It’s been 84 long years since Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced, the DLC to the challenging metroidvania set in Hallownest. Seriously, on the Kickstarter Team Cherry had for this, one of the goals was for a PS Vita port. That is old. Since then, Hollow Knight: Silksong was transformed into a full sequel starring Hornet, a sometimes ally of the Knight.
Myself and so many others felt like there was some elaborate practical joke going on when, time after time, year after year, we’d predict a release date or gameplay trailer at a Game Awards, a State of Play, or an Xbox Showcase. When that finally happened, it was shown as part of a Game Pass lineup that were all supposed to release within 12 months. AND THAT WAS 2022!!!
However, the time has come. After that eternal wait, Silksong finally arrived on September 4th. At $20, it was a day one purchase for me (it’s also on Xbox Game Pass), and let me tell you, you’re lucky I’m writing this review.
All I want to do is play that game. Holy crap, Hollow Knight: Silksong was worth the wait.
Taking place after the events of Hollow Knight (which, if you’re like me, retcons the ending I got because I was nail-happy on the boss, but not the true ending), Hornet, the half-sibling of the Knight and 2-time boss in the OG game, is captured and taken to the kingdom of Pharloom. In this kingdom, a highly religious place governed by the Citadel, bugs can become “Haunted”, meaning reanimated by strands of silk.
Hornet traverses the land, helps the residents, discovers secrets of her past, and the origins of the Weavers. The Haunted Lands of Pharloom are brimming with hidden lore, nooks and crannies, and adorable NPCs to talk to who will give you tidbits of information, hinting at a more sinister overarching narrative. Or they are just pure hope and goodness like little Sherma, singing his little song and ringing his little bell. He’s so great.
The story is really intriguing, and there’s a parallel to ENDER MAGNOLIA that I reviewed this year. It tells the story of a religion corrupted by those in power to exploit it for their own gain. It shows a caste system of society where, as you explore deeper levels, you can see the difference between the poor commoners and the decadent Citadel. And, the worst thing about it is that everyone is happy to be where they are, in the service of that corrupted religion. For a game about bugs, it’s powerful stuff.
I can’t tell you how much more I enjoyed the Silksong story than the original, and there’s one main reason for that: Hornet can talk. Her being able to converse with NPCs is a huge improvement from Hollow Knight because you get to see this flawed but compassionate spider grow in real time. I know who Hornet is, rather than the ever-replaceable Knight (but I guess that was the point, right?).
Hollow Knight: Silksong is a classic metroidvania experience. In a 2D world, you control Hornet, exploring left and right, fighting enemies and finding new abilities to help you unlock new areas to travel to or discover new bosses. And, oh mama, are there bosses to fight! When the music swells and the extremely well-animated behemoths let out that telling scream, you know you’re in trouble. You’ll have to pull out all of the stops to put those troublesome bugs down.
The combat is hella deep. If you’re a basic b*tch like me, your go-to will simply be the needle, Hornet’s basic sword attack, but your movesets are changeable using something called crests. A crest affects a passive ability, your movement, and your needle swipes. Again, because I’m basic, I went with a safe Reaper crest which had a chonky but slow needle swing, a straightforward downswipe pogo, and a passive that increases silk generation after a heal. The other crests do various things like arching a pogo, leech life on heal, increase speed of attack, etc. They also have different slots on the crest for enhancement tools, the replacement for the charm system from the original game.
This mechanic is ripe for experimentation, as are the added offensive tools that can help turn bosses into Swiss cheese. These consume metal shards, one of your two currencies in Silksong you can farm from enemies or find hidden in the world. That’s the thing, though. If you’re stuck on a boss, there’s a good chance you’ll burn through those shards before beating it, hampering your progress if you’re reliant on tacks or cogflies, for example. Or, you don't use them out of fear of wastefulness. For me, though, I found that using them took me out of the rhythm of the fight, missing a dodge or two because I was concentrating on setting traps. I’ve no doubt that I was losing out by not trying more build configurations, but that’s what makes the combat so great. You don’t have to, and there’s still a way to triumph.
Exploration is so damn fun across Pharloom. There’s tons of secret areas and hidey-holes where you can find rosaries (the other economy of the world), a stash of shards, new tools, upgrade materials and loads of other stuff. There was something near the starting area that I didn’t find until near the end of my playthrough! Be smackin’ those walls at every opportunity to see if they’ll break and uncover a new path! What I loved about the additional sidequests that Silksong gives you is that sometimes they lead you to an undiscovered area. I’d be following a trail and, all of a sudden, I’d be nearing a place I hadn’t been before. That’s freaking awesome.
Ok, I do have a couple of gripes. For how good the combat is, there are just a little too many enemy gauntlets. It really hit home during Act 2 (if you know, you know) that I was getting a little tired of the seemingly endless tirade of minions. Sure, it’s a challenge to survive that long, but only because of the little b*tch flying snipers they keep spawning. Secondly, I think that Silksong needs to do a better job of directing you to Act 3. I spent a really long time trying to figure it out before feeling like I needed to look up the specific requirements. Just a couple of pointers from an NPC or two would have been great.
