On 11 June 2025, Team Cherry announced that a planned DLC to their hit MetroidvaniaHollow Knightwould soon be released as a full sequel, instead. Time passed, andHollow Knight: Silksongwas delayed several times until, finally, Team Cherry went completely silent. The lack of developer updates would have crushed most other games, but theSilksongfandom seemed to grow and thrive, instead.
Over the years,Silksongfans have formed a strong community. The fandom is united by theireager anticipation of either the release or cancellation of the highly anticipatedHollow Knightsequel.There’s no doubt anymore thatSilksongis actually ready to hit platforms soon, since the game will have aplayable demo at Gamescomthis year and appear aspart of a museum exhibit in September.
Now thatSilksongis finally coming out sometime in 2025, the fandom faces a difficult question:What will happen to theSilksongcommunity when the game is finally released?
Hollow Knight: Silksong Has Formed A Strong Community
Fans Are United By Their Love For The Upcoming Game
SinceSilksongwas announced, it’s become the most wishlisted game on Steam. It has spawned an entire community on Reddit and Discord, withits own vocabulary, slang, and culture.
Skongers (Silksongfans) frequently share Silkposts (false news, often in the form of image mockups of fake announcements and screenshots), pore over thescant screenshots and imagesthat Team Cherry has shared over the years, attempt to make sense of cryptic X posts fromHollow Knightco-creator William Pellen, and wage debates between “doubters” and “beleivers” (not a typo).
Recently, the dedicated Subreddit even held a special contest to"sacrifice" several fansby appointing winners as “Dreamers” and banishing (that is, banning) them from the Reddit page until the game is released. These kinds of shenanigans make the community both ahilariously fun group to be a part ofand completely baffling to watch as an outsider.
What Will Happen To The Fandom When Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Released?
The day thatHollow Knight: Silksongreleases will be both a joyous one and a sad one. Although fans will finally, at long last, get to play the beloved game, its launch also spells doom for the community. With the game released and the anticipation removed, there will be nothing left to unite the fans,and the Reddit will likely go quiet.
What once was a forum for false news peddlers, meme makers, and pixel hunters, and their delighted and willing audience,may become a liminal space abandoned by its residents.It might become a completely sane place for fans to discuss the game, like its sister Subreddit dedicated toHollow Knight.Perhaps “Skong” fans will shift their energy toward whatever Team Cherry’s next project is going to be.
Or maybe I’m underestimating the Skongers, and years afterSilksong’srelease, there will still be several doubters adamantly refusing to acknowledge that the game exists.
No matter what, though, onceHollow Knight: Silksongis released, we’ll almost definitely lose the culture and vocab that’s been built on the anticipation of this game’s release—and that’s a real shame.
