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Hollow Knight Was Originally Planned to Be a ‘Very Small’ Game

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On April 13, 2025

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Summary

Hollow Knight was initially planned as a small project with around two hours of gameplay.
The Kickstarter success expanded the game, allowing Team Cherry to add much more to the experience.
Hollow Knight: Silksong has been in development for over six years and could be released sometime in 2025.

Team Cherry has revealed that the incredibly popular Hollow Knight was almost a “very small” game. While Hollow Knight turned out to be a Metroidvania brimming with content, the developers have revealed that it would not have been the case without the help of gamers.

While many fans have their sights set on the upcoming Hollow Knight: Silksong, the original 2017 game helped make Team Cherry a popular name in the industry. The game tasked players with exploring the underground kingdom of Hallownest, encountering numerous bizarre and often deadly bugs along the way. Featuring tight controls, impressive world design, and an intriguing story, the game gained massive success, becoming one of the best-selling Metroidvanias. In addition to the base game, Team Cherry released several DLCs after launch, adding even more content for fans to check out. However, new details reveal that the game could have turned out differently.

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Hollow Knight: Silksong Steam Updates Have Fans Excited

Hollow Knight: Silksong fans discover an exciting detail on Steam that can be good news for gamers waiting for Team Cherry’s next game.

As part of a recently published 2018 interview with Source Gaming, Ari Gibson and William Pellen from Team Cherry talked about the development of Hollow Knight. Specifically, the developers discussed the original funding goals for the game and how they impacted the planned scope of the title. According to Gibson, the funding goal for the project was set at AU$35,000, which coincided with the small scale planned for the game. “It was really like a small thing,” Gibson said. Pellen added that the game was intended to only be “like two hours or something.” In addition, the developers said they had considered dropping the funding goal by $5,000 because of how small of a game they were planning.

Kickstarter Funding Allowed Team Cherry to Expand the Scale of Hollow Knight

Fortunately, this relatively small-scale plan for the game changed once funding started coming in. The developers revealed that the success of the Kickstarter campaign freed them up to add more to the game, increasing the scale of the project. In fact, Gibson said that fan funding, along with some help from Indie Fund and their own financial situations, allowed Team Cherry to work on the game for two years, helping turn Hollow Knight into the successful Metroidvania that gamers are familiar with today.

It is interesting to consider what the game would have looked like on a much smaller scale and what parts might never have been added. It can take over 20 hours to finish the main story in Hollow Knight, with completionists needing to sink much more time into the game. Thanks to the funding from the game, Team Cherry was able to add many unique areas and exciting boss fights that might never have made it into the game otherwise.

While Hollow Knight was originally going to be a small game, the sequel looks to be an ambitious project. Hollow Knight: Silksong has been in development for more than six years, and the few looks players have had of the game have been well-received. Unfortunately, the release date for the game has not been revealed. However, a Nintendo Direct revealed a 2025 release window, meaning fans might be able to play the next game from Team Cherry sometime this year.