Lastly, I wanna talk about the fast travel system. In Act 2 and beyond, it’s really frustrating. The Citadel has a different travel system than the rest of Pharloom. That’s great from a story and world-building perspective. I get that. The ruling elite separate themselves from the common folk. But in the later game, where I just need to get around, I don’t want to have to catch a connection via The Grand Bellway to get back to Bone Bottom. It’s needless time-wasting.
However, I’ve got to say, these things didn’t bother me that much. They’re just minor grievances.
What can I say about this game’s visuals that isn’t already apparent from the screenshots in this article? Every scene is a painting, beautifully hand-drawn art that is a feast for the senses. The environments are varied and rich with color. From the designs and palette, you can instantly tell where you are. If you’re in a light green rocky place, you’re probably in Mosshome. An industrial place with an orange hue from the lava fields? Deep Docks. Red circles everywhere and spikes below? That would be the torturous platforming of Hunter’s March.
The character designs, whether they are bosses or NPCs, are fantastic. Hornet’s besties, little Sherma and Shakra, the warrior and cartographer, instantly come to mind as examples. However, the clothing designs are also amazing, contributing towards the overall narrative. The raggedy shawls of the pilgrims in Bone Bottom contrast greatly to similar bugs you find in the Citadel in Act 2, who wear lavish white and gold, depicting the chasm between the haves and have-nots.
Christopher Larkin once again killed it with the soundtrack to Silksong, returning to compose the sequel after helming the music for the first game, and I have listened to that music for hundreds of hours. His style is an absolute vibe. Without spoiling specific Act 2 and Act 3 bosses, there are some bops in this portfolio for sure, but even wandering around the various Pharloom biomes is chill enough that I could see myself popping it on while I’m at the office or doing some writing.
And welcome to the most boring performance report in history! In my 65 hours playing Hollow Knight: Silksong on PS5, I had literally no issues. That’s it. I could be facetious and say that some of my deaths were because of irregular hitboxes or frame drops, but they were 100% skill issues. I know it, and there’s no use trying to hide behind nonexistent irregularities.
There’s been a bit of scuttlebutt online about the difficulty of Hollow Knight: Silksong. The streets are saying that Silksong is too difficult in places owing to early-game bosses and even some environmental hazards taking 2 points of damage when you only start with a health bar totalling 5. That means it only takes three hits to kill you.
Sounds unfair, right? Well, yes and no.
Hornet is more powerful than the Knight ever was, and because you unlock a dash so quickly, you feel extraordinarily agile. And it only gets better as you travel through Pharloom, with even more options to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge. That is why I think the difficulty of Silksong is challenging but fair. When I think about the original game, I remember being very slow (although I had no problem with that at the time), and getting out of the way of some attacks was almost impossible. The strategy was always caution first, chipping away at damage between attacks. With Hornet, you can afford a lot more aggression before backing away to get a quick heal off.
It’s the difference between the more methodical Dark Souls and the incentivised aggression promoted by Bloodborne, but with the agility of a Prince of Persia after drinking 20 cans of Red Bull. I freaking loved the movement in this game. I entered a flow state walking into boss rooms, challenge arenas, and simply just moving around the world. It was satisfying as f*ck.
I could wax lyrical about Hollow Knight: Silksong for hours. I’m not even joking. I loved this game a tremendous amount, to the point of contemplating going after the platinum, enduring those horrendous speedrun trophies. After 65 hours of playtime, I’m still hungry for more of this world and gameplay, and that is telling.
The combat and movement mechanics are scrumptious, making me want to keep on playing and continue trying to beat even the most frustrating of boss fights until only a husk remains. When I’m not itching for combat, I can explore the many corners of this beautiful hand-drawn world, animated to perfection, experiencing a deep and culturally relevant story through Hornet’s interactions with NPCs and enemies alike. All of these elements improve greatly from the first installment like any sequel should.
Silksong isn’t perfect, with a bordering-on-tedious amount of gauntlet fights that became a little lacking in imagination, but that’s maybe a little nitpicky, like the discussion about difficulty. I don’t subscribe to the “Git Good” (as Hornet would pronounce it) mentality, but I also think that, although enemies are faster and hit harder than the first game, Team Cherry gave you all the tools to handle every challenge thrown at you. It’s still tough, don’t get me wrong, I just think it’s as balanced as Hollow Knight was.
Ultimately, Hollow Knight: Silksong is an amazing experience that I know I’ll be enjoying for years to come. And, as we know about these devs, it’s most definitely going to be a wait for the next game.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is out now for PC, PS5, Xbox Series S/X and Nintendo Switch for around $20
What did you think of Hollow Knight: Silksong? Is it your GOTY? How does it measure up against the original? Let us know in the comments where we can all agree that Sherma needs to be protected.
