So here's a funny story about today's review. Hollow Knight: Silksong was a game that I and many other nerds on the Internet had waited almost 7 years for. This game's lengthy development cycle and infamous lack of marketing made this game borderline mythical in the eyes of the video game industry. I literally made an April Fool's post where I pretended the game was already out and was so good it brought world peace and solved all problems with society. When I wrote it, I basically gave up hope of seeing Silksong being released before 2030, if at all.
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| Official box art for Hollow Knight: Silksong, featuring main heroine Hornet front and center. Image found on wikipedia.org |
But you'll never guess what got a surprise release on September 4th, 2025! That's right. Silksong is real. I am not joking this time. You CAN play it, on almost any modern system. And for just $20 USD. Which is a very generous price considering that this game can easily take 90-100 hours to complete. What's especially impressive is that the game went from having no marketing at all, to a surprise trailer suddenly announcing the game would be released officially by the end of the week.
And let me tell you, the indie game industry collectively lost their minds at the surprise release date of Silksong. Some dev teams even delayed their own projects specifically so they wouldn't have to compete with Silksong. And when the game did release, there were so many people trying to buy the game at once that several digital game store websites (such as Steam and Playstation Store) crashed from the initial demand overload. It was a wild time.
For those unfamiliar with this blog or with Hollow Knight, you might wonder why this game was such a big deal. So to recap, Hollow Knight was an extremely popular Souls Like/Metroidvania platformer developed and published by Team Cherry. It took place in a dark fantasy world populated by anthropomorphic bugs who write poetry and fight horrifying monsters. Think A Bug's Life meets Dark Souls and you got the vibe that Hollow Knight for. Thanks to its hauntingly beautiful art and music, challenging boss battles and tragic but intriguing lore, this game is considered a modern classic by anyone with good taste. If you like platformers or Souls Likes, you owe it to yourself to play Hollow Knight.
Silksong is the long awaited sequel to Hollow Knight, also developed and published by Team Cherry. This game focuses on the adventures of Hornet, a fan-favorite boss who served as a rival to the Knight, who was the protagonist from the first game. I had spent two months playing this game, because of course I would. In fact, the reason why I didn't do another Halloween horror game review this year was because this game ate up all my free time. And the reason I didn't publish any reviews in November was entirely because of computer problems on my part. So consider this review a sort of late Christmas present.
But do you need to play Hollow Knight to understand Silksong's story? Well, not really, but I would recommend that you play Hollow Knight first anyway. While Silksong is more or less a standalone adventure (save for the occasional callback), its challenging difficulty makes it clear that this game was made for people who already completed Hollow Knight. Thus, the first game helps you build up the skill level necessary for the second game. Also, just as a heads up, I will be comparing Silksong to its predecessor when applicable. It's rather difficult not to compare a sequel to what came before, after all.
To summarize Hollow Knight lore briefly is to do it a disservice. But like I said earlier, Silksong is mostly self-contained with only the occasional callback to the first game. All you really need to know going into this game is that every character you meet is some kind of bug, and that despite her name, Hornet is a spider. She's also the former princess of a kingdom called Hallownest, which was wiped out by a supernatural plague. The reason she's out adventuring is because her homeland is now an inhospitable wasteland.
Silksong begins with a poem, just like the original Hollow Knight. Unlike the first game's poem, which described a great king that built a utopian paradise for his people, this game's poem describes a beautiful yet cruel tyrant who hides their true nature behind a veil of civility. This poem is very obviously describing the main villain of this game, but at this point we do not know who said villain even is.
After the poem, we get a beautifully animated cinematic of Hornet being kidnapped by a mysterious group of veiled bugs. Hornet manages to escape her captors with the help of a mysterious pale butterfly. Unfortunately, she was left in a weakened state by her time in captivity, which means that most of her abilities are initially disabled. This is the in-universe explanation for why Hornet doesn't use any of the fancy weapons or spells she used in her boss fight back in the first game, though she can eventually regain her old abilities as well as several new ones.
