Hollow Knight: Silksong has been so anticipated for so many years that it's become a meme, crowding the chat of every major game showcase of the last seven years. While we've had recent glimpses, like the announcement that it was coming to Switch 2, we haven't heard a concrete update from Team Cherry since its announcement that it wouldn't be releasing in 2023. This week, that will finally change.

Team Cherry's official YouTube channel has a premiere set for Thursday, August 21, at 10:30 AM ET/ 7:30 AM PT. Its title reads, "Hollow Knight: Silksong - Special Announcement," while the caption simply reads, "The countdown is on! Join us in 48 hours for a special announcement about Hollow Knight: Silksong!" It is unclear what exactly this announcement will involve, but fans are mostly just hoping for a release date.

Despite the general lack of information, Silksong is playable at this year's Gamescom, according to Xbox, and it will be available on Microsoft's ROG ALLY device, so we're expecting some kind of announcement during Opening Night Live in a few hours. Geoff Keighley seemed to support this by posting a photo with a clown nose, potentially referencing the meme of Hollow Knight's protagonist in clown attire that's posted whenever we don't get news about its sequel. 

However, partnered with this announcement is a series of Bluesky posts from Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who is known for accurately digging up information from behind the scenes of the games industry. Not only does he claim to have "the story behind why Silksong took seven years to make," citing a video call he did with Team Cherry's founders earlier this month, he also says, "No, Silksong's release date will not be announced today at Gamescom Opening Night Live, despite Geoff Keighley's teasing." Team Cherry's Thursday announcement will come after Opening Night Live, however, so there's a chance we might get a date then. While Schreier has a solid track record in this line of work, none of this is confirmed, so take it all with a grain of salt.

Regardless of when it drops or what this trailer will bring, people will be there to watch it. With 15,000 in the YouTube audience a full 47 hours before it even happens, it's safe to say this is one of the most anticipated games of the decade. Here's hoping Team Cherry gives them something to get excited about.

Nintendo's big Switch 2 direct back in April revealed a lot of games releasing during the console's launch window, and one of them was Kirby Air Riders, an apparent sequel to the GameCube racer from 2003. Today, Masahiro Sakurai himself walked us through the new game in great detail, showing off its characters, mechanics, modes, and ending with a release date. 

Watch The Archive Of The Kirby Air Riders Direct Here

The original Kirby Air Ride's big selling point is its simplicity – everyone plays as Kirby (save for two unlockable cameos), and there's only one button, which you use to drift around corners. It's only natural that the sequel, Kirby Air Riders, would expand on each of these aspects. For starters, you can play as a lot more than just Kirby. Here's the full roster so far:

• Kirby
• Meta Knight
• Waddle Dee
• King Deedeedee
• Chef Kawasaki
• Cappy
• Magolor
• Gooey
• Waddle Doo
• Knuckle Joe
• Susie
• Starman

Each character has slight differences. While Kirby is a simple, all-around racer, Meta Knight can glide, King Deedeedee can swing his hammer, and Cappy (the little mushroom, not to be confused with Mario's sentient hat) can use his mushroom cap to avoid taking damage. Each rider is relatively balanced, however. While Kirby was the only one who could copy abilities in the original, now everyone can gain copy abilities from enemies roaming the tracks. 

 

There's also a second button now; when your meter is full, press Y to activate a special move, unique to each character. They unleash an attack and/or speed boost to give you a big advantage right when the moment demands it. It's another incentive to choose a character other than Kirby.

The two modes detailed are Air Ride, a standard race that now supports up to six players, and City Trial, where players explore an open map to collect power-ups before facing off in the end. City Trial now has a new map, too – the floating island of Skyah, a mishmash of different mini-areas to explore. Up to eight players (on different consoles) can play City Trial locally, but it supports up to 16 online.

Finally, the showcase ended with a tease of a mysterious new character with an exhaust pipe for an eye. Then, we got a release date: November 20, 2025. Kirby Air Riders will be available just three months from tomorrow, making it one of Nintendo's big holiday games. For more Switch 2 news, check out our review of Donkey Kong Bananza.

Update (August 18 at 6:07 p.m. CT): Sony has offered a very short follow-up to our outreach simply writing, "This account is not associated with Cory Barlog or Santa Monica Studio."

Update (August 18 at 12:02 p.m. CT): Following publication of this story, it became apparent that the account in question is more than likely intentionally inauthentic. As a result, we have cause to believe this news is likely inaccurate. We apologize for this mistake. We have reached out to Sony for further confirmation, and will update this story again should we receive comment.

Original story (posted August 18 at 9:27 a.m. CT):

Cory Barlog (pictured above being asked rapid-fire questions about God of War), director of God of War II and 2018's God of War, shared some vague details about what the team at Sony Santa Monica is currently working on. Sony Santa Monica is the developer, most recently, behind God of War Ragnarök.

