Silksong Journal, Entry 13

Slowly but surely, I'm nearing the end of the game, where I've been diving into Pharloom's past to collect all four old hearts, filling out the Hunter's Journal, and returning to some of the mini-game activities. So, I'm technically ready for the final final boss, but I'm also somewhat stuck at 99%.

Let's start this entry with a fail, because that's always the most entertaining part. I've previously thought that I couldn't reach the upper Sands of Karak without a new ability. So, color me surprised when the Silk Soar didn't do the trick... Instead, I had simply missed that the yellow stone at the bottom of the spiked gorge can lift you all the way to the top.

But it's not like I had missed much by not going here any earlier. There is the revenge battle of the Great Conchfly that has escaped from the Blasted Steps, now called Raging Conchfly. And you can obtain the Conchcutter tool afterwards, which lets you use this extremely annoying ricochet projectile yourself for a change... This one is fun for a little while, but I find it hard to aim with it.

Everything else requires you to have the Silk Soar (or the Elegy of the Deep) anyway, like the Voltnest, which is something that the Memorium has been teasing. There is yet another boss here, the Voltvyrm, who leaves the Volt Filament as a reward. This lets your silk skills deal more damage, which is certainly awesome for those who use them. But it also adds an electrical effect that came in handy later on...

And with that I had found all tools, except for the blue one from the Architect where I still need a Craftmetal. The gaps were starting to close...

The Conchcutter was obtained in a very impressive room at the Coral Tower, where you can see the remains of the upcoming boss: Crust King Khann. While his name is an obvious reference to Genghis Khan, his final resting place reminded me of the infamous Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang. In any case, you will get eastern emperor vibes from this, which was certainly the point.

But as impressive as this is on first glance, this leads to what I consider the most disappointing part of the game, where not only have I been going into the memory of Crust King Khann, but also into the territory of cut content. Maybe I shouldn't have watched the reveal trailer so many times, but it's an awesome trailer, which has featured this beautiful and rich underwater coral area (amongst other things). And I've been truly looking forward to explore it, because it looked amazing. For a while I was hoping that this might be found above Bilewater / the Putrified Ducts, even though it was clearly related to the coral stuff from the Sands of Karak...

There is this ongoing joke where people say that Silksong took so long to develop that the coral area has dried up. Apparently, this underwater area was featured to the left of the Citadel in the early stages of development (see cut content on the wiki). And I absolutely understand this change, because it wouldn't have matched the overall tone of what they have been going for. Those dreary and dread wastelands ignite a special feeling of desperation and hopelessness when those pilgrims are getting closer to their goal. And it isn't any better on the other side of the Citadel either, everything around it has been laid to waste.

It's part of the game's story, where you also don't want something so beautiful right next to the Citadel, when the whole point is to lure bugs there to enslave them there. The only real nice part of Pharloom is basically the Moss Grotto and that gets only dug up by accident in the beginning of the game. But this doesn't mean that the Red Coral Gorge had to be removed entirely. You could have explored this in the memory of Khann, but instead you enter what's just a series of enemy gauntlets, four in total. So, Team Cherry took most of the foes that they had designed for the coral area and threw them in here...

You could say that everything essential is still there, but it was still so underwhelming. There is no exploration, no real feeling of being underwater, just one room with spawning enemies after another. I think that this could have been solved much more nicely, without discarding most of it. And also in a way that lets you properly progress...

Whenever you exit the memory (which happens on defeat), the gauntlets will reset and you have to do them all over again. Well, at least you also reset yourself, so you keep your tools fully loaded and don't have to refrain from using them. But entering the memory always costs a bit of silk, so with each try you will have a little less to work with. In this case, however, it's not so bad, because there is a bench right next to the memory location and you will refill your silk quickly by killing all those coral soldiers.

Luckily, there is a shortcut that you can create after the third gauntlet, so it's not entirely without any progression. I was worried for a while that you have to do the whole thing every time, even when you fail at the boss... And Team Cherry is entirely capable of this type of video game evil.

