The launch of Hell is Us landed right alongside Hollow Knight: Silksong earlier this month, and the game’s creative director isn’t thrilled about it.
After years of waiting, Team Cherry gave the industry just two weeks’ notice before dropping Silksong on 4 September. That same day, Rogue Factor rolled out Hell is Us, a date the team had locked in six months earlier.
Hell is Us launch overshadowed by Silksong surprise
Speaking on the Friends Per Second podcast, Jonathan Jacques-Belletête said the last-minute reveal hit hard. He explained, “When you know you’re that big, I think a shadow drop is a bit like – wow, as the GTA 6 of indie… to shadow drop something like this is a little callous.”
There were talks about moving Hell is Us back, but publisher Nacon decided against it. Refunding pre-orders and reshuffling the schedule would have been too messy. In the end, the team stuck to their guns.
Jacques-Belletête admitted he believes Silksong’s arrival hurt their sales. He doesn’t have numbers yet, but says the overlap was tough to ignore.
Meanwhile, Silksong debuted with huge numbers on Steam. Players quickly called it brutal, sparking both fan-made mods and an official patch to ease the difficulty.
Two games. One release date. Only one had the element of surprise.
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