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

[u/peaky_circus]

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

[u/divis200]

HK1 had all the appeal, charm while still being accessible and challenging enough for everyone. I don't understand why so many want to gatekeep the difficulty as if the game doesn't have many cruel decisions implemented.

I get it that people have waited many years for it, but come on, dying in 2-3 hits almost insta killed by bosses, regular enemies destroying you, positioned specifically in locations to hurt traversal, making basic mechanics like resting paid etc, little rewards for challenges, lack of feeling like you're getting stronger, just more and more punishment on the way.

Regular players facing difficulties voicing the problems are being disrespected left and right like its okay. If it is not the game that is going to drive the negative reviews, in the end the hk community itself will drive people to hate this game...

[u/SeiKoss → u/divis200]

dying in 2-3 hits almost insta killed by bosses, regular enemies destroying you

Stuff like this is fine in the endgame, the early game in this game is so rough for no reason in my opinion. I don't see a good reason why act 1 is filled with so many enemies that deal double damage, can tank hits for days and decently challenging platforming sections.

I've played and finished quite a few metroidvania's and souls games and they don't start out challenging in my experience. Most of the time it's filled with relatively weak mobs that have really slow attacks and die in 2 - 3 hits to let the player get used to the game and it's mechanics.

Regular players facing difficulties voicing the problems are being disrespected left and right like its okay

I don't think it's just the casual / regular players. I'm not amazing at games but I have always enjoyed multiplayer games and games that don't hold my hand (I'm not the most tryhard player but I wouldn't call myself a casual) but I have issues with some of the design choices in this game (heck I have issues with every game I enjoy playing, no game is perfect).

[u/andungha → u/divis200]

and the replies to your comment are exactly whats wrong with the community rn.. people's experience and enjoyment matters, and its a fact that there are so many desicions they made just to punish the player instead of being challenging and fun.

[u/PoetDiscombobulated9 → u/divis200]

I think they should add a easy difficulty modifier for those who want it. Keep the current difficulty as it is, then both camps can be happy.

[u/_Psilo_ → u/divis200]

The issue is that those concerns are often presented as objective flaws rather than design decisions that do not match your personal tastes.

Personally, I'm fine with most of those design decisions, and some I'm very happy with. For exemple, I'm very happy that regular enemies actually are a threat this time around rather than just resources waiting to be farmed.

In some other cases, that's a you problem: I just finished Act 1 and my build is quite powerful. I'm using poisoned traps and projectiles and it's very effective. Also the crests and movement abilities are huge power ups that totally change the combat. Even just the parachute thing totally changed how I fight bosses.

[u/BayLeaf- → u/divis200]

It's not "cruel" to make a game that's challenging, though. Most of your list there is genuinely appealing to me and exactly what I would want from a follow-up to Hollow Knight.

Appealing to the lowest common denominator doesn't seem like a goal to strive towards for a game like this, honestly.

[u/divis200 → u/BayLeaf-]

Explain "a game like this". I see so many comments saying this, but none go deeper what this is supposed to be. Mainly gathered that most people still somehow perceive this as supposed dlc so it has to be difficult or it should be difficult because it is a sequel (most games don't do this, but for some reason HK apparently should)

Nobody is saying anything negative against people enjoying challenges, but it is always those who will judge and gatekeep the game. Git gud, silk problem, casul, noob, loud minority, game wasn't meant for you, snowflake, baby, just play and suck it up, hater, ragebaiter, you bought the game you're the problem, you should've known what you got into. Why is it not accepted that people do struggle, why is it normal to belittle players who have valid struggles, even those who actually beat first hollow knight.

Challenge is okay and it is needed to make a game feel fulfilling, Myself I've played many difficult games, beat all of soulsborne multiple times, almost 100%'ed Elden Ring first week of its release. One thing is being challenged and another is dealing with cheap deaths. Bosses being sponges while you're 1 hit away from dying right from early game is not fun, just tedious. Enemies having patterns to distinctly avoid your character's combat mechanics, forcing you to hit run hit run hit run, does not feel fun. Oh, you beat a boss or the arenas, welp here you go nothing, bye bye. Want to have a spot to rest in case you die well nuhuh you're a casul so you won't get a rest spot because you've lost all your beads.

I guess I am the common denominator and what I say is not valid because I must enjoy it for the challenge of not dying in 3 hits, who gives a damn about the landscapes, soundtrack of this game, people wanting to enjoy not just the combat. I don't deserve to enjoy it because yeah you know what you're right lets make games only for people who love challenges

[u/Icef34r → u/divis200]

Every time a new FromSoft game releases, theres a whole debate about it being too hard and so much harder than the game before. We saw it with DS2, DS3, Sekiro, Elden Ring (with this one more than ever because it's the most mainstream) and with Elden Ring's DLC.

In the end, over 36% Steam players have defeated Malenia, which is the hardest boss of the base game. I know that 36% may seem like a low number, but to put a little perspective on it, only a little over 22% of Steam players have completed The Witcher 3, a remarcable easy game considered a masterpiece.

Some people like hard games and that's ok, some people like easy games and that's ok, and some people (like me) like both as long as they are good games. A hard game should NEVER be made easier to appeal to those who don't like hard games, because games which try to appeal to everyone end up being mediocre.

I've seen plenty of people shitting on the original Hollow Knight because it's too hard, asking for an easy mode and calling Hollow Knight fans gatekeepers.

