For (at least) the last few years, it’s been clear that Hollow Knight Silksong’s release would be a significant event for indie game fans and the video game industry overall. Hollow Knight is one of the most successful indies ever, so it’s sequel is a big deal. Now, after years of waiting, its release is only days away, and while indie game fans and developers alike are excited, the latter group is also having to delay its own games to get out of its way.
A day after Team Cherry announced a September 4 release date for Hollow Knight Silksong, two studios, Panik Arcade and Aeternum Game Studios, delayed their upcoming releases. Since then, at least five more delays have been spotted with the reason and blame for the delays set at the Hornet’s pointed-feet, as each of these studios tries to give their games the best chance at getting all the visibility they can.
Baby Steps is arguably the most high-profile of the indie games to get out of Silksong’s way. Made by the developers behind QWOP, Getting Over It, and Ape Out, Baby Steps has featured in several showcase presentations for the past two years, was a highlight during Steam Next Fest events, and was due to arrive on September 8. That was before developers Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennet Foddy all decided it wasn’t worth trying to take attention away from Silksong four days after it would be out. It’ll now launch on September 23, 2025.
Persona-inspired Demonschool from developer Necrosoft Games and publisher Ysbryd Games was delayed from its initial September 3 release date to November 19, 2025, with Ysbyrd Games saying, “We have to remind ourselves that gaining visibility for Demonschool is our main goal. Thus, the Ysbryd team strongly believes we would not be doing our game any favors by wading into waters we can clearly see are blood red. If the September period is going to be Silksong‘s moment, then we need to be elsewhere on the calendar to give Demonschool its own moment to be seen and talked about meaningfully.”
Interestingly, in the case of Demonschool, it seems like developer and publisher were at odds with whether to delay it, as Necrosoft claims it “was not our choice but we understand why the choice was made” and apologizes to players. That said, it does compliment Ysbryd for covering the cost caused by the delay.
Faeland, an early access adventure RPG from Talegames that released in early access in December 2023 was actually one of the first to get out of Silksong’s way, making the call hours after Silksong’s release date was announced. It was initially set to exit early access on September 9, but will instead announce a new release date at a later date.
Little Witch in the Woods initially launched in early access in 2022, and developer Sunny Side Up announced today that it would also delay its v1.0 launch for Little Witch in the Woods, from September 4 to September 15.
A bit lower stakes than a full game release, spotted by Aftermath, Stomp and the Sword of Miracles delayed the release of its demo, which was supposed to arrive alongside Silksong on September 4. A new release date for the demo will be announced at a later date, while developer Bee Braun and Frogteam Games give it a little more polish time.
This all makes at least seven games that have been delayed specifically to get the hell out of Silksong’s way, and let Team Cherry have their moment without damaging their own chances at getting visibility on their games. Three out of these seven games feature 2D platforming gameplay, so it makes sense on a genre-level that they want to let platforming fans have their time with Silksong before trying to get them to jump onto their game.
But most of these games are very different from Silksong, and would potentially be trying to draw in different players with different gaming habits. The fact that Silksong has indie games from any genre running with their tail between their legs shows how strongly everyone believes the game will capture indie game players attention for at least a week beyond its release.