"I’d like to share a little bit about our new project," Barlog wrote on Facebook. "I’m incredibly proud of what the team at Santa Monica Studio has been accomplishing. It’s a technically ambitious project, something that’s not easy to achieve. This is a new IP we’ve been working on for years, and if all goes well, we’re planning to show it to you later this year. I couldn’t be more excited." Barlog ended the post with two heart emojis.

Barlog's post doesn't specify that this is Sony Santa Monica next project or that it is its only project. Since the release of Ragnarök's free rogue-lite mode DLC, it has been quiet about what's next.

In terms of God of War, developer Bluepoint Games (primarily known for its remakes of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls) was working on a live-service game connected to the God of War franchise. That game was publicly cancelled earlier this year according to a statement Sony shared with Bloomberg.

Whatever this new project may be, we will apparently learn more about it later this year.

Update (August 18 at 12:02 a.m. CT): Following publication of this story, it became apparent that the account in question is more than likely intentionally inauthentic. As a result, we have cause to believe this news is likely inaccurate. We apologize for this mistake. We have reached out to Sony for further confirmation, and will update this story again should we receive comment.

Original story (posted August 18 at 9:27 a.m. CT):

Cory Barlog (pictured above being asked rapid-fire questions about God of War), director of God of War II and 2018's God of War, shared some vague details about what the team at Sony Santa Monica is currently working on. Sony Santa Monica is the developer, most recently, behind God of War Ragnarök.

"I’d like to share a little bit about our new project," Barlog wrote on Facebook. "I’m incredibly proud of what the team at Santa Monica Studio has been accomplishing. It’s a technically ambitious project, something that’s not easy to achieve. This is a new IP we’ve been working on for years, and if all goes well, we’re planning to show it to you later this year. I couldn’t be more excited." Barlog ended the post with two heart emojis.

Barlog's post doesn't specify that this is Sony Santa Monica next project or that it is its only project. Since the release of Ragnarök's free rogue-lite mode DLC, it has been quiet about what's next.

In terms of God of War, developer Bluepoint Games (primarily known for its remakes of Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls) was working on a live-service game connected to the God of War franchise. That game was publicly cancelled earlier this year according to a statement Sony shared with Bloomberg.

Whatever this new project may be, we will apparently learn more about it later this year.

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5, PC
Publisher: Giant Squid
Developer: Giant Squid
Release: August 19, 2025

Developer Giant Squid was born from members of the team that created 2012’s Journey. Giant Squid founder and Sword of the Sea’s director, Matt Nava, is credited as Journey’s art director, but frankly, you could have guessed that just from looking at the screenshots at the top of this page. This is Giant Squid’s third game, but it is arguably the one that feels the most indebted to Journey – and that’s a compliment. It certainly has its own distinct vibe, story, and, as you progress deeper in the game, art style, but in some ways, it feels like it picks up where that landmark 2012 video game left off.

Sword of the Sea is not a wordless story. Occasionally, you come across stone tablets that offer cryptic prose about what may or may not be happening in this world, but for the most part, your appreciation of the narrative comes strictly from the visuals. You are a swordsperson who prefers to ride your sword like a hoverboard rather than swing it on an adventure to bring aquatic life back to dried out world covered with rolling sand.

The star of the show is the feeling of riding your sword. Gaining speed and leaping from giant sand dunes is fluid and fast. New abilities unlocked over the course of the game only make movement feel better, and different surface types lead to slightly different approaches in how to gain speed and height to hit that next destination. Finding those rhythms on the hills is where Sword of the Sea sings, and the excellent pace of the experience means you are rarely slowing down. I finished my first playthrough in under three hours but immediately started its new game plus mode in order to unlock the final few abilities and see how quickly I could get to the game’s thrilling finale again.

While the ease and speed of movement is Sword of the Sea’s primary highlight, its visuals are a close second. I loved the loop of seeing what’s next and pausing to take in the gorgeous sights. Periodically, the game takes camera control from the player as they are careening down a hill to focus on the landscape in the distance, and I was always eager to hand it over just to make sure I could pay attention to what I was seeing without having to worry about jumping at the right time.

The ocean-themed art direction also leads to unexpected moments that are weird in just the right way. Sword of the Sea likes to play with your expectations, and I was frequently surprised by what I was doing and what was happening.

 

Perhaps the only shortcoming is that I didn’t find the narrative particularly emotional. It is difficult to create moving moments between characters who don’t speak and exist in an abstract world, and Sword of the Sea doesn’t quite stick the landing. I wouldn’t define my experience with that part of the game as disappointing, but rather that the implications of the narrative didn’t quite keep up with how good the game looks, feels, and sounds. I wanted more.

I appreciate Sword of the Sea’s brevity and visual goals. It never gets close to dragging or overstaying its welcome. It moves at the pace of a magical swordsperson speeding across sand dunes on a floating blade at 170 miles per hour (a speedometer unlocks after you beat the game), and it never gives you a reason to look away. I wanted to feel more from the story, perhaps only because every other element of the experience elevated it so high that my expectations were right up there with them.

Score: 8.5

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