Hollow Knight Gets a Surprise Patch Nine Years After Launch — Now Silksong Has a Sea of Sorrow DLC Too
Team Cherry pushed a surprise update to Hollow Knight in March 2026, nine years after the game’s February 2017 launch. The patch arrived quietly, with no announcement preceding it — and it landed in the same month the studio is actively supporting Hollow Knight: Silksong, which launched in September 2025 and has since had free DLC announced. For a studio whose communication cadence has historically been sparse, March 2026 is unusually active.
That is the reality of following Team Cherry in 2026: the years of silence are over, and the activity has compounded.
What the Patch Contains
The Hollow Knight update in March 2026 is a backend or compatibility patch — not a content drop. Community analysis of SteamDB file changes shows no new areas, no altered enemy behaviour, no new dialogue or items. The patch touches core game files in ways consistent with operating system compatibility work or platform certification updates.
This is, in all probability, maintenance. A live game running on Steam and consoles needs ongoing technical upkeep — dependency updates, certification requirements, stability fixes. Hollow Knight has now sold in excess of 3 million copies and remains active on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo platforms. That footprint requires upkeep.
The Context: Silksong Is Out
When the original Hollow Knight was receiving maintenance patches in 2023 and 2024, Silksong speculation ran at fever pitch. That era is over. Hollow Knight: Silksong launched in September 2025, ending a development period that stretched from its February 2019 announcement. The sequel is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2, and PC.
Team Cherry has since announced Sea of Sorrow — free DLC for Hollow Knight: Silksong arriving in 2026. The expansion takes Hornet, the game’s protagonist, into an aquatic area with new bosses and challenges. This is the Hollow Knight community’s actual present reality: a delivered sequel with a free DLC already on the roadmap.
What Probably Happened With the Patch
The most likely explanation: the Hollow Knight patch addresses a platform-specific compatibility issue, a Steam dependency update, or a certification requirement for ongoing platform availability. Teams maintain games constantly without it meaning anything beyond keeping a beloved product running. The Pocketpair approach to managing long-running games shows how studios balance new-project communication with legacy product maintenance.
Why Hollow Knight Still Gets Coverage in 2026
Hollow Knight, developed by three people at Team Cherry in Adelaide, Australia, sold over 3 million copies across its lifetime. It is one of the most speedrun, most-discussed, most-referenced indie games of the past decade. Its cultural footprint in the metroidvania genre is exceeded only by its influence on what players believe indie studios can achieve.
A routine maintenance patch on a nine-year-old game generates community discussion because the original Hollow Knight earns that attention. The patch confirms Team Cherry continues to maintain both titles in its catalogue.
What Comes Next
Hollow Knight: Silksong players are now waiting on Sea of Sorrow’s 2026 release window. Team Cherry has not specified a date for the DLC beyond “2026.” The studio’s communication cadence — though improved since the Silksong launch — remains infrequent by industry standards. That is not unusual for a three-person studio.
The Hollow Knight maintenance patch is a data point confirming the original game remains supported. Both the original and its sequel are actively running and playable on current hardware.
Source: Steam update history for Hollow Knight; SteamDB file tracking; NintendoLife (Hollow Knight: Silksong expansion announcement, December 2025)
