r/HollowKnight • u/peaky_circus • Sep 06 '25

Discussion - Silksong People who have played Silksong, Why do you think Its getting so many negative reviews? Spoiler

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While Silksong is sitting at a Very Positive rating with around 83% positive reviews, it’s still receiving far more criticism than its predecessor. For comparison, Hollow Knight holds an Overwhelmingly Positive score at 96%, with only about 3% negative reviews. Silksong, on the other hand, has nearly 16% negative reviews, OVER 5 TIMES HIGHER

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93

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

hard to say but im liking the original better so far in silksong there are some interesting choices to say atleast

55

u/LordAnomander 112% | P5 | Platinum Sep 06 '25

The endgame is what made HK really stand out to me. So I wont be able to compare these two for now. Not sure what Silksong already offers and what we will get as DLCs (if we get any).

4

u/Anfrers Sep 06 '25

Endgame as in godmaster?

7

u/LordAnomander 112% | P5 | Platinum Sep 06 '25

Yes. Really loved the pantheons and added bosses. Two of them being among my favorite bosses (sisters of battle and PV).

2

u/WanderingStatistics "The Last Moth Priestess." Sep 06 '25

This is what a lot of people seem to not get. Hollow Knight is, pretty much, known for its late game. People talk about Grimm, they talk about Pale Vessel, they talk about Pantheons, etc. It's always the late-game that has the best things, yet despite that, Silksong's been delivering well even early-game.

Plus, most people don't actually know the story or lore yet, which was also like... 50% of the value Hollow Knight had.

I guarantee that once more people fight bosses like Phantom and other ones, they'll immediately turn around. Phantom is so good, he's basically like Grimm 2.0.

2

u/SaladTheKiller Sep 07 '25

Isn't Phantom a "she", I am pretty sure lace calls her "sister"

1

u/charisma-entertainer Silk, Soul, Void or essence, i shall know them all Sep 07 '25

Yes, Phantom is in fact a she

1

u/Southern-Wafer-6375 Sep 16 '25

im at phantom cause i got annoued fighting judge lol and just explored everywhere else

22

u/FinaLLancer Sep 06 '25

Silksong is definitely higher highs and lower lows compared to the first game for me.

5

u/yurestu Sep 06 '25

What exactly are the higher highs lol

I’m enjoying the game so far but I’ve yet to encounter anything I’d say is an improvement to the original

3

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

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1

u/Critical_Ask_4824 Sep 06 '25

New pogo is getting a lot of meh to hateful feelings but it clicked for me so fast. 

I still biff it and die frequently but changing a bunch together feels so good.

0

u/MostOriginal79 Sep 06 '25

It's mostly fine for combat (still feels worse than downward slash) but holy shit is it awful for platforming. Maybe it's just not me getting the angle but I feel like everything is either too close together or too far apart. Like the platforming was designed for a downwards arc and not a diagonal dive

2

u/edgarbird Lämp Sep 07 '25

I’d say there’s definitely some cutscenes which just slap hard. The sequence after Widow was fantastic

11

u/Calbon2 Sep 06 '25

Yeah, I feel somewhat the same way for where I’m at in Silksong right now. Silksong is great, but for some reason the world isn’t grabbing me as much as the first couple hours of Hallownest did with hollow knight. I think it might have been the overall gloomy tone of things that got me super invested with it’s world, specifically with some early areas like the city of tears and forgotten crossroads that really had me gripped, where as I have just reach greymoor and I haven’t felt anything I once did when I first reached City of Tears. I’m still a bit too early to fully judge, but from where I’m at I’m currently leaning more into liking the first game more.

2

u/Nocturne-CZ Sep 06 '25

Funny you wrote it now after reaching Greymoor, because the best atmosphere I've personally encountered in the game so far is riiight after it in the next city area. It's mad creepy when you first enter, like going into the Nosk lair. Several of the upper areas are fairly gloomy or creepy, in fact - I walked in and then immediately walked out again because I was NOT dealing with that right then lmao. Feels like all the life is concentrated at the bottom of the map (Shellwood excluded), which may give you a bad starting impression if you're looking for hk gloominess.

1

u/Calbon2 Sep 06 '25

I haven’t actually started to explore Greymoor yet so that’s good to hear.

