The sequel to Hollow Knight, the fan-favorite metroidvania by Team Cherry, was recently released on September 4. Aptly named Hollow Knight: Silksong, the sequel saw an explosive release, crashing storefronts and reaching a concurrent player count of 562,814 on the first day. In fact, since release, the count only dipped below 300,000 between 11:00pm ET Sunday, September 7 and 7:00am ET Monday, September 8. Or, better known as the hours most individuals are resting.

Over the weekend, Silksong saw an all-time peak of players in-game of 587,150. This puts Silksong only second to Monster Hunter: Wilds for 2025 release player counts. (Monster Hunter: Wilds saw a player peak of 1,179,869 upon its release.) These numbers comfortably place Silksong in the top 20 most played games on Steam. Hollow Knight also saw a new all-time peak reached over the weekend, with 95,655. Silksong’s successes are undeniable and quantifiable, even in the face of criticisms regarding its difficulty.

The fantastic release of Silksong has also brought the discussion of game prices to the forefront. One X user commented on how high prices of games don’t necessarily reflect game quality, citing games on the lower end of price ranges that saw great success, such as Silksong, Helldivers 2 at $39.99, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at $49.99. Additionally, some indie developers have begun to question their own pricing of games, wondering if they are over pricing their games. Another X user makes a good point, though, that indie developers should price their games as to what they think is appropriate and not concern themselves too greatly with the pricing others. 

At the time of writing, 11:57am ET, Silksong has 435,272 players currently in the game and Hollow Knight has 72,977. English reviews for Silksong on Steam remain Very Positive, while they are Mostly Positive for all languages. Hollow Knight has also seen a very slight change, with reviews over the last 30 days only being Very Positive, while the overall reviews are Overwhelmingly Positive. However, this is only a three percent difference. The Hollow Knight franchise has, over the weekend, further solidified itself as a strong entity within indie gaming.