Though, to be fair, this particular boss could have warranted such a challenge. As impressive his army might be, Crust King Khann was quite pathetic. It's the first boss in the game that I have beaten on my first try since the Moss Mother at the beginning, while everyone else had kicked my butt at least once.

With the Weighted Belt and the Wanderer I could just stand right next to him and mash at him wildly, while his big coral attacks weren't able to touch me. It's not like this battle was without any challenge and I still had to heal a couple of times, but the enemy gauntlets before were much harder. And maybe that's the point, maybe that's intentional...

Another thing that was cut alongside the underwater area are the steel enemies, visually based on Steel Soul Jinn from the Steel Soul Mode in Hollow Knight. They were led by a character named "Steel Assassin Sharpe", who was going to hunt Hornet throughout the game, but ultimately doesn't appear. Which is a shame, because it would have been interesting to learn more about the steel folks. It was also a character created by one of the backers of Hollow Knight as part of their perks, where Team Cherry promised their inclusion very early in development.

One fan-created character that has made it into the game is Seth, the Shine Guardian. He is your obstacle on the way to the next memory, defending a shrine deep in the Shellwoods. And the story behind how this character made it into the game is quite touching. He was drawn by Seth Goldman, a young fan of Hollow Knight and cancer patient, who wanted to get to meet Team Cherry. He got his wish and they even let him make a character for the game, but sadly he has died not long after. At least he will live on as an entity in the successor to his favorite video game.

This has made quite some waves and I've seen memes where fans pitch Seth as the protagonist of the next Hollow Knight game. And I can see why, because the shield would certainly add an interesting mechanic. Not only can he throw it, like Captain America or the Doom Slayer, he can also move towards it afterwards, like Cappy.

I also liked how he was portrayed as this withered entity, waiting in this forgotten part of the forest, making these crackling noises when he wakes up, only for him to battle with impressive strength and speed right after. He was fighting the fight. And after the memes I expected a brutal boss, but it wasn't so bad. He was tough, but fair. The only problem I had that he starts two of his attacks in the same way, by jumping upwards, but eventually I learned that you can react to both by retreating outwards.

But the boss fight isn't the problem about this character... The problem is the horrible, horrible thing he will do to the player later on. But we'll get to that...

First we have another boss to talk about, the one that Seth was protecting: Nyleth. It's one of the old hearts, but unlike all the other memories there is no build-up here, just the boss itself, who is annoying enough by itself. While you start on a platform, it will be destroyed after the first phase and then you only have a wall to hold on to, which means you have to attack the boss with consecutive pogos.

That in itself wouldn't be this aggravating if it weren't for Nyleth's absolutely gigantic spore attack, which naturally deals double damage and forces you to retreat to the other wall instantly. And when you're in the middle of an attack yourself already, then this will be difficult/impossible to do in time. Plus, she also throws out a large slashing attach rather quickly. So, you're incentivized to stay close and get punished for it all the time. Not the best boss design.

The music, though... As if you're fighting mother nature itself. So tragic and tremendous...!

I also first thought that only the yellow orb can be damaged for some reason, since I have played too many Zelda / Metroid games, where bosses have such glaring weakpoints. Anyway, I insisted on using the Witch crest for this one, roots against roots so to speak. It helps with keeping a bit of distance when attacking and my plan was to heal in her face. I equipped both Trobbio's mirrors and the Warding Bell for maximum damage output with the Witch's healing, while making it faster with the Injector Band. The idea was to time it just right when she starts the spore attack, so that the Warding Bell will be triggered after the healing has finished. It was a good plan in theory, but in practice I don't think this has worked even once...

Luckily, since this is a memory, you can just spam tools without them running out between attempts, so adding some Cogflies helped. I also should have given the Cross Stitch a try in this battle, which could have helped with staying close... However, unlike the other memories there is seemingly no (hidden) bench nearby, which is a problem. If you want to experiment with different crests, skills or tools, then you will have to run all the way back into the Citadel. There are no enemies in the path, so it's mostly just a straight road, but it's still annoying. And that's why there should have been a bench in this shrine.

