The 2025 summer showcases gave players a lot of exciting news about games both new and old, but one major title that largely skipped the festivities wasHollow Knight: Silksong. Team Cherry’s upcoming Metroidvania was announced in 2019 as a full-fledged sequel to the originalHollow Knight, but in the years that have passed since then, the game has become notoriously elusive. The last properHollow Knight: Silksongtrailer was shown off during the 2022 Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, where it was claimed that the game would come out within the next 12 months. AlthoughSilksongappeared in both the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct and Xbox Games Showcase a few months ago, it didn’t receivea release date or any extended gameplay footage.
Despite many fans' skepticism regarding the matter,Hollow Knight: Silksongis supposedly going to be releasedsometime this year. With the final months of 2025 fast approaching, fans are afraid thatHollow Knight: Silksongwill be delayed into 2026 or beyond, but some recent news about Gamescom seems to make this scenario a lot less likely.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Being Playable at Gamescom 2025 is a Big Deal
Microsoft Confirmed that Silksong Will Be Playable at Its Upcoming Gamescom Booth
Earlier this week, Microsoft unveiled its plans for Gamescom 2025 on the official Xbox Wire blog. The company not only confirmed that it will be hosting Xbox @ Gamescom live broadcasts on August 20 and 21, it also revealed that it will have a booth at the convention with over 20 titles to play. One of these titles will be none other thanHollow Knight: Silksong. According to Microsoft, Gamescom attendees will be able to get their hands on a brand-newSilksongdemo, which they can play on either PC or ROG Xbox Ally.
Silksong’s New Demo Will Probably Contain a Lot More Content than Its Previous One
Although Microsoft and Team Cherry have not revealed any details about the contents of thisHollow Knight: Silksongdemo, the fact that it even exists in the first place is surprising to say the least. The only other time that a demo ofHollow Knight: Silksonghas ever been available to the publicwas at E3 2019, where the game showed up during Nintendo’s press conference. Considering that more than six years have passed since then, it seems reasonable to assume that this new demo will be significantly different and more feature-complete than the one that was distributed in 2019.
Team Cherry has promised thatHollow Knight: Silksongwill feature over 165 new enemiesand twice the number of checkpoints compared to the originalHollow Knight. Since the game will seemingly have a very large scope, its demo at Gamescom will probably contain a sizable amount of content.Hollow Knight: Silksongis only a few months away from being released, so the demo will potentially allow players to experience the opening hours of the game rather than a few curated gameplay sequences.
Another Hollow Knight: Silksong Demo Will Be Available to the Public in Australia Later This Year
For those who are unable to attend Gamescom in Cologne, Germany this year, it’s worth noting thata playable demo ofHollow Knight: Silksongwill soon be available to the public at one other location this September: an exhibit at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne, Australia. It’s not clear if the demo that will be presented here will be the same as the one at Xbox’s Gamescom booth, but Team Cherry has confirmed that the exhibit will feature displays of the game’s concept art and other design elements. The release of theseHollow Knight: Silksongdemos hopefully suggests that players won’t have to wait too long to get the full game in their hands.
