Can I Run Hollow Knight: Silksong? PC Requirements & Best Settings (2026)

Can I Run Hollow Knight: Silksong?

Here is the short version, and we will say it plainly so you can stop worrying: yes, you can almost certainly run Hollow Knight: Silksong. Team Cherry's long-awaited sequel is a hand-drawn 2D Metroidvania, and that genre is about as forgiving on hardware as anything you will install in 2026. There is no ray tracing to switch off, no 4K texture pack chewing through video memory, and no demand for a top-tier graphics card. If your PC was built any time in the last decade, or if you are reading this on a gaming laptop or a handheld, the answer is overwhelmingly likely to be a comfortable "yes."

That said, "it runs" and "it runs the way you want" are two different things. Silksong is faster, denser and more visually layered than the original Hollow Knight, and a smooth, locked frame rate matters enormously in a game built around split-second movement and precise platforming. In this guide we will lay out the official minimum and recommended PC specs, explain what they actually mean for real hardware, walk through the best settings for a clean experience, and dig into Steam Deck and handheld performance. If you want a personalised verdict for your exact rig, run it through our Can I Run it tool before you read on.

Hollow Knight: Silksong system requirements

These are the official PC requirements published by Team Cherry on Steam. Because the game has shipped, these are confirmed figures rather than predictions, so you can take them at face value.

The headline takeaway is how low the bar sits. The minimum graphics card, a GeForce GTX 660, launched in 2012. The recommended GTX 1050 is a budget card from 2016. Neither asks for more than 2 GB of video memory, and the whole game fits in roughly 9 GB of storage, which is smaller than a single high-resolution texture pack for a modern AAA title. If your machine meets the recommended tier, you are not scraping by, you are sitting well above what the game needs for a locked, high-refresh experience.

What these requirements really mean in 2026

It is worth putting these numbers in context, because spec sheets written against decade-old hardware can be hard to read. In 2026, the entry point for new gaming PCs is something like an RTX 5050 or 5060 on the Nvidia side, an RX 9060 from AMD's RDNA 4 line, or an Intel Arc B-series card. Every one of those is dozens of times more powerful than the GTX 1050 that Silksong recommends. Even integrated graphics on a modern Ryzen 9000 APU or an Intel Core Ultra 200S chip will run this game at a high frame rate without breaking a sweat.

In practical terms, Silksong is CPU-light and GPU-light at the same time, which is unusual and very welcome. A modern Ryzen 5 or Core i5 paired with any dedicated GPU from the last several generations will push the game to whatever frame rate your monitor can display, whether that is 144 Hz, 240 Hz or higher. The original Hollow Knight became a popular benchmark for "will it run on anything," and the sequel keeps that spirit even with its richer art and busier scenes.

If you are unsure whether your specific combination of parts is balanced, our bottleneck calculator can tell you whether your CPU or GPU is holding the other back. For Silksong specifically, you will rarely see a bottleneck of any kind, but it is a useful sanity check if you plan to play more demanding games later.

Best settings for Hollow Knight: Silksong

Because headroom is so generous, "best settings" here is less about cutting visuals to claw back frames and more about getting a perfectly smooth, tear-free, input-responsive experience. Here is how we would configure it on a typical 2026 PC.

• Resolution: Run at your monitor's native resolution. There is no reason to drop below it. Even 1440p and 4K are trivial for the engine.
• V-Sync: Turn it off if you have a variable refresh display (G-Sync or FreeSync), and let the monitor handle frame pacing. On a fixed-refresh panel, enable it to avoid screen tearing during fast camera pans.
• Frame rate cap: Cap the frame rate to your monitor's refresh rate, or a couple of frames below it when using VRR. An uncapped frame rate on a 2D game like this just generates heat and fan noise for no visible benefit.
• Fullscreen mode: Use exclusive or borderless fullscreen rather than windowed. It gives you the most consistent frame pacing and the lowest input latency.
• Background apps: Close anything heavy in the background. On a handheld or thin-and-light laptop, a stray browser or download is far more likely to cause a hitch than the game itself.