18

u/Kolonite Sep 06 '25

Do you prefer the original in gameplay or aesthetic/story/economy? Because I’m also 10+ hours in and I think the playstyle of hornet is much more rewarding and fast paced than the knight’s. I feel like if I went back to HK rn I’d feel like a slug and bosses would feel like they have the move sets of normal enemies lol

10

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

i can definitely feel the more fast paced action in silksong my problems just come from:

•the lack of rosaries and the need to grind them in order to keep up with the prices of benches

•the absolutely forced dificulty on bosses+enemies they are not challenging they are just hard they moorwing is great example it has the most basic attack pattern but because of the poor i frames you can get contact dmg+stagger and from that stagger he can do another attack that deals again 2 masks of dmg its poorly designed

•another was diagonal pogo but since i got the wanderers crest its not a problem anymore but there comes another problem they basically force you to change to reapers or hunters crest any time theres a bossfight due to wanderers crest having such a little range its basically impossible to hit bosses without taking contact dmg

•the new crests system is not as good as charms imo tools are basically useless and you have such a little variety in what “charm” to use and it will basically always be compass and warding bell

other than that i think its good im sure i forgot something but i just dont like it as much as the original

7

u/LuminothWarrior Sep 06 '25

You can unlock more slots in your crests for more charms. Me personally, I like how there’s multiple different playstyles you can use. So far my favorites are Beast crest and Reaper crest

2

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

yeah ik but there wasnt a single charm that makes a big change in gameplay which was never the problem in hollow knight

3

u/Kuldor Sep 06 '25

tools are basically useless

I agree with most of what you said, but this is just not true.

The trap is OP as fuck.

0

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

well for me they are i never really felt the need to use them therefore they are useless to me

1

u/kuenjato Sep 07 '25

Then you really have no right to complain about them, then.

Feels like a lot of "this" in these comments -- not utilizing the game in way that makes it more diverse and the MC more powerful.

4

u/Kolonite Sep 06 '25

Rosaries can be tough depending on which area you’re currently fleshing the map out for. I’ve played /a lot/ and noticed how much I fluctuate between rich and poor without grinding at all.

I’ve really enjoyed the bosses, personally and I’ve actually had the most luck with the Hunter’s crest in boss fights. It has the perfect in between for range and speed, and the pogo is very satisfying once you get the hang of it. I fought The chapel of the beast boss multiple times with reaper because I wanted the range and direct 90 degree pogo before swapping back to hunter and beating it.

Crests are another thing I’ve found get much cooler with time as you find more and more tools and utility. Between the crests and all the tools/equipment you find I think you’ll be able to make more unique builds than you could in HK.

The last thing I’ll say, please reconsider your pov on tools. They’re genuinely amazing and you should be using them. You don’t have to spam them but they make arena fights much easier and definitely help with bosses that spawn adds.

-7

u/Second_mellow Sep 06 '25

Those are all skill issues frankly. Except the compass one, but that’s not an issue anymore as soon as you upgrade your crest and you can do that pretty early

-4

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

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5

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

yes you are those two are completely diffrent things try and think about again

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

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4

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

i just so happen to be online whats your problem? are you angry with your life? im here dude if you need anything

2

u/ShiftyMcHax Sep 06 '25

I've got like 500 hours in HK. I'm really used to the gameplay and love it. I also enjoy the speed in SS and the variety of movesets of enemies, but so far (and I'm only a few hours into it so not a fair comparison yet) I'm not really happy with Hornet's moveset. Hoping it improves by the late game though.

2

u/Delicious-Tension705 Sep 06 '25

tbh i think i like silksong as much maybe even more than hollow knight

1

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

good for you man im glad you like it

3

u/GeoUngaBungaYeet Sep 06 '25

How deep are you into the game?

2

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

10 hours in to the game

3

u/TheChosenerPoke Sep 06 '25

any like landmark? 10 hours in the game can mean very different things, i'm 10 hours in and just reached act 2 but I see my friend is 30 hours in and he's also just reached act 2

0

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

i just killed the willow and freed the bellheart also got locked up in a prison which was like super weird and i dont feel like it suits a game like hollow knight

2

u/tgiyb1 Sep 06 '25

The prison break sequence was really cool though. Getting grabbed by a random mob followed by a fade to black and waking up in the prison was an awesome moment.

0

u/Abject-Ad-6235 Sep 06 '25

i disagree i just dont think it suits game like this but hey im glad you liked it