Calvin Dimas
Where were you on September 4th 2025? This was the day that Hollow Knight: Silksong released itself onto the world and also caused every digital storefront to shut down due to the demand. It has been 8 years since Team Cherry, the developer and publisher behind Silksong, had put out their previous game Hollow Knight that was met with universal praise. The long wait for the sequel to Hollow Knight built up a fury and fervor that every video game developer dreams of, but despite all the hype there was question on everyone’s mind when they finally hit that coveted install button, “was it worth the wait?”
Read or watch our full review below!
Float Like a Butterfly Sting Like a Hornet
If you’re unfamiliar with the Hollow Knight series and are wondering what makes this game different when compared to its predecessor, the biggest difference is the main playable character Hornet. Hollow Knight: Silksong makes Hornet the main focus and she must take on her own set of challenges much like her previous counterpart the Knight did in his adventures. From the get-go it’s very obvious that Hornet is a very different character. The way she moves is much faster and fluid and no longer is the player taking control of a silent protagonist. While the character of Hornet was always intriguing to Hollow Knight players, they never really got to explore her as much as they wanted.
Hornet is a fully fleshed out character with her own thoughts and ideals, and seeing Hornet react to other characters in her own way makes the kingdom of Pharloom feel more alive than Hollownest from the previous game. While having a more fleshed out protagonist does take more work, it’s an effort that I do not believe will go unnoticed when playing Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Every part of Hornet’s design feels very intentional. Her unique diagonal piercing attacks being a main part of her starting attack strategy, makes the name Hornet a very fitting one. Her red cloak stands out against the darker tones of Pharloom while also aiding in her traversal by giving the player a gliding ability for safer navigation of platforms and pitfalls. After a few upgrades players will quickly find themselves dashing through the air and comboing opponents and using strategically placed tools to their advantage. The diagonal attack may take some time to get used to for some players but once mastered prepare to pogo Hornet off the tops of many enemies heads.
Silk Skills Pay the Bills
Combat is all risk vs reward. You must manage Hornet’s silk meter properly to succeed. For every hit Hornet lands on an enemy she will gain silk points that can be spent on different combat abilities and tools. The tradeoff is that silk is also your source of healing. In every fight you have to make split second decisions as you anticipate the moves of every bug you fight throughout Pharloom.
Do you spend silk to land a much more powerful blow allowing you to end the fight quicker? Or do you build up more silk in case you miss your dodge window and need to heal up. Landing a stronger attack will do more damage to the enemy but you risk not having enough silk to heal up if the enemy lands a near death blow.
Silk isn’t the only thing you’ll be managing. As Hornet, you’ll also come across several different tools that impact your overall gameplay by just making your life easier. Some tools are projectiles that damage enemies from afar allowing you keep your distance in fights when necessary, while others like the Magma Bell, make exploration a lot easier by negating fire damage. Which becomes extremely helpful as one of the early locations has a ton of lava and hot stones waiting for you to make a misstep and take extra damage for your carelessness.
Silksong also offers a ton of flexibility with its Crest system too. Crests allow Hornet to carry a different number of tools and tool types, depending on which Crest she has equipped. Each Crest also has a unique move set as well. For example, the Reaper Crest lets you gain additional silk for each arching hit you land while the Beast Crests allows Hornet to perform much quicker slashes and leads to a more aggressive style of play that steals life from enemies. The beauty of the Crest system is that that it allows players to utilize different builds for Hornet and really customize their experience as they explore Pharloom.
Tools and Crests are great, but these combat enhancements along with needle upgrades, health upgrades, and even abilities needed to progress sometimes feel a little too spaced out. From an exploration stand point this makes sense as Team Cherry likely does not want the player to see everything too quickly and have no reason to keep playing but at the same time it can be frustrating early on to have essential skills like sprinting locked behind a boss battle. Even with exploration, health upgrades and needle upgrade feel very sparse.
The Kingdom of Pharloom
Hollow Knight; Silksong is a beautiful game. It builds on the style that was established in its predecessor by expanding on the different kinds of bugs, their personalities, and their place in the Kingdom of Pharloom. Much like Hollownest we see a medieval-esque society showcased in Silksong but through a different lens. Characters like Shakra the map merchant, build relationships with Hornet that lead to the exact kind of richer experience you would want from a sequel. She’s also someone who you’ll constantly encounter throughout the game, and also sings a very catchy tune.
Even from the opening area the game feels grand with small set pieces making exploration feel more cinematic. While there are fully animated cutscenes in Silksong during bigger story moments I found the world reacting to your running through it feeling much more impactful. While the animation work in Silksong is well done and I would love to see more fully animated project in the Hollow Knight universe, the cutscenes do feel out place since Hornet is very quiet in them. Her lack of voice feels strange as she is very vocal with everyone else she encounters but takes on a vow of silence during big animated story bits.
