Hollow Knight: Silksong is out now on Steam - and it broke Steam servers for 30 minutes and counting now
Hollow Knight: Silksong on Steam
LET ME IN
Edit: It took 3 hours but Steam servers are stable now, I finally bought it. See you on the other side
Can someone explain the fervor over this game? I played the first one and bounced completely off of it. It was slick for sure, but obtuse and kinda janky.
It was an absolutely solid - if a bit too difficult for a "casual" player - metroidvania with a lot of great art and gameplay decisions behind it from a truly small, independent team. The price was "indie" level even for its time. Absolutely affordable compared to what was available even then. If you vibed with the game, it was a wildly enjoyable time sink for what the developer asked for. Silksong was announced as a potential DLC from the get go; it was pushed back to a full game. Seven years later it's now here, with that many years of built up good faith in Team Cherry that they would only release it when they felt it was fully ready. Also, Hollow Knight got a couple high quality, free updates since its initial release.
I personally thought Hollow Knight was above average - brought down by how obtuse its direction was while playing. I never got into the "extra" things, but most committed players wildly enjoy(ed) it. *Finding Silksong a smidge more accessible even though I understand some of the more regular complaints I've read.
There's just...so much content out there about Hollow Knight if the answer to your question is of actual interest to you. No shade to you if it wasn't up your alley, but the only kind of response you can get is someone else's opinion. Like, I gave Bloodborne my best effort (30-40 hours of it) but eventually had to give it up, despite loving Demon's Souls and Elden Ring. But I love hearing about others' passion for it all the same and accept that there's a something there that didn't click for me.
FWIW, this is the video that convinced me to play Hollow Knight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm9Q4YLaWLk. It's a long one but it makes a good case.
I gave Bloodborne my best effort (30-40 hours of it) but eventually had to give it up
That's sad to hear. It's the game From Software put most effort to design wise. It was incredibly clunky on release, probably feels even worse after playing later From titles. Wish we had a remaster but we likely won't. Even playing on an emulator won't help because of how From developed their games back then. Still it is the best game From Software made.
Damn, I thought all the jokes about breaking Steam Servers were just being hyperbolic. I applaud them though, I couldn’t get into the game but this is a huge milestone
I wanted to love the original, I did love the style and the gameplay, but the hardcore mechanics were just too much for me, they need to give us a "I have a job and a family" mode lmao.
I'm about 3 hours in and the benches are far more generous than in the first game. Also corpse runs aren't required; you just lose your money.
I just couldn’t get into the gameplay. Which sucks since it’s such a pivotal mechanic. I think a easier mode though would definitely let me go through and appreciate the game a little more though
That's how it always was. In fact, you can run away from a lot of boss battles this timeIf you want "I have a family" mode?
Grind though it a few minutes at a time and build your skills. Otherwise, this game just isn't for you, watch a playthrough
Yeah, this was one of those games that I could see the craftsmanship but just wasn't for me.
But strong follow up to a much beloved original IP for a very reasonable price? That borderline shadow dropped? Love it, yall enjoy your suprise Christmas and go nuts. Cool as hell.
Shadow dropped?? I've been looking forward to it since like... February?, when we got real confirmation. We've been tracking this for years
But I do appreciate you appreciating our day. It doesn't have to be your thing, but it's very cool of you to cheer us on. Today has been a big win for a lot of people, and I invite you to celebrate this as a win for gaming in general
I got it into my cart!
I can't open my cart, but it's in there
Lucky you, Im getting an error when trying to add it to my cart right now
Edit: Steam servers are down again, I'm back to getting the "Something is wrong" page. Aaaaa!!!
Same, right back to it but now there's a ghost item in my cart. Maybe this is worse than having it
Oh. So this might actually be a legit reason to do preorders, lol. I too got caught in payment progressing hell but I finally got it.
Not preordering is about waiting for reviews and bugfixes, isn't it? If you're gonna play on day one regardless, of course pre-order makes sense.
Yea, this has always been a legitimately good reason for digital pre-orders to exist, if people can buy games before release it really lessens the blow. I think the real issue with pre-orders is the dumb bonuses and such, really
I think preordering a game 2-3 days before release is fine. Preordering when the game is announced, isn't releasing for 6+ months, gets delayed for months (probably a few times), and/or sits in beta for 2+ years is extremely damaging to the gaming industry for the players and the teams working on these games.
