“SILKSONG IS IMMORTAL AND SO ARE WE”: Desperate for answers, Hollow Knight Silksong fans are ritualistically banning mods in savage sacrifice to their fickle god Team Cherry

For countless years, individuals have attempted to extract significance from the universe’s seemingly nonsensical behavior, scrutinizing tea grounds, sheep livers, or drawing blood from deep wounds as fervent offerings to their aloof, changeable deities. In the present – an era of algorithms and frozen meals – these practices might appear extreme, even savage, yet a select few visionaries recognize the potency of ancient yearning, and they all happen to congregate on the Hollow Knight: Silksong subreddit.

Discontent with the slow trickle of updates they’ve been receiving for the last few months – the Metroidvania sequel is reportedly finally launching this year, yet the updates continue to be trivial Steam updates, etc. – fans of Hollow Knight (as highlighted by PC Gamer) have resorted to ceremonially banning r/Silksong members for intel. Again.

“We made the decision, there’s no other option,” an r/Silksong moderator states in a recent discussion with over 3,000 upvotes. The moderation team opted to ban one among themselves, u/sand-sky-stars, as “an ultimate sacrifice”; as of this writing, the user still appears as a r/Silksong mod on their profile, but as prior sacrifices have suggested, a ritual Silksong “ban” merely denotes being discouraged from discussing Hollow Knight on either Reddit or Discord.

In any case. “Each r/silksong participant possesses a specific level of influence,” the mod team elaborates in its discussion, “which is only unleashed when we perform a sacrifice, but regardless of how many farewells we express, it’s never adequate for our Cherry Gods to heed our petitions.”

“WE SHALL LEAVE MARKS ON SAND AS WE EMBARK ON THIS FRESH CHAPTER, OUR SHOUTS WILL TOUCH THE HEAVENS AS WE CHANT FOR SILKSONG, OUR CAPACITY WILL RISE EVEN BEYOND THE STARS,” the mods exclaim with ancient yearning, “WE MAY HAVE BEEN TEMPTED COUNTLESS TIMES, WE EXPERIENCED OUR LOWS, BUT TODAY WE UNFOLD A NEW CHAPTER AND WE SHALL KNOW NO TREPIDATION.”

“WE ARE THE HOPE MADE VISIBLE” – shout it! Split the clouds with your aspiration! – AND WE WILL WITHSTAND EVERYTHING / FOR SILKSONG IS ETERNAL AND SO ARE WE.”

So what did the Silksong enthusiasts receive from developer Team Cherry 16 hours following their unreserved sacrifice? Concept illustrations? A fresh trailer? A launch date?

No, it’s, uh, yet another inexplicable Steam update. Well, at least they endeavored.

Check in on the Hollow Knight: Silksong fans in your life, because the triple-whammy of mentions, no-shows, and clarifications at Summer Game Fest was absolutely brutal.

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She has served as a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, and she has penned freelance works concerning horror and female representation in gaming for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she isn’t reporting gaming news, she is typically focused on growing her doll collection while binge-watching Saw films one through 11.