Hollow Knight: Silksong launched last week, which means all I’ve been thinking about is how badly I need to finishHollow Knight. I don’t know how far I am in the game and how much I have left to do, and I steadfastly refuse to look it up because I’m scared of spoilers.

Part of the reason it’s taking me so long to finish this game (apart from the fact that I try to keep some semblance of a social life on the weekends) is that I’m very bad at it. A lot of people are bad at Hollow Knight – its combat can be difficult, especially when it comes to particularly annoying bosses. I’m also extremely stubborn, which means that I’ll happily spend hours getting killed by the same optional boss in the Dream Realm.

It’s become almost meditative for me to die over and over again, repeating the same doomed cycle for an entire afternoon. I don’t have anything else to do today, so whynot get wrecked and make absolutely no progress in this game? As you can see, I have bad time management, and that’s a big part of why I didn’t manage to finish Hollow Knight before Silksong launched.

Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Somehow Harder Than Hollow Knight

Now, I’m hearing that Silksong is actually way harder than the first game. The long-awaited sequel isracking up negative reviews on Steam, many of which cite the difficulty, saying that it’s so hard that it feels unfair. Almost every boss, and even some basic enemies, deal double damage with each hit. The difficulty scaling is painful. There are no benches near some bosses, so you have to do the platforming and clear levels all over again just so you can get wrecked again by a boss fight you haven’t familiarised yourself with yet.

There’s also likely some adjustment time needed for Hollow Knight players – Hornet is a more agile and mobile protagonist, and her enemies are faster and have more varied attacks as a result. Healing is faster, but requires more charges. Hollow Knight players have muscle memory from the first game that doesn’t help in the second, which probably contributes to the platforming and combat feeling unfair.

I’m Too Scared To Start Silksong Until I Get Better

Team Cherry

Yet a big strength of Hollow Knight is that although it can be hard, it never feels unfair. It’s incredibly rare that I die in the game and want to blame the game – I’m always frustrated with myself for making a platforming mistake or not dodging an attack that was clearly telegraphed to me in time.

I can’t say yet whether Silksong feels unfair. After all, I’m still working my way through Hollow Knight. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if Silksong reallyis more difficult – after all, Metroidvania sequels often crank up the difficulty to give experienced players more of a challenge.

But one thing’s for sure: going into Silksong after intentionally working on honing my skills in Hollow Knight might mean I have a really tough time learning the ropes of this new instalment in the series. I’m terrified to finish this game and then jump into a potentially evenmore punishing experience, but at the same time, I’m hungry for more of this world. All this bluster about the game’s difficulty has scared me off for now, but I’m trying to get good. Maybe once I finally beat that damn Dream Realm boss, I’ll feel ready to join you all in getting Hornet where she needs to go.

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Hollow Knight: Silksong

Metroidvania Systems 9.7/10 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 98/100 Critics Rec: 100% Released September 4, 2025 Developer(s) Team Cherry Publisher(s) Team Cherry Engine Unity Franchise Hollow Knight
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