]Raftorical 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Guys I don’t think this game is real

[–]Socksfelloff 5 points6 points  (0 children)

To me this has gone from "okay great it's grown into a full on game" to "okay more polish is good" to "okay there has to be some dev troubles here"

Every dev is going to publicly say they are excited and happy with their progress. It's not often you get a MP4 situation where they come out and say this was a dumpster fire and we are starting over.

[–]akirivan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well at least they finally said something

[–]SaoriMachado 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This will be released after the Microsoft Skate Kinect

[–]Arlilecay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m just relieved to know the game even still exists at this point. This is the right move.

[–]CallumJ88 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Would rather wait, than getting 1/3 of the game at release, and the other 2/3 as DLC later.

[–]Ledairyman 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Remember last year when we had a xbox presentation for games that was supposed to come out in the next year and Silksong was a part of that.

People were saying it was doubtful while other were saying that it was CONFIRMED for release soon.

Lol

[–]qctireuralex 2 points3 points  (0 children)

calling it now. xbox is now in on it due to the recent redfall fiasco. they offered more time for the release. hence the moved date to allow an actual good release.

[–]Explorer_Entity 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been waiting so long...

Take your time guys. Keep up the good work.

[–]Thecrawsome 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's never coming out

[–]EPICLifeMoMent11 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is a certified bruh moment

[–]_Yak0_ -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Wow, what a joke... Oh well, I suppose they should take all.the time they need. I only worry that the expectations will grow beyond what the game will be able to deliever...dont get me wrong, Im sure the game will be great, but Im afraid given the long timeframe that people will just expect too much.

[–]DarkBomberX -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Cool

[–]cool_weed_dad -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is a full sequel at this point, correct? I can see them wanting to make sure the game is perfect, especially with this being a presumably small indie team.

Much like a first album, they had the luxury of taking as much time as needed for the first game, and they’re probably not used to the crunch that comes with a DLC-turned-sequel expected in a much shorter amount of time.

[–]k1intt -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Anyway….

[–]DaNoahLP -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Surprised Pickachu Face

[–]TechieTravis -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

It's becoming Silksong Forever :)

[–]politirob -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Here's something to chew on..::they're likely saving it for the launch of Switch 2.

[–]DSMidna 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Team Cherry: "Silksong delayed."

Everyone on the Internet: :O

[–]ZenithXR 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll be collecting social security checks before this comes out...

[–]Tan11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let the wild speculation based on nonexistent evidence begin.

[–]Pool_Shark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it so June 1st then

[–]whiteash20 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it weird that I’m less disappointed at the delay than excited that someone on the dev team actually gave us some form of update?

[–]nk40699 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Art takes time…especially if you are a 3 person team. I’m happy to wait as long as it takes them to perfect. HK was amazing, and if Silksong is as good or better, I don’t care if it comes out in 2027 or tomorrow. People need to remember they are 3 people creating a world. 3 people. Just be patient, they don’t owe you a damn thing.

[–]superhappy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like a lot of folks, I feel like Hollow Knight was amazing, totally creative, amazing story, amazing art, and out of left field. If they wanna take however long they want definitely let them holy shit I can only imagine what they’re cooking up.

[–]daskrip 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If it's taken out of 2023 then we may see an Elden Ring-like domination for GOTY awards this year.

[–]ComfortableRock90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At this rate chatGPT 5 will be out and by then it can code the entire game in seconds...