Hollow Knight: Silksong (Review)

The sequel to the beloved Hollow Knight finally released on September 4th this year and took the gaming world by storm. Since its announcement in 2019, Hollow Knight: Silksong became the most anticipated game in the gerne, but can Team Cherry's second game live up to the many years of hype? Well, you already know it can... But let's discuss it anyway.

Hornet in Pharloom

After starting the game, you will quickly realize that Silksong isn't meant to be something revolutionary. It looks like Hollow Knight and feels like Hollow Knight. Everything is hand-drawn in the same beautiful art style, while the gameplay is as perfectly smooth and responsive as you remember. In its core and DNA this is a direct sequel, nothing more and nothing less. And this makes sense, because the development started as DLC ideas for the first game, similar to Tears of the Kingdom. Unlike that game, however, you will get a whole new experience.

It already starts with Hornet, who plays differently from the Knight. She is a larger and heavier, yet more agile, which starts with her ability to grab ledges. One of her first major upgrades is the dash, like in the first game, but with it she can also sprint and go for longer and higher jumps. And that's only the start, where later on you will be able to use her needle like a Hookshot, drastically increasing her mobility when compared to the first game.

What also sets her apart from the Knight (and certain other protagonists in the gerne) is that she can talk, allowing for goals and motivation that come directly from her and more interesting interactions. Since she was able to speak in Hollow Knight, it would have been weird to have her as an involuntary silent protagonist, and they nailed her character perfectly. Her royal bluntness is very refreshing. And it makes you wonder what could have been if they allowed the same for Zelda in Echoes of Wisdom...

Hornet finds herself in the kingdom of Pharloom, a place far away from Hallownest. She was brought there by force and wants to discover why, which brings her to a journey into the dark past of her own tribe, the Weavers.

This journey is divided into multiple acts, giving the player major milestones in their progression. The first goal is to reach the Citadel at the top of the world, which is where Hornet was supposed to be imprisoned before fate intervened. And reaching that goal will only be the beginning of another journey...

But while this is another insect kingdom, like Hallownest was before, Team Cherry gave it their all to set these two apart. You will encounter new people, you will fight new foes, and you will explore a whole new map, filled with completely new areas and ideas.

As an example, you will eventually arrive at Greymoor during your early journey. This place could serve as the set for a classic horror movie – a cemetery shrouded in constant rain. It's eerie, but it's also home to a nice tavern right in the middle. The main landmark are the large windmills, however, where one half is occupied by the Craws, bugs that resemble crows, and the other half by different types of workers, who are attacking with rakes and scissors. Its underground is also infested with mites, which resemble rats, so there is a lot to this area alone.

And all of this is accompanied with a wonderfully melancholic music, where Christopher Larkin returns to the job, but this time with the support of an actual orchestra performing his new compositions. It's fantastic and the music always underscores the world and action perfectly.

However, at that point in the game it may not feel like the score for Silksong can live up to the first one. The soundtrack of Hollow Knight catches you early on with Greenpath and the City of Tears, whereas the music of Silksong doesn't have the same immediate impact and goes for more ambience. But it unfolds later on and even reaches new heights, especially in the game's second act.

 

Bottom Up

In Hollow Knight you've started at the top of the world and gradually made your way down, into the the depths of Hallownest. Silksong reverts this approach, putting Hornet near the bottom of the world and setting her goal at the very top: the grand Citadel of Pharloom.

Strings of silk reach down from there, all over the lands beneath. Many bugs are controlled by them and become hostile, similar to the Infection in Hallownest, but this is called the "Haunting". And while Hollow Knight explored a lost kingdom long after its demise, Pharloom is still quite lively and its citizens cling to hope, despite the things that are going on.

This explores a theme of faith, where you will encounter many pilgrims on their journey to the Citadel. Prayer beads, so called "Rosaries", are even used as a currency, instead of fossils, triggering you when they roll all over the place. And the Citadel itself lifts the ideas from the City of Tears, depicting a society in its downfall, onto a much grander scale.