Once that intro sequence is over, our journey into Silksong begins. Like the first game, the tutorial is fairly minimalistic, as Hornet's move set is self-explanatory. She can run and jump. She has a blade called the Needle that she can swing either vertically or horizontally. She has a midair dive attack that allows her to bounce off of any enemies or objects hit by said dive. And she can cast magic spells using Silk, which can be gained by hitting enemies with the Needle. Starting out, the only spell Hornet can cast is Bind, which is a simple healing ability. She can learn other spells as the game progresses, but all spells draw power from Silk. A big part of Silksong's combat is figuring out when to use Silk for an extra strong attack and when to use Silk to heal.
Just like literally every single Souls Like in existence, Silksong has a universal currency acquired by slaying regular enemies. This currency, called Rosaries in this game, is dropped if Hornet dies. But you can recollect any lost Rosaries by trekking back to where you died and smashing open a cocoon that marks the place of Hornet's most recent death. Rosaries are used to buy items from various merchants and to unlock benches (which serve as this game's checkpoint system). However, Rosaries are surprisingly rare, as only certain enemy types will drop them. For lore reasons that will make sense later, not all enemies will drop Rosaries when defeated. Only "pious" enemy types will drop Rosaries.
Non-pious enemies drop a less valuable resource called Shell Shards, which don't seem to serve a purpose at first. However, Hornet will eventually unlock additional weapons called Tools, which consist mostly of projectiles and traps such as boomerangs and caltrops. Tools have limited ammunition, but Hornet can use Shell Shards to craft more ammo as long as she is resting at a bench.
After climbing and fighting her way out of the starting area, Hornet meets a group of peaceful bugs called the Pilgrims. One of the elder Pilgrims, the Chapel Maiden, explains to Hornet that she has been brought to the kingdom of Pharloom. This land is a mountain with a heavenly Citadel crowned upon its peak, and the Pilgrims are all on a spiritual journey to prove their faith by climbing up the mountain. The Pilgrims are the reason why Rosaries (a kind of prayer bead) are the main currency, as they literally "trade in faith." This setting's economy does carry the sinister implication that "rich" Pilgrims are measurably more faithful and "pure" than their poorer counterparts, but I'm *totally* sure that this doesn't foreshadow the Pilgrims' religion being more malicious than it first appears.
The veiled bugs from earlier are also confirmed by the Chapel Maiden to be holy servants from the Citadel. So Hornet decides to climb up Pharloom herself, both because she wants to know why the Citadel bugs kidnapped her in the first place, and because she wants to beat the snot out of whoever is in charge. But standing between her and this goal is a horde of monsters possessed by haunted Silk. From here, Hornet is free to explore Pharloom while gradually making her way to the Citadel itself.
One thing that Silksong does better than Hollow Knight is that it gives you an objective to work towards right away. The early game of Hollow Knight is mostly aimless wandering while you piece together whatever tragedy befell Hallownest prior to your arrival. But Silksong says, "Here's a tall, mountainous kingdom. Climb to the top and kill anything that stands in your way. Have Fun!"
The biggest difference between the Knight and Hornet is that the latter has an actual personality. I know that sounds like an insult towards the Knight, but its whole deal is that it is both incapable of speech and devoid of any emotion. It was literally designed by the Pale King (Hornet's father and former ruler of Hallownest) to be a silent and emotionless warrior, as the Knight being Hollow (term for emotionless beings) was vital for its mission. Meanwhile, Hornet does have emotions and speaks somewhat frequently, because she is not Hollow. I was initially taken aback by Hornet actually talking to the various bugs she meets on her travels, because I was so used to the Knight's perpetual silence.
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| Hornet explores a rainy region called Greymoor. Image found on Silksong's Steam page. |
Speaking of her, Hornet is a highly enjoyable protagonist. Her dialogue manages to sound both diplomatic and assertive. You can tell she was raised by royalty just from the way she speaks. She calls everyone she meets "good sir/madam" and she acts respectful until you give her a reason to stop respecting you, at which point she becomes blunt and brutally honest. Despite her stoic demeanor, she also has a soft side, as she grows to genuinely care about Pharloom and its people as her adventure progresses.
