The good news about Hollow Knight: Silksong finally having a release date is that we get to throw away our clown suits. The bad news is that we're seeing a new trend in the indie gaming world: games being delayed to avoid launching in the Silksong release window.
Following the game's playable demo at Gamescom, as well as the announcement of its September 4th release date, the gaming world is reacting to the fact that Silksong is not only real but will be launching in the near future.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Releasing In Two Weeks Has Players Flocking Back To The Original
If you've been thinking of going back to the original Hollow Knight to prepare for Silksong, you aren't the only one.
Last week, Aeterna Lucis announced a delay until 2026, citing the desire not to be overshadowed by the highly anticipated release of Silksong. We've seen other games follow suit, such as Panik Arcade's CloverPit, originally set to release on September 3rd. The game will now launch on September 26th, which is still within that Silksong window, but hey, it's not one day before the launch of the biggest indie game quite possibly ever.
As we quickly approach Silksong's release date of September 4th (words that still don't feel real, by the way), yet another game has announced that it's being delayed to avoid Silksong.
Demonschool, A Persona/Shin Megami Tensei/Italian Horror-Inspired Tactics RPG, Is Delayed Due To Silksong
Publisher Ysbyrd Games announced on their Bluesky page that they are delaying the release of their upcoming tactics RPG Demonschool to November 19th. They add that it's "for exactly the reason you're thinking."
"After much anguished consideration on our part, we've made the decision to move the game's release to Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025," the company said in their statement. "With 11 years under our belt as an indie publisher, Ysbryd Games are reasonably qualified to say that any point of 2025, on balance, has been or will be as brutal as market conditions can get when it comes to releasing a game. Crueler still, that we should find out with such short notice that Holow Knight: Silksong will launch just one day after our planned release for Demonschool."
Ysbyrd's main goal with Demonschool is to ensure the game is able to get the visibility they believe it deserves. Launching so close to Silksong goes against this intended purpose, therefore they decided to make the difficult decision to push the release date back a few months.
Don't Expect To See Hollow Knight: Silksong Reviews Before Launch
Hollow Knight: Silksong is launching in two weeks, yet a rumor is stating that review codes aren't going to be sent out before it's released
"Between now and November, [developer] Necrosoft Games and ourselves will continue to pour our time into enhancing and polishing up the game experience. For example, there will be more endings and minigames that the developers originally planned to patch in post-release, rather than leave them on the cutting floor; not it'll all be a part of the game's release in November."
On August 21st, the upcoming demo for Stomp and the Sword of Miracle was also delayed from its originally planned September 12th release date. By my count, that's at least four games being delayed due to Silksong. I can't help but wonder if Grand Theft Auto 6 is pushed out of its May 26th, 2026, planned release date (it was already delayed once after all), that we'll be doing this song and dance once again next year.
Demonschool
- Released
- November 19, 2025
