Hollow Knight: Silksong Crashes Storefronts and Indie Dev Egos
Silksong: The Game Drop Heard 'Round the World
After six years of waiting, Hollow Knight: Silksong finally landed on September 4, 2025 – and it didn’t just land, it detonated with a deafening boom that was impossible to ignore.
The surprise launch was so massive it knocked Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Nintendo eShop into the dirt. At one point, over 535,000 players were logged in on Steam just three hours after release, with numbers across all platforms suggesting more than a million people hopped in on day one.
It wasn’t just a game launch; it was an extinction-level event. The kind of release that sends shockwaves through the industry and leaves everyone else scrambling to pick up the pieces.
Indie Dev Titanic, Meet the Hype Iceberg
Normally when big titles drop, smaller devs just shrug, release their stuff, and just pray they find their niche. But Silksong wasn’t just “big.” It was biblical.
Games like Demonschool, Aeterna Lucis, Baby Steps, and Faeland all straight up bailed on their release dates rather than be buried under the Silksong avalanche. One publisher, Brian Kwek of Ysbryd Games, admitted they delayed Demonschool because even Steam’s almighty algorithm couldn’t protect them from Silksong’s shadow.
Image: Indie Devs Crashing Out about Silksong on Twitter and BlueSky
The funniest part though?
Jetrunner, an indie from Riddlebit Software, didn’t dodge. They launched the exact same day – and lived to tell the tale. In fact, they ended up topping Steam’s New & Trending chart.
One of their devs, user u/OliverMagnus, even confessed on Reddit:
“We were scared as hell when Silksong was announced to release on our day… Now it seems it was a blessing in disguise.”
-u/OliverMagnus | Jetrunner Dev, Reddit
And with a cheeky side swipe at Valve’s servers, he hilariously continued “Valve, fix your servers so people can buy our game. (And so I can buy Silksong.)”
So while half the indies jumped ship and started crashing out online, the ones that held their ground ended up riding the same hype wave to the front page.
Moral of the story? Sometimes crying about timing just makes you look like you weren’t ready to compete in the first place.
Meanwhile, Team Cherry Was Just Vibing
While the internet melted and indie devs clutched their pearls, Team Cherry? They were chilling. No endless dev diaries, no roadmaps, no desperate hype cycles.
Ari Gibson and William Pellen literally described development as “enjoyable.” They stayed silent, focused on the work, and dropped the game only when they were ready. That alone is a masterclass: instead of performing for social media, they just…made a game.
And apparently, a game worth breaking the internet over.
What Awaits You in Silksong
Of course, for players it’s not just about watching storefronts crumble – it’s about the game itself.
And Silksong delivers.
If you’re too lazy to play it in all of it’s majestic glory, you can watch Vara Dark’s full playthrough below – but with Silksong only costing a measly $20, you really should just play it yourself.
You’re in the shoes of Hornet this time, faster and deadlier than the Knight ever was, zipping through Pharloom’s sprawling, eerie landscapes. Expect:
200+ enemies with new AI tricks.
Over 40 bosses, each designed to ruin your day.
A crafting system where you piece together items like Rosaries, Sting Shards, and Magma Bells.
Zones dripping with atmosphere, from toxic docks to ruined monasteries.
Despite activists pretending to be journalists’ gaming journalists’ attempts to seemingly propagate the “games are too hard” narrative – players are raving for Silksong.
It’s faster, tighter, and every bit as brutal as fans hoped.
So Here's the Takeaway
Silksong didn’t just release, it colonized. It swallowed charts, downed servers, and gave half the indie scene a panic attack. Some adapted, some thrived, and some cried on Twitter.
But the funniest part? The devs who actually made the damn thing didn’t bother with the noise. They were too busy having fun, building the kind of game that makes storefronts buckle and timelines burn.
In the end, Silksong didn’t just prove the hype was real. It proved that silence, patience, and confidence beats whining into the void of social media every single time.
Again (to the dismay of other devs out there who want to overprice their games) – Hollow Knight: Silksong is only $20 on Steam!
Try it for yourself and see what the hype is all about.
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