Yeah, I'm glad most indie games don't do that. My wife was surprised I wanted to preorder a game with no bonuses, I think she has worked for corporate a little too long.
Yea, when i saw they weren't doing pre-orders i 100% expected steam to have some kind of issues on launch day.
"we're going to need 4000 more pods"
According to fireb0rn, he had no problem buying it on GOG.
0 drm, and you can play entirely offline. Gog’s def the better choice here. How’re you going to play silksong after gestures broadly goes to shit?
Seamless steam deck support is my guess
You can still play Steam games without Steam. They only put basic protection on the files that can be very easily bypassed (and yes, it's legal). See Steam Goldberg emu
Buying on GOG is always the play whenever the option is available.
Well gog doesn't have a Linux client though, while steam really does a lot for Linux gaming. I used to prefer gog but I'm back to steam for now.
Gog’s def the better choice here.
Depends on your region. GOG doesn't have regional pricing.
I just got it a half hour ago (2025-09-04 ~3PM UTC) on GOG and can confirm -- no issues at that time!
I was able to get it on gog without issue as well.
I spent 1 hour after release trying to fight Steam and then just bought it on GOG with no problem whatsoever.
Playing the linux build on Steam Deck and it runs great.
I'm currently waiting for them to release a patch for it; my controller is a little fucked: The controller vibration seems to have stopped working. Also, it bugs out for me if I disconnect the controller when the game is running and reconnect: some of the buttons stop working.
UPDATE (2025-09-05T06:54Z): It turns out that the lack of controller rumble is fixable by forcing the use of Proton instead of running the native build [1].
If you are playing on Steam, try the native version but force Steam Input to enabled.
IIRC, I did try that, but it caused my controller to cease functioning at all. Take that statement with a grain of salt though — I'd need to test again to verify.
https://slrpnk.net/comment/17826233
Called it.
I am sitting here going "WTF is this Doc talking about, it was a Bluesky post."
Then i saw the one and only comment regarding servers.
What is Hollow Knight silksong?
The highly-anticipated sequel to 2017's indie hit video game Hollow Knight. 2-time winner of "Most Anticipated Game" at the Unity Awards, and 3-time winner of "Most Wanted Game" at the Golden Joystick Awards. The most-wish-listed game on Steam, up until its release today.
Silksong is the highly anticipated sequel to the original game Hollow Knight. It's a metroidvania game with a cult following. The sequel has been in development for years, and people are super hyped for its release, proven even more so by the fact that an industry giant like steam not being able to keep up with demand
A mediocre sidescroller with a cult following for some reason
I’m gonna be real with you: I don’t like Dark Souls. It felt poorly designed and obtuse with no payoff. But, it took me a long time to learn it’s completely unconstructive to bash it in places where people are admiring it. Whether I like it or not, other people do.
If you must, give a word of caution so people know what to expect. “It’s a Metroidvania, I didn’t like it because it’s very black and white, and goes hard on difficulty.”
(On my wishlist for years)
Well now I don't feel like playing it.
Download failed 4 times in a row from GOG. I was able to get it like 20mns later. It's beautiful.
Just torrent it after purchasing, haha.
many people managed to buy the game but Im getting no luck 😭
This is a travesty of travical proportions and I am currently drafting a class action lawsuit against Gabe Newell
GoG, Xbox, and Nintendo eshops are also having issues.
I haven’t played the first one for more than 10 minutes but bro there’s no way these games can be that good.
HK was that good.
If you are at all a fan of souls-likes, metroidvanias, environmental storytelling, then you need to give the original more than 10 minutes.
Enjoy it as a metroidvania and beat the final boss -- then realize you still have places you haven't fully explored...
I love souls games, but other than Blasphemous and Dead Cells, I have struggled to stick with Metroidvanias a lot. I find that they are open in the worst way possible for me, because I can get lost and then spend time “progressing” only to find the way blocked and having to backtrack. These days I have low tolerance for wasting time, or more specifically to the feeling that I’m wasting time.
I'm not a soulslike fan myself, but I don't think hollow knight is very soulslike - the combat is very snappy, avoiding locking you into animations or making you consider your momentum, and I have the impression soulslikes also tend to be way more environmentally lethal, so to speak.
It might have some of that visual/lore/exploration vibe though.
Enjoy it as a metroidvania and beat the final boss
haven't fully explored
Couldn't be me.
