Last time I have beaten the game... But following in the footsteps of its predecessor, there is more to the world of Silksong than it appears, and I was now trying to find out what needs to be done to potentially experience a different ending. This journey of self discovery brought me into the Putrified Ducts and into the Slab. I also settled a score at Bilewater, fought some of my comrades, and found a new home for the fleas.
As a reminder, I'm playing this game blindly, at least as much as the internet lets me. People are very open about there being a third act, so that's apparently not a secret to everybody. I've also heard about memes of a particularly nasty boss, "Seth the Gatekeeper", who I have yet to find. And I regularly chat with a friend about the game, who is playing at a similar pace and where we share our findings with each other, which is fun. But otherwise I try to stay clueless and find out as much as I can myself, because that's simply more satisfying.
The big mystery now was the equivalent to the Void Heart. Something that lets me trigger something else at the game's supposed end. It made sense that it's about Hornet's nature as a Weaver somehow, but I had no real clue and ultimately it all came down to exploring the rest of Pharloom and seeing what I can find there.
My first new discovery was that the big open area at Greymoor, where you can fight the Moorwing and where the flea caravan temporarily camps, is now used as a training ground with Shakra. The battle is quite intense, but you don't actually die on defeat and can try again immediately. There was also no reward for it, other than an entry in your Hunter's Journal, but that is good enough for me.
Overall, I'm a fan of the new Hunter's Journal, because the expanded entries come from Hornet herself. And this alone makes it so much more interesting, giving the player some additional insight into her personality. When she writes that she liked to dodge Beastflies as a child for fun, but now has no time for such activities, it makes me want to do just that in the game. But I guess battling for fun with Shakra is also great.
About that, I've noticed that when you have Shakra's Throwing Rings equipped, you can use them to lure enemies towards you, mimicking her "Pachanka!" call. Not only is this quite funny, but it's also not using any silk as with her normal taunt, where she says "Garama!" I only had recently discovered that this is even a feature, by pressing the right stick, and that at least one of her voice lines from the first game made it in with this. I do certainly miss "Shaw!", though.
After my victory over Lace, there also has been some change around the Citadel. My former comrades in combat were not found any longer around the Choral Chambers. Garmond and Zaza are chilling at Songclave, where this is well deserved and I like how this settlement has filled with friendly faces over time. The Green Prince had vanished before, after discovering the remains of the Cogwork Dancers, but the Second Sentinel also stopped assisting me.
However, it left a wish at Songclave to come face it at the High Halls. I probably shouldn't have watched the reveal trailer another time, because it gave away that this might happen eventually. I never paid close attention to all the details in the trailers before, but once you have the context of the game, it makes a big difference.
Though, quite a lot has changed since the first trailer, like the room where you fight your formally loyal servant. How the sentinel bled gears was really a cool effect, and I had to use the Architect for this fight, not necessarily because it was the best choice, but because I wanted to pit one creation against the other. It was just meant to be. And honestly, in fights where it's difficult to pogo the Architect is actually a good choice for its extended range and the push.
But it also has to be a fight, where you don't want to make use of any silk skill, of course, and just prefer to heal. Speaking of, your efforts are rewarded by the Reserve Spool, which is basically like the Reserve Tanks in Super Metroid, but you need to equip it as a blue tool.
So, this leaves the Green Prince unaccounted for, where eventually you might be able to battle him as well. Maybe he comes from the water area in the top right of the map, because when you followed Shakra on an adventure into that corner, she left corpses of enemies in a similar green look. Could this be where he is from? In any case, I wanted to explore that part of the map next.
And there were only two options to approach this: either I brute-force through Bilehaven, or I find another way in. I preferred to do the latter, because I still assumed that there might be something that could protect you from the maggots, which then would make the Bilehaven battle a bit easier. It also made sense to find such an item in the cleansing waters above, though I was incorrect about that part.
But I did find another way into the area above Bilewater, without the need to go through Bilewater at all. It had to be somewhere at the Citadel, either from the Whispering Vaults, the Cradle, or Songclave, where eventually I found another cleverly hidden secret passage at the bridge above the settlement. You can reach it via the Memorium and it's another case where I was too distracted by a side quest, just like with the Wisp Thicket, but luckily I decided to check again and then saw the bits and pieces of wall that can be climbed.
