Few games have been as highly anticipated as Hollow Knight: Silksong and its development story alone is equally endearing and fascinating. It’s incredibly amusing and fortunate, then, that Team Cherry itself describes this immense seven-year undertaking as “fun,” disregarding any misguided theories fans could have about that period being one of ‘development hell’ simply because of how long it was. Ultimately, Hollow Knight: Silksong’s final product will be one that was decided on despite Team Cherry having more than enough ideas to last several more years in development, and that content could make for a terrific slate of DLCs.
Indeed, with Hollow Knight: Silksong allowing Team Cherry to bask in ‘development heaven’ for the last seven years, it’s exciting to imagine how the sequel’s DLCs will take shape. There may even be a reasonably reliable timeline for when players can expect to see the first of however many Hollow Knight: Silksong DLCs, so long as Team Cherry’s process is similar to what the studio used for its debut game. Likewise, if that process truly is comparable, it’s wholly possible that Team Cherry relishing and enjoying the development process as much as it does could result in a third Hollow Knight installment, either purposefully or inadvertently.
Hollow Knight’s DLCs Tell a Tale That May Be Retold via Silksong
Team Cherry is looking far beyond launch and apparently has “ambitious” plans for Hollow Knight: Silksong’s post-launch content. As for Hollow Knight, the original game’s DLCs included:
- Hidden Dreams (Patch 1.1.1.6), released August 3, 2017.
- The Grimm Troupe (Patch 1.2.1.0), released October 26, 2017.
- Lifeblood (Patch 1.3.1.5), released April 20, 2018.
- Godmaster (Patch 1.4.2.4), released August 23, 2018.
If this series of DLCs is in any way a blueprint for how Team Cherry might launch Hollow Knight: Silksong’s own, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for the first DLC to be released roughly six months after the base game is released—March 2026, perhaps, seeing as how Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date is in a week and a half, on September 4, 2025. Plus, if Team Cherry manages to settle on the same number of DLCs of the same scale as those in Hollow Knight: Silksong’s predecessor, the sequel’s DLCs may conclude with a final one releasing a year and a half after the base game’s launch.
Team Cherry could have more than four DLCs planned for Hollow Knight: Silksong, of course. However, a likelier option than producing five or more DLCs may be to recycle the past and choose one that’s more transformative or significant from the bunch and flesh it out into its own elaborate and standalone game.
With Hollow Knight: Silksong allowing Team Cherry to bask in ‘development heaven’ for the last seven years, it’s exciting to imagine how the sequel’s DLCs will take shape.
Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Development Heaven May Be Quite Fruitful
It’s probably too early to predict with any certainty whether Team Cherry will endeavor to work on a third Hollow Knight game once it decides it’s finished with this sequel’s content. That said, Team Cherry co-founder Ari Gibson stating cheekily that Hollow Knight: Silksong could’ve taken 15 years to release due to how many fun and neat ideas were being produced suggests that there’s a seemingly infinite well of inspiration and content that could nourish another sequel. With how much content Team Cherry has lying around that it could perfume multiple DLCs and sequels with, it would be rather odd if Hollow Knight’s legacy quit at the height of its zenith.
Knowing that Hollow Knight: Silksong was originally conceived as Hollow Knight DLC before growing up to be its own full-fledged game, the same could logically happen to any number of DLCs that the sequel might otherwise bear.
If the same development process was utilized for a possible third entry in the Hollow Knight franchise, players would probably be strapping themselves in for another seven years or more of eager waiting. This time, though, there’d at least be an expectation of development taking over half a decade and no need for anyone to don clown makeup for the foreseeable future.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 91 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- September 4, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood
- Developer(s)
- Team Cherry
- Publisher(s)
- Team Cherry
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unity
- Franchise
- Hollow Knight
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Verified
- PC Release Date
- September 4, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- September 4, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- September 4, 2025
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- September 4, 2025
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- September 4, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
- Wiki