I hear it has a good story and clever platformer type stuff. I picked up the first one and dropped it quickly because I remembered that I don't like platformers.
Good to see people that do enjoy them get great games!
TBF, you can say the same about any game if you don't enjoy the genre.
I did something similar until my partner (back then was a close friend) sat me down to play it until it got better.
The start is very basic, that gives the game a veneer of a boring game, but it doesn't last too long, you should go back and play it when you get the time, nowadays i stream the game, modded, as well as randomized because it is THAT fun.
I played many hours of the original, and do not expect to ever try this new one. Even if I got it free with a bundle or something... I just didn't enjoy playing the original enough.
Yeah, I'll wait until the dust settles and the reviews come in before I buy.
Well you won't need to wait long. The game already has 7600 reviews on Steam
Ya that was the first thing I was going to do this morning was buy silksong. What a struggle just to get it to check out. Now I can't pay for it 😅
20 € ? Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo would had marked it for 70 € or more.
I live in Colombia and Steam has it at ~10 USD post-regional pricing. A friend (same location) had to pay 24 USD in his PS5 (extra 4 USD due to taxes). Sony situation is ridiculous.
No problems buying it on Humble Bundle. Steam was down for me too though I got it to cart.
I think they are out of keys. Doesn't list the game any more, only the soundtrack.
The game is there, but the link is redirecting to the main page for me right now
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/hollow-knight-silksong
EDIT: Archive from earlier today when the "ADD TO CART" button was working https://web.archive.org/web/20250904142914/https://www.humblebundle.com/store/hollow-knight-silksong
I waited this long.. What's another hour... Come on, so close.... PLEASE GABEN LET ME CHECK OUUUuuuttt
Wellp, I have started playing the first silksong again finally after getting stuck in the mantis boss thing. Also I bought this one...
I only just started playing for the first time last week or 2 weeks ago, that mantis boss was tough but i managed it after many attempts. Each time i returned i played better. Little tip for you, in the arena, before starting the fight, wall climb up the left hand wall and attack upwards at the ceiling a few times and a hole opens with those blue blobs that give you temporary extra hit points. They respawn if you die so you can always start the fight with a few extra hits.
Only other tip is remain calm and the fight will feel slower.
Holy shit I finally just got it. By spamming the purchase buttons. But you have several steps. Spam the add to cart. Spam the checkout. Spam the complete purchase. Pain.
Can confirm. Spammed the shit out of those buttons and it finally worked.
Steam:
Congratulations on your purchase of shitloads of the game!
Your bank account:
I'm tired, boss.png
Your bank:
Your account has been locked due to shitloads of overdraft fees.
Played the first half hour of it and love it. Can't wait for the weekend to really dig into it.
It's been 2 hours since the game launched and I STILL can't check out. Not even steam sales had servers this busted!
My partner is playing it on our Steam Deck for about 50 minutes now. They are loving it. After about 6 minutes of steam crashing at Launch they got it.
But a friend wants it for playstation without any lucky. I can't even login in on PSN anymore, he can't find silksong on the ps store on his playstation.
It's still on the PS Store but they removed the buy button, now wishlist only again. Team cherry broke everything.
they removed the buy button
A rare case when the demand is too high.
Your right, for some reason there are 2 solksong entries on mobile browser. One gives a 404 and the other one I can only wish list.
Hope everyone how wants to play can play it quickly.
lol - who's doing SRE?
2.5 hours and counting. 🥲
2 hours and 10 minutes in and I can’t even get to the payment method screen
Why not just wait until tomorrow...?
I mean, eventually I would have but it was kinda disappointing and also amazing to see this happen. Steam has handled big releases just fine before.
The eshop is down too. I wanted to check if I had enough balance and I can't load the site
30 minutes? I tried buying since 10 est and was only successful at 2 pm
Idk if everything is back up now or if I got lucky but I had no issues.
This is a great reminder to try checking out my cart
People are simping hard for a mediocre sidescroller
Have you played the fist one? I had it as a free game on psn for ages but never played it. Gave it a go last week (didnt even know about silksong or anything about the game other than the genre) and was immediately hooked. I've played every day since then and am nearly at the end. I'm now very hyped to complete and buy silksong.
Regardless, I understand your comment. People get excited about good games. Genre, art style, or how many D's its got doesn't make a difference if the game has substance. Fun isn't bound to genre.
