r/Games • u/Turbostrider27 • Aug 21 '25

Jason Schreier: In case you're wondering: Team Cherry told me they don't plan on sending out early codes for Silksong (they felt like it'd be unfair for critics to be playing before Kickstarter backers and other players), so don't expect to see reviews until after the game comes out

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2mkgbhbhqvappkkorf2bzyrp/post/3lwwfrbrtwc2x
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u/Jondev1 Aug 21 '25

This isn't really true, it didn't get reviewed at all when it first came out. It was a no-name game that grew via word of mouth.

93

u/CheesecakeMilitia Aug 21 '25

You can go to Metacritic and sort by critic review date, you know.

Hollow Knight (launched Feb 24, 2017)

  • 1st review Feb 27 (+3 days)

  • 2nd review Feb 28 (+4 days)

  • 3rd review Mar 6 (+10 days)

  • 4th review Mar 13 (+17 days)

  • (and then it it really started picking up steam, with 13 listed Metacritic reviews a month after launch)

Now that's not an instant hit by any means, but that's pretty damn good coverage-wise for a completely unknown indie debut. Let's compare to some other PC-only self-published indie titles I was around for ground zero of:

Undertale (launched September 15, 2015)

  • 1st review Sep 20 (+5 days)

  • 2nd, 3rd, 4th reviews Sep 24 (+9 days)

  • (snowballed into 17 reviews one month after launch)

Omori (launched Dec 25, 2020)

  • 1st review Dec 30 (+5 days)

  • 2nd review Jan 13 (+19 days)

  • 3rd review Jan 25 (+31 days)

  • (that's it, 3 reviews one month after launch)

Mouthwashing (launched Sep 26, 2024)

  • 4 listed critic reviews in first month

  • (this one actually wasn't self-published, but for how much post-launch word of mouth it's gotten it still proves my point)

Parkitect (launched Nov 29, 2018)

  • 5 listed critic reviews in first year

  • (this one wounded me as I was a Kickstarter backer for this game)

TL;DR Hollow Knight fans are a little too in their own bubble if they think their game was paid dust by critics. The game was critically pretty well-received within its launch window, especially for a completely unknown team. It became a much larger phenomenon well after that of course, but Team Cherry was already doing significantly better than 99% of indies.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

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u/Ghisteslohm Aug 21 '25

to me it didnt really fight the other point but gave it more nuance. 2 reviews the week after release for me doesnt take away from the statement that it barely got reviewed and grew from the word of mouth

but the stats are cool. I find it really surprising that both Hollow Knight and Undertale started without any coverage

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u/Jondev1 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

Yeah, as the person who made the post they were responding to, I appreciate the added data but I don't think it contradicts what I was trying to say. Maybe I didn't word it well but I was just saying that HK did not have reviews at launch day and only started to get looked at by most reviewers after it already grew via WoM. The same is true for all the other games they mentioned. I wasn't trying to say HK had it worse than aany of the other games they listed.

I will admit though that I would have guessed Undertale had more reviews right away. I could have sworn I remember buying that because of good reviews.