Overall we're talking about an impressive scope for a game world, where Pharloom offers double the size of Hallownest, with nearly twice as many areas to explore. And this is following a game, which already was fairly huge, making Super Metroid look small in comparison.

But it helps that the world of Silksong is structured all around the Citadel (which itself gets divided into eight different areas), giving you a clear course and goal most of the time. This doesn't mean that it's more linear than Hollow Knight. Well, maybe it is to a degree, but you always have a number of options for how to proceed in Pharloom. You can try alternate paths through other areas and skip entire bosses while doing so. Just like the first game, everything was developed with sequence breaking in mind and it is quite truly a masterclass in Metroidvania world design.

Difference being that your progression has more structure to it, while in Hallownest the way forward may have waited at the opposite end of the map, sending you all over the world. While there is a lot more ground to cover in Pharloom, you won't ever feel completely lost thanks to your main goals.

Rest assured, there is also your fair share of backtracking, but the game is really great at making this more interesting as well, by changing the world as you proceed. There is often something new to discover to places where you've already been, and not just because you have a new ability to reach. The game's different towns are a great example, which continue to grow with your help. And at one point things really get stirred up quite a lot, affecting the world as a whole.

Those are some ideas that were explored by Hollow Knight to a degree, like how the Forgotten Crossroads become the Infected Crossroads, or how Dirtmouth gradually gets more inhabitants. But Silksong really brings this to a whole other level.

It also introduces a quest system, so called "wishes". These let you keep track of tasks that you still can achieve, including your main goals, which is very helpful. Though, some of these side quest can feel a bit repetitive, because they make use of the same exclusive mechanics, e.g. tracking a person like Wolf Link in Twilight Princess or collecting certain resources.

But it's interesting that the game will let you collect the latter only when the corresponding wish has been granted, not before and after fulfilling the wish. So, you don't just collect lots of random junk in case you need it. You only collect what you need and that is neat.

There is also the same fast travel system as in Hollow Knight, through you will have to fight for it. And you are traveling through tunnels made out of bells. Yes, you've heard right: bells – it's an everpresent motif in the world of Pharloom, where they even get used as weapons and you can find entire places made out of them. It's completely crazy, yet something that oddly works for this kingdom of bugs in its own charming way. After all, you're fighting with needles and pins.

 

A Song of Silk and Tools 

All this exploring and completing quests would only be half as interesting if there weren't any new abilities or upgrades to find. The further you go, the stronger you want to get, and naturally Silksong gives you this classic Action Adventure sensation. And like in the predecessor you will have to work for each one, no handouts given.

You start with only your needle and the ability to "bind", which heals three masks at once and even lets you float in the air while doing so. It requires a full spool of Silk, however, which is this game's equivalent to Soul. So, it refills when you're attacking enemies and it can be used to either heal yourself or to activate so called "silk skills", which replace the spells and which you will have to learn over the course of the game.

Half of these are based on Hornet's moves as a boss from Hollow Knight, where there is the Silkspear (though much faster), the iconic Thread Storm and the Cross Stitch (her counter). This is very cool, but you won't be able to recreate her exact boss moveset, as for the most part you can only equip one of these skills at a time.

This is due to the new crest system, probably the biggest change overall. There are several different crests to obtain throughout the game and each of them brings a unique way of fighting with your needle. It will alter your needle's range, the attack speed and even the attacks themselves.

You start with the "Hunter", which offers a balanced middle ground and performs the diagonal downwards attack (the pogo) that Hornet is known for. But if that's not for your liking, then don't fret, because there are alternatives. The "Wanderer" is the closest to the classic Hollow Knight experience, but you can also go for crazier combat styles, like the "Beast". The crests can even alter your Bind, the healing process, where in case of the Beast you will have to attack enemies during the time window, but those attack will be also stronger.