Am I the only one that is shocked that this game is popular in the first place? Let alone popular enough to tank Steam?
Why is it so shocking to you? It's jenre is popular since the beginning of gaming. It has super popular predecessor. The developers are loved for their love for their game and respect for gamers. It's been waited and memed for 7 years gaining something of a HL3 fame. There's no indication that the game is not at least as good as it's predecessor(10/10 on steam, 90 on metacritic). It will probably be contesting for the game of the year awards with Claire Obscure. With all that it's 20$.
You're not wrong, it's just a mediocre sidescroller with a cult following - it's the Taylor Swift of video games
Activision would kill baby to have people want their game so much that it crash Steam server.
Also the regional pricing is super cheap here($11), this gonna sell 10 millions.
Edit: in the payment processing screen and it just fail to process. Whelp, it's 10:30pm here, might as well get it tomorrow. Good luck everyone!
Edit: so apparently it break every major platform except GOG and Humble. That's crazy!
I don’t like Activision as much as the next Lemmy user, but let’s not kid ourselves. CoD still sells a shitload every year somehow.
Hot damn, not bad
But yeah every major studio sees these games and thinks underpaying devs, union busting, and AI garbage are gonna get them there somehow.
Meanwhile Steam keeps making self-made millionaires who busted ass on a passion project people adore for years. Like the Balatro guy, it makes me happy to think about and I hope he's doing well.
Because aaa developers are in the business of the business of making games. As in financing, shuffling money, stock appreciation, selling assets at opportune times, etc.. They are no longer interested in making games, they’re trying to make infinite money through an established ecosystem.
I have no clue what Hollow Knight is other than than individual people being pumped for this silksong thing. No advertising. No "hype train".
Here's hoping success stories like this shake some sense into the AAA gaming industry.
I heard him, the DF brothers and Concerned Ape are all collaborating on a line of programmer desks.
I mean, yes, every studio wants to hit the jackpot and release a solid game that becomes a Movement that can fund about 8 years of development turning a stretch goal DLC into a full game.
Like, I get the intent. But all you did was say "devs should make good games".
Steam (and PC in general) just lends itself to indie games more, which is good. It could do better, but overall there's a lot of great games that get the recognition they deserve. Triple A finds most of it's success on consoles, where they can easily market it on the front page of the console, rather than just on the store.
But PC is (unfortunately?) really getting mainstream now, so we are starting to see a lot morals thrown out the window by consumers just to play the latest AAA slop too.
Busted ass means farting lol, I think you meant busted their ass.
I bought it on humble because steam was broken. They ran out of keys shortly after I purchased it, had to wait a few hours until they restocked them. They temporarily took silksong off their store during this time.
So gog might be the only one that wasn't broke
The peak of my career also was definitely when we crashed Steam for a few hours during our EA launch - even though the Steam devs were prepared.
I’m also really happy that Silksong is getting so much love from players. The team behind it truly seems to deserve it.
Yeah, I bought it the day after its release (today September 5th). Played about 1,5H (so glad I “work” from home).
GoG has been having issues too but not as bad as Steam ironically
The majority of PC players must have bought it on Steam. I'd imagine something like 97%
I heard gog had issues too and apparently humble ran out of keys
Activision/Blizzard have frequently had game launches where their servers were unavailable due to demand.
But that’s probably more due to terrible network infrastructure, than overwhelming demand!
Ya, that's where they crash their own server, people able to get the game but can never log in or find a match or something due to their own unprepareness. This one crash all the major storefront.
11 dollars ? US dollars ? how does that cole to be ? It's priced 18 euros in Mayotte, I imagine it's the same price on mainland France but I haven't checked
Regional pricing. Poor countries get lower prices so they could afford buying games and not just pirate them.
Maybe they allocate a bit more resources before the obvious big games, and the surprise popularity of this one just caught them all off guard.
It was the most wish listed game on steam I don't think it caught Steam off guard, Steam just doesn't care. The servers break every summer sale as well and they've never tried to fix it.
Activison: There is no such thing as too successful!
Every online retailer since this morning: Bet?
10 million copies is a huge understatement, it'll surely sell a lot more than that.
What other platforms besides Steam, GOG, and Humble are there? Epic?
Edit: Oh, you mean for non-PC, I guess?
Yeah, PS, Xbox, and Nintendo all have server issue due to this.
"What other platforms are there?" "Oh, you mean for other platforms?"
Uuuh....