The best look into Hornet's personality is in the Hunter's Journal, a bestiary documenting every enemy type and boss that Hornet encounters. In addition to a "professional" description detailing the enemy's behavior, she often adds her personal thoughts on the enemy in question. Most of the game's levity comes from seeing this stoic warrior princess privately confess to wanting to pet all the "fluffy" enemies she encounters, as well as bemoaning the fact that she can't fly like other bug species due to a lack of wings. One of the Journal entries even reveals that Hornet had multiple lovers throughout her life, though she sadly outlived all of her previous partners. As it turns out, being a child of the Pale King (who is literally a god) gave Hornet an extended lifespan, causing her to live much longer than a normal spider should. And that information is just casually put into the Journal. Hornet never mentions her previous lovers or her heritage in conversation, both because she doesn't need to and because that is "private" information.
Hornet is not the only bug travelling through Pharloom, as she can meet new friends and foes who have all come to Pharloom for their own reasons. Such as Sherma, a sweet and idealistic Pilgrim boy who just wants to play music and reach the Citadel. There's also Shakra, a warrior-scout from a foreign tribe who is on a quest to track down her missing mentor. Shakra will also sell maps of recently discovered areas, which makes said areas easier to navigate. Then there's the Flea Caravan, a group of traveling fleas who will reward Hornet if she can rescue any lost fleas hidden throughout the world. And of course, there's Lace, a childish yet maniacal fencer who serves as a rival to Hornet. Which is somewhat ironic, as Hornet herself was meant to be a rival to the Knight.
I really like the new supporting characters. I'm not sure if I like them more than their counterparts from the first game, but I'd say they are about equal in terms of writing quality and character designs. My favorite new character is Shakra, both because her design is really cool, and because the sound of her singing is enchanting. And her singing is important, as it's an indicator that she set up shop somewhere nearby.
I also like Sherma for his wholesome vibes, even if I spent most of my playthrough worried he was going to get killed off. Not only is he similar in mannerisms to Myla (a character from the first game infamous for her tragic death), but this is a dark fantasy game, and this genre usually isn't kind to wide-eyed idealists. But not only does Sherma survive the journey to the Citadel in one piece, he even survives all the spoiler-filled nonsense that happens in the game's final Act.
A new feature in Silksong are Wishes, which are literally just side quests in all but name. Sometimes you might meet a friendly bug who will give you a rare item in exchange for completing a specific task. These tasks can range from fighting a secret boss, to collecting a certain number of items, or donating Rosaries to one of the three towns in Pharloom (Bone Bottom, Bellhart and Songclave). In case you can't meet the quest-giver in person, each town has a Wish-board where everyone puts their Wish on display publicly.
Generally speaking, I like the Wishes. They're easy to keep track of and provide clear instructions on what you need to do to complete them. There are some that can be rather obnoxious because of a difficulty spike, but I never found myself having to look up a guide for any Wish. Well, aside from the Courier's Rasher Wish. This Wish is infamously difficult, as it requires you to carry a delicate food item from Bellhart all the way to a diner in the Citadel within five minutes or less. You cannot use elevators or Hornet's Bell Beast companion to fast travel there, by the way. You have to make the journey on foot. And every time Hornet takes damage, the timer speeds up. It can be done, but just barely.
Speaking of difficulty, let's address the elephant in the room here. Silksong is a really hard game. I'd say that it's harder on average than Hollow Knight ever was. While it is true that there are specific things in Hollow Knight that are clearly more difficult than anything Silksong has to offer, such as the Path of Pain and the Pantheon battles, those are rather extreme outliers. If we're talking just the average, moment to moment gameplay, Silksong is harder. Like, the average Silksong enemy will take more effort to defeat than the average Hollow Knight enemy. And that is going to either make or break the game for you. You will either bounce off the game because of its high difficulty or tolerate its difficulty as you work your way to the "fun" parts of the game.
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| Hornet prepares to fight a giant robot called the Fourth Chorus. Image found on Silksong's Steam page. |
To give you an example of how janky the difficulty can be, look no further than the boss and enemy design. Enemies in Silksong come in two types, duelists that are similar in size to Hornet herself and giants. Giant-sized enemies deal twice as much damage as "normal" sized enemies. And most of the game's bosses count as giants. And on top of the increased damage, all bosses have contact damage, where simply walking into them will hurt Hornet. Which, when combined with the double damage, means there's some nonsense in the early game that definitely feels unfair.
