Who knew the internet would be Silksong’s first boss fight?

Hollow Knight: Silksong’s long-awaited launch was so massive it briefly crashed major digital stores, from Steam to the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation 5 and Xbox. Within hours, the Metroidvania sequel was already breaking records, climbing past 535,000 concurrent players on Steam to mark one of the biggest PC launches of all time.

According to SteamDB, the game reached its peak of 535,213 players roughly three hours after launch (a little past 1:00 AM SGT). This milestone was even more impressive given that many players initially struggled to buy the game due to store outages.

It also shattered the all-time peak concurrent player record of its predecessor, Hollow Knight, which stood at 72,916, in less than an hour.

How Players and Streamers Are Responding to Silksong’s Launch

The anticipation for Silksong is not surprising, given the enduring support of its fan base since the game was first announced in 2019, with or without regular updates from Team Cherry. This year, anticipation reached new heights, especially after Gamescom. Geoff Keighley, host and creator of The Game Awards, presented an extended gameplay preview during Gamescom Opening Night Live. Team Cherry also provided playable demos at its booth throughout the event, before finally confirming the release date.

As of writing, Silksong has more than 33,000 reviews on Steam, with an Overwhelmingly Positive rating. Out of these, 30,051 are positive. These figures do not yet account for Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch or PlayStation.

On Twitch, the game’s momentum is equally strong, recording an all-time peak of 359,067 viewers, with over 11,000 channels streaming it. Other game developers, particularly from the indie scene, have congratulated Team Cherry on the successful launch, including creators of titles such as Lords of the Fallen, Satisfactory, Aeterna Noctis, and many more.

Of course, not everything went smoothly. More than three thousand players on Steam rated the game negatively, with complaints ranging from the game being “too punishing” to claims that “the devs hate the players.” Meanwhile, Chinese-speaking players raised concerns about the quality of the Simplified Chinese translation. Team Cherry’s Head of Marketing and Publishing, Matthew Griffin, addressed the issue on X (formerly Twitter), apologising and promising improvements.

Despite these early criticisms, Silksong’s numbers remain strong and are set to climb further as players across platforms dive into Team Cherry’s long-awaited sequel.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is available on the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.