Steam Deck and handheld performance

This is where Silksong shines as a portable game. The original Hollow Knight is one of the most beloved titles on Valve's handheld, and the sequel slots in perfectly. On a Steam Deck, whether the older LCD model or the OLED revision, Silksong runs comfortably at the device's native resolution with a stable frame rate and genuinely excellent battery life. Because the game is so light, the Deck barely needs to spin its fans, which keeps it quiet and cool during long sessions.

Here is roughly what to expect across the popular handhelds of 2026, based on each device's class of hardware.

On every one of these, the practical advice is the same: cap the frame rate to a value your hardware holds rock-steady, then lower the device's power limit (TDP) until you find the sweet spot between battery life and a perfectly smooth image. Silksong will happily run at a low wattage, so you can squeeze hours of playtime out of a single charge. For the Steam Deck specifically, the game is a strong candidate for a "Verified" experience thanks to its native controller support and modest demands.

Do you need to upgrade for Silksong?

For this game alone, almost nobody does. If you already own a working gaming PC, a laptop with any dedicated GPU, or a current handheld, you are set. The only people who might consider new parts are those running a very old office machine with no dedicated graphics and a pre-2015 integrated chip, and even then a modern budget APU solves the problem entirely.

The more honest reason to upgrade is everything else you want to play. If Silksong is the nudge that has you eyeing a new build, treat the sequel as a free pass and spec your machine around heavier 2026 releases instead. Our GPU tier list and CPU tier list rank current hardware by real performance, and our build suggestion tool can put together a balanced parts list for your budget. If you are deciding between two specific cards or chips, compare GPUs and compare CPUs side by side before you buy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I run Hollow Knight: Silksong on a laptop? Almost certainly, yes. Any laptop with a dedicated GPU from the last several generations will run it at a high frame rate, and even modern integrated graphics handle it well. Thin-and-light ultrabooks with recent Intel or AMD integrated graphics are fine. The main thing to watch on a laptop is thermals, keep it on a hard surface so the fans can breathe and you will get a smooth, consistent experience.

Does Silksong need a powerful graphics card? No. The recommended GPU is a GeForce GTX 1050, a budget card from 2016, and it only asks for 2 GB of video memory. Any current entry-level card like an RTX 5050, RX 9060 or Intel Arc B-series is vastly more than enough. This is one of the least GPU-demanding games you will install in 2026.

Will it run on the Steam Deck? Yes, and very well. Silksong runs at the Deck's native resolution with a locked frame rate and excellent battery life on both the LCD and OLED models. It is an ideal handheld game, low power draw, quiet fans, and native controller support make it a natural fit for portable play.

What frame rate can I expect? On a modern PC you can expect the game to hit whatever your monitor's refresh rate is, whether that is 60, 144 or 240 Hz, as long as you cap it appropriately. The engine is light enough that frame rate is limited by your display far more than your hardware. To see a number for your exact setup, try our FPS estimator.

Is an SSD required? No, but it is recommended. The whole game is only about 9 GB, so it fits anywhere, but an SSD makes loading screens and room transitions snappier. Given how cheap and common SSDs are in 2026, there is no reason to install it on a mechanical hard drive.

How is Silksong more demanding than the first Hollow Knight? It is slightly heavier because of richer art, busier scenes and faster movement, but only marginally. Both games are extremely light by modern standards. If your machine ran the original Hollow Knight smoothly, it will run Silksong smoothly too, with at most a tiny bump in the hardware it likes.

Conclusion

Hollow Knight: Silksong is one of the easiest "Can I Run It?" answers we will give all year. With an official recommended spec built around a 2016 budget graphics card and just 8 GB of RAM, virtually any PC, laptop or handheld from the last decade will run it beautifully. Our recommendation is simple: do not spend a cent on hardware for this game specifically. Install it, set your frame rate cap to match your display, enable VRR if you have it, and enjoy a perfectly smooth experience out of the box.

If you want certainty before you click buy, run your rig through our Can I Run it checker for an instant verdict, and use the FPS estimator to see your expected frame rate. And if Silksong has you thinking about a wider upgrade for heavier 2026 titles, start with our best picks to find the right parts at the right price.