One of the Best Games on Xbox Game Pass Just Got a Big Upgrade

Xbox Game Pass fans received some great news from indie developer Team Cherry as the original Hollow Knight is now available on Xbox Series X/S and original owners can get the upgrade completely for free. Hollow Knight originally launched all the way back in 2017, after a very successful Kickstarter campaign that saw the game cruise past its financial goal, eventually reaching an even bigger audience on the Xbox Game Pass service as well. From there, the franchise has become a massive hit, with Team Cherry not only porting the original game to a variety of platforms but making its DLC content completely free for owners as well.

Hollow Knight’s financial and commercial success led the studio to start work on another entry, which was originally designed to be an expansion but quickly expanded beyond that scope into its own game. After a lengthy development cycle with long periods of total silence, Hollow Knight: Silksong launched in 2025 to huge acclaim, winning multiple end-of-year awards and again proving to be a big financial boon for Team Cherry. However, for all that success, Team Cherry is giving fans new and old a big reason to return to the lands of Hallownest.

Xbox Game Pass Confirms Another Day-One Game for March 5

Xbox Game Pass confirms its third day-one release for March 2026, which will arrive in the form of a sequel to a critically acclaimed 2023 title.

In a post on social media, Team Cherry announced that the originalHollow Knightis available now on next generation consoles, including PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2. The new version takes advantage ofSilksong‘s various upgrades, giving players a higher resolution and frame-rate, added visual effects, and “additional updates and refinements.” Better yet, this update is available completely for free for those who already own the game on a previous platform like the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.

Interestingly enough, this offer also extends to Xbox Game Pass subscribers as both Hollow Knight and Silksong are available through the service. For those who have downloaded it already or as part of their collection, the upgrade will also apply to this version as well, so players can take advantage of all these new features and performance improvements.

The update comes right on the heels of yesterday’s Hollow Knight Switch 2 Edition announcement during Nintendo’s Partner Direct. Considering it was a Nintendo-specific presentation, the reveal gave the impression that it was specific to the Switch 2, but thanks to Team Cherry, the upgrade is available everywhere. In fact, the studio teased this update late last year in a new blog post, indicating that Team Cherry was hard at work at bringing the original game up to the standard that Silksong set. At that time, no timetable was given for the update, only that it would add features and fix bugs.

It’s a great time to jump into the Hollow Knight franchise, whether with the original game’s recent upgrade or through Silksong which only just launched a few months ago. Team Cherry is already working on its planned DLC, teasing the Sea of Sorrow expansion for Hollow Knight Silksong late last year. Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Sea of Sorrow will be given out to players for free and while Team Cherry hasn’t revealed a release window for the new content, the plan is for it to arrive sometime in 2026. However, considering how long Silksong was in development, anything could be possible.

Fit the 9 games into the grid.

Hollow Knight Version 1.5.12459 Patch Notes

Added support for 21:9 & 16:10 resolutions.
Game now pauses while in inventory menus.
Upgraded to Unity Input System for broader controller support (original input system is still available, if preferred, via Options>Controller>Advanced Settings)
Added dithering effect, and dithering options, to reduce colour banding.
Fixed a softlock in City of Tears Grub room.
Reduced Grey Prince Zote’s stagger bounce height.
Updated Sly’s Great Slash collider to closer match visual.
Salubra’s Blessing now deactivates after reaching max Soul.
Map panning is now smoother.
Various performance improvements.
Various smaller fixes and tweaks.