One of the hit reveals of Gamescom has inspired a record number of players to flock to an earlier game in a particular series. After waiting years for the sequel’s release, many fans took to Steam to replay the original game in preparation for the new game’s arrival, which is expected very soon. There may also be many new players to the series who are experiencing the exalted action Metroidvania for the first time before diving into the sequel next month.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Those who watched Gamescom may have already guessed that the game that has now beaten its Steam record is Hollow Knight, which is receiving a surge of players ahead of the September 4th release of Hollow Knight: Silksong. According to the third-party website SteamDB, which tracks metrics for the Steam platform, Hollow Knight reached an all-time concurrent player peak of 39,356 players in the past few days, and this increased player count appears to be holding steady into this week.
Breaking down the numbers, concurrent player counts increased by almost 200% in the past 30 days, and this new record completely eclipses its previous 2025 high of 14,776 by quite a bit. It seems Hollow Knight has been consistently breaking its player count in the years since its 2017 Steam release, which is unusual for a game so long after its release and without many content updates.
The previous all-time concurrent player record for Hollow Knight on Steam was set in 2022 at 20,324 after the game received a substantial 60% discount. A similar effect may be helping the new concurrent player record break this time as well, since the game is currently enjoying a 50% off discount on Steam until September 1st. Players can pick up the Hollow Knight for only $7.49, making it an ideal time for new and old players to pick it up and play. Still, regardless of whether the current sale is helping fuel the hype, Hollow Knight breaking its player record all these years later is nonetheless impressive.
Hollow Knight: Silksong has reached legendary levels of hype among loyal fans who have been waiting since its first trailer was released in 2019. The game was a continual tease for fans of the series, and some doubted it would ever see the light of day when a delay was announced in 2023. The fact that an official date for the game hadn’t been revealed until now, even after the developers confirmed it was coming this year, had fans worried until it was revealed during Gamescom.
News of its definitive release date has not only caused a flood of Hollow Knight players on Steam, but it has also created huge waves in other indie games’ release schedules. In an X post, Aeterum Game Studios directly mentioned Hollowknight: Silksong as one of the reasons it was delaying its upcoming title, Aeterna Lucis. With so much enduring enthusiasm and support for the indie roguelike series, it will be interesting to see what player numbers will look like when Hollowknight: Silksong finally reaches its release day.
Hollow Knight: Silksong will release on September 4th for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC platforms.
Most Viewed
-
Image via THQ Nordic -
Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios -
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
