This does everything you could want in a sequel, while still being brilliant as a standalone game.
As expected, the art and exploration is at the top of the game. Truly some of the best ever made. Even through years of hype, it surpased my expectations, with the map feeling ever expanding to a ridiculous point.
The combat is incredibly fun and tight, with some real standout bosses. The difficulty may be offputting for some, but I never found it to be frustrating. Tough yes, but deeply rewarding.
The story is wonderful, and especially having a prior connection to characters, feels deeply resonant.
A serious game of the year, in a year jam packed with incredible experiences.
Silksong is one of the best games I've ever played. I finished the game twice so far, with 100% completion each, and while I found a few areas difficult in my first playthrough, the second playthrough felt much easier and made me really appreciate how awesome the combat and platforming are. (The only exception is Bilewater!)
If, like me, you enjoyed Hollow Knight primarily for its ability to create an incredible atmosphere while exploring, you will also get that from Silksong. It is an absolute joy to slowly map out Pharloom, to meet its bugs and to find out exactly what is happening to the kingdom.
Christopher Larkin absolutely brings it again (as if there was any doubt), the music is incredible and you will be going back to certain areas just to rest and listen like you did in Hallownest. Music is also an aspect of gameplay that is beautifully tied into finding secrets and storytelling.
I disagree with the idea that Silksong is too hard or that enemies are overtuned. Especially given that one aspect of games like this is to essentially be an adversity overcoming simulator. But yes, the game can be very difficult in that much of the combat and platforming requires a lot of mechanical finesse.
The enemies and environmental hazards both hit Hornet a lot harder than you might be expecting coming from Hollow Knight. However, in return you are given much greater freedom in the tools you can use for both combat and exploration, down to the way Hornet controls. I won't spoil any of the specific unlocks but the amount of options you are given is immense.
You will most likely get stuck many times. You bash your head only to go back and sit on the bench to tinker with Hornets loadout. I get that that loop can push people away after a point but if you know that you are comfortable with that, then you will push through and probably really enjoy it.
This is a special one and I'm glad that Team Cherry have stuck the landing after such a long build up.
After 50 hrs (disproportionately spent dying to bosses) and 84% completion, I have defeated the final boss and reached the true ending
This is a difficult game. You will die. You will get lost. You will lose all your money. You will continually backtrack to discover secrets, complete quests and use your new abilities in old areas, This is a metroidvanina with a focus on precise movement and tight combat.
If you can accept these terms, then you will cherish this phenomenal game.
Compared to Hollow Knight, Silksong's combat is volatile, swinging between "I'm in total control" and "I''M GOING TO DIE" and "WE'RE SO BACK". This is because a more enemies and bosses deal 2/5 of you starting hp instead of 1/5 damge, combined with being able to heal 3/5 hp in a single heal. Thus combat is designed to push the player to be more aggressive, taking more risk in exchange for the reward of a heal. I enjoy the healing of Silksong more, but I played very aggressively, taking huge risks to sneak in slightly more attacks and died more times than a prudent player would. I don't regret playing this way but don't reccomend it.
You play as the boss of Hollow Knight called "Hornet". This is true in lore and gameplay, All that Hornet can do in Hollow Knight, the player can do in Silksong
I think that the bosses of Silksong are awesome. Most bosses only have 3-5 attacks, and normally these attacks are taught to the player by the regular enemies that wander the path leading to the boss. Each attack is uniquely telegraphed so that the player can always react. The game puts up a hard fight but wants you to succeed. (Seth is the best boss btw. This knowledge is not a spoiler.)
The quest system formalises much of the story and so it's easier to follow than Hollow Knight's. I loved the side quests and they were mostly unique, with "Kill This Enemy" every so often. I was too buy trying to master the combat and experiment with builds and so these hunt quests were just an opportunity to try stuff out.
The story telling is also clearer because Hornet talks and has a personality. The voice acting is all great, and you can always turn off Hornet's voice if you are a bad person and don't like it.
The game has many suprises, twists and secrets that only happen once per playthrough. The game always has a little more to offer, you just need to pay attention to the environment. It really gives the world life and makes exploring and backtracking more exciting.
There are many routes through the game's first act. If you get stonewalled somewhere, you can almost always just read the map and find something you missed, although some secrets don't appear on it.
The devs have a very low price for the amount of content and work they put into this game. It's crazy. They could sell this game for an extra 40% and it would be a fair price for what you buy.
I had no performance issues running this game with integrated graphics on my Windows 11 laptop, although my laptop has alright specs from what I gather.
Controller detection is snappy and whenever you push a button on one, it is connencted. There's also button mapping so that I could beat the game on my arcade stick.
It's also worth mentioning that after release, Team Cherry's first patch was to nerf some bosses and natural hazards, reducing their double damage to single.
TLDR: it's hard, it's time consuming, it's not for everyone, but I loved every moment because I love the process of gitting gud. And when you git gud it feels amazing.