In addition, the crests all have different slots that can be used to equip your silk skills and tools. Usually, there is one slot for a silk skill and several ones for tools, divided into three categories:

• Red tools: weapons, traps and buffs that are used actively via a button
• Blue tools: passive effects that support you in combat 
• Yellow tools: passive effects that support you during exploration

The blue and yellow tools are like the equippable Charms from the first game, where a variety of effects will be already familiar as a result. For example, the Compass will show your position on the map, while the Magnetite Brooch will attract any nearby Rosaries (like the Gathering Swarm). Now, in Hollow Knight such useful effects always came at the expense of combat options. You could see where you are on the map or charge your strong attacks faster, your choice...

The different categories in Silksong prevent this. You still have to decide within these categories, which can be tough at times, but at least you can keep the Compass equipped during your first playthrough without being any weaker. You may just lack some other conveniences. They are also all equal, so one tools won't occupy multiple slots at once.

But there are plenty to choose from and many of them even offer new effects and ideas. You can run with insane speeds thanks to the Silkspeed Anklets, for example, but they do consume silk as a drawback. Or the Fractured Mask prevents a single death, but needs to be repaired at the next bench.

The red tools also need to be replenished during your bench breaks, where you can only use them a limited amount of time between. The Sting Shard, which is another one of Hornet's moves from Hollow Knight, is a great example. It lets you place traps in the air, which will shoot around blades on contact. These weapons are a good alternative to silk skills and even share a button with them, where you have to hold up or down to switch between them.

However, you will also need Shards to repair your tools on a bench after using them. This is a secondary currency in the game, which is mainly used for crafting and dropped by most enemies. But you can only carry a limited amount of them, so it's possible to run out whenever you're faced with a difficult battle, where you may want to rely on tools.

This forces you to either go elsewhere to grind or to use them sparingly until you've gotten more experienced with the boss or gauntlet in question. Well, it can be a good thing to explore elsewhere whenever you hit a wall in this game, but overall this is an unnecessarily limiting system. It feels like the Shards were only introduced, because it didn't make sense for the more primitive creatures to carry around prayer beads. So, they needed to drop something else to give you an incentive to fight them...

 

Combat & Challenge 

All in all, Hornet is a lot more agile than the Knight used to be, can heal more quickly and safely, and also has many more weapons at her disposal, giving you lots of options in combat. On the other hand she is also a bigger target and she isn't able to just dash through enemies and their attacks, while having less invincibility frames in general. And the game takes this all into consideration for its difficulty.

Fights are generally much tougher. Many attacks can hit you twice in a row or simply cause double damage – either way you will often lose two masks to a single mistake. In Hollow Knight bosses didn't do this until later in the game, while in Silksong it's already happening with the second one and most of them follow its example. Plus, some bosses can summon smaller enemies to their aid, distracting you with them. At the same time the confrontations tend to be less spammy overall, giving you a fair chance to dodge.

But it quickly becomes clear that this game is targeted to players, who have finished the original Hollow Knight and are looking for more. We're only talking about the base game here, not the much more difficult stuff that came with the DLC (like the Path of of Pain or Godhome), but you should still keep this in mind.

And while Hollow Knight already offers a tremendous enemy variety, Silksong is also topping this with over 230 different enemies and bosses – which are roughly 70 more. The foes you encounter in the environments also tend to be more sophisticated, where you will have to adjust to new attacks, patterns and shenanigans in almost every area. It's as wonderful as it can be sometimes overwhelming.

So, what both games certainly have in common is that they may test your frustration tolerance. Runbacks from the last bench to the next boss or challenge are still a thing, where two bosses in particular have the internet talking because of this. And this time there are no warp points for you to create, but you still might be able to avoid some of it... As already mentioned, the game is always giving you options and this can lead to alternate paths, where you might skip a boss like the Last Judge entirely, or until it becomes much easier to face her. Exploration is always key and it helps not to run one's head against the wall.

