Hollow Knight: Silksong's first public demo will be available at the Xbox booth during Gamescom 2025. Continue reading to learn more about this exciting preview and the game's long and suspenseful development journey.
Xbox Booth at Gamescom 2025 to Showcase Silksong Alongside Other Major Games
Silksong Demo Accessible on PC and ROG Xbox Ally X
Hollow Knight: Silksong will make its playable demo debut at Gamescom 2025. According to an article published on Xbox Wire on July 28, Microsoft confirmed that Silksong will be a featured attraction at the Xbox Booth from August 20-24 at Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany.
The demo will be playable on PC and on Xbox's upcoming handheld device, the ROG Xbox Ally X, developed in collaboration with Asus ROG. This new portable system was first unveiled during the Xbox Games Show at Summer Game Fest 2025, where Silksong was highlighted as a playable title.
The ROG Xbox Ally X runs the Xbox interface, enabling players to access games from Game Pass, Steam, the Epic Games Store, Battle.net, and other platforms. It is scheduled for release during the 2025 holiday season, aligning with the launch of one of the most eagerly awaited games, Silksong.
Xbox has not yet disclosed the exact amount of content the demo will offer, but fans are simply thrilled to see Silksong gaining momentum and finally approaching its release.
The Long Road to Release
The year 2025 has been a rollercoaster of teases and high hopes for Hollow Knight fans. It all started on January 15, when William Pellen, one of the game's creators, tweeted that "something big is coming." This coincided with the Nintendo Switch 2 announcement, fueling widespread speculation that Silksong would be featured in the Switch 2 Direct event in April 2025.
Shortly after, on January 18, Matthew "Leth" Griffin, Head of Marketing and Publishing at Team Cherry, responded to a fan on Twitter (X), reassuring everyone that Silksong is "real, progressing, and will release." As the months went by without further news, the Silksong community grew increasingly restless for any update on the sequel.
Hope was briefly renewed when Silksong's Steam metadata was updated, changing Team Cherry's copyright from 2019 to 2025. This gave fans fresh optimism that the developers were preparing to share new details or at least make an appearance during the Switch 2 Direct.
Silksong did indeed appear in Nintendo's online showcase for the Switch 2, though only for a fleeting moment. The brief segment confirmed the game would launch on the Switch 2 in 2025 but provided no specific release date. This led to questions about whether the game would still come to the original Switch, but Team Cherry soon confirmed it would still be released on that platform.
A month after its brief appearance at the Switch 2 Direct, Australia's National Museum of Screen Culture (ACMI) announced on May 2 that a Silksong demo would be available at the Game Worlds video game exhibition, starting September 18, 2025. Many interpreted this as a potential hint for the game's release window, though Team Cherry did not confirm anything.
Meanwhile, in the run-up to the Switch 2 launch, Silksong received another Steam data update. This time, the developers updated their Steam package, which had remained unchanged for 15 months. As expected, the Silksong community immediately began analyzing this new information, with many concluding the game might be shadow-dropped alongside the Switch 2's release.
That prediction did not come true, but Silksong did have a notable presence during Summer Game Fest 2025. As one of the most anticipated games in recent memory, fans expected a major announcement or a dedicated segment for Silksong at the prestigious event.
Instead, the game received a spontaneous mention during the Deadpool VR premiere reveal. Deadpool, in his signature fourth-wall-breaking style, quipped, "You’re going to do me a solid and skip that Silksong trailer, so you can pimp my revolutionary VR game adventure that will shock the industry, probably." Team Cherry later clarified they were unaware of this reference and were surprised another game would use its limited stage time to mention their title.
Although its main stage appearance was brief, Silksong was prominently featured during the Xbox Games Show later that weekend. Xbox announced its partnership with Asus ROG to develop the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, set to launch in the 2025 holiday season.
During the presentation, Xbox President Sarah Bond stated, "The highly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available at launch and in Game Pass when the Ally releases later this year." However, Team Cherry later clarified on their Discord server that Silksong is not specifically a launch title for the ROG Xbox device and is not tied to any particular console release.
The developers did confirm that the game will launch "BEFORE" the 2025 holiday season. With Silksong now confirmed for Gamescom 2025, the long-awaited sequel is finally nearing its official release.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is scheduled for a 2025 release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. For the latest updates on the game, check out our article below!
