There’s an unavoidable question hanging over Hollow Knight: Silksong, one that has followed it for years before anyone ever picked up a controller:
Is Silksong trying to live up to what made Hollow Knight special, or asking us to love it for different reasons?
Hollow Knight wasn’t just a successful indie metroidvania. It was a landmark. It combined punishing difficulty, elegant world design, and quiet, melancholic storytelling into something that felt both intimate and immense. Expectations for Silksong weren’t just high. They were personal.
After spending significant time with the long-awaited sequel, the answer feels less like a choice and more like a reconciliation. This is a game that understands why Hollow Knight mattered, builds directly on that foundation, and then confidently steps forward in its own direction.
Carrying the promise forward
Hollow Knight made a promise to its players. Mastery would be rewarded. Mystery would unfold at your pace. The world would speak through implication rather than exposition. Silksong responds by taking each of those ideas one or two meaningful steps forward.
Pharloom is not Hallownest with a new coat of paint. It’s a new kingdom with its own rules, conflicts, and rhythms. The familiarity is there, from the shells bugs inhabit to the quiet sadness of forgotten places, but it’s framed through Hornet’s perspective. She is not an empty vessel drifting through ruins. She has history, agency, and a world that actively wants something from her.
Mechanically, Hollow Knight: Silksong expands in ways that feel purposeful. The crest system fundamentally changes how you approach the game. These aren’t minor stat tweaks. They meaningfully alter how Hornet moves, fights, and explores. Builds become more expressive and flexible than anything Hollow Knight offered, letting players lean into aggression, traversal, or survivability depending on preference.
At times, Hollow Knight: Silksong does feel like it’s trying to outdo its predecessor. The map is larger, enemy variety is broader, and the mechanical complexity runs deeper. But more importantly, it consistently reminds you why the original mattered. Exploring Pharloom and understanding its inhabitants is not just impressive. It’s deeply memorable.
Challenge as conversation
Difficulty has become synonymous with Hollow Knight, and Silksong continues that legacy without softening its edges. This is a demanding game. Full stop. Combat is fast, platforming is exact, and mistakes are punished quickly.
But, much like Dark Souls, the challenge here is rarely arbitrary. Silksong is constantly communicating with the player. Enemy patterns are readable. Platforming sections teach through escalation and repetition. The game speaks a harsh language, but it is a consistent one.
There’s a rhythm to how Silksong teaches you, not unlike how Mario teaches movement, only here the lessons come through precise timing windows, layered encounters, and traversal puzzles that demand confidence as much as accuracy. When everything clicks, those moments feel like earned crescendos of mastery rather than lucky victories.
That said, some friction remains. Checkpoint placement, particularly the runbacks to certain boss fights and challenge rooms, can feel unnecessarily punishing. (I’m looking at you, Bilewater.) Long treks back to an encounter you’re still learning can dull the learning process, turning focus into frustration. It’s an area where Team Cherry still has room to improve.
Mastery through expression
Hornet’s mobility reshapes how skill expression works in Silksong. She is faster, more agile, and more proactive than the Knight ever was, and the game’s enemy and level design lean fully into that identity.
The crest system shines here. Want easier traversal while exploring? There’s a crest for that. Prefer a more aggressive, close-quarters approach to combat? You can build around it. I frequently swapped between traversal-focused crests while exploring and combat-oriented setups for boss encounters, and that flexibility made the challenge feel personal rather than prescriptive.
Mastery in Silksong isn’t just about execution. It’s about choosing how you want to meet the game on its terms.
Bigger, but not diluted
From the moment Silksong opens with “Act 1,” it signals a broader scope than its predecessor. And yes, the game is larger. But more importantly, it’s denser.
Every expansion of scale feels earned. The world opens gradually, with each widening of perspective feeling like a natural escalation rather than unchecked sprawl. Despite this growth, exploration remains intimate. Much of your motivation to wander off the critical path comes from the people of Pharloom themselves.
Sidequests and encounters aren’t filler. They’re emotional anchors. Stories like Shakra’s search for her missing master, Garmond and Zaza’s journey, the flea caravan, and Sherma’s innocent optimism give weight to every detour. You’re not just mapping space. You’re investing in lives.
A different kind of solitude
Loneliness in Silksong feels different. Where Hollow Knight leaned into isolation and silence, Silksong feels more purposeful and outward-facing. Hornet speaks. She engages. She pushes back.
This shift won’t be for everyone. The Knight’s silence allowed players to project themselves onto the world. Hornet, by contrast, is an active participant. The tone is more direct in what it wants you to feel and understand about her, and for me, that clarity gives the story momentum and identity.
Silksong is More than Hollow Knight 2
The moment Silksong truly became its own thing wasn’t mechanical, but structural. The Act-based progression makes it clear this isn’t just an expansion or remix. By the time Act 2 unfolds, and especially if you pursue Act 3, Silksong operates on a narrative and mechanical scale entirely its own.
Hollow Knight: Silksong isn’t about escaping a legacy. It’s about facing it and moving forward in a beautiful, confident way.
It honors what made Hollow Knight special without trying to freeze itself in that moment. Instead, it expands, refines, and reinterprets those ideas through Hornet’s journey and the world of Pharloom. There are still rough edges, but what’s here is something rare. A sequel that understands why it exists.
Silksong doesn’t just live up to its past. It grows beyond it on its own terms.
