Hollow Knight: Silksong is a miracle of a game. It’s extremely difficult and demands so much from the player to finish a gauntlet or get through a section with the utmost precise jumping. And yet, it’s so engaging and gratifying when you finally achieve the seemingly impossible.

Silksong follows up on the original Hollow Knight, having Hornet be the main protagonist. She’s cool, calm, collected, and confident in every situation. That defined character is unique in the genre where usually a quiet, expressionless, create-your-player-character is the default. Hornet has a defined personality and she also knows stuff. It allows another dimension to the story especially when she reveals a piece of information to another character and to us, the players.

And the differences between Hollow Knight and Silksong doesn’t stop there. Hornet’s moveset is fast and fluid and gets even faster and more fluid as you gain more abilities. The story is much more apparent, focused on the underground world of Pharloom. It’s not as linear in its progression, so you can definitely go on branching paths and beat the game without getting certain skills or tools.

There’s quite a bit more but you get the picture. Silksong, similar kinda feeling to Hollow Knight, but unique with it’s combat, pacing, and story. And it’s packed to the brim.

I beat the game at around 70 hours and have like 90% completion. I got the true ending cause I’m a deranged sicko. There are so many bosses each with their own shenanigans to learn and deal with and there are so many areas. Sometimes you think you’ve unlocked every part of a location until twenty hours later, you come back and there’s more rooms to explore. This game is so freaking big it feels like it has it’s own DLC already built in with Act 3.

Silksong handles really well. It’s art direction is incredible and detailed. Every character and enemy is particularly crafted. The environment and set pieces blend with each other; transitioning from one area to the next never feels out of place. The soundtrack and sound design is so immersive it sucks you in. I’m still humming Shakra’s chant because it’s warm, haunting, and beautiful. There’s also so much game jam packed into a $20 package it’s an unbelievable value…if you can deal with the difficulty.

Team Cherry made something not intended for everyone. This is a hard game. There are skill checks that will break your soul if you wanted to casually enjoy it. I’m not saying you need to be a hardcore gamer to beat this game, but you need to dedicate time and effort and be okay with dying a million times to progress through this godforsaken game. I’m not gonna argue about the need for easy mode or whatever because that’s not the point of Silksong.

Tangent time: I believe video games should be more accessible or as accessible as possible but I also recognize not every game needs to be played by everyone. Video games are a unique form of media in which direct user engagement is the point. Other forms of media can challenge the audience through it’s style, themes, and breaking conventions. Video games can challenge the user engagement directly and this usually means difficulty. But difficulty doesn’t just stop at how hard it is. It can be fluid if devs allow flexibility for players to overcome those challenges (i.e. Elden Ring with summons and spirit bells). Is it perfect? Not really but again there’s still an accessibility where it can be more possible. Also just as a silly note but video games for the most part are designed to be beaten, more or less. Okay that’s it. I have more to say but maybe for another time.

So what’s the deal with Silksong? Is it bad or good or weird. I don’t know. It was good. Then it sucked. Until it didn’t suck and became good. But then it sucked again, but it became good again for a bit. And then it sucked and I was stuck for a while with this stupid game until I slayed a boss and then I was happy with it again. Then I got to the final boss and it sucked until I beat her and now I’m thinking this is a pretty good game.

Silksong is a cycle of having and keeping faith. Faith in the religious sense and also in yourself and your resolve. Like all other soulslike games, the difficulty is the point of the game. But what Silksong does with the difficulty is it incorporates it into the text and subtext. There is a pilgrimage where these little bugs want to reach the Citadel, the holy institution at the top of this kingdom. But like any pilgrimage, the road is paved with the husks and carcasses of all who have failed.

And I imagine it’s also paved with all of my deaths and all the other players as well. The idea of needing to get to the top of the world, to conquer this quest is unfathomable to most of the in-game pilgrims. They have to embark on this journey. It’s part of their faith. Many have accepted they will die, as if they’re destined to, and they always feel they might be the lucky one. But we as players (and Hornet who is cool as fuck) are built different.

We climb, fight, slay, jump, run, bind, clear, grapple, and die a lot all the way to the top. It’s hard. It’s meant to be hard because faith is hard to maintain. The moments of frustration and anger over something being unfair. The boss has too much health, why does she have like twelve attacks, three phases? c’mon, and who the hell does this glubby dumb savage beast think they are. And then I beat them and move on as if I wasn’t throwing a hissy fit moments ago.

But why? Why play these games if the point is to just be upset? But that’s kinda the parallel to faith (except it’s not as sexy as playing a video game). Eventually we are rewarded for our faith. But it’s because of our actions and drive to overcome the challenge and not the blind faith in of itself (maybe it helps).

Real life doesn’t just happen in one stroke. For so many things, it takes so many tries to get any kind of progress or movement in anything. Practice makes perfect kinda shit. Even with simple stuff like learning how to be a good partner for your significant other, or learning how to cook and have the confidence to prepare a dish for others, or learning the run back and move set for the Last Judge and then learning to move away from them when they self-destruct so you don’t freaking die.

I wouldn’t say this theme isn’t apparent in other souls-like games. The constant deaths and revives are mixed into the lore of those games. But Silksong deconstructs the idea of faith and the challenges it bores. The rosaries are an important currency and yet only certain enemies in certain areas have them. They’re highly valued because it’s “used as a measure of faith” and it’s not subtle about why some enemies drop more than others and why some areas have more riches than others. It isn’t just late game enemies drop more souls. And of course, you have to spend some rosaries to open up a bench and sometimes even pay rent! It’s ironic your success in this game will depend on how much rosaries (faith hmm) you collect.

And then you have the sanctuary you build up. It’s filled with pilgrims who’ve seen the ugly truth of the pilgrimage: The Citadel is infected with the gloom of the void. They’re dejected, wondering the meaning of it all now. And if you play Silksong in a certain way to get the true ending, Hornet (and you, the player) fulfilled wishes to help the people. You’d have interacted with a few NPCs who help you fight off enemies and protect more pilgrims. They respect you and eventually they all place their faith in you. You’re the new hope for this desolate underground world. And they’re inspired to help you save Pharloom and free it from the Void.

Faith is similar to hope. They’re both contagious and inspiring. Failing ninety-nine times sucks but succeeding on that hundredth time is all you needed to continue. It can be enough to sustain you and keep pushing through. Wait I’m still talking about Silksong right?

Silksong doesn’t just evoke a sense of wonder. Pain is felt throughout the entire game both metaphorically and physically. I can’t help myself being in awe of finding so many secrets and looking at how huge the map is. And then I get mad and upset about a boss being so unfair, atrocious run-backs, and some crazy platforming. But there’s a dopamine hit when you get the finishing blow, figure out the most efficient route, and git gud at pogo jumps. I wonder how many people really get that satisfaction.

Team Cherry have made something really special. This is a well thought out and organized game given how ambitious the scope really is. Silksong stands on it’s own as the heavyweight in the world of soulslike-metroidvanias (or search action if you’re cultured). Silksong deserves your time and attention if you are up for the challenge.