Fortnite’s upcoming Hollow Knight crossover has now been decrypted from the game’s files, revealing the finished cosmetics ahead of their expected Item Shop release. Fortnite dataminer FireMonkey reported the decryption on October 6, with HYPEX and other established Fortnite accounts independently publishing the resulting assets at roughly the same time. Epic Games has already officially confirmed Hollow Knight as part of Fortnitemares 2026, although the newly decrypted cosmetic breakdown has not yet been formally detailed by the company.
The centerpiece is The Knight as a Sidekick rather than a conventional playable Outfit. The decrypted material also shows an alternate Shade appearance, giving the small Hollow Knight protagonist a form based on the dark spirit left behind after death in Team Cherry’s game. Using The Knight as a Sidekick allows Fortnite to preserve the character’s distinctive proportions instead of stretching the character onto the humanoid skeleton required for standard skins.
The crossover also includes The Knight’s Nail as a harvesting tool, with the newly decrypted version showing an additional Pure Nail variant. The Nail serves as the protagonist’s primary weapon throughout Hollow Knight, while the Pure Nail represents its fully upgraded form. Earlier leaks had only established that a Nail-inspired pickaxe was likely, so the decryption provides a substantially clearer look at how Epic has translated the weapon into Fortnite.
Another cosmetic is the Hallownest Grub Back Bling, based on the small creatures players rescue from glass jars while exploring Hollow Knight. Datamined information indicates that the Grub is reactive, producing responses when the player performs actions including eliminations, opening chests and being knocked. The implementation appears designed around the creature itself rather than simply placing a static Hollow Knight reference on the player’s back.
The Knight also has a dedicated Sidekick interaction built around one of Hollow Knight’s most recognizable objects. The Knight’s Bench Sidekick Emote lets the player sit beside the Sidekick on a bench, recreating the resting points found throughout Hallownest. Dataminers had described the interaction before the assets were unlocked, but the latest decryption now exposes the completed in-game presentation rather than relying solely on file names and unreleased data.
Epic has increasingly used encrypted or streamed files to keep collaboration cosmetics hidden until close to their Item Shop debut. Similar last-minute decryptions exposed Fortnite’s Black Clover cosmetics shortly before their release, while Cyberpunk: Edgerunners assets were also decrypted from Fortnite’s live files ahead of their full rollout. Once those encrypted packages become accessible, dataminers can generally identify the actual models, styles and associated cosmetic assets rather than relying on earlier backend references.
The timing also lines up with the previously leaked Item Shop schedule. FireMonkey reported that the Hollow Knight bundle is expected to arrive on October 7 at 8 PM ET and said the cosmetics were scheduled to decrypt on October 6 at 9 AM ET, which is consistent with when the new assets began appearing publicly. Epic’s official Fortnitemares announcement confirms Hollow Knight among the collaborations arriving during October, but pricing for the bundle has not been officially announced.
The decrypted content also confirms that the crossover is focused on accessories and the Sidekick system rather than introducing The Knight as a full-sized player skin. There is currently no verified evidence that Hornet or another Hollow Knight character will arrive as a separate Outfit, despite speculation following the reveal. For now, the confirmed and decrypted material centers on The Knight Sidekick, its alternate appearance, the Nail harvesting tool, the bench interaction and the reactive Grub back bling.
With the assets now decrypted, very little about the cosmetic lineup remains hidden beyond final Item Shop pricing and any last-minute presentation details. Unless Epic changes the current rollout, the Hollow Knight set is positioned to become one of the next major Fortnitemares crossover releases as Fortnite continues its unusually dense October schedule.
