Hollow Knight: Silksong live launch coverage: It's finally here

Countdown to Silksong launch

90 minutes: That's all that's left of the seven year wait for Hollow Knight's sequel. Silksong will unlock on Steam at 3 pm BST. If you don't know what to do with yourself, well, you've got exactly enough time left to watch the 2024 Summer Games Done Quick speedrun of Hollow Knight. Just an idea.

Hollow Knight by Stratus and Vysuals in 1:18:30 - Summer Games Done Quick 2024 - YouTube

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A quick recap of the lead-up to Silksong's launch

Two weeks ago Team Cherry finally announced Silksong's release date, giving us a bit of a run-up to the game's long-awaited launch. Here's some of what we've written about Silksong since then:

• Here's every game that Silksong's surprise release has delayed as indies scramble to escape its powerful aura
• After 30 minutes with Hollow Knight: Silksong, I'm desperate to play another 100 hours of its refined, needle-sharp action
• Almost 1,700 days—or 4.6 years—of daily Silksong news later, its brave watchman is finally ready to 'play Silksong in peace, however I want' and rest
• Hollow Knight's creators didn't want to be constrained by the 'metroidvania' label, but they accidentally set a standard that every game since—even Silksong—has to reckon with
• Delays to escape the shadow of a launch like Silksong are about way more than just day 1 players: 'Every game has to fight and use whatever edge they've got available to stay visible'

Don't remember anything that happened in Hollow Knight? Here's our favorite recap.

We have two favorite Hollow Knight lore videos to watch before playing Silksong, and you can hit the link for the longer one, which asks for an hour and 17 minutes of your time. But if you're more in the mood for a nice quick recap to get you in the mood, our shorter favorite is the way to go. Here's a four minute journey through the major events in Hallownest's history. You likely won't need to know any of this for Silksong, but hey, this'll bring you four minutes closer to launch time.

Hollow Knight's backstory explained in under 4 minutes - YouTube

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The Silksong subredditers are starting to jump ship.

That's how you know it's real. Players have started signing out of their beloved safe haven to avoid spoilers, even an hour from launch. It's quite emotional, actually.

My final goodbye, skongers from r/Silksong

60 minutes to go!

Longest hour of my life, I fear. I've got the Hollow Knight soundtrack blasting. I'm staring at the "less than an hour" unlock countdown on Steam while scrolling through the last moments of chaos in the Subreddit. I'm going to start impatiently gnawing on a Hornet Nendoroid soon. I mean it. If I were a monkey in a zoo, I'd be swinging off the bars of my enclosure right now.

Someone has compiled a list of events that have taken place between Silksong's initial reveal on February 14, 2019 and today. I make the "I've lived one thousand lives since then" joke a lot, but this really makes me feel like I have. I'm sure there's plenty more that could be added to this already extensive list, however, I'd probably have a breakdown if I looked any further into it. Three Sonic the Hedgehog films? That's obscene.

One last little reminder before Skong finally releases from r/Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong Twitch viewer numbers jumped from 71.4k to 101k in a matter of minutes

With half an hour to go until the game unlocks, streamers have set up waiting rooms for players to join in anticipation. The total number of viewers under the Hollow Knight: Silksong tag is literally jumping up as you read this. 101K... 102K... 104K...

Daily Silksong News has signed off

The final Daily Silksong News video has been uploaded. What's next for them, you might be asking?

As the host of the channel shared with PC Gamer's Harvey Randall in an interview: "I want to just sit down, completely on my own, just focus on Silksong. Just play Silksong in peace, however I want. I could redirect people to my personal channel, that's not about Silksong … [But] I think that's just the plan. I'm gonna enjoy Silksong in peace. On my own.""

Daily Hollow Knight: Silksong News - THE END - YouTube

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I think Silksong has crashed Steam...

My page wont load and I keep getting the same error. I think we've broken Steam.

WE ARE SO BACK - Hollow Knight: Silksong is OUT NOW

THE DAY IS FINALLY UPON US! Ignoring my last frantic scramble about Steam's hiccup, Silksong is finally out. I cannot believe it.

Over 46,000 players are already in the game and I can't seem to load my Steam cart

I might've lied in my last post. Steam might be somewhat struggling with the sheer amount of people currently trying to purchase Silksong. With that said, 46,000 lucky players have somehow managed to download and already boot up the game. Hopefully I get to stop looking at this green blob facepalming soon and join them, but who knows.

96,000+ people currently in game and I AM NOT ONE OF THEM

Seriously I am going to start screaming at the top of my lungs if I have to look at another one of these error messages.

Steam store is running at a "very slow" capacity according to Steamstat.us

Well, it doesn't look like I'll be taking on the challenge of Silksong any time soon. Steam is very much still struggling to keep up with the millions of people currently online and more than likely trying to do the same thing. Since Hollow Knight: Silksong didn't have any sort of preorder window, it's no surprise that it has brought Steam down the very moment it released. Is anyone else sat twiddling their thumbs?

Can't load Steam? Try the Humble store

We've had some success getting Silksong through the Humble store amidst the Steam madness. Though, we can't guarantee this will be successful the moment everyone starts charging there instead so don't come back here crying to me if that page crashes too.

