Hollow Knight Silksong Sea of Sorrow release: All we know about the upcoming DLC

After waiting 7 years for Hollow Knight: Silksong, the question on our minds is ‘when can we expect more?’ This brings us to an exciting end-of-year update from Team Cherry announcing that the game will get a new DLC update called Sea of Sorrow, Silksong’s first DLC. 

Some of the best content of the original Hollow Knight arguably lies in its fantastic DLC offerings, and with many of us now having beaten the main game, we are eagerly anticipating Sea of Sorrow. This means that the wait is likely to be nearly as painful as the wait for the base game, but we’ll break down the latest Silksong DLC news to occupy at least a little of that time. 

The Escapist recap

• The Sea of Sorrow DLC is confirmed for 2026, though the exact date is unknown. Expect Team Cherry to take their time.
• Silksong DLC is expected to roll out in multiple waves, similar to Hollow Knight, with potential news on further DLC before 2027.
• The trailer strongly suggests sea-based exploration, possibly including a new traversal system (like a Stagway equivalent) and areas above and beneath the ocean.
• The DLC appears to dive deeper into Lifeblood (Plasmium), tying its origins to the seas of Pharloom and expanding on its dangerous effects.
• The DLC may finally introduce Pharloom Bay and reuse previously cut aquatic content, paralleling Hollow Knight’s Lifeblood update and setting a potential pattern for future DLC.

Silksong DLC release date

At this time, we can only heavily speculate on the Silksong DLC release date. The trailer was quick to confirm a 2026 release date, but given Team Cherry’s general aversion to release windows, it’s hard to say if this means it’ll hit this year or not.

However, as the development of Silksong proves, Team Cherry is not afraid to take its time and expand the scope of its projects, so a potential Sea of Sorrow delay could be on the cards.

​The obvious follow-up question is, when can we expect future Silksong DLC? It seems likely that the DLC for Silksong will follow a similar release pattern to Hollow Knight, meaning we should expect to see multiple waves of DLC for Silksong. That’s not guaranteed, of course, but we’d be surprised not to hear more about DLC for the game by the start of 2027 – whether Sea of Sorrow is here or not.

Silksong: Sea of Sorrow gameplay and trailer analysis

The trailer opens on a familiar sight as we see bells contrasted against an azure backdrop. The salty winds blow as we transition to a shot of a podium or altar of some kind, obscured by a tarp. These locals are relatively unfamiliar and give little away themselves, though their placement, surroundings, or being within a seaside area seems obvious.

We then see a structure reminiscent of where players can encounter Alchemist Zylotol in the worm ways, fittingly, what appears to be Lifeblood (Plasmium) protruding from it. As we hear in the base game, Lifeblood (Plasmium) within Pharloom was first discovered within the sea. We’lll have to see how this further plays into Silksong’s story.

As lightning strikes, we transition to a dramatic image of Hornet positioned in front of an illuminated structure as the waves crash around her. We can only speculate on the exact nature of the structure behind Hornet, but a means of sea traversal seems likely. It also looks like she’ll be playable yet again, but will the first game’s protagonist appear?

The description for Hollow Knight Silksong Sea of Sorrow’s trailer gives us a small confirmation on this idea, as it reads “Voyage across and beneath the salt-stricken seas in this thrilling expansion”. The beneath could hint at some form of submarine, but a likely guess would be that it could function as a Stagway equivalent.

Silksong DLC setting and story analysis

The question many of us have had since Hollow Knight has been why Plasmium would be banned within the confines of the Pale King’s Kingdom. As we see in Silksong, the more negative effects have a large amount to do with this, as the one NPC we meet who is studying the lifeblood ends up a zombified shell due to it.

While an answer to this mystery will be nice, another mystery dominates the minds of some fans, namely the mystery of Pharloom Bay. This area was seen in a few trailers prior to release, before seemingly being cut from the final release. However, it seems we may finally see Pharloom Bay for ourselves in Hollow Knight Silksong’s DLC.

There were also a few aquatic areas seen in trailers prior to release. While these also hit the cutting room, we would speculate that they will see a reuse within this DLC. This points to other cut pieces of content seeing reuse further down the line, such as Steel Assassin Sharpe, who was promised in the Kickstarter.

​There is an interesting parallel between the focus of this update and the first update of Hollow Knight. That was known as the lifeblood update, and with this DLC seeming to have some focus on lifeblood, this could imply that the Silksong DLCs could follow a similar pattern. Expect the DLC to maintain Hollow Knight and Silksong’s difficulty level, too.

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