The Silksong hive is buzzing over a dev tweet that sees a chocolate cake, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Imagine Dragons all pointing with red string to the April Switch 2 Nintendo Direct

An image of Hornet from Silksong engulfed with rage.

(Image credit: Team Cherry)

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Update, 21 January: Alas, the cake turned out to be a lie, as confirmed by Team Cherry. Original story follows.

I mean this with all the affection in the world—I cannot think of a single gaming community that is as cooked as the Silksong fanbase. "Cooked" as in, stewing in their own juices for so long that said juices have evaporated, leaving behind a shiny braised lump in a scorched pot. This is not an indictment, it's a statement of fact.

In case you've missed this descent into madness, some context: Silksong, the successor to Hollow Knight, was announced back in 2019. Then, in 2022, it surfaced again—taking part in a showcase displaying games meant to be released in the next "12 months". This has not proven to be true, because you are reading this article.

The r/Silksong subreddit has, in particular, been spiralling into a bout of extended madness for a while. Its latest conniption? A developer's X account, used primarily for making shitposts, like "how to permanently calcify your pineal gland for a good night’s rest" (I don't know, either), has changed their profile picture to one of a chocolate cake. I had a sensible chuckle at this at first, before veering dangerously close to becoming a convert myself.

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Little bomey/everydruidwaswr on X, formerly known as Wilbop/Wilboooo (a quick google search confirms this at the time of writing) is believed to be the account of William Pellen, co-founder of Team Cherry. On January 16, the account changed their profile picture to that of a chocolate cake and posted the following: "something big is coming. keep your eyes closed tomorrow."

Like deep sea creatures descending on whalefall, the Silksong community immediately began feasting. A reverse image search of the cake in question led to a recipe for Brooklyn Blackout cake on Bon Appétit, posted on April 2, 2024. April 2 is when the "direct", which typically reveals a bunch of games, for the Nintendo Switch 2 is slated for this year.

What's more, while "little bomey" is not too dissimilar from a winery in South Australia, and Team Cherry is a South Australian development studio. Napoleon Bonaparte (bare with me) was also called "Little Boney" by James Gillray as part of anti-French propaganda such as "Little Boney in a strong fit".

He just so happened to marry Marie-Louise of Austria on April 2, 1810, who—quoting napoleon.org, was "dressed in the imperial cloak, made of crimson velvet with gold stitching." Hornet wears a red cloak. Coincidence? Honestly, I'm sort of convincing myself it's not. You can thank RennugunneR on the Silksong Subreddit for that connection.

But wait, there's more—fans also discovered that Imagine Dragons announced their song "Eyes Closed" on April 2, 2024 ("eyes closed tomorrow"), and as for the "everydruidwaswr" thing—well, people are stumped.

The closest they've come to an answer is the fact that The Druid of the Moss Temple is an NPC in Silksong—spied on a noticeboard during a trailer—with the words "cruel world, will you not provide me with the fruits I desire?" If we take "wr" to mean "was wrong", then one could surmise this hints at the desired fruits finally being provided, but—look, I'm starting to believe. I have contracted SKONG madness, and I am taking a step back before it gets its hooks in me proper.

This is, to be clear, all unsubstantiated rumour-milling and pattern recognition so far. But if you join the choir and start drawing those lines on a corkboard, perhaps you too will come to think that the cake is a truth.

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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.