REVIEW: Hollow Knight: Silksong Deftly Threads the Needle

On its surface, Silksong appears to be a simple continuation of what Team Cherry built in Hollow Knight: the art style is similar, the world is vast and varied, the platforming sections look intense, and the combat seems to be properly difficult. These are all the elements the fans loved about the first game, so at a minimum Silksong is delivering on those fronts. However, once you start digging deeper and become more familiar with the mechanics of it all, it becomes readily apparent that Silksong is not a simple continuation of what came before; it is the natural evolution of the Hollow Knight formula, with every gameplay element honed to near perfection.

In Hollow Knight, you are dropped into the land of Hallownest with no direction and are left entirely up to your own devices. As you make your way through the game, you begin to piece together what’s happening, learning where you should go and what you should do, and you are rewarded handsomely for your solo exploration. There is little to no guiding hand in Hollow Knight – it’s up to the player to forge their own path – which can make the game feel absolutely overwhelming for the uninitiated.

Silksong, on the other hand, takes a different approach. After a gorgeously animated cutscene, which establishes how Hornet (the game’s protagonist) ends up in the land of Pharloom, you are quickly given your main objective: “The Great Citadel: Ascend through the lands of Pharloom to reach the Citadel at the kingdom’s peak.” How you’ll get there is more or less up to you, but this is the first glimpse at Silksong’s best new feature: the Tasks screen.

Like many other modern games, Silksong has adopted a quest system of sorts, with a menu screen dedicated to your main objective and a host of “Wishes” (aka, side quests) that you can choose to accept as you make your way through the game. Visually, the way Silksong implements this system reminds me of Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, but it’s a more pared down version than what you find in those Zelda games.

Outside of the main objective markers on your map, you are given very little direction on what to do or where to go. It’s just enough information to help Hornet get started on whatever excursion she’s about to undertake – and Hornet really is the key to this mechanic because, unlike the silent and nameless protagonist of Hollow Knight, Hornet talks quite a bit. Whenever you encounter an NPC or a speaking enemy, Hornet always has questions to ask or something to say – which, in turn, enables the player to gain deeper insights into what’s going on and what you need to do next to keep the narrative ball rolling.

Truly, I love how organically Silksong unfolds. You can choose to make a beeline to your next objective, or meander around and explore each area to mine its secrets. Either way, you’ll end up stumbling into all sorts of unexpected things that lead to new bits of lore, powerups, tools, or even new abilities. There is the sense of a guiding force behind the exploration, but it’s never particularly pushed onto the player. It’s more of an ebb and flow, with Team Cherry maintaining a delicate balance between gameplay freedom and narrative constraint with the Wish system.

For instance, I got the Sharpened Needle upgrade for Hornet’s primary weapon because I defeated a boss that had taken over a town, then I accepted a side quest to find the shopkeeper’s assistant, which then opened up the workshop where I was rewarded with a weapon upgrade. None of this was explicitly required as I was making my way to reach the Citadel, but the game put these experiences in my path all the same. It was entirely up to me to decide what I wanted to do, and when I wanted to do it.

It really is amazing how much a game like Silksong benefits from a properly tracked questing system. Even if you set the game down for a while and come back to it, you’ll have a good idea of where you are and what you were doing, which dramatically helps you figure out your next move. You’ll find most of the Wish requests in the main towns via notice boards, but there are plenty of Wishes to grant as you explore the wilderness and find random NPCs going about their daily lives in Pharloom.

That’s the other part of Silksong that feels so much grander than Hollow Knight; moreso than Hallownest, Pharloom feels like a living, breathing world that Hornet happens to be wandering through. As Hornet encounters new characters and grants more Wishes, she will continue to run into said characters as you progress through the game. The most notable example of this is Shakra, a solitary warrior from a different land who is on her own journey to track down and find her master. She always seems to beat Hornet to each new area, but that means she’ll have unique insights to share and rudimentary maps to sell.

Other recurring characters will sometimes show up to help out in a big fight, or Hornet will encounter them advancing in their own adventures across the land. Each of these little bugs have their own things to do, making the world feel delightfully dynamic – and, save for the townspeople, you usually won’t find the same character in the same place twice, making Hornet’s journey feel all the more real.

Now, let’s get into the crux of the discourse around Silksong: the difficulty. Fans of Hollow Knight know that this is a series that prides itself on its difficulty, with Team Cherry even creating the infamous “path of pain” in the original game, which pushes players’ skills to the absolute limit. Silksong also doesn’t shy away from challenging scenarios, but I honestly wouldn’t say the game is overtly punishing or unfair with its difficulty. Sure, some enemies will deal two hit points of damage with each hit, but Hornet can quickly recover three hit points at the press of a button.

The “walk backs” from save benches to most of the bosses or challenge rooms after you die are also much shorter in Silksong than those found in Hollow Knight, which is a welcome change that keeps the game moving along at a faster pace (though there are a few exceptions to this rule). Yes, it can be frustrating to die over and over and over, but that’s what this kind of game is: you are expected to rise to all the challenges it presents. But when you do finally master the pattern to defeat a boss or get through a gauntlet of enemies? The sense of accomplishment and triumph you feel is second to none.