The worst example of the boss design is the Savage Beastfly, an optional boss that is without a shadow of a doubt the most annoying boss fight in the entire game. Or rather, the rematch against Savage Beastfly. You see, you can fight this boss twice. The first fight is simple enough, as the boss only has two attacks (a vertical slam and a horizontal charge). The only hard part is that regular enemies will join in to assist the Beastfly, but it can be tricked into squishing its own allies with some clever maneuvering.
The second Beastfly fight, however, doesn't really let you do that anymore as the minions now fly *just* out of reach. Also, the second fight happens directly above a lava lake, and the minions that the Beastfly summons can spit out a lingering fire that temporarily removes one of the few platforms that Hornet can safely stand on. This rematch, despite its seeming simplicity, was by far the most difficult boss in the game. Not even the final boss took as much effort as the Savage Beastfly rematch. Was it a fun boss to fight? No. Not at all. I found the whole fight frustrating and obnoxious. And the worst part of all this is the fact that the Savage Beastfly is just a bigger version of a regular enemy from the starting area. So it's not even a cool looking or lore-significant boss.
What's especially crazy is despite being one of the most annoying boss fights in recent memory, Savage Beastfly exists in the same game as the First Sinner, who is by far the best boss not just in this game, but in the entire series. The First Sinner has fast but reasonable attack patterns, as she uses her own version of Silk magic to fight. She can heal herself using her own version of Bind, but she can't attack and heal at the same time, so Hornet is free to strike the First Sinner whenever she tries to heal. And the best part of the First Sinner is that even though she is initially hidden behind a secret room in an already secret area, it takes only a few seconds to challenge her to a rematch because of how close the nearby bench is.
Other bosses I liked include Skarrsinger Karmelita, Shrine Guardian Seth, the Cogwork Dancers and Phantom. I don't like them as much as I like First Sinner, but all of them are fun duelist style bosses with cool designs and intriguing lore.
Believe it or not, I found myself liking the platforming and exploration parts of the game more than the boss battles. Which feels bizarre, as I generally enjoy the boss battles most in games like this. But where Silksong truly shines is in its world. The kingdom of Pharloom is not only beautiful to behold, but is filled to the brim with secret collectibles and a rich history. And Hornet is just really fun to play as. She's graceful and acrobatic, especially once you unlock the Dash and Wall Jump abilities.
Hornet is also a lot more customizable than expected, thanks to the Crest system. Crests are essentially alternative fighting styles that Hornet can learn throughout her adventure. They change the shape and size of her Needle swings, and some Crests can even alter Bind, either by giving it additional effects or by replacing it with an alternative healing method. Crests also determine how many Tools Hornet can bring into battle, if any.
Hornet starts with the Hunter Crest, which is her default move set. It's a generalist style that doesn't specialize in one specific strategy, which makes it good for beginners. There's also the Reaper Crest, which has slow, wide slashes for a more patient fighter. The Wanderer Crest is the Reaper's total opposite, shortened range in exchange for quick stabs. The Beast Crest replaces Bind with a Fury Mode that allows Hornet to steal health with claw swipes. The Witch Crest turns the Needle into a bladed whip, and it replaces Bind with a life-stealing tentacle attack. And the Shaman Crest is greatly improves your Silk spells, and lets Hornet shoot waves of magical energy with each swing of the Needle.
My favorite Crest is the Architect, which turns the Needle into a drill and allows Hornet to instantly craft ammo for her Tools anywhere at any time. This Crest is so good that it gets its own section in the review. It is laughably strong. Not only do the drill attacks hit multiple times (thus racking up damage and Silk quickly), but the fact that you can craft extra ammo for your Tools mid-battle means you can be a lot more reckless with your Tool usage. In fact, I was able to beat the final boss simply by using the Architect Crest to spam Tools with careless abandon. I tried to do the final boss fight with other Crests, but none were as effective. The only downside of the Architect Crest is that it still needs Shell Shards to craft ammo, so prolonged use of it can get expensive very quickly. That, and the only Silk spell you can use is Bind. The Architect is meant to be an "anti-magic" fighting style.
