Hollow Knight: Silksong

Hollow Knight: Silksong launched on nine platforms at once on 4 September 2025, a release window matched by almost nothing else in this genre. If you’re weighing a Steam Deck-and-Switch setup and hoping your metroidvania progress will follow you between them the way Hades does, it won’t. Team Cherry didn’t build cross-save into Silksong on any platform pairing, the same gap the original Hollow Knight had.

Game overview

Silksong follows Hornet, a supporting character from the original Hollow Knight, on her own campaign through the kingdom of Pharloom. It keeps the tight platforming-and-combat core the first game built its reputation on, with Hornet’s faster, more aggressive moveset changing the feel considerably from Knight’s slower, defensive style. Years of near-silence between its 2019 reveal and the 2025 launch built one of the more anticipated release windows in recent memory, and the simultaneous nine-platform launch was Team Cherry’s answer to years of “when is this coming out” pressure.

Where you can play it

Everywhere, on day one: Windows, macOS, and Linux PC, PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and Switch and Switch 2, all releasing together on 4 September 2025. Switch owners get a free Switch 2 Edition upgrade pack, so a launch-day Switch purchase carries forward to better resolution and framerate on Switch 2 hardware at no extra cost.

On PC, Steam Deck Verified status landed ahead of release. Valve tested the native Linux build directly rather than through Proton, and the badge covers legible UI, correct controller glyphs, and a working default control layout out of the box.

Cross-saves and keeping your progress

There isn’t one, and that’s the whole answer. Verified 19 July 2026, and worth re-checking on Team Cherry’s own patch notes before you assume it’s still true: post-launch content is already confirmed in development, and a future update could add cross-save without much fanfare.

Team Cherry has not shipped cross-save between any of Silksong’s nine launch platforms. PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and Switch 2 each keep their own separate save. If you start on a Steam Deck and pick the game up on a Switch later expecting your progress to follow, it won’t. You’re starting a second, independent file.

A community-built tool can move a save file from PC to Switch, but it depends on homebrew access on the Switch side. That’s not something to run on a console you use for anything else, and it isn’t an officially supported feature Team Cherry stands behind. Treat it as a workaround for a modded Switch, not a real option for most players.

On the Switch side specifically, Nintendo Switch Online’s Cloud Save backs up your file and restores it to another Switch, or carries it to a Switch 2, but that’s Nintendo hardware talking to Nintendo hardware. It doesn’t reach PC, PlayStation, or Xbox in either direction.

Team Cherry has confirmed post-launch content is coming (comparisons to the original game’s Godmaster-scale expansion have come up in interviews), but nothing said publicly about it touches cross-save. If that changes, it’ll be worth revisiting; as of July 2026, plan around one save per platform.

Features that matter on the move

• No cross-save, on any platform pairing. Pick the platform you’ll play the most on and expect to stay there.
• Steam Deck Verified with a native Linux build, tested directly rather than through Proton.
• Free Switch 2 Edition upgrade for anyone who owns the Switch version, a rare no-cost bump in resolution and framerate.
• Nine-platform day-one launch, unusually broad for an indie release of this size.

Recommended setup

Pick the platform you expect to spend the most time on and commit to it, since nothing here will follow you to a second device. A Steam Deck owner gets Verified performance and the native Linux build; a Switch owner gets a free upgrade path to Switch 2 visuals without buying the game twice. Neither choice is wrong, but know going in that it’s a one-platform save, not a cross-device one.

The 8BitDo Pro 2 handles the precision platforming well on PC and Steam Deck alike.

See our cross-saves guide for how Silksong’s no-cross-save status compares with the handful of games that do sync, and the controllers guide for pad recommendations across every platform here.

Verdict

Silksong is worth the platform-commitment trade-off on its own merits, but go in knowing there’s no cross-save safety net. Nine platforms at launch is a genuine accomplishment; a shared save across any of them is not part of that accomplishment. Pick your main platform, start there, and don’t expect a Steam Deck save to show up on your Switch, or the other way around.