Next up was Lost Verdania, the memory of the Green Prince. And this whole part was the perfect example of how they could have handled the coral area in its memories. You will only find the ruins of Verdania in the current Pharloom, but can still explore a whole beautiful place in its prime, covered in clovers, many of them with four leaves. This was also planned to be part of the actual game world early on, but they have changed most of the right side of the map.

Before Bilewater there was the "Gloom", where thematically this was moved into the Abyss, with some of the new enemies remaining there. There was also Pharloom Bay, which is where the crusty shell village was located. With that one I still have hopes that they might add it later as DLC, however, because it still fits perfectly next to Bilewater on the map. There is even a blocked gate, which looks like it was going to lead there. And it still gets mentioned as the source of the Plasmium by Zylotol, where such a DLC could play more with the idea of Lifeblood as a threat.

Curiously, Verdania also shows up on your map, where Hornet draws it from the memories. But most of it becomes inaccessible after the memory fades, which also isn't the best solution.

As for how this memory works, you can't reach the end before experiencing various parts of it. You collect these glowing lights and after a certain amount the end becomes accessible. One of the challenges even includes an optional boss, the Palestag, where you can miss its journal entry (every other enemy gets filled out automatically after the memory). It just teleports around and throws projectiles at you, making it one of the least fun bosses in the game...

Eventually, you arrive at the end of the memory, the home of the Green Prince and his partner, the Clover Dancers. This becomes a rematch of the Cogwork Dancers, where the partner had given his shell to create them in order to protect Verdania (which obviously didn't work out). The Green Prince carried the remains of the machine that represented his partner back to Verdania to mourn.

The music played during the battle features the same song that Karmelita sings during hers, where this may have some significance. Maybe it's a popular melody from the Pharloom of old.

Defeating the Green Prince in his memory also kills him in the reality, a fitting end for this tragic character, one who was never whole again after this loss. But this is also what prevents you from revisiting all of Verdanina after you're done... The efforts are rewarded with another old heart, a secret one, while you only need three. So, I could complete the ceremony now, without having to fight Karmelita.

But first I was exploring some more. Doing both the Coral Tower and Lost Verdania has filled out a big chunk of the Hunter's Journal, because there are two dozen enemies exclusive to these memory areas. You even get their expanded entries once the memory is over, which is nice, so you don't have to worry about getting enough kills on everything. (Only the Palestag can be missed, as mentioned before.)

Now I was getting really close to filling all slots in my Pharloom Compendium, so I had to see if I could fill the few gaps that remained at this point. The good thing is that you can make educated guesses, because the enemies are all sorted by region. This brought me back to the Wormways, where you can also destroy the big descending worms with enough firepower. And you can actually attack this piece of work,:

The Craggler. I had never even tried this before, I only ever ran through the room. By now it had even been infected by void, making this slightly more difficult, but the trick is to stay covered and let tools do the work for you. It also leaves some offspring afterwards, the Cragglites, which were originally enemies around Pharloom Bay / the Gloom, while the Craggler itself was could be seen in the clover area in the first trailer. But I was able to fill two empty journal slots with one discovery here, so that was great.

The next ones were around the Blasted Steps and Sands of Karak. It turned out that you can kill some of the sandworms with tools, which is easy enough with either the Conchcutter, the Cogwork Wheel, or the Pimpillo. The latter was also useful for taking out the Squirrms, a fleeting creature I had missed, which only appears in a single cave.

The journal entry of these and the Cragglites reveal Hornet's genocidal tendencies, though what she hates the most are flies. But I had mentioned this before: completing the journal is worth it for Hornet's notes alone. For example, in the entry of Great Conchfly she mentions that she used to have mates, but outlived all of them. Oh, and she clearly has a fur fetish.

The sandworms then gave me the idea for another curious entry – the first one for Bilewater. It had to be those nasty maggots, but throwing saw blades into the water doesn't do anything. However, I had gained another tool earlier that would do the trick: the Volt Filament. Combine it with the Thread Storm and you can easily electrify the water, which kills those maggots. Nice! The Voltvessels also work. But it's only for the entry, so the waters can't be cleared this way (same with the sandworms).