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| Hornet fights the warrior bugs of the Citadel. Image found on Silksong's Steam page |
So now I want to talk about the lore and story of Silksong. Keep in mind that just like Hollow Knight (and Souls Likes in general), parts of the lore are left vague and up to interpretation. So while there are some objective truths, there are also parts of the story that I will not be able to describe perfectly. Also, spoilers abound from this point on. If you must know my thoughts on the game, I'd give it either a 4 star rating or a 5 star rating, depending on your tolerance for difficult games. The only thing I can say bad about Silksong is that the difficulty can feel borderline sadistic in some parts of the game. But aside from that, this is easily Game of the Year material that was well worth the wait. But without further adieu, let's talk about the lore.
You know those friendly Pilgrims I mentioned? The ones climbing up Pharloom so they can prove their faith and be allowed to join the heavenly Citadel? Turns out their religion is built upon a lie. Most Pilgrims die long before they reach the Citadel's gates, either killed by beasts or possessed by haunted silk. And the lucky few that survive are immediately enslaved and cast down into the Underworks, a mechanical region that serves both as a prison and as a factory. This facility was designed to keep the Citadel above running for eternity, by any means necessary. In case you haven't realized it, the beautiful yet cruel tyrant that the poem warned us about at the start of the game was referring to the Citadel itself.
In addition to all the usual dangers you might expect, like powerful enemies and tricky platforming, the Underworks does something rather unique. Everything in the Underworks is designed to scam you out of your hard-won Rosaries. The benches and beds are pay-per-use and retract into the walls and floor if you don't have enough money. There is a confession booth where you get to pay for the "privilege" of confessing your sins. And the confession booth only responds with a pre-recorded message that tells you that your only chance for "redemption" is to work an additional 24 hours without resting or eating. And because the Citadel's religiously charged propaganda is so effective, the Pilgrims are too indoctrinated to realize that they're being exploited. And on top of all that, the enemies here only drop 3-4 Rosaries each on death, while every other Citadel enemy drops 30 or more. The implication being that they don't get paid well for their efforts, if at all.
The Underworks is genuinely my favorite area in the game, because the environmental storytelling is immaculate. Everything about the Underworks, from the scarcity of Rosaries to the overpriced pay-per-use services, is meant to force you to see the harsh reality of the Citadel's tyranny. It's not my favorite aesthetically, as I feel that there are other areas that look "prettier" like Greymoor and Shellwood, but the Underworks is the area I enjoy from a narrative perspective the most.
But who exactly rules over the Citadel? The answer is a little complicated, but bear with me. The Kingdom of Pharloom in its current form was established by a spider goddess known as Grand Mother Silk, who is the progenitor of all spiders. Even Hornet is related to her, albeit distantly. Grand Mother Silk (who I will call GMS for short) was a tyrant who destroyed any nation that refused to join Pharloom, and she created the haunted silk that's been possessing all the enemies specifically to make her subjects easier to control. After untold centuries of conquest and warfare, Grand Mother Silk was eventually betrayed by her daughters, the Weavers.
The Weavers created the Citadel to produce a magic song (one might call it a "Silksong"), which would keep Grand Mother Silk asleep for eternity. But after the Weavers left Pharloom and migrated to Hallownest, the remaining Citadel bugs started a cult dedicated to keeping the Citadel running for eternity. That haunted silk I mentioned earlier is the result of GMS's influence slowly leaking out of the Citadel and spreading to the rest of the world. So the Citadel isn't exactly doing a good job containing her. Thus, Hornet decides that the best thing to do is to slay GMS herself, which would destroy the haunted silk and shut down the Citadel for good.
Grand Mother Silk is the final boss of this game's second Act. She's actually a pretty fun boss to fight. She doesn't feel outrageously hard, but she's certainly no push over. She uses similar attack patterns to the Radiance, the final boss of Hollow Knight, with her throwing floating blades around and conjuring spikes from the ground. But this time you have a character with a lot more mobility and combat options, so GMS feels "easier" to fight than the Radiance did.
But like I said earlier, Act 3 is completely optional and it is entirely possible to beat the game without ever seeing it. And just like Hollow Knight, there are multiple endings based on what preparations you made prior to defeating the final boss. At the time of writing, I've done three out of four of the game's main endings. However, one of those "endings" is just the intro to Act 3, so it feels weird to call it an ending.
