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Silksong devs say there was no dev hell, only dev heaven: they’ve been quiet to avoid “bugging people,” once thought it would be out in “a year or two,” and “could have kept going” but also want to see this thing finished

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Hollow Knight: Silksong

Team Cherry explains the Silksong development process that was so fun devs just couldn’t stop: “If you’re trying to build a Mario level, you might take an empty space and think, oh, should there be a few platforms here?”

Anna Koselke

19 September 2025

A look into the Hollow Knight sequel’s production

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(Image credit: Team Cherry)

Hollow Knight: Silksong finally arrived after around seven years of production – seven years that developers said they were “having fun” during – and now, Team Cherry is explaining the process itself.

Speaking in a recent interview with ACMI, co-directors William Pellen and Ari Gibson look back at Silksong’s development journey. “We try to be methodical – we’ll decide what area we’re working on that month, and move through it,” recalls Gibson. “So we have a plan – but the plan is never so calcified that it can’t bear a change of course two weeks later – or two months later, or two years later.” It’s not just about adding levels for Team Cherry.
It’s more about fleshing out the space the devs are creating rather than developing a series of levels in order. “If you think about it more as a world and a space, it’s actually much easier to come up with stuff to put in it,” Pellen explains. “Early on with Hollow Knight, I did it a bit, trying to think of the space. If you’re trying to build a Mario level, you might take an empty space and think, ‘Oh, should there be a few platforms here?'”

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Silksong devs say there was no dev hell, only dev heaven: they’ve been quiet to avoid “bugging people,” once thought it would be out in “a year or two,” and “could have kept going” but also want to see this thing finished

Team Cherry hoped Silksong could be anyone’s “first Hollow Knight game,” and one reason it took 7 years is they were “comfortable” not knowing what’s gonna happen: “The really interesting things are the things you sort of discover along the way”

During development, Hollow Knight devs kept costs low with leftover lunches at their tiny office, and then the game sold 15 million copies: “My dad would sometimes pop up and give me $20″

The lead continues: “‘Should there be a certain type of enemy?’ But if you just start thinking – well, it’s a cavern with a lake on the left or it’s a ruined tower, suddenly the design of the space at the micro level is much easier. As the map grew, we’re generally not thinking about which power-up you are getting next and where, and what places you’re moving through to get them.” As a result, things feel more seamless.

Pellen cites The Citadel, the main location in Act 2 of Silksong, as a guiding example in the design of the rest of Pharloom, Silksong’s withering world. Pieces of the holy city can be found throughout the entire game. “We’re thinking about the Citadel at the top of the world, and what’s around it – what you would expect to find, where that could lead you, and who you might find there? What might they ask you to do, and if you did do it, what would that mean? And where would that leave you?”
Gibson later compares worldbuilding – something Team Cherry arguably aced in both the original Hollow Knight and Silksong – to character writing. “Writers talk about this idea that if they know their character well enough, the character can kind of take over and make decisions, or divert from the course the writer thought they would take – and because the writer knows them so well, they can just follow that character wherever they end up.”
According to the co-director, “Building a game world is very similar to that – we establish the foundations, and as those become clearer, the world suggests what else is going to exist. Then we just get to follow all those little ideas to their conclusion.” It makes sense – and it isn’t all that hard to see just why the devs got to have so much fun while crafting Silksong and all of its intricacies, from the Moss Grotto to the gilded Citadel.

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Silksong’s first area was only added after Team Cherry realized it needed a softer intro: “We’re trying to be kind of respectful to the player. We’re not trying to baby them”

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Anna Koselke

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Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms’ clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she’s not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she’s probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she’s spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur’s Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you’ll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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Silksong devs say there was no dev hell, only dev heaven: they’ve been quiet to avoid “bugging people,” once thought it would be out in “a year or two,” and “could have kept going” but also want to see this thing finished

Team Cherry hoped Silksong could be anyone’s “first Hollow Knight game,” and one reason it took 7 years is they were “comfortable” not knowing what’s gonna happen: “The really interesting things are the things you sort of discover along the way”

During development, Hollow Knight devs kept costs low with leftover lunches at their tiny office, and then the game sold 15 million copies: “My dad would sometimes pop up and give me $20″

OG Hollow Knight technical director says Team Cherry remain silent because their “work ethic is off the charts” and they’re probably “over at the office working” right now

Silksong’s first area was only added after Team Cherry realized it needed a softer intro: “We’re trying to be kind of respectful to the player. We’re not trying to baby them”

The Hollow Knight: Silksong arc needs to be studied and remembered: a small team of happy devs were just “having fun” making their game, not burning out, while the internet imploded

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