Hollow Knight: Silksong reclaims its Steam wishlists crown, 3 years and 6 competitors since it last held the title

Hollow Knight
(Image credit: Team Cherry)

Hollow Knight: Silksong has reclaimed its spot as the most-wishlisted game on Steam, following Black Myth: Wukong's massive launch.

Earlier today, the Chinese-mythology-inspired action game garnered one of the biggest launches in Steam's history, racking up more than 1.4 million concurrent players. All those players mean that Black Myth: Wukong dropped off a whole lot of wishlists, allowing the game in second place to move up and officially become Steam's most-anticipated game.

That game was Hollow Knight: Silksong, and if there were ever a game in the running for any kind of 'most-anticipated' title, it would be this one. It's been a long, hard, makeup-filled road for Silksong fans. Originally announced in early 2019, a launch was planned for the first half of 2023, but was delayed. Since that update, last May, we've heard basically nothing from developer Team Cherry, but that hasn't stopped fans from getting overexcited at almost every gaming showcase since then.

Silksong could hold this top spot for a decent amount of time. Two of its closest competitors - Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 and Frostpunk 2 - release next month. The current #4, Monster Hunter Wilds, has a little more time to catch up and is also the kind of major franchise that will draw in substantial attention, but it's got a few spots to climb before it's in direct contention.

The last time Hollow Knight: Silksong reached the top spot was three years ago. Since then, the title has changed hands a whole bunch of times - short-lived survival MMO The Day Before, shooter-of-the-moment The Finals, city-builder phenomenon Manor Lords, roguelike sequel Hades 2, and finally Black Myth: Wukong have all held the title in the intervening years. In some ways, that's a testament to the strength of Steam as a platform, though in others, it's just yet more evidence as to just how long we've been waiting for Silksong.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is "not in dev hell," says tester who finds fan cynicism "disheartening" but agrees developer Team Cherry "should be better" at communicating.

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.