The first ending, called Weaver Queen, is what happens if you fight Grand Mother Silk without making any additional preparations. Hornet kills GMS and absorbs her power. This causes Hornet to transform into a goddess herself, but the implication is that she is doomed to be repeat GMS's mistakes and become just as tyrannical as the goddess she just overthrew. Especially since earlier in the game, Hornet herself said that her heritage gives her an instinctual desire to rule over civilizations, even at the expense of others.
The second ending is called Twisted Child and this is the only one I have not done. Nor do I expect to do it any time soon, as the requirements are a little... extreme. Additionally, this is generally agreed to be the game's "bad" ending, so outside of 100% completion there's not much reason to go for it. So back in Act 1 Hornet can meet a witch named Greyroot, who says some cryptic nonsense about the "time of rebirth." If you give her an item called the Twisted Bud, Greyroot will forcibly infect Hornet with a parasite which prevents her from being able to use Silk spells (including Bind!).
Normally, this side story would end with Hornet visiting a surgeon named Yarnaby, who would remove the parasite and give Hornet the Witch Crest for her trouble. But if you carry the parasite with you all the way to the final boss, you get the Twisted Child ending. In this ending, the parasite within Hornet is "birthed" into an eldritch tree monster that absorbs both Hornet and Grand Mother Silk into itself. This tree monster is a newborn god, but given how shady Greyroot is and how violent its creation was, the chances of the newborn god being nice are pretty slim.
Then there is the Snared Silk ending, which is the aforementioned Act 3 intro. To get this ending, Hornet needs to grant at least 17 Wishes and rescue enough Fleas to get the Flea Caravan to move from the starting area all the way to the Citadel. Because she's helped so many bugs this time, she has grown to care about the citizens of Pharloom and can resist her instinctual desire to become a goddess. This leads to Hornet researching alternative methods to defeat Grand Mother Silk. And conveniently enough, a family of magicians called the Snail Shamans claim to know of a ritual that can banish the gods from Pharloom. One of the Snail Shamans is actually the Chapel Maiden from the start of the game. The ritual would in theory defeat GMS, shut down the Citadel and allow Hornet to continue life as a "regular" spider. So it's a win-win for everyone. At least it would be, except that the Snail Shamans neglected to mention where exactly GMS would be banished to.
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| Hornet uses her dive attack during a duel with Lace, her main rival. Image found on Silksong's Steam page. |
As it turns out, the banishment ritual sent Grand Mother Silk to the Void, a realm of darkness that consumes the souls any bug exposed to it. GMS tried to drag Hornet down with her, but the latter is saved by Lace. Not because Lace likes Hornet or anything, but because she she hates GMS and is acting entirely out of petty spite. Why does Lace hate GMS? To make a long story short, Lace is GMS's magnum opus; an artificial bug made of enchanted silk. Lace resents her creator, for her body is flawed and fragile, and has decided to interfere with GMS's plans for no other reason than petty revenge. In fact, that pale butterfly from the intro is implied to have been sent by Lace. But GMS still has access to her haunted silk, which is made with the souls of her enslaved subjects. And the ritual opened a portal to realm that literally eats souls. So it doesn't turn out well.
Act 3 begins with the haunted silk combining with the Void, which transforms the entire game world. Shortcuts get blocked off and have to be reopened, enemies get replaced with Void-Touched variants that are twice as strong as before, and multiple friendly bugs get either killed off or corrupted by the Void. No one is having a good time now.
Hornet manages to fight her way out of the Citadel and back down to Bone Bottom, the town at the start of the game. There, she confronts the Snail Shamans for lying about their usage of Void magic. This scene is one of the few times where Hornet loses her temper, which should give you an idea of how dire the situation is. The Snail Shamans make up for their blunder by revealing the existence of a special flower that can counter the Void; the Everbloom. But there are no such flowers in Pharloom, as it only grew in Hallownest, which is currently a dead kingdom with no life in it at all.
All hope to save Pharloom seems lost. But the Snail Shamans have one last ritual they can try, one that does not draw power from the Void. This second ritual could send someone into the memories of the past, and pull a physical object out of that memory and into the real world. It's not quite time travel (as the past is always set in stone), as it's more like a magical copy-paste feature. Anyway, the Snail Shamans teach Hornet a song that can be played to enter the memories of other bugs, which Hornet must use to collect the hearts of three monarchs.