That’s not to say Silksong is easier than Hollow Knight. In fact, I would say that it’s equally difficult, but in different ways. Hornet moves much faster and in more varied ways than the protagonist of the first game, so it would track that the platforming and combat scenarios are designed with these changes in mind. Hornet also has a whole arsenal of tools and charms at her disposal that you shouldn’t ignore, because it can be the exact edge you need to defeat a boss or clear out a challenge room. You’ll also unlock different crests and “silk skills” throughout the game, each of which dramatically changes Hornet’s fighting style. It’s a surprisingly deep, finely tuned gameplay system, and it’s up to you, the player, to determine the right combination of crest, charms, and tools to overcome each obstacle. If you keep hitting a wall in Hornet’s adventure, try changing things up – you might be surprised at how much easier things can get with a different set of tools and abilities.

I will be honest, though. Even with all these gameplay improvements, I still found myself getting a little lost around the halfway point of the game. I was trying my best not to look anything up, but I knew I had missed something that was keeping me from moving forward in the main quest. Turns out, I had skipped over the double jump ability because I was avoiding the area I needed to explore to unlock it. After that, a whole new layer of the game opened up and I found myself even more addicted to the gameplay loop. I said it before, but I’ll say it again: Silksong rewards random exploration. If you get lost or stuck, try doubling back and filling in all the empty spaces on your map. Nine times out of ten you’ll find what you need, or you’ll discover something new that will make things run smoother for you on your journey.

Speaking of the journey, the narrative threads that weave the story of Silksong together are simply sublime. I won’t get into spoiler territory but, much like a stage play, the game is structured into three acts. Act 1 is by far the most straightforward, while Act 2 removes what little guardrails there were and massively expands the game. And then there’s Act 3, which is essentially post-game content that you can only unlock by completing a specific series of side quests and acquiring a certain number of collectibles. Each of these acts pull you deeper into the story as Hornet pieces together what’s afflicting the land of Pharloom and what she needs to do to save its inhabitants.

The writing is top notch, too, with fully realized characters that have their own quirks and personalities that shine through in how they speak to and interact with Hornet. These conversations can be as inconsequential as a quick greeting, or as significant as a lore drop, but they are all vital in shedding light on larger picture of the story. It’s through conversation that you learn how most of the bugs you encounter are on a pilgrimage to the Citadel, how their religious dogma is so intense that they even use rosaries as a form of holy currency. The land of Pharloom is a land of faith and devotion – and while different factions of bugs have formed their own societies and belief systems, it is through that spirit of faith that they find meaning and purpose.

And, of course, this story of faith is elevated to ethereal heights with Christopher Larkin’s sensational score. I wasn’t sure he could top what he did for Hollow Knight, but Silksong’s soundtrack is one of the best elements of the game. Larkin’s musical storytelling is profound, with each area featuring distinct themes that beautifully match (or tonally clash) with the general vibes of the scenery. I also love the battle music, especially the boss fight tracks with distinct movements for each phase of the battle that will make your heart break and palms sweat in equal measure. There’s a good bit of diegetic music, too, which serves to add another layer of immersion for the player (and for Hornet). I’ve been listening to the soundtrack on Apple Music for the last couple of weeks and it’s remarkably well done.

The last note I’ll hit in this review is the gameplay performance. I played Silksong on the Nintendo Switch 2, so I can’t speak to any other platforms, but I was genuinely impressed with how good this game looks and how well it ran on Switch. It’s not a particularly graphics-intensive game, but I didn’t experience any frame rate issues or slowdowns, load times are quick, and all animations are buttery smooth. I spent most of my runtime playing in Docked Mode on my 4K TV at 60fps, but for the last 10 or so hours I played exclusively Handheld mode, which bumped the framerate up to 120fps on the 1080p screen.

I wasn’t expecting the higher frame rate to make much of a visual difference – anything above 60 doesn’t do much for me – but in some of the more chaotic and twitchy fights, that extra bit of fluidity really did come in clutch. The HD Rumble 2 is also implemented quite nicely in Silksong, for both the Joy-Cons and the Pro Controller, with the haptic feedback being dynamic but not too intense. I especially loved how the pitter-patter of rain drops felt as Hornet was running through a gloomy section of the map. Even from a hardware perspective, the attention to detail in Silksong is superb.

I could go on and on about all the things I love about Silksong, but really, I am just so happy that Team Cherry delivered something this special. They had a tough needle to thread, and could have easily fallen into the trap of simply rehashing more of the same; instead, they managed to pull off nothing short of extraordinary. Hollow Knight: Silksong is a more-than-worthy follow-up to Hollow Knight, adding entirely new layers of gameplay and lore to this beloved franchise, while still staying true to what fans loved about the first game. After playing for 65 hours and hitting a 98% completion rate, I fully believe Silksong was worth the wait, and I’m excited to see what new delights Team Cherry is planning next.