Where apps hide your files

Hollow Knight and Silksong save folders

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

Hollow Knight and Silksong save to different hidden folders with easily confused names: one uses spaces, the other hyphens. Here are both paths, what is inside, and how to back up with Steam Cloud in play.

The locations

Hollow Knight and Hollow Knight: Silksong use two different folders on a Mac, and the names look alike. Hollow Knight:

~/Library/Application Support/unity.Team Cherry.Hollow Knight/

Silksong, with hyphens where Hollow Knight has spaces:

~/Library/Application Support/unity.Team-Cherry.Silksong/

Team Cherry's Silksong help page lists the second path for Mac, and Steam's cloud settings for both games point at these exact folders. Both are inside your hidden Library folder, and the Hollow Knight name contains spaces, so escape them in Terminal:

open ~/Library/Application\ Support/unity.Team\ Cherry.Hollow\ Knight
open ~/Library/Application\ Support/unity.Team-Cherry.Silksong

In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G), paste the path and press Return, or hold ⌥ with the Go menu open and choose Library.

What is inside

Hollow Knight: one file per save slot, user1.dat to user4.dat, with .bak backup copies beside them. Settings are not here. PCGamingWiki puts them in a preferences file:

~/Library/Preferences/unity.Team Cherry.Hollow Knight.plist

That file matters more than its name suggests: PCGamingWiki says achievement progress and access to some extra modes (Steel Soul, Godseeker and the Eternal Ordeal) are stored there, not in the slot files.

Silksong: Team Cherry says each Steam user's saves are in a subfolder named after their Steam user ID, and non-Steam builds (such as GOG) use a subfolder called default. So the slot files are one level down:

~/Library/Application Support/unity.Team-Cherry.Silksong/<Steam user ID>/

The Steam user ID here is the same number as your Steam Friend Code (Friends > Add a Friend in Steam). Steam syncs every .dat file in that subfolder and the folders under it. List it to see the exact file names your version writes.

Item	What it is
user1.dat to user4.dat	Hollow Knight's four save slots
.bak files	Backups the game keeps of a slot
Steam ID folder (Silksong)	One per Steam account that has played on this Mac
default folder (Silksong)	Used by builds not run through Steam

The .dat files are game data, not text. Copy them as they are.

Silksong's built-in restore

Before you touch any files, try Team Cherry's own fix for a stuck or broken save. On the main menu's Select Profile screen there is an auto save button that lists auto saves the game made at key points; pick one to go back. Team Cherry warns that reverting to an auto save overwrites your current save file, so copy the folder first if you might want it.

Back up your saves

Quit the game first, so nothing is being written.

1. Open the folder for the game you want.
2. Go up one level.
3. Hold ⌥ and drag the whole folder to your Desktop, which copies instead of moving, and add the game's name and the date to the copy.

Copying the whole folder keeps the .bak files and, for Silksong, the Steam ID subfolder in place. For Hollow Knight, copy the .plist from ~/Library/Preferences as well if you want to keep those extra modes.

Restore or move to a new Mac

1. Install the game on the new Mac, run it once, and quit.
2. Quit Steam too if you play through it.
3. Copy your saved files into the new game's folder. For Silksong, they go inside the folder that matches the Steam account you play on; the same account always has the same ID, so the name carries over.
4. Start the game and load the slot.

A different Steam account gets a different subfolder, and the game will not look in the old one, so move the files into the right one.

Steam Cloud

Both games keep their slot files in Steam Cloud, so a file you restore by hand can be replaced the next time Steam syncs. Before restoring:

• Quit the game.
• In Steam, open the game's Properties and turn off Keep game's saves in the Steam Cloud.
• Restore, start the game, check the slot, then switch cloud saving back on.

If Steam reports a conflict, it offers Local Save or Cloud Save. Choose the copy you have just checked.

Saves not showing

• Empty folder: the game has not saved yet. In Hollow Knight, resting at a bench saves; look again afterwards.
• Silksong looking empty: the slot files are inside the Steam ID or default subfolder, not directly in the Silksong folder.
• Name does not match: list what you have with:

ls ~/Library/Application\ Support | grep -i "team.cherry"

Do not copy slot files from one game into the other. The two games' saves are not interchangeable.

Why searching misses these

~/Library is left out of Spotlight and Finder searches, and a save is named user1.dat, which says nothing about the game.

Finding them again

Typing user1.dat into Everywhere lists the slot files of both games, each shown with its folder, so Hollow Knight's and Silksong's are easy to tell apart; typing unity.Team narrows to the two Team Cherry folders. Both live in Application Support, which Everywhere scans without extra permission. Press ⌘↵ to reveal one in Finder. It matches names only, not the progress inside a save.

Common questions

Where is the Hollow Knight save file on a Mac?

In ~/Library/Application Support/unity.Team Cherry.Hollow Knight/. Slots are user1.dat to user4.dat, and settings, achievement progress and extra modes are recorded in ~/Library/Preferences/unity.Team Cherry.Hollow Knight.plist.

Where are Hollow Knight Silksong saves on a Mac?

In ~/Library/Application Support/unity.Team-Cherry.Silksong/, inside a subfolder named after your Steam user ID, or default for non-Steam builds, per Team Cherry's help page.

Can Steam Cloud overwrite a restored Hollow Knight save?

Yes. Both games keep their .dat files in Steam Cloud, so quit the game and turn off Keep game's saves in the Steam Cloud in its Steam Properties while you restore, then check the slot before turning it back on.

How do I fix a broken Silksong save?

Team Cherry's help page points to the auto save button on the Select Profile screen, which lists auto saves from key points. Reverting overwrites your current save, so back up the folder first.