You see, Grand Mother Silk was not the first ruler of Pharloom, she was just the most recent one. There were four monarchs before her, those being Crust King Khann, Nyleth, Skarrsinger Karmelita and the Green Prince. Hornet only needs to collect three out of four hearts, so you could choose to skip one of these monarchs for your playthrough. None of the monarchs will give up their hearts willingly, so Hornet has to fight them in extra tough boss battles.
Side note, but Crust King Khann is my second least favorite boss in the game. The first is the Savage Beastfly, for reasons I already explained. But the reason I dislike Khann is not because he's hard or annoying to fight. The reason I don't like him is because you have to fight through the longest gauntlet of regular enemies in the entire game. It's an arduous and tiresome process that involves fighting through 30 waves of enemies, with each wave consisting of 2-4 enemies each. On top of that, coral starts growing out of the walls and floor to restrict Hornet's movement. If you die at any point during the gauntlet, you have to do the whole thing all over again. So if you're going to skip one of the monarchs, let it be Crust King Khann. The other monarchs are much more fun to fight because you don't have to go through a small army every time you want to fight the boss.
Funnily enough, Skarrsinger Karmelita also has a gauntlet battle beforehand, but it's nowhere near as long as the Khann gauntlet, so it doesn't feel as bad to fight through. Karmelita is my favorite of the four Monarchs, both because I enjoy her character concept and I enjoy her boss fight. She's an ant queen salsa dancer with boomerangs, and that right there is peak Hollow Knight character design.
Once Hornet has enough hearts, the Snail Shamans can perform the ritual to send Hornet into her own memories and retrieve the Everbloom flower. And this is the best look at Hornet's backstory we get, at least for anyone who hasn't played the first game. It's kind of weird that almost all of the references to Hollow Knight are in Act 3, which is the tail end of the adventure, but here we are. That being said, I do like this scene. The music and artwork here is hauntingly nostalgic, and seeing all the old Hallownest rulers again did make me smile.
Anyway, Hornet gets the Everbloom and dives into the Void to confront Lace and Grand Mother Silk one last time. The only way to stop the Void from devouring all of Pharloom is to dive into its core and beat it into submission. And Hornet is absolutely determined to save Pharloom by this point. Her homeland is a dead kingdom, and she cannot live with the guilt of seeing another civilization fall to ruin. So we get the true final boss of Hollow Knight: Silksong, Lost Lace.
While I like the idea of Lost Lace's concept, as its a Void-touched rematch against Hornet's main rival, I didn't really care that strongly for the battle itself. You see, the main problem with Lost Lace is not that she's hard (though she is), the problem is that it's difficult to see what's going on because of the coloring of this area. Lost Lace's body is oily black, the background is oily black, and her Void magic spells are oily black. This fight would be so much better if it was easier to see what Lost Lace is doing.
Upon defeating Lost Lace, we get Silksong's best possible ending, Sister of the Void. In this ending, Hornet literally beats the Void corruption out of Lace and saves her life. Grand Mother Silk bestows the last of her power to give Hornet enough strength to literally super jump out of the Void with Lace in tow. Does this redeem GMS? Not really. But I understand why she did this. Because Lace is still her magnum opus, her perfect "daughter." Ensuring that Lace survives means that GMS's legacy is secure. Unfortunately, the Everbloom flower's protection wears off mid-jump, leaving Hornet and Lace vulnerable to the Void.
But before they can be consumed by the Void, Hornet and Lace are saved by a surprise appearance from the Knight. Yes, the same Knight from the original Hollow Knight. Since the events of the first game, the Knight has become a god of the Void itself, but it couldn't interfere with Hornet's adventure because the haunted silk prevented it from entering Pharloom. And with no more haunted silk holding it back, the Knight is able to carry Hornet and Lace back to the living world. Despite supposedly being a Hollow being, the Knight does care to some extent about Hornet. After all, the Knight is technically a child of the Pale King, which would make Hornet its sister. In fact, that's why this ending is called "Sister" of the Void. The game ends there, with Hornet and Lace thankful to be alive and with the promise to rebuild Pharloom into a better nation.