There’s an unavoidable question hanging over Hollow Knight: Silksong, one that has followed it for years before anyone ever picked up a controller:
Is Silksong trying to live up to what made Hollow Knight special, or asking us to love it for different reasons?
Hollow Knight wasn’t just a successful indie metroidvania. It was a landmark. It combined punishing difficulty, elegant world design, and quiet, melancholic storytelling into something that felt both intimate and immense. Expectations for Silksong weren’t just high. They were personal.
After spending significant time with the long-awaited sequel, the answer feels less like a choice and more like a reconciliation. This is a game that understands why Hollow Knight mattered, builds directly on that foundation, and then confidently steps forward in its own direction.
Carrying the promise forward
Hollow Knight made a promise to its players. Mastery would be rewarded. Mystery would unfold at your pace. The world would speak through implication rather than exposition. Silksong responds by taking each of those ideas one or two meaningful steps forward.
Pharloom is not Hallownest with a new coat of paint. It’s a new kingdom with its own rules, conflicts, and rhythms. The familiarity is there, from the shells bugs inhabit to the quiet sadness of forgotten places, but it’s framed through Hornet’s perspective. She is not an empty vessel drifting through ruins. She has history, agency, and a world that actively wants something from her.
Mechanically, Hollow Knight: Silksong expands in ways that feel purposeful. The crest system fundamentally changes how you approach the game. These aren’t minor stat tweaks. They meaningfully alter how Hornet moves, fights, and explores. Builds become more expressive and flexible than anything Hollow Knight offered, letting players lean into aggression, traversal, or survivability depending on preference.
At times, Hollow Knight: Silksong does feel like it’s trying to outdo its predecessor. The map is larger, enemy variety is broader, and the mechanical complexity runs deeper. But more importantly, it consistently reminds you why the original mattered. Exploring Pharloom and understanding its inhabitants is not just impressive. It’s deeply memorable.
Challenge as conversation
Difficulty has become synonymous with Hollow Knight, and Silksong continues that legacy without softening its edges. This is a demanding game. Full stop. Combat is fast, platforming is exact, and mistakes are punished quickly.
But, much like Dark Souls, the challenge here is rarely arbitrary. Silksong is constantly communicating with the player. Enemy patterns are readable. Platforming sections teach through escalation and repetition. The game speaks a harsh language, but it is a consistent one.
There’s a rhythm to how Silksong teaches you, not unlike how Mario teaches movement, only here the lessons come through precise timing windows, layered encounters, and traversal puzzles that demand confidence as much as accuracy. When everything clicks, those moments feel like earned crescendos of mastery rather than lucky victories.
That said, some friction remains. Checkpoint placement, particularly the runbacks to certain boss fights and challenge rooms, can feel unnecessarily punishing. (I’m looking at you, Bilewater.) Long treks back to an encounter you’re still learning can dull the learning process, turning focus into frustration. It’s an area where Team Cherry still has room to improve.
Mastery through expression
Hornet’s mobility reshapes how skill expression works in Silksong. She is faster, more agile, and more proactive than the Knight ever was, and the game’s enemy and level design lean fully into that identity.
The crest system shines here. Want easier traversal while exploring? There’s a crest for that. Prefer a more aggressive, close-quarters approach to combat? You can build around it. I frequently swapped between traversal-focused crests while exploring and combat-oriented setups for boss encounters, and that flexibility made the challenge feel personal rather than prescriptive.
Mastery in Silksong isn’t just about execution. It’s about choosing how you want to meet the game on its terms.
Bigger, but not diluted
From the moment Silksong opens with “Act 1,” it signals a broader scope than its predecessor. And yes, the game is larger. But more importantly, it’s denser.
Every expansion of scale feels earned. The world opens gradually, with each widening of perspective feeling like a natural escalation rather than unchecked sprawl. Despite this growth, exploration remains intimate. Much of your motivation to wander off the critical path comes from the people of Pharloom themselves.
Sidequests and encounters aren’t filler. They’re emotional anchors. Stories like Shakra’s search for her missing master, Garmond and Zaza’s journey, the flea caravan, and Sherma’s innocent optimism give weight to every detour. You’re not just mapping space. You’re investing in lives.
A different kind of solitude
Loneliness in Silksong feels different. Where Hollow Knight leaned into isolation and silence, Silksong feels more purposeful and outward-facing. Hornet speaks. She engages. She pushes back.
This shift won’t be for everyone. The Knight’s silence allowed players to project themselves onto the world. Hornet, by contrast, is an active participant. The tone is more direct in what it wants you to feel and understand about her, and for me, that clarity gives the story momentum and identity.
Silksong is More than Hollow Knight 2
The moment Silksong truly became its own thing wasn’t mechanical, but structural. The Act-based progression makes it clear this isn’t just an expansion or remix. By the time Act 2 unfolds, and especially if you pursue Act 3, Silksong operates on a narrative and mechanical scale entirely its own.
Hollow Knight: Silksong isn’t about escaping a legacy. It’s about facing it and moving forward in a beautiful, confident way.
It honors what made Hollow Knight special without trying to freeze itself in that moment. Instead, it expands, refines, and reinterprets those ideas through Hornet’s journey and the world of Pharloom. There are still rough edges, but what’s here is something rare. A sequel that understands why it exists.
Silksong doesn’t just live up to its past. It grows beyond it on its own terms.
by Kurosh Jozavi