Despite the madness, and most storefronts going down, over 100,000 people have started Skonging

It has officially been (a little over) one hour since Silksong unlocked. Over 100,000 players are currently in, even though it seems most online storefronts haven't managed to keep up with the demand. We've had various levels of success with getting the game ourselves across more places than I can probably count. I, however, have still had no luck. Womp womp.

No luck with the Humble Store? Try Game Pass instead.

Look, I'm sorry if I got your hopes up with my Humble Store post. Even though the game is still available on the website, we're currently experiencing varying levels of success with getting the key for it. Feel free to take a gamble and see if you can get in, but if you'd prefer a safer, guaranteed route, we'd recommend going with Game Pass instead. Just to save any more stress.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is no longer available to purchase via the Humble Store

Oops! I once again spoke to soon. You actually CAN'T keep trying to get Silksong through the Humble Store because it's no longer available for purchase! Whoopsie!

The reviews are rolling in, and to no surprise they are 'overwhelmingly positive'

Silksong is already sitting with 509 reviews on Steam, and to absolutely no surprise, the reception so far has been incredibly positive. Although I find it hard to believe anyone has put enough time into the game to form a thorough review yet, it's nice to see the "game is full of bugs" joke hasn't been left in the past.

If you're still stuck trying to download Silksong, you could join 350,000 people watching streams of it instead!

Remember a few hours ago when we laughed about how there was about 101,000 people watching streams tagged with Hollow Knight: Silksong on Twitch? Those were the days, weren't they? Now, there are around 350,000 people doing the same thing. If you don't hear from me again, I've probably accepted the fact I'll never get to play for myself and started watching someone do it for me.

Only two hours after launch, Hollow Knight: Silksong has already breached the top 10 most popular games on Steam today

We knew it was coming, but did we know it would happen so quickly? SteamDB stats are currently showing Hollow Knight: Silksong as the 10th most popular game on Steam today, with 105,611 players currently in game, and a peak of 111,873 players since it released less than two hours ago. It shows no signs of slowing down, but I'll be utterly shocked if it dethrones our beloved Bongo Cat, though.

Silksong is popular, yes, but it's not quite as popular as *checks notes* ahem... Amarillo's Butt Slapper

You can thank Mollie Taylor for this one. Even though Silksong is incredibly popular, it hasn't quite beaten the player count for everyone's favourite... game (?) Amarillo's Butt Slapper yet. Will it get there? Who knows.

Steam checkout is still broken, I'm afraid

Two and a half hours later and I'm still stuck on the checkout screen. The vast majority of Steam is back up and running from what I've heard though. You're free to browse the shop, add things to your cart, and check store pages. But, God FORBID you try and buy anything. I'm starting to feel a bit like that Spongebob meme where Squidward is looking out of the window at Spongebob and Patrick having fun. Except its me vs everyone who managed to get access to Silksong.

Gaming has never been so back

I may have just been lucky, but folks, I have finally got my grubby little paws on Hollow Knight: Silksong. It is downloaded and ready to go. This has been a wild ride. I'm handing over to Wes now, and you'll probably never see me post on PC Gamer again. I've got bugs to squish.

Okay, you can actually buy Hollow Knight: Silksong on Steam now

*bug crawling through a crack voice* I'm in.

Hey there PC gamers: Wes reporting in from California and taking over from Kara. After more than two hours of trying I've finally managed to procure my own copy of Silksong on Steam. Based on our anecdotal experiences and also the dropping pageviews on Steamstat.us, I think we can safely say the checkout difficulties are receding. Time to actually play this thing?

Silksong soars past 440,000 players. Can you spot the moment Steam checkout started working again?

Line go up. Silksong is working its way into the all-timer Steam launches club.

Silksong is the #2 game on Twitch right now, but it's hard to dethrone a live service legend

Silksong has easily passed Twitch mainstays like GTA and League of Legends, but Dota 2 has it beat today thanks to streamer Nix, who has about a million followers.

Here's our first Silksong guide: How to get $$$

How to get Rosaries in Silksong

Don't worry, it's not spoilery. Currency works a bit differently in Silksong than it does in Hollow Knight; you won't be collecting it from every enemy you defeat. Hit the guide link if you'd like some early tips on lining your pockets.

Here's our overview of Silksong's PC feature and options

Silksong PC features: Ultrawide, 16:10 for Steam Deck, uncapped framerate and more

Not bad for an indie game! The framerate cap options and 21:9 and 16:10 support are all especially welcome. Unfortunately for PC Gamer's Ted Litchfield, his CRT is outta luck: there's no 4:3 aspect ratio support.

You can turn off Hornet's voice in the sound options, though. If you're a monster.

Silksong already has the 18th highest all-time peak player count in Steam history as it draws over 500,000 concurrent players in its first 4 hours

Silksong has now dropped a bit from its peak player count today, but at 535,000 it broke into the all-time top 20 launches in Steam history.

Wonder how many people will be playing it come Saturday?

The Silksong subreddit spent launch day sharing boss strats for Steam's 'cart phase', banishing each other to the Skongless year of 2019, and—let's see—posting hole

That's it ya'll. We're all going to be really normal after this, right?