Speaking of the volt stuff, one last entry right before the Voltvyrm had me guessing for a while. It comes after Khann, implying that it might be something else related to the electrical corals. But you can't destroy those... So, the only other thing that made sense was another boss hidden in the area. And there is even this weird ledge above the Coral Tower, where I thought that I was onto something:

Why is this there? Can I break through to here from some other side, coming from Mount Fay somehow? Why does the game sometimes have these random nooks with no significance?

Well, there was indeed another boss in the area, but it hid in part that could only be accessed via the Silk Soar close to the beginning of the area. So, you have to go there from the tent of the Pinstress...

It's the Watcher at the Edge. It closely resembles one of Khann's soldiers, the Karakas, but it has turned grey from standing in the blasting sands for too long. However, remaining idle for ages apparently makes you super powerful in the world of Silksong, because this was a much greater threat than the Crust King himself, at least for me. The Watcher hits hard and wide, while he leaves very little room to attack him. He can even block most of your swings, making this quite the tough fight with a gnawing runback. And all this gives is another memento, the Grey Memento. I was hoping for the last Memory Locket or something, but this is like the Court of Craws all over again...

I've been also been looking for the last Craftmetal and one missing Rune Harp, but without success. I keep finding new secrets that immediately have me excited, but then all you get is some shard deposits or a (rare) item holding shards. Like, for example, this room in the Cogwork Core:

You can fight two more Clappers here, which leave a Pristine Core afterwards. Sounds like something important, but all it does that it can be broken into shards. Like with Hornet's Statue, which is a gift from Bone Bottom, I don't see why you would ever want to do this and not just keep it in your inventory as a pseudo collectible. At least the mementos can be placed inside your home...

But this was rather demotivating. I'm at 99%, but I have no clue where the last missing things could be hidden. It's fun to revisit areas and see what secrets I can still find, but if they all just lead to nothing but shards, it's super disappointing. And the map is rather huge, so I'm inclined to eventually just look these locations up, before I go mad...

During my travels I've encountered Seth again, however. He first camps at Craw Lake, having lost his memory after your battle. Then I met him at the Shellwoods, and finally at the Grand Gate. This led me to believe that he was instinctively returning to his old post, so you could have a rematch with him. But this wasn't the case, I couldn't find him again for a while...

Eventually, I progressed with the main story, diving into the Red Memory. Well, I knew from list of missables that you can keep one of the old hearts as another memento. By default it will be the "Conjoined Heart", which you get from the Green Prince. If you want any of the other three, you will have to leave them out at first. And since I found Karmelita to be the most impressive out of the four bosses, I preferred hers, so I did the whole ceremony in order to be able to progress at the Far Fields.

And this memory didn't disappoint, for a change. You're returning to familiar grounds from Hallownest, where seeing a sign to a stag station already felt so weird. As a distant memory, you enter the Distant Village, the Hive, and even the White Palace. The latter even has some Wingmoulds, which you need to use for traversal though they don't get added to your journal here. And there were no plethora of decorative buzz saws for some reason, so it's not entirely authentic. (Just joking, the buzz saws were probably only there as a defense mechanism of the Pale King's dream, and not part of the real White Palace.)

The Red Memory explores that Hornet had three mothers. Her biological mother, Herrah the beast, and two mothers in spirit with the Hive Queen Vespa and the White Lady, the latter who will give you what you've been looking for: the not-so-delicate Everbloom.

Since we were on the topic of cut content: it looks like Vespa was considered as boss fight at some point during development, because the game's files contain sprites and audio for such a battle. All the other other memories have bosses, so it makes sense, but it also could have ruined this otherwise beautiful nostalgic moment in the game.

Everything is coming together here, as a mental preparation for the game's finale. At this point I fully expect Hornet to sacrifice herself for the good of Pharloom, making this the end of her long life and journey. But first there were some more things to collect and more mini-games to play, as if she was wearing a green tunic, instead of a red dress...

Obtaining the Everbloom activates the final stage of the Sprintmaster competition... but it's just the third stage again, with six laps instead of three. So, this was another disappointment and I already hated that course is it were. At least this made me reevaluate my previous method to remove any points of failure. I still used the Hunter, because its forward momentum after hitting something with the Clawline makes a big difference, but I've completely avoided doing any pogos with it. Now, after the rebound, I used the Clawline twice and then made a big leap over the gap afterwards, so you only need to use the Clawline once here (there isn't enough silk to use it four times in a row). And this worked quite well.

