Hollow Knight: Silksong's day-one Xbox Game Pass release shows Team Cherry is looking to step up access to the title compared to Hollow Knight.

Team Cherry's Hollow Knight: Silksong began life as an expansion for the popular 2017 release, which promised to feature a second playable character in its original Kickstarter campaign. After Silksong was revealed to be its own adventure in 2019, the first major gameplay showcase debuted during the Nintendo Treehouse livestream that E3, leaving fans to assume Nintendo Directs would house more announcements going forward. That's why Hollow Knight: Silksong appearing in 2022's Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase was a real surprise.

The minute-long trailer didn't offer fans much information to glean without going frame-by-frame to pick out each of Hornet's new abilities compared to Hollow Knight's protagonist. However, it did confirm Silksong will be a day-one release via Xbox Game Pass - despite there being no real indication of when the game will launch. Even without that release date set, the fact that Team Cherry is jumping onto Microsoft's subscription platform so much earlier this time bodes well for the Hollow Knight series' success.

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Hollow Knight initially released for PC in February 2017, and it was planned to launch on Wii U soon after. However, once the Nintendo Switch hybrid console became a known quantity, work shifted to get Hollow Knight on that platform instead. It wouldn't become available until June 12, 2018, with a shadow-drop announced during Nintendo's E3 presentation. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One skews became available with the release of Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition in September 2018; coinciding a major update with fixes for the game's fourth and final "Godmaster" content pack.

The full Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition became available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers on September 25, 2018 as well, expanding access to the dreary, intriguing world of Hallownest for those who may have been hesitant to buy-in themselves. Each free content pack and platform expansion snowballed Hollow Knight's success, even if it began life with great word-of-mouth thanks to recognitions like a "Best Debut Indie Game" nomination at The Game Awards 2017. Crossovers like an appearance in Dead Cells' "Everyone is Here" update have only done more for the indie metroidvania, leading to record-breaking concurrent player numbers as recently as 2021.

However, Silksong is no longer in the same boat. While it is being developed by the same small team, all eyes are on the sequel to see if it can live up to its predecessor's success. Anticipation is at a fever-pitch over five years after Hollow Knight's debut, so it makes sense for Team Cherry to make sure as many people can try the game at launch as possible.

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While the first game is a huge success story along the same lines as contemporaries like Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone's Stardew Valley, Silksong could be even bigger. Not only will there be a devoted fanbase built up over the last five years, newcomers who have heard about Hollow Knight through questions thrown around every Nintendo Directs may also be interested. After the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, now those people know they can find Silksong as part of their Game Pass subscriptions day one, affording it as much attention as first-party releases like Halo Infinite or Starfield.

While Nintendo Switch Online and PlayStation Plus are subscription services that pride themselves on libraries of older works, Xbox Game Pass is more notable for its revolving door of modern AAA releases and popular indies - with priority access afforded to both console and PC players. There have been numerous stories about games finding a new audience on Game Pass, one recent case being Eidos Montreal's "underperforming" but acclaimed Guardians of the Galaxy.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is still shrouded in mystery, but Team Cherry's decision to push it as a day-one Xbox Game Pass release shows the developer wants as many people as possible to see Hornet's adventure as soon as possible. With Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition already available through the subscription service, now is a great time for anyone on the fence to catch up. However, time will tell whether PlayStation fans also get access at launch.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is in development for PC, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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Jason learned to read playing Pokemon Crystal on the Game Boy Color, and hasn't looked back. He received a Journalism degree at California State University, Fullerton while working on news coverage and investigative content for its paper, and came to Game Rant soon after graduating. Nintendo games are his primary wheelhouse, but he'll try most anything once.