On the morning of Sept. 4, a large portion of the gaming community wasn’t playing “Hollow Knight: Silksong.” They physically couldn’t. The game had crashed every store it was available on from the traffic it was generating.
After over six years of waiting, “Hollow Knight: Silksong” released with a $20 price tag to widespread approval. The game has a 91 percent rating on Steam for English language users, and in a poll of students who own the game, a 93 percent rating.
The reason for the long delay can be attributed to the game’s extensive amount of content. “Silksong” has over 200 enemies and over 40 bosses.
A casual playthrough of the game could reasonably exceed 100 hours in length.
The “Hollow Knight” games were created by game developers Team Cherry and revolve around civilizations of cartoon bugs, who imitate medieval European society. “Silksong” is technically the second entry in the “Hollow Knight” series, but playing the original game is not required to understand the game’s story or controls.
The “Hollow Knight” games are in the metroidvania genre, which is a combination of two of the largest influences in the genre: “Super Metroid” and “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.”
Metroidvania games typically feature a progression that requires backtracking to earlier areas to unlock content that was previously inaccessible before reaching an upgrade. An example might be a room with a ledge too high to reach without a jump upgrade from a different area. The room still could contain a full degree of function before reaching that jump upgrade but would have added function upon a revisit.
The Plot
You play as Hornet, the game’s protagonist, who wields a sewing needle as a blade.
The game begins with a group of bugs kidnapping Hornet and taking her to the far away kingdom of Pharloom. From there, she begins her quest to reach the heart of Pharloom in the Citadel and encounters a diverse cast of potential enemies and allies.
It’s up to Hornet to find the root of the infection of silk and stop its spread before silk consumes the entire kingdom. Along her journey she must also confront her heritage and uncover the mysteries of the Weaver society and what happened to them.
Exploration
On your quest to the citadel, it’s easy to get lost in the world Team Cherry has created as you literally get lost in the world Team Cherry has created. Team Cherry has continued along the metroidvania formula of having a large labyrinthine map, but “Silksong” takes the map complexity to a new level. The areas comprising just the first act of the game rival the size of the first “Hollow Knight.”
The level of detail put on display in each room is staggering. Thousands of breakable background objects found across the map give the player a layer of interaction that would not be felt otherwise. The areas are so detailed that a player will almost always be able to find something new and interesting upon revisiting an area or taking a closer look.
“Silksong’s” soundtrack combines well with the high level of details in the level design to create an immersive world that rewards exploration. The soulful strings and variety of supporting instruments are excellently used by the game’s composer Christopher Larkin to create a unique vibe for each area or boss fight you encounter.
This huge expansion in scale and detail is paired with an updated movement system to create an entirely new feel for players. Several quality-of-life features such as ledge grabbing and the ability to run create a fluid sense of motion as you climb through Pharloom’s underbelly and beyond.
The quality of life features inherent to Hornet herself are paired with several attacks that aid in movement, such as the down attack in the air being a forward dive that can be used to leap off of the environment as well as any enemies you encounter.
Improvements to movement mean increases in the difficulty of platforming sections and increases in the consequences for failure. Messing up jumps can have far worse results in “Silksong” than in “Hollow Knight,” with several obstacles dealing 2 damage to Hornet. Jumps are narrow and precise and require patience for a player to not lose too much health, which may alienate players who are looking for a more casual environment.
A staple of the metroidvania genre is using enemies as objects to platform off of through things like the repositioning of flying enemies or using knockback from an enemy’s attack. “Silksong” follows the norm by featuring many opportunities to skip tough sections or to reach areas before you should be able to, but it feels natural and well implemented. Team Cherry appears to have implemented safeguards preventing players from skipping intended sections through changes to enemy behavior.
The level of independence in exploration given to the player allows for every playthrough to be unique. The game gains replayability from how the high player freedom gives a reason to run through Pharloom again and again.
Difficulty
The original “Hollow Knight” was no slouch in the difficulty department, but “Silksong” takes the difficulty to an extreme. Enemies will commonly do two damage to the five starting health you have, with most bosses following suit. Only a select few of the toughest bosses in “Hollow Knight” did more than one.
Another reason for enemies and bosses being so much more difficult is their having much larger and faster burst movement options. Burst movement is when something moves at a much higher speed than normal, such as a short-range dash or leap, to try and catch the player off guard. These burst movement options are common on most enemies, and force incredibly cautious play around them. Several of these burst movement options may also give the enemies invulnerability or deal two damage to the player.
In addition to doing high damage, most bosses also summon flying enemies to disrupt your movement and force your focus away during a fight.
The much harder bosses are met with much weaker equipment and slower upgrades. The first upgrade to your main weapon, the needle, is locked behind at least 5 bosses. This is a departure from the original “Hollow Knight” which can have the primary weapon upgraded after just 2 bosses.
The original “Hollow Knight” managed to mitigate its issues with a weak primary weapon by giving the player strong unlockable abilities early on that shore up the player character’s weaknesses. “Silksong” does feature unlockable upgrades, but they’re so weak they become impractical. “Silksong” pigeon-holes the player into only using the needle, whereas in “Hollow Knight” the strong secondary abilities allow for more freedom of playstyle and for easier fights.
And despite the limitations placed on the player in combat, it’s still fun. The diverse cast of enemies and varied mechanics lead to combat feeling expressive and dynamic throughout the game.
Conclusion
Despite criticisms, “Hollow Knight: Silksong” is absolutely worth a purchase for any player willing to deal with the challenges it presents.
The variations upon the metroidvania formulas make for a unique experience that still feels rooted in tradition and the continuity of genre staples make for a fantastic experience.
“Silksong’s” features build off of each other to create an experience that is entirely worth the $20 price. It’s clear that six years of hard work went into making it the beautiful product that it is today.