Hornet's Cloak Removal in Hollow Knight: Silksong Sparks Player Curiosity

Yesterday, IGN unveiled that Hollow Knight: Silksong will be playable at an Australian museum in September 2025, and released a sprite sheet from the much-anticipated game, causing quite the stir online.

A Reddit thread quickly formed to dissect the exclusive sheet, with one commenter asking, "In what situation [is] making a sprite of naked Hornet necessary?" Among the numerous images of Silksong's protagonist, Hornet, in various battle-ready and relaxed poses, one particular sprite stood out: Hornet casually carrying her cloak under one arm. You can see this in the close-up below, or on the original sheet on the right-hand side, just under the uppermost ring:

A close-up of the controversial sprite, found on the right-hand side of the original image. "What kind of situation in-game calls for her to remove her cloak and hold it like she's an exhausted dad returning from work? This is cursed," one redditor remarked.

Another posited, "Is this real???? There’s no way this is a sprite that is going to be in Silksong. Is that just what she looks like????" while another shouted: "IN WHAT KIND OF SITUATION WOULD THEY EVEN NEED THIS SPRITE?"

The discussion soon took a more playful turn. "So, we don't have to bother making a mod," one respondent asserted, and another said: "We're going straight to ESRB 18+ for this one." A thread OP chastized, "HORNET PUT YOUR CLOAK BACK ON THAT'S SO INDECENT WHAT THE HELL," to which someone replied: "This looks so wrong," and "this is completely unnecessary." Another announced, "I do not like this."

While the most plausible explanation might be that players will be able to upgrade or change Hornet's cloak, for now, fans are free to let their imaginations run wild.

Hollow Knight: Silksong 2025 Screenshots

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Team Cherry's sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, remains one of the most eagerly awaited games globally, consistently topping Steam's wishlist charts. Silksong made a brief appearance at Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct last month, and soon after, Team Cherry confirmed the 2025 release window, much to the delight of its patient fanbase. With the game set to be playable at Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI, starting September 18, speculation is rife that a launch might be slated for around August, though nothing is confirmed yet.

Hollow Knight: Silksong will be part of the Game Worlds exhibition at the Melbourne museum, which will also explore the game's design and artistic direction.