The long awaited sequel arrives, does it deliver?
What Is It? Silksong is the sequel to Hollow Knight, a wildly popular Metroidvania game from Team Cherry, a group of three Australian developers.
Silksong has you playing Hornet, who was a boss in the original game. The game begins with Hornet being released from capture and having to find her way around a new area. You begin with a simple needle, the ability to jump, and nothing else.
Being a Metroidvania, the goal is to discover new areas. Silksong takes a bit of a different approach to most in this regard. Yes, many areas are initially gated by specific platforming abilities such as a wall cling/jump and a dash, but once you have the small early moveset the vast majority of the game is gated either by some item you have to find or pure skill. Head off in any direction and you’ll probably find something new with who-knows-what waiting to kill you.
Platforming in Silksong is a bit basic without the large variety of moves seen in other games, but it works really well thanks to the incredibly smooth controls. It simply feels great to traverse through this world as Hornet. Running, jumping, dashing, gliding. You will be running through this world a lot, more on that later, so it is important that the experience is fun and Team Cherry nailed that here.
Combat consists of your needle attack, a special attack, and potentially multiple attached tools you can equip. All of this works through a crest system. There are a few crests to find, each with a different combat style. One will allow you to collect more silk, others will provide quicker attacks, and so on. Each crest has equipable spots for trinkets, tools, and one special attack. Tools typically offer ranged attacks, a nice contrast to the needle’s short reach, but can also provide various boosts. Trinkets also offer a wide range of abilities, resulting in a very customizable Hornet experience based on personal preferences, and what items you can find along the way.
Enemies are brutal from the start, with some really annoying attack/movement patterns for you to learn. Just as you are getting accustomed to one set of enemies, you will find yourself in a new area with a whole new pile of enemies to learn. This keeps the challenge constant throughout. The challenge is, of course, amplified in the boss fights. They are brutal and memorable as you would hope. The game also leans heavily on “locked room full of enemy waves.” I think they go to this well a bit too often across the game, but that’s certainly a personal preference thing.
Hornet has the ability to generate silk. Your silk meter builds up as you land needle strikes on enemies. Once full enough, you can activate your healing ability to recover some life. You may also use silk to trigger the special attack you have equipped. Over the course of the game you can upgrade your max silk amount, along with max health, weapon strength, consumable storage limits, and so on.
The game is tied together with a striking, instantly recognizable visual style. If you see a screenshot from this or Hollow Knight, you will instantly know where it is from. The visuals and vibe of Hollow Knight was a strong point and there was no reason to rock the boat on that front in Silksong, so it’s nice that they didn’t.
Oh, it might go without saying, but just in case you were curious; the game does not tell you anything about its systems. For example, there are two consumables you can collect and I’ve talked to multiple people who did not know what they were for until a few hours into the game.
The Best Part: Everything. I didn’t end up loving this game, more on that below, but I cannot argue that it isn’t meticulously put together. Each pixel seems like it was thought through for hours in a way that becomes very obvious as you play. Every platforming section has enemies as the exact wrong spot to force a fight when you would rather skip it and move on. The boss fights are unique and a blast, while making you want to pull your hair out with their difficulty. The general tone of the game and all of its mysteries provide a wonderful mood and the bleak, but memorable, setting cements the vibes. If you enjoy the types of things Silksong offers, and you do need to enjoy all of them because it doubles down on everything here, this seems almost certain to end up as an all-time favorite.
The Worst Part: This game is difficult in ways that frustrated me. I am writing this review without having finished the game, which marks a first for me. The game does incredibly little to help you improve your character but relentlessly throws more difficult enemies at you. Each person has a different tolerance for difficulty. I can absolutely love a hard game, but the type of difficulty is important to me. Silksong features the Souls-like pattern of a death meaning a 5 minute trek back to the boss you died on, with many tough enemies and/or platforming along the way. Almost all of the enemies after a certain point have attacks which can knock two of your HP. You start with five and if you explore everything for the first 15 hours you might be able to add a sixth. This is a super personal thing, but the enemies felt more unfair than fun way too often. I don’t think this carries over to the bosses which were a good time across the board, but the barriers to get to them certainly frustrated me.
The Verdict: I liked, but didn’t love, Hollow Knight. I loved its combat, style, platforming, and controls but I was really annoyed by how obtuse it often was in terms of where to go next. In an unexpected twist, I actually enjoyed the exploration in Silksong despite it having parts even more obtuse than the original. For a good while I thought Silksong was shaping up to be an all-timer for me. The movement is so incredibly smooth that I don’t even mind how slow it often is. The combat is tough and fun. Bosses are great.
After a while, however, I found myself spending 60-90 minutes trying to work through a single section each time I sat down to play. Maybe a boss, maybe a wave combat room, or maybe just a new area where I couldn’t find the bench to avoid the need to retrace my steps. While I remained in awe of many aspects of the game, I found the frustration rising and the fun dropping. Life is too short to play games that aren’t fun, so I am going to drop Silksong for a bit and see if these later sections land better after a break.
My experience is a giant heaping of personal preference, of course. The game is so well done that if the difficulty lands for you, you will likely have an amazing time with Silksong. It is impeccably made, with every tiny animation landing perfectly. It simply feels great to help Hornet escape, even if I wasn’t able to see the journey through right away.
How to Play: Xbox Series*, PlayStation 4/5, Switch 1/2, PC
*console played on for this review
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