Also, the challenges are what make both Hollow Knight and Silksong so great in the first place. These are games that respect their players. They don't hold your hand and they will always push you to your limits, but they feel fair for the most part. And when you overcome a difficult area like Bilewater, it will have been earned and that triumph will stay with you for the rest of your life.

You will dislike maggots even more than before. That is for sure... and also a new thing, by the way. Each corner of the world presents you with different environmental hazards. If you stay in the cold for too long, you will quickly lose all your health. If you come in contact with magma, you will take double damage, unless you have the Magma Bell equipped (in which case it will only do normal damage). And the maggot waters will eat away your silk and nullify your next heal. All of this adds some extra challenge to an already challenging game.

Curiously, with Hornet's agility you would expect that the game has some equivalent to the White Palace and Path of Pain – some really long and insane platforming challenge, which will test your sheer will. And while there are entire areas in the game designed to be just that, it never gets as bad and all the new movement options make this a lot of fun, especially the Clawline (the Hookshot), though it may take a while to internalize the timings.

 

Collect, Compete & Complete

The new crest and tool system also brings something else with it: more stuff to find! And more interesting stuff at that. Every new crest, silk skill and red tool gives you an exciting new option for combat, something to play around with. And that alone is already super rewarding.

In addition to the Mask Shards and Spool Fragments, which will increase your total amount of health and silk in classic Piece of Heart fashion, you can also obtain Memory Lockets, which let you unlock more slots for tools on your crests. So, there is generally a bit more to find than there was in Hollow Knight, but this is also stretched out over a larger world, so you will still have to settle for some money or relic here and there. At least the latter now give you actual lore texts to read, which can be interesting.

Completely new are mini-games, which test your skills in various categories: aiming your projectiles, moving fast, hitting things, dodging stuff, and of course the pogo. Mechanically it's all based on your basics and this is a fun addition for the most part. However, some of it is entirely based on luck, in particular the dodging mini-game (think of Cucco Rush), where this can lead to frustrations, especially when you're in for the best scores.

Those may reward you with "Mementos", which is a new collectible as a token for extraordinary challenges, mostly in the late game. In Hollow Knight the same was achieved via special entries in your Hunter's Journal, but the mementos are much nicer, because you can display them in Hornet's house... Yes, she can get a house in the game and even purchase different furniture for it, but it's about as basic as in Breath of the Wild, so don't expect any crazy customization. It's still very cute.

As for the Hunter's Journal, this time the expanded entries are written by Hornet herself, which gives you some insight into her personality and past. Some of it is also quite funny, so completing all the entries is already worth it for the comments alone. 

Now, what does it take to complete the game? The good news is that reaching 100% and even collecting all mementos (which don't count into the 100%) is quite manageable for the most part. The only real exception are some of the aforementioned mini-games, which can test both your luck and patience.

But as of for the base game, there is nothing like the Trial of the Fool, the Path of Pain, nor the Pantheon of Hallownest in it – the extraordinary challenges that really took your all in Hollow Knight and that most players didn't even bother with. Whether that's a good thing or not, is really up to you to decide. For some Godhome is where the first game really started.

But things can always change and the craziest challenges all were added to Hollow Knight in its four content updates, where Team Cherry has already announced that they have ambitious plans for Silksong as well. There is some untapped potential, which you can read all about here. But for now there is enough to this game to keep you busy for 60 hours or more.

 

Conclusion

Hollow Knight: Silksong is everything a good sequel should be. It has all the amazing qualities of the first game and builds upon them to deliver something new, while also increasing the scale by a big amount. Hornet is a worthy successor to the Knight and plays fantastically. Pharloom is gigantic, filled with countless secrets for you to discover and many new challenges to overcome. And whenever you feel stuck, the soundtrack will keep you going.

Team Cherry has outdone themselves and crafted one of the best Action Adventures of all time, making many other games in the genre look amateurish. Silksong has raised the bar higher.