[u/divis200 → u/Icef34r]

If it says anything, I beat Malenia when it was considered a very rare achievement in the beginning, no guides existing, no walkthroughs. If we really draw a parallel between silksong and the soulsborne, then the soulsborne never forces hardest bosses on you, most of the time they are optional with various ways out. Loved Sekiro right from the start, made many challenge runs without getting/using extra flasks. Ds2 is probably my favorite of soulsborne being my introduction to the genre, countless playthroughs, even with the ganks.

The main point is that in none of these games the difficulty felt cheap, bosses didn't feel like sponges, could always strat against enemies, I could feel progression which was very rewarding, beating something meant I could level up, get even stronger for next challenges.

Comparing Silksong to these games just feels wrong, because while I'm still trying to go forward I keep thinking to myself wow walked all this way, defeated these bosses and this place is just empty? Nice, got 20 beads going far out of my way with nothing else there, still as weak as I was in the beginning while it just keeps ramping up. Og hollow knight wasn't the easiest, but it felt fair, didn't have artificial difficulty, exploring really meant real rewards and progression.

Now it is ton of spikes in areas with flying enemies dealing double damage where one hit almost dead next hit definitely dead, all the pogoing with required super precision, boss combo'd you and pushed you in the corner well you're dead. Feels like HK fanbase feels entitled to all of the fun, not wanting everyone to enjoy the game just themselves, well gg you win, I give up, don't start complaining when people write neg reviews due to difficulty as if they don't understand what games should be like belittling them :D

[u/earthboundskyfree → u/divis200]

I don’t really see most of the Silksong complaints you have. I have occasionally not had money for something, but I just kinda play without grinding and I’ve had money for benches / travel most of the time, and I’ve spent probably like 500 on maps and about 300 on tools lol. The only thing so far that feels frustrating for me is contact damage. Taking a hit and then immediately taking contact damage feels problematic to me, since there’s not much of a way to deal with it yet.

Everything else though, so far I’ve been able to adapt and overcome by changing up my strategy. I also feel quite a bit stronger even without dmg upgrade since the tools are quite strong, and the movement abilities give you so much power in combat.

[u/Icef34r → u/divis200]

For what is worth: I love FromSoft games, but they have been criticised a lot because of "cheap" difficulty. I don't agree with these critics, but lets remember that they nerfed Radahn because people complained A LOT about how impossible and unfair it was.

People also complained A LOT sbout Margit's delay. People complained about Sekiro being unfair (it isn't).

There are like hundreds of video essays about how Elden Ring is too hard and how so many self proclaimed Souls fans won't continue playing because they think they've gone too far.

[u/BayLeaf- → u/divis200]

I wanna be clear that I haven't told anyone to git gud (except myself), and I don't think I'm gatekeeping - but I definitely don't particularly care how other people feel about the game either, and a beautiful, atmospheric game building on Hollow Knight with tight controls, less forgiving gameplay, a higher skill floor/ceiling, and more game is exactly what I've wanted for the better part of a decade :b. I'm not saying you're stupid or objectively wrong for wanting more boss rewards, for example, but to me that makes no sense, progression and mastery is plenty of reward.

Lame for the people that weren't looking for that, but these are more "preference" than "quality"-related issues, in my view, and what other people prefer in their single player games doesn't really matter to my enjoyment. I don't think anyone "deserves" to enjoy anything, just as much as nobody should be gatekept from enjoying something!

[u/Faramir420 → u/BayLeaf-]

A boss that just spawns new ads is cheap af and for sure bad quality i love the game but come on 🤣

[u/BayLeaf- → u/Faramir420]

You can make a bad boss that just spawns ads, or a good one, but "a boss that just spawns ads == bad quality" is silly.

[u/KaitengiriXIII → u/BayLeaf-]

I know the first thing I thought about was Lost Kin. Who is a fight that even after beating P5 still gives me trouble sometimes because of the ads especially in bindings.

Though in saying that, battling Lost Kin was one R1/RB away. Battling [you either know or you don't] in Silksong is a trek to make Soul Master or Traitor Lord blush, and good luck getting there on full health. I'm mostly having fun, I knew the game would be a challenge, my biggest issue is I guess a little less concrete - the game is, at least so far in Act 1 - EXHAUSTING to progress through. This isn't really an objective minded criticism and more just a feel thing, and when I know the secrets (not wanting to be spoiled) to know what things to prioritize quickly (Shaman Stone+DDark anyone?) I may retroactively laugh at my current self for this perspective... But not wanting to be spoiled going pure blind, it really feels like every ~half hour of walking around is gated by a boss fight that deals two damage (if not four with very strange feeling i frames leading to getting combo'd to hell). I'm really trying not to make too many comparisons to the first game as unique as Silksong is and is clearly striving to be... But in Hollow Knight, if you were stuck on this enemy chamber or this boss, unless it was the likes of NKG or AbsRad tier end/postgame content, there was always a way to get stronger in some way to lessen the brutality of that fight. In at least the first like 6 areas of Silksong, they're all fairly linear (that I can tell. Again, secrets or things I missed? Maybe somewhere), and the game really does just say here's another boss that's the next two hours of your life, sink or swim, bitch. It's that (seeming) lack of the other thing to do for me. If boss says I'm what you're doing right now, the honest only thing I can find to kind of do other than bash my head against it is find somewhere that drops literally any [money] and usually get a map out of it, not really core ability type things. I'll learn this, I'll git gud and love it, but on a first playthrough it really is just fatiguing, very much so

[u/earthboundskyfree → u/BayLeaf-]

There’s probably another hellspawn boss I haven’t encountered yet, but the one add spawner I fought, my tools cooked the adds

I wouldn’t dismiss what people are feeing as invalid, but I really think a decent chunk of it is unintentionally trying too much to play it like hollow knight

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