This discovery will lead you into the Putrified Ducts. That's a different spelling of "putrefied", I suppose, but maybe it's an intentional play on the word "purified". Or maybe it's just a typo and I'm reading too much into this.
It's definitely putrefied, though, because this is yet another place on the map where the waters are infested with maggots. That's three whole areas with the same annoying feature: the Sinner's Road, Bilewater and now this. Team Cherry must have really loved those maggots... It does make sense, however, because you can indeed find the "Wreath of Purity" in this area, left by a dead Stilkin Trapper who was hiking up here. And if there weren't any maggots around this place, then you wouldn't appreciate the reward as much if you came here directly via the Citadel.
Generally, you can do this after getting the double jump. So, potentially you may even ignore the Sinner's Road and Bilewater, until you've obtained this item, and then use it to fight Lugoli even. It's not a free pass, however, because it can only take so much damage and then needs to be repaired at the next bench. You can jump in and out the maggot soup for a bit, but you shouldn't do lengths.
The enemies can also be quite annoying here, proving to be a bigger challenge than down below. The Squits from Bilewater have now turned huge and are shooting multiple projectiles, while avoiding you, like a certain other beast in Hollow Knight whose name starts with "ass". And there is a new enemy that dared to ask what would be if the Moss Chargers were actually dangerous. They are called Ductsuckers and they certainly suck.
In addition, there is something similar to the Vine Chomps from Donkey Kong Country Returns. These are plants attached to the ceiling, which let their long tongues hang down like vines to trick its prey. And similar to that game, this even gets used as a mechanic, where you have to let yourself pulled up to reach certain places. But it's also a bit annoying, because they are camouflaged rather well and I keep running into them for a scare. For real, this scares me every time, especially with the rough sounds.
One of them also choked on a Wardenfly, which is funny, but earns you the Key of Apostate, which can be used to enter the Slab, if you haven't done so already (like in my case). More on that later.
The next discovery was the Huntress, a creature similar to the one found a the Sinner's Road, Styx. This leads to a fun side quest, where you have to kill monsters for her, but not just in any way. You have to use your tools to skewer, sear and shred them. That was another job for the Architect, because I could equip one tool for each category. I felt it was the easiest to do with the small creatures around the Far Fields, but fulfilling this was has completely used up all my shards for once.
Your reward is the Long Claw, the equivalent to the Long Nail. And as a Wanderer main, it's now getting harder and harder to decide what blue tools to equip, because this is certainly nice to have. But so are protection while healing, quicker healing, and more silk. To be fair, it's supposed to be like that. With the Charms in Hollow Knight there was also always something to desire, no matter what combination you used, and this was by design. But so far I rarely had trouble deciding.
To the far right of the Putrified Duct you can find a cave filled with clear water, which is located right above the resting grounds of Shakra's master mother. And I couldn't proceed from here... Which isn't the only place – there are several spots where I would need a triple jump. I'm guessing that eventually you can shoot the Clawline either upwards or diagonally, possibly even both. Or that Hornet can do the Spiderwoman, like she does in Hollow Knight when she is about to leave scenes. And acquiring such an ability should be on top of my list, so I can truly explore all of Pharloom.
But I got what I wanted out of this corner of the map for now: a protection against the maggots. So, it made sense to proceed at Bilewater and finally show the frog boss who is boss. Who is the queen of the swamp.
This is such a bad case of "bench to boss" that this even unlocks a bench right on the spot, because it's so desperately needed. And you wouldn't necessarily want the Wreath of Purity for this fight if the way here was any shorter. It does help, but I also almost won the battle after it broke on the way. None of the attacks in this fight give you the maggot infestation, so it's mainly a matter of staying on the platforms.
However, the attacks of Groal the Great did something else... In the second phase it started firing white beams, reminiscent of the Vengeful Spirit used by the Knight in the first game. Did this giant frog swallow one of the Vessels per chance?
And it wasn't just a visual similarity. As the big reward at Bilehaven you get the "Seeker's Soul", confirming that Groal was indeed using this type of magic. Which is odd, because so far the game has avoided this entirely. Silk became the equivalent to Soul. So, is this just a neat reference, or will this item have greater significance? May it even be one of the keys required for a different ending? And what about the void? After all, the launch trailer has used void at the end to reveal the release date. Will this play a role as well?
