Just 24 hours after launch, Hollow Knight: Silksong has soared to the top of Steam’s charts, hitting over 550,000 concurrent players and receiving glowing reviews — but not in China.
The game is being heavily review-bombed by Chinese-speaking users due to dissatisfaction with the Simplified Chinese translation. Many feel it’s a major downgrade from the first game’s highly praised localization.
Matthew Griffin, head of publishing for Silksong, acknowledged the backlash in a post on X:
“To our Chinese-speaking fans: We appreciate you letting us know about quality issues with the current Simplified Chinese translation. We’ll be working to improve the translation over the coming weeks. Thanks for your feedback and support.”
Despite the response, Griffin's post has been flooded with criticism, with many questioning why better quality checks weren’t in place before launch.
Localization expert Loek van Kooten described the current translation as turning Silksong’s poetic writing into something resembling “a high-school drama club’s Elizabethan improv night.” Critics also pointed out that one of the credited translators, Hertzz Liu, had previously leaked details about the game and boasted about their involvement.
In contrast, the original Hollow Knight had six Chinese translators, including one with experience on titles like Stardew Valley.
Currently, Silksong holds just a 50% approval rating from over 10,000 Simplified Chinese reviews on Steam. However, Valve’s recent change to segment reviews by language has prevented the backlash from affecting the game’s global rating.
Chinese players now make up the largest demographic on Steam, and while poor localization won’t impact non-Chinese players, it can stall a game’s success in that market. That said, once Team Cherry addresses the translation issues, Silksong is still poised for lasting success.
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