Out of nowhere, the long-awaited and hotly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong was revealed a few days ago to be releasing in less than two weeks. Exciting news if you’re a Hollow Knight fan, to be sure, but where does that put you if you’re an indie developer releasing a game in a similar genre next month with a much smaller public profile? Well, if you’re the developers of Aeterna Lucis, Cloverpit or Stomp and the Sword of Miracles, you delay your game at the last minute to avoid your game’s sales and spotlight getting cannibalised by Team Cherry’s upcoming release. Despite the competition, however, some studios are holding the line and keeping to their planned release dates.
In a post on X, Aeternum Game Studios, developer of Aeterna Noctis and its upcoming sequel, Aeterna Lucis, announced the game’s delay and acknowledged Hollow Knight: Silksong’s influence. “Our initial plan was to launch it this September, but after the announcement of Silksong, we are fully aware that our game wouldn’t have the visibility it deserves,” the developer writes in the statement, also attributing the lack of necessary development kits to allow simultaneous releases on all nex-gen platforms for the delay. Aeterna Lucis is now planned to release sometime in 2026.
— Aeternum Game Studios (@aeternathegame) August 22, 2025
Aeterna Lucis isn’t the only metroidvania platformer that is scrambling to get out of the way of Hollow Knight: Silksong. In a post on Steam, the developers behind in-development platformer Stomp and the Sword of Miracles announced that its demo is being delayed, likening releasing around the same time as Silksong to being “a little krill trying to not get eaten by a blue whale“. The demo currently doesn’t have a release date, but the developer confirms that they will “keep everyone updated as things go“.
Even smaller games of different genres are changing their release plans following Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date announcement. Upcoming slot machine-themed roguelike Cloverpit is also being delayed, with developer Panik Arcade frankly admitting the reason in a post titled “WE HAVE TO DELAY CLOVERPIT A BIT (SILKSONG lol)!“. Fortunately for those looking forward to Cloverpit, its delay has been less severe than that of Aeterna Lucis, and the game is now set to release September 26th 2025.
Not all developers are so hasty to alter a long-planned release strategy, and are even having some fun with it. Developer Necrosoft Games, whose paranormal tactical life sim Demonschool is coming out on September 4th, the same date as Hollow Knight: Silksong, playfully stated on Bluesky that “Okay, sure, Silksong is going to sell millions of copies. But can you play it in 4:3 on your CRT like Demonschool!?“. With the lack of much genre overlap, Demonschool is probably safe, and Necrosoft Games doesn’t seem likely to change its release date anytime soon.
Okay, sure, Silksong is going to sell millions of copies. But can you play it in 4:3 on your CRT like Demonschool!?
— Necrosoft Games (@necrosoftgames.com) 2025-08-21T22:59:13.239Z
It’s never easy being a smaller developer, and surprise release date announcements or shadow drops of highly anticipated titles can put them in tough positions. It’s never an easy choice to delay a game, especially for reasons totally outside of your control. Hollow Knight: Silksong is of course far from the first game to have had this impact on the industry; back when Cyberpunk 2077 changed its release date at short notice to the 10th of December 2020, Path of Exile found itself having to delay a major expansion to avoid clashing with the much higher-profile release.
Hollow Knight: Silksong will release on the 4th of September 2025 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, as well as a day-one Game Pass release.
About the Author
Tom Quirk
he/him
Tom Quirk plays a lot of video games, but when he isn't, he is reading fantasy novels and watching way more television than is healthy.