How this story relates to Hollow Knight also isn't entirely clear to me at this point. I've always assumed that it has to be a prequel, because of how one of the endings of Hollow Knight leaves Hornet in a precarious situation with no way out (which is usually considered as the worst ending) and Team Cherry once said to respect all the endings as equally canon. Plus, she is using skills like the Thread Storm, the Sting Shard, or the Clawline in Hollow Knight, where it would be weird if she simply forgot all these after crashing down in a cage. But seeing the first ending makes me question all this and I definitely want to find out more now.
The last place to give me any real answers should be the Slab, but I decided to go there anyway, because now I could. Well, apparently, I always had the option. Hornet without her dress became an internet meme, so it was hard to avoid spoilers about how you can get captured and imprisoned. It just never happened to me and I didn't want to force it.
Breaking into a prison, instead out of it, also seems more like a thing that Hornet would do. But this far into the game there wasn't much of a challenge left. The Down Cloak kept me warm outside and the monsters weren't that difficult. I still had a good laugh with the challenge room where you could activate blade traps to take out all the enemies, this was really clever.
Afterwards I could also do a new quest with an optional boss, the Broodmother. It was somewhat annoying how she throws her entire body at you all the time, but after Groal the Great this was still a reasonable boss fight, with a bench right next to it.
I tried to find some Wardenflies in the wild afterwards, seeing if they would still capture me, but I couldn't. That's probably something that I won't experience in this playthrough any longer. Below the Slab you can also dig through some corals, where I was hoping that this could create another way into the topmost Sands of Karak, but I couldn't find any path...
And this brought me into the most frustrating situation of the game so far. Not a boss, not a difficult battle, nor a challenging platforming section... Just the simple frustration of not knowing how and where to proceed in the game. At first this state of being totally clueless was exciting, a mystery to be solved. But after walking aimlessly through Pharloom for hours without making any real progress, this excitement has turned into desperation.
My map has many markers on it of locations where I either need to be able to go higher or where I don't understand what I have to do (for example the diving bell in the Deep Docks). But what I needed is a breakthrough, maybe even literally – some wall that can be opened somewhere that leads me to something useful. Well, I always just can look up on the internet what I have to do, but in a game that's heavily about exploration this is like admitting defeat.
Luckily, I was not entirely without any goal markers. At the Putrified Ducts you can also find a ferocious flea, Vog, who is ready to protect the caravan. But she is also good at tracking down any missing fleas and marks them on your map, for a flea fee. At first I was hesitant, because the shopping menu tells you the general area, but it turned out that those were misleading or much broader. For example, purchasing a marker for the Blasted Steps gave me a location at the Sands of Karak...
Now, one more flea was all it took to get the caravan moving again. Technically, they won't move right away, you will have to scout a safe location for them first. But I've already done that: it's the lake of pure water near the Putrified Ducts. So, the journey was on!
And this will create a new location, "Fleatopia", lovely. Right now it's bit inconvenient to get back to, but this may change later on, I suppose. And I've purchased the remaining flea markers, so I don't have to return any time soon. During my aimless travels through Pharloom I've gotten so many Rosaries that I've reached the maximum of Rosary Strings and Necklaces that you can carry in your inventory (20), so I buy whatever I can... Maybe I should also try that Rosary gun?
Another flea was still hiding at the Whispering Vaults, which brought me back to Songclave. And this is where the breakthrough happened. The Caretaker had something new to say (which wasn't the case before) and it wasn't anything of the usual. No, it was exactly what I've been looking for... A way to possibly alter the game's ending!
It gives you a new wish, "Silk and Soul", where you have to acquire a number of soul items, one of which I already had: the Seeker's Soul from Groal. Well, come to think of it, both the Caretaker and the Chapel Maid share some resemblance of the Snail Shamans from Hollow Knight, with the white glowing eyes. And they are who taught the Knight how to use Soul as a weapon. But this has answered my question from earlier about the item. Yes, the Seeker's Soul is indeed a key for a different ending. Let's go!
However, while I'm stoked that I finally have a proper goal, it came rather randomly, out of nowhere even. The Caretaker certainly didn't talk about this any sooner, so it had to be triggered by moving the flea caravan away from the Citadel. Maybe what happens next will be so bad that the game wants you to bring the fleas to safety first? Ominous...
