On January 15th, William Pellen, Team Cherry’s co-director, set the Internet ablaze with a series of cryptic updates on his X (formerly Twitter) profile. He changed his profile picture to an image of a chocolate cake, posted a mysterious tweet hinting at “something big” arriving soon, and updated his handle to @everydruidwaswr. All of this made fans enter a wild speculation spiral that put all GTA 6 theories to shame, about a possible Hollow Knight: Silksong ARG.
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However, this theory was promptly debunked over the weekend. After Pellen’s activity generated massive buzz, Team Cherry’s marketing lead, Matthew ‘Leth’ Griffin, reached out to popular Hollow Knight speedrunner YouTuber ‘fireb0rn’ to clarify the situation.
Fireb0rn shared Griffin’s statement on social media, confirming there was no ARG in the works and that the updates were unrelated to Silksong. Griffin described the fan theories as impressive but ultimately dismissed the speculation, jokingly adding, “The cake was a lie.”
However, not everything is bleak for the fans of the 2017 genre-changing Metroidvania and its highly-anticipated sequel.
One of the comments under fireb0rn’s truth-revealing post was a plea by a fan asking, “I just want to know if the game is progressing in its development or if the team has given up on the project, please i only need a: yes, the game is real and someday it will release, PLEASE.”
Griffin came forward to ease the troubled mind of this particular fan and many others by saying, “Yes the game is real, progressing and will release.”
Hollow Knight released in 2017 and in the gaming world is regarded as one of the best Metroidvania games of all time. Starting as a Kickstarter campaign, it outgrew its developers, with widespread acclaim for combat, world, and hand-drawn art. It introduced players to the haunting yet enchanting kingdom of Hallownest, setting a high standard for the genre.
With a dedicated fanbase, Hallownest is expecting the release of the sequel, Silksong, which was announced back in February 2019. It was initially intended as a DLC before developers decided to turn it into a full game. The sequel promises an even larger world, featuring the character, Hornet, as the protagonist, along with new quests, enemies, and mechanics. However, updates since the 2022 Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase trailer have been sparse.
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The plan of the Silksong release in mid-2023 fell through, and since then, Team Cherry has remained mostly silent. This radio silence has resulted in numerous wild theories and a running meme that the Silksong trailer and release date might come with every Nintendo Direct. This month’s Nintendo showcase didn’t bring any news about the sequel, but it again pushed fans into a maddening spiral of speculation. As Team Cherry remains rather vague about the Silksong progress, the next Nintendo Direct is set for April 2nd, 2025, so hope remains that Silksong might appear then and there.