I also saw on Youtube that you can cheat all of the races. Just stand still until Swift finishes all his laps and then start racing. As long as you do the rings in the right order, you will win the race because of some bug (software bug, not a bug in Pharloom). But I wanted to clear it fair and square, also in case Team Cherry decides to fix this in the future.

There's another target shooting mini-game, of sorts, at the Far Fields, where you can see a Skarr doing practice shots. In Acts 1 and 2 nothing really can be done here, which was curious, but now there is a Skarr hiding when you enter the room and the number of targets has increased...

Hitting one does nothing, but eventually I realized that I have the same weapon as those guys: the Curveclaw. It's a boomerang and like in Zelda this can be used to hit multiple targets at once. If you do it right, the Skarr will pop up and wants you to give it. What happens if I decline? No idea...

Later he leaves an upgraded version, the Curvesickle, which is awesome and quickly became my favorite new weapon, because it can do a lot in one throw by continuously damaging your foes as it spins. It's also looking similar to what the Skarrsinger is using in her battle, so I brought this to her fight to honor the Skarr culture:

This new weapon scored me a double kill with those Last Claws several times, so it has proven there quite useful already. And when you stand on just the right spot, you can throw it into Karmelita right the beginning of the fight for multiple hits. During the fight she can easily block it, though, so I focused more on my needle play.

And this was probably the toughest of the four old heart bosses for me personally, but also the most enjoyable. The singing is fire and I always love a good boss battle that feels like a dance, because dance you will. She even has three phases in total, unlike most bosses, though the last phase mainly seemed to differ in speed. But this is one worthy heart to be placed on Hornet's shelves.

That left two mementos and I suppose one of them is obtained from Nuu for completing the Hunter's Journal. I do have all entries by now, but some enemies in the Abyss still need to be slain again, where I have yet to return there. And I eventually found out in absolute terror what the last of the eight mementos was going to be... If you get one from the Sprintmaster mini-game, then this means that... Oh, no....

Oh, hey, Seth... What are you doing here? Wait...

You son of a flea...!

Don't you dare!

Seth found his way to the Flea Festival and set new highscores for you to top. Fantastic... I had to look up whether this actually gives you another memento or not, but it does. To be fair, they are not part of the 100% completion, but all the other mementos are fairly reasonable to obtain still. There was nothing on Path of Pain or Eternal Ordeal levels of ridiculousness... Until now.

I'm not sure it was Team Cherry's intention to make the player hate the character of Seth, but this certainly gets me to hate the character of Seth. But don't hate the player, hate the mini-game, right? It's like when you have a perfect Zelda game, which is a joy to replay, but there's this one horrible mini-game that ruins completion. And that mini-game in Silksong is Flea Dodge. 

I don't even mind the other two score increases. Flea Bounce is easy enough. And while Flea Juggle was hard to learn at first, it felt rewarding to master it on this level. Flea Dodge on the other hand is just random. It's like 30% skill and 70% luck, because the patterns can always screw you. It even happened to me multiple times that one of the platforms appeared right above me, preventing a recovery. And such shenanigans stops it from being fun – you have to keep trying until you get lucky enough...

The best that I could do was 88 seconds for now, but I couldn't even close to that a second time. It also reminds me of a certain mini-game from Zelda involving Cuccos and those are not good memories.

Ideally, you would get the Pale Oil from collecting all fleas and then a memento from doing the normal scores, or at least some middle ground between the normal scores and Seth's. It's too late to do it like that, but in the very least Team Cherry could adjust the scores a bit to make things less frustrating for those who want a complete collection of Bellhome goodies. Unless they truly want the players to hate Seth for all eternity.

It also doesn't help that Grand Mother Silk keeps reminding you that she is still a thing, which wants to be killed. During her outbursts the screen turns darker and starts to shake, which may distract you during the mini-games. It is time to end things... but of course this won't help with this problem.