My running theory has been that the official release date is tied up in Microsoft marketing deals still. So I'm guessing we'll hear the date from Microsoft during summer game fest.
Its hard to tell what exactly their MS deal is and it would be surprising if MS had much influence beyond "We are part of the first release date"
But 2025 is actually pretty plausible. Pure speculation, but if Silksong was in the polishing/padding stage in even late 2023 and Team Cherry are financially stable? Waiting for a new console release makes a lot of sense. ESPECIALLY the Switch 2 since...
Look. The Switch 1's launch year was a fucking shitshow. Yeah yeah yeah, they had the greatest wii u of all time and blah blahblah. But the first party releases were pretty jacked up. It was "the Nindies" that carried the Switch 1. And it was ridiculously good for those indie studios who basically were the only games available for the latest Nintendo gameboy.
And Switch 2 is looking the same. That sizzle reel was almost all "We have a small DLC for the Switch 1 game!" and "This will be available in 2026". So you can bet plenty of indie devs and publishers were in talks with Nintendo about when the release window was so they could decide if they wanted to wait or not.
For me, Hollow Knight started out a bit rough, got fun and interesting, but ultimately, I lost interest in trying to finish. There were parts which were a lot of fun, but eventually it became nothing more than a chore. And I've got too many other REAL chores to let a game like this stress me out. So I set it aside without finishing it.
Despite that, I'm looking forward to this sequel. I likely won't be a day one buyer (but who knows???), but I'm still pretty sure I will eventually play it. I'm hoping there are some nice game play and story improvements, but even more of the same could be nice.
Interesting, I had a very similar experience. I loved exploring the world, gaining new powers to unlock even more areas and growing stronger along the way. The world felt alive and authentic. Traversal was fun and combat was fair. I also liked how the characters you randomly meet have their own journeys, making the world feel dynamic.
But as the ending approached, it lost some momentum. With such a vast world and so much to discover, getting from A to B to C took time. I never actually finished the game but somehow that felt fine. It was more about the journey than the destination, which is rare for me.
If the initial reviews are good, the sequel might be the first game I buy at full price in a long time.
That scene where you're fighting the dude and she swoops in and breaks his face and is like "GE DAH" and the music is fucking epic. They can take all the time they need, I'd rather it be good.