There May Be A Good Reason Hollow Knight: Silksong's Development Is Taking So Long (& The First Game Helps Prove It)

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was announced with a trailer all the way back in 2019 and very little has been revealed by Team Cherry since. After the slow-burning success of the original in 2017, the title has become one of the most recognizable faces of the indie game scene. It also helped with a renaissance of the Metroidvania genre, spawning dozens of clones that have tried to capture the essence of a proper sequel, but no one can quite do it the same way Team Cherry did in 2017.

Still, despite how brilliant the game ended up being, and how revolutionary it was for the Metroidvania genre, didn't release as the game that Team Cherry originally intended it to be. Its development is both well-documented and a fascinating yet rocky story that began with a game jam project called, which actually had the original design for the Knight in it. The development of the original probably answers why its sequel is taking so long, but also gives hope that when it originally releases, it will be worth the long, painful wait.

Originally, was meant to be a much shorter game at around 10 hours in length, and was meant to release in 2015 after a decently successful Kickstarter campaign, yet its official release took an extra two years. When it was released, was much larger than a 10-hour game, being the largest Metroidvania made at the time, and displays how the vision continued to grow as the title was developed. Team Cherry never set out with the intention of making one of the biggest and best Metroidvania titles ever, yet that's what it ended up with.

technically began in a game jam, Ludum Dare 2013, with the project. Another game jam produced the incomplete project, which gave rise to the idea of an underground kingdom seen in .

Despite its size, Team Cherry would have made the game even bigger if the budget allowed. The team ran out of money and was practically forced to release in late February 2017, which was an unfortunate window considering that was released in early March that same year. Massive cuts