Hollow Knight: Silksong Drops Today — Hornet’s Bigger Moveset Could Change Everything

Silksong lands today, and the real story isn’t the price-it’s the pace

I’ve been watching Hollow Knight: Silksong long enough to grow a whole moss creep garden. So yeah, a day-one launch at €20 and on Xbox Game Pass is great-low barrier, huge audience, zero FOMO. But the bit that actually grabbed me comes from an older Edge interview the community’s resurfaced: Hornet isn’t just a new protagonist, she’s bigger and wildly more agile than the Knight, and that forced Team Cherry to rethink almost everything. That could be the difference between a sequel that coasts and one that genuinely earns its spot next to the original.

Key takeaways

• No early review codes means everyone discovers it together-expect raw day-one impressions, not embargo-polished takes.
• €20 and Game Pass make it a low-risk jump-in, especially if you bounced off the first game’s opening difficulty curve.
• Hornet’s larger, faster kit pushed bigger spaces and smarter enemies; expect a different tempo and encounter style.
• The first game’s massive success raises expectations—but also funded the time to rebuild systems around Hornet.

Hornet’s size isn’t just lore—it’s level design

In Edge, Team Cherry’s Ari Gibson and William Pellen put it plainly: “Hornet is bigger, she moves much faster, she can jump higher, she can climb or pull up on ledges—overall she’s more acrobatic. The surrounding caves had to grow to fit her size.” They add that fights are “so fast” and Hornet “so capable” that it “changes how enemies must be designed.” That’s not marketing fluff—that’s a blueprint. Hollow Knight built its tension around constrained spaces, tight pogo windows, and enemies tuned to a measured, weighty nail swing. Hornet’s ledge grabs and higher jump arc suggest more vertical routes, fewer cramped bottlenecks, and enemy patterns that assume you can reposition aggressively rather than turtle up.

If you’ve sunk dozens of hours into the first game, picture how different the early Fungal Wastes or City of Tears would feel if you could mantle ledges and burst through rooms. Speedrunners will feast. Casual players might find the flow more readable too—mobility often acts as difficulty relief by letting you correct mistakes on the fly. The trade-off? Faster heroes demand faster, trickier enemies. Telegraphed attacks get shorter, and boss phases can stack movement checks on top of dodge checks. In other words: expect less attrition, more execution.

From DLC to full sequel: scope creep that actually makes sense

Silksong famously started life as a Hollow Knight DLC before ballooning into a full-fat sequel. That’s not just “more levels.” Rewriting world geometry and AI around a different body size and traversal kit is the kind of change you don’t bolt on. Team Cherry taking extra time to “do it right,” as reported in coverage of the studio’s development approach, tracks with what we’re hearing about the redesign work. When the original reportedly sold around 15 million, you earn the runway to take bigger swings—and the pressure to deliver something that’s more than a victory lap.

We’ve seen this play out before: Ori’s sequel rebuilt movement into a more kinetic platformer; Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown dialed traversal up and re-tuned combat to match. Silksong looks poised to join that lineage of second entries that rethink the core loop rather than padding the map with familiar biomes.

What this actually changes for players

Moment-to-moment, expect momentum to matter. If Hornet climbs ledges and rockets through spaces, then platforming challenges will lean on rhythm—strings of moves that feel great when you nail them and punish hesitation. Combat encounters should meet you at that speed: more interrupts, cross-screen dashes to chase you down, and patterns that force you to use your mobility instead of face-tanking. Boss arenas will likely be wider and taller, not just prettier.

The original game’s early hours could be brutal for new players. With Hornet’s toolkit, the opening could be friendlier without becoming easier: better escape valves, faster traversal between benches, and fewer “stuck in a pit with a dream shield” moments. Veterans, don’t worry—difficulty is a dial, not a fixed value, and faster movesets usually come with higher skill ceilings. The ceiling here could be enormous.

Price, Game Pass, and the no-review-code choice

At €20 in 2025, Silksong is aggressively priced. Metroid Dread and Lost Crown hit premium tags; Ori sequels sat higher too. Team Cherry is betting on volume and goodwill, and Game Pass only amplifies that. Day-one on the service guarantees massive discovery, speedrunning races by nightfall, and a community consensus forming fast. For players, it’s perfect: try it with your sub or grab it outright without sweating the cost.

No early codes for media is a choice with trade-offs. Best case, everyone—including press—forms opinions from the same build at the same time, spoilers are contained, and the conversation feels organic. Worst case, if performance hiccups or difficulty spikes crop up, there’s no advance warning. My advice: if you’re sensitive to performance quirks, give it a day and watch player captures; otherwise, dive in and be part of the discovery.

Why this matters now

We’ve had a flood of “Hollow Knight-likes” over the last few years. For Silksong to matter, it can’t just be longer—it has to feel fundamentally different. Hornet’s larger frame and acrobatics are the design lever to make that happen. If Team Cherry sticks the landing, Silksong won’t just be more Hollow Knight; it’ll be the rare sequel that proves agility can reshape an entire world.

TL;DR

Silksong is out today at €20 and on Game Pass, with no early reviews. The real change is Hornet’s bigger, faster moveset, which forced larger spaces and snappier enemies. Expect a sharper, speedier Metroidvania that rewards momentum—and a day-one conversation driven by players, not embargoes.