Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier dropped surprising news about one of gaming’s most anticipated sequels. Team Cherry told him they won’t be sending out early review codes for Hollow Knight: Silksong. The game launches September 4, but critics will have to wait like everyone else to play it.
The Australian indie studio’s reasoning is simple. They want to be fair to their Kickstarter backers and regular players. Nobody gets special early access, not even reviewers. This means no advance reviews, no performance analyses, and no buyer’s guides until after launch.
This breaks from standard industry practice. Most developers send review codes days or weeks before release, allowing critics to publish reviews right when the game launches. Players typically rely on these early reviews to decide whether to buy on day one.
Team Cherry’s decision makes more sense when you consider their size. The studio consists of just three core developers who created one of the most beloved indie games ever. Hollow Knight, released in 2017, became a critical and commercial hit through word of mouth rather than massive marketing campaigns.
Silksong started life as downloadable content. The original Kickstarter campaign for Hollow Knight included a stretch goal for a second playable character, Hornet. But the scope grew so much that Team Cherry turned it into a full sequel. They announced this transformation back in 2019, and original backers will receive the game at no extra cost.
The sequel takes players to Pharloom, a new kingdom filled with fresh enemies and bosses. Hornet moves faster and more acrobatically than the Knight from the first game. She uses silk-based abilities for both combat and healing, offering a different playstyle from the original.
The Doom treatment
This isn’t the first time a major release has skipped early reviews. Bethesda famously didn’t send out early codes for Doom in 2016. That game still earned critical acclaim after launch. The difference is that Doom came from a massive publisher with huge marketing muscle behind it.
For a tiny indie team, managing review code requests from hundreds of outlets worldwide would be a logistical nightmare right before launch. Plus, keeping story spoilers under wraps becomes nearly impossible when codes spread widely. Team Cherry’s approach sidesteps both problems while treating all players equally.
Players who want informed purchasing decisions will need to wait a few days after launch for reviews to appear. But with the game launching on Xbox Game Pass on day one, many players can try it without committing to a full purchase. Steam users also have their standard refund window if the game doesn’t meet expectations.
