Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally close to release, but you won't see any reviews of the highly anticipated metroidvania before its launch. Silksong announced its release date just two weeks in advance, and will arrive on September 4, 2025, though cautious consumers may have to wait a while longer to see if developer and publisher Team Cherry delivered.
According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Team Cherry will not be distributing review codes before Silksong's release. Reviewers are typically given a pre-release window to play the game and publish reviews, but Team Cherry has decided against this. The small, independent development team felt that it would be unfair to Kickstarter backers for critics to play the game first. Silksong reviews will therefore not be available until after the game is out.
Games releasing without pre-release reviews is not unheard of, but it typically happens with live-service games, where servers are not brought online until launch. For most games, reviews are an important part of the marketing cycle. Critics are able to play through a game and publish their thoughts before consumers have access to it, thus bringing more awareness to a product, and potentially building more excitement if the scores are...
