Hollow Knight just rolled out a fresh patch for the first time since 2022. Learn more about the improvements to the award-winning Metroidvania here, including its Switch 2 launch.
Hollow Knight Updates Ahead of 9th Anniversary
Quality-of-Life and Bug Fixes
Hollow Knight's patch version 1.5.12459 went live on February 5, further polishing the predecessor of Hollow Knight: Silksong visually and performance-wise. Developer Team Cherry announced that enhancements across all editions are intended to maintain consistency with the Nintendo Switch 2 port, which was released on the same day.
"The update includes many refinements and tweaks," Team Cherry posted on their blog, "and many under-the-hood improvements brought over from Hollow Knight: Silksong to the original game." The latter half most likely points to Hollow Knight's "various performance improvements" and "various smaller fixes and tweaks" as indicated in their Steam patch notes.
A prominent addition is the full support for 21:9 and 16:10 resolutions on PC, bringing good news for players who have been relying on ultrawide mods all this time. Moreover, the upgrade to Unity Input System supports a wider range of controllers while still allowing players to opt back to the original input system if they wish.
Opening the inventory menu now pauses the game rather than running it in the background, and map panning is now smoother. In terms of graphics, the update reduces color banding by offering an option to activate dithering. This subtle visual noise thus creates smoother pixel gradients in the game.
Other specifications include fixing a softlock located in the City of Tears Grub room, reducing Grey Prince Zote's stagger bounce height, updating Sly's Great Slash collider, and Salubra's Blessing deactivating after the player reaches max Soul.
Switch 2 Free Upgrade
Coinciding with the patch going live is Hollow Knight's launch on the Nintendo Switch 2. The newer console version is a free upgrade for players who already own the game on Switch and contains refinements mirroring the most recent patch.
Reacting to news of both the patch and the console edition, the Hollow Knight community—long-time fans and new players alike, coming from Silksong or otherwise—expressed their gratitude to Team Cherry. Users remarked that Hollow Knight continues to set the bar high, while others made humor-infused statements, such as finally getting Silksong: Hollow Knight.
The shadow drop came only a few weeks shy of the Metroidvania title’s ninth anniversary on February 24. Team Cherry first revealed this in a blog post last December, alongside the announcement of Hollow Knight Silksong: Sea of Sorrow DLC.
Hollow Knight is the 2017 critically acclaimed 2D action-adventure game by Team Cherry, a three-person studio based in Australia. It has a Metacritic score of 90 and has been commended as the "quintessential Metroidvania."
Its sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, launched eight years later on September 4, 2025. It won Best Action/Adventure at The Game Awards 2025, took home the Steam Awards' 2025 Game of the Year and Best Game You Suck At distinctions, and earned Game8's Best Value For Money and Best Indie Game.
Hollow Knight is currently available on PC, Switch 1 and 2, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. To stay updated about all things Hollow Knight, check out our article below.
Sources:
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