For obvious reasons, the Sister of the Void ending is my favorite of the bunch. It's the ending that is most narratively satisfying, and getting to see the Knight again is absolute cinema. I can see this ending being confusing for anyone who hasn't played the original Hollow Knight, as the game introduces a new character seemingly out of nowhere specifically to save Hornet from the Void. But despite that, this ending is still beautiful.
After getting any of the endings I just described, you unlock Steel Soul Mode, which is this game's equivalent to hard mode. Yeah, a game already infamous for its high difficulty has a secret hard mode that is unlocked after beating it for the first time. But the only change between regular mode and Steel Soul is that in the latter mode, your save file is deleted upon death. Which means that you have to beat the entire game in one try. I already know that I do not have the skill level necessary to attempt this, but I have nothing but respect for anyone brave enough to try this challenge. Hollow Knight also had a Steel Soul Mode.
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| Hornet fights three enemies at once in the Coral Tower. Image found on Silksong's Steam page. |
Okay. We're done talking about the lore. Now let's talk presentation. Silksong is, much like Hollow Knight, an absolutely gorgeous game. I mean, have you seen the screenshots on this very review? It's literal art. This game's aesthetic has quite a lot going on, but simply put, it's using cel-shaded art on three separate layers (the foreground, the background, and the actual levels). Silksong moves away somewhat from the medieval gothic vibes of the original game for something more akin to a fusion of steampunk and vaguely Catholic imagery, especially once you reach the Citadel. And once again, all the characters are supposed to be different kinds of bugs, but the game heavily anthropomorphizes its insects to make them "cuter" and more aesthetically pleasing.
The music and sound design is also just as incredible as the original. Silksong does not have traditional voice acting, as all the voice actors speak in a fictional nonsense language. The text boxes are supposed to be an in-universe "translation" of what the characters are actually saying. I personally like the made up nonsense language, as I consider it a part of the Hollow Knight charm. But if you want full voice acting for every line of dialogue, you will not find it here.
The official soundtrack (composed once again by Christopher Larkin) is so good that it sounds like a gift from the Heavens. One of my favorite songs from this game is Red Maiden, which is a triumphant reprise of Hornet's theme from the first game. It only plays once in the entire game, which is during a completely optional side-story in which Hornet is kidnapped and stripped "naked" of all her gear, and must sneak around a prison called the Slab to get her stuff back. Once she has done so, she massacres the prison guards while Red Maiden blares heroically in the background. The whole scene is a great sequence, but it can be missed entirely if you don't die to a specific enemy encountered once in the entire game.
Other standout songs include Skarrsinger Karmelita's theme, which has an almost angelic vocal performance that in-universe is performed by Karmelita herself. The First Sinner and Widow share a boss theme, and the little violin strings during the second phase make the battle sound like an intense, life-or-death struggle.
And of course, there's Shrine Guardian Seth's theme. It's oddly sad and melancholic for an otherwise fast-paced duel, but it makes sense when you learn the real life story of why this particular boss was created. To make a long story short, Shrine Guardian Seth was originally a fan-made boss created by Seth Goldman, a fairly prominent Hollow Knight fan who contracted a terminal illness. As a last request, he was allowed to visit Team Cherry's headquarters and design one boss, which he chose to name after himself. Goldman passed away before Silksong released, but now his legacy is forever immortalized as the Shrine Guardian Seth.
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| Hornet rests on a bench while visiting Bellhart, one of the three towns in the game. She is surrounded by various peaceful villagers. Image found on Silksong's Steam page. |
Overall, Hollow Knight: Silksong is a fantastic, but intimidatingly difficult game. I personally consider it my Game of the Year, mostly because I haven't played the other Game of the Year candidates enough to form a definitive opinion on them. And despite loving deltarune's new Chapters (which came out this year as well), it feels wrong to give what is essentially an unfinished game any kind of award. Like I said earlier, depending on your tolerance for difficulty, this is either a 4 star game or a 5 star game. If you liked Hollow Knight, you'll probably like Silksong.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is the property of Team Cherry. None of the images used were created by me. Please support the original creators.