As you explore Pharloom and find settlements and encampments where other bugs live and thrive you’ll be tasked with optional side quests that sometimes felt necessary to finish the game due some of the optional rewards almost feeling essential.
Side quests give you a reason to return to past areas as they evolve and change as you progress. Areas might change and require you to take down a new boss or even re-challenging a previously defeated boss in a new environment. Other side quests might follow a simpler path such as finding a lost merchant or simply making a donation to help out your fellow bugs.
Navigating the tunnels and challenges of Pharloom is addicting as every new area holds an opportunity for new upgrades and characters but take a wrong turn too early and you might find yourself in one of the many challenging fights of Silksong.
Jump, Pogo, Dodge, Repeat
If exploration is what entices the player then the boss fights are what keep them returning for the next play session. Boss fights range from a gauntlet of several waves of common enemies to larger than life unique creatures with their own exclusive abilities and attack patterns. Each boss fights feels like learning song where each boss has a natural flow to their moves that requires perfectly timed reactions. Like a song, some fights might need to be practiced over and over again until the a-ha moment appears.
I was personally a fan of a boss that can be encountered early on that requires the player to attack from above to maximize their success and punishing the player for just trying to slash what is directly in front of them. This early fight really felt like Team Cherry was saying “hey reminder that Hornet plays differently than the Knight. Please use aerial attacks to your advantage!”
Boss battles are clearly where the games shines the brightest and will be beloved by fans of challenge and frustration that many difficult games are known for. Tough boss fights might make Silksong sound like soulslike,but it is very much a metroidvania. However, that doesn’t mean the game is any less hard than its soulslike counterparts.
Each time I encountered a boss I could see myself inching closer to victory as I began to improve my pattern recognition with each loss. While some of the paths running back to the bosses felt annoying or difficult at first, they soon turned into an optimal speed runner path challenges. My goal was to make my way back to the boss room as fast and efficiently as I could to maximize my time and energy on fighting the boss while also ensuring I had max health and items to start each boss fight with as much of an advantage as possible. Some runbacks were definitely better than others but these moments often allowed to refine my skills with each sequential run.
Depending on a players skill level, some of these fights might deter some from returning to the Silksong and opting to choose a less difficult game. I see no shame in that as someone with a full time job and a list of responsibilities, I want to feel that I am enjoying my free time. I am someone that feels enjoyment when overcoming a difficult task in a video game but I am well aware that not everyone thinks that way.
If you’re not someone that enjoys difficult games then I suggest trying the PC version where mods can help impact quality of life or lower the difficulty of the game.
I do not mean that as an insult as I think this is a great game that everyone should play but I understand that not everyone has the time to fight the same boss over and over again learning every frame of a difficult boss’s attack patterns until they finally win. There were quite a few spots where I considered putting the game down especially since there’s a slew of new things to play in Fall of 2025, but I persisted and each time it paid off allowing me to find new secrets, tools, and upgrades for Hornet. Some of these discoveries have helped improve my chances of defeating the next boss while others while other felt like they made little to no difference.
I will say, when things get hectic in a fight it’s very nice that Silksong allows you pause everything and take a breath.
There are also other frustrations with gameplay that sometimes felt like an oversight or Team Cherry deliberately trolling players by making Silksong harder than it needed to be. One of those frustrations is how touching a stunned boss leads to Hornet taking two hits of damage. In a game where you start off with 5 hits maximum before dying it feels a little cruel. I understand that Team Cherry wants to constantly remind the player that Silksong is challenging but it feels unfair sometimes to step a pixel too close to a boss who is immobile and still take damage.
Final Thoughts
Hollow Knight Silksong definitely falls in line with what you would expect out of a very well-polished metroidvania and Team Cherry definitely delivers on the promise of creating a challenging yet engaging game. That being said, I do think skipping on an easy mode was an oversight. My completion time was 61 hours in total which may not be something everyone has time for. I know many people that have full time jobs, families, and other hobbies outside of gaming. Asking them to commit 60 hours to an incredibly tough experience can be discouraging for these people and I think having difficulty options would allow a wider breadth of people to enjoy Silksong.
By no means are you required to 100% the game or even do every side quest or activity to complete the game, unless you want the true ending, but the game does have stop gaps that will be very hard to overcome if you try to just stick to games critical path without exploring. While there is not a way to grind to level Hornet up there are tools and upgrades that can make her powerful and your life easier. None of these are required for progression but you get the benefit of exploring more of Silksong while gaining an advantage for future fights.
Ultimately I think Silksong is a fantastic game for anyone who loves challenging experiences and was absolutely worth the wait, but for anyone that may not have a lot of free time nowadays you might want to consider installing mods to streamline your experience.
Hollow Knight: Silksong released on September 4th 2025, and was both developed and published by Team Cherry is available on PC, Mac, Linux, via Steam, GOG, Humble Bundle, and on console via Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, PlayStation 4 and 5, & Xbox Series X|S/Gamepass.
