After months of radio silence, Team Cherry dropped a bombshell on Tuesday and announced that Hollow Knight: Silksong will no longer be launching in the first half of 2023 as was previously expected. It came as very little surprise, as fans of the series had already given up hope of seeing the game launch before June, but it was still a bit of a gut punch for many as Silksong's release date is now up in the air once again.
However, while you'd expect a fanbase as ravenous as Hollow Knight's to be down on their knees over this news, there's actually been quite a lot of people offering words of encouragement to Team Cherry, urging the developers to take their time. While there's the odd snarky comment about the game now launching in 2035, there are far more fans on the Hollow Knight subreddit wishing Team Cherry the best, explaining that they're more than happy to wait a little longer if it leads to a healthier workplace culture.
"This is all we ask for, just keep us updated," says u/Aashy Larry, which is echoed by a bunch of other Hollow Knight fans that are more than happy to continue waiting for Silksong as long as communication is a little better. "Very happy to hear it’s going well and now we know not to expect it anytime soon. Totally fine with that, take your time."
"Team Cherry should take all the time they need, it'll only make the game better!" says u/CoolGirlRosie, while u/Full_Metal18 wants to "let them cook." There are also a couple of people a little concerned for Team Cherry's wellbeing, as u/NightmareWingDraws says they'll "gladly wait" as long as "they're not stressed."
While delays give developers more time to work on titles, it doesn't necessarily mean they're not crunching - in fact, it usually means the opposite. Hopefully, Team Cherry is managing to strike up a healthy work-life balance, as its fans are more than happy to wait for Silksong if it means relieving some pressure.
In fact, they've been finding some increasingly baffling ways to pass the time until Silksong's release, including an attempt to make the sequel themselves. One fan recently shared their attempt to recreate Silksong from the ground up, making an impressive amount of progress in just a few days.
Another group of fans also added voice acting to the first game, as a set of modders and actors gave voices to every single character, enemy, item description, and a whole bunch more. With that much creativity at the fanbases's disposal, I'm sure they'll have no problems finding things to do while Team Cherry focuses on creating what it sure to be a certified banger.