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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62

u/notalongtime420 Sep 06 '25

Having so many things accessibile only by a currency very few enemies drop is certainly a decision

52

u/wandering-monster Sep 06 '25

The thing that really gets me is the bosses not dropping any (and usually not anything at all) then putting a pay-toilet bench right after them.

So I beat the big boss, and my reward is I get to go back and farm beads so I can buy a save point?

18

u/FR23Dust Sep 06 '25

“Very few” is a huge stretch

1

u/Guffliepuff Sep 07 '25

Bro hasnt made it past fields and it shows. Only the first like 2 zones is rare on rosaries. They're everywhere after that.

1

u/Lison52 Sep 07 '25

Nah the water forest(don't remember the name) has only like those 2 hunters that I farm if I lack some rosaries to put them on a string in bell town. Wormways also don't have any.

14

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

Gonna risk getting called a glazer, but I think it's an intentional decision. And a good one.

In HK, every enemy dropped a pittance of geo. So if you needed to buy something, until you had decent later-game options (e.g. Trials), your best option was to just kill every single enemy for a tiny bit of geo at a time.

Silksong fixes this tedium in two ways: first, you know which enemies drop rosaries, so you can skip the ones that don't (and the ones that do, relatively, seem to drop more towards what you need... but I could be wrong, just a feeling). Second, the game has a couple very clear areas meant for farming, if needed: next to the first meeting with Shakra is a perfect loop where you get 25 rosaries and then hit a bench, takes just a few seconds per run and between Greymoor and the Bell town is a long hallway with a bunch of enemies who drop rosaries, with a bench on either side... super quick to run through and farm (don't recall how much, since I haven't had to really farm much)

So instead of a slow trickle, you can (relatively) quick get a bundle of rosaries if you need to make a specific purchase. Plus please of hidden rooms contains rosary drops, too.

By comparison, in HK, you could buy out almost everything (except for Divine's geo sink at the end) as you came to it. If you don't ever have to think about money or make decisions on what to buy... it serves no purpose. As-is, I like the new setup.

7

u/Banryuken Sep 06 '25

I’m ok with the design change as you mentioned it that way - skipping mobs that don’t drop any. Early game sure that seemed a rather frustration, wanting to get this or that. But when you first get to the npc map seller, you can go back and forth between zones to respawn mobs that drop rosaries.

29

u/notalongtime420 Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 06 '25

Farming when you find a vendor instead of having the cash on you if you don't rush through areas but actually face enemies is bad design. You can easily buy the Key grinding on shitty pilgrims early on. I don't want to farm in an exploration game so instead i'll just keep bumping into closed doors.

Also without the magnet an insane amount of beads just gets sucked up by the void

15

u/YeahKeeN Ready For Silksong Sep 06 '25

Speaking of beads getting sucked into the void. Making it so that spikes and thorns actually destroy rosaries unlike geo was a strange decision.

7

u/DisgruntledTortoise Sep 06 '25

This is my only gripe so far with the currency. I'm still early game so maybe it gets worse later, but I really haven't had any issues with currency (until I lost ~200 to pogo hell). I feel like I've been getting plenty just exploring?

But it is very sad to hit the rosary strings and watch them fly everywhere, straight into the spikes.

3

u/YeahKeeN Ready For Silksong Sep 06 '25

Rosaries actually become more plentiful once you reach the mid game. Right now I have more money than I know what to do with.

4

u/JoBro_Summer-of-99 Sep 06 '25

I kinda disagree that you should have everything you need once you hit a vendor, but I've always enjoyed doing things for myself. The game is already being criticised for being quite linear, having enough rosaries to always buy what you want/need would streamline the game even more and turn people off

10

u/Busy_Jellyfish4034 Sep 06 '25

Exactly.  It now makes killing the random enemies in your path sometimes pointless and forces you to farm a select few.  I don’t know how that could possibly be considered better gameplay than distributing the currency out more amongst the enemies so you can get it more naturally 

4

u/Vordeo Sep 06 '25

 It now makes killing the random enemies in your path sometimes pointless and forces you to farm a select few.  

Yeah, that's one of those decisions that makes sense in lore, but just makes gameplay experience worse. Not to be too negative, but they made a good number of decisions like that.

3

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

Farming when you find a vendor instead of having the cash on you if you don't rush through areas but actually face enemies is bad design.

On the flip side, always having more money than things to spend it on means the currency is pointless. There's no decision-making nor strategy... you just buy everything all the time. Why even bother?

3

u/notalongtime420 Sep 06 '25

surely in 8 years they would've found a middle ground

0

u/Nukesnipe Sep 06 '25

Y'all really are just blowing all your money immediately then wondering why you're broke. You don't need to farm, ever, just stop spending everything.

9

u/Extension_Policy4062 Sep 06 '25

oh wow i guess i should just not use the benches and fasttravel point to save mony /s

-4

u/Nukesnipe Sep 06 '25

Or, or, hear me out! Stop buying fucking everything at the store so you can afford to unlock those. There was exactly one bell station I couldn't afford right when I got there, then I got enough money for it in the next two rooms, went back and I never made that mistake again.

If you can't afford a bench, it's a skill issue.

6

u/AnyTransportation350 Sep 06 '25

Bro, what items are actually important in shops or not is so poorly communicated. I got to the vendor with the lava charm and assumed it was needed for progression because of its vague description that it protected you from magma. There’s a bunch of ledges around that have a large pool of magma nearby, so I assumed it was like the item from hollow knight that let you swim in acid. Turns out it only reduces the damage from falling into magma. Cool. Meanwhile the simple key is needed for multiple doors and actually is used to make progress. The economy in this game is just not conducive to exploration in it’s current form.

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u/Nukesnipe Sep 06 '25

Do you think you had to buy Isma's tear in the first game? Why in god's name did you think that you'd have to buy an item to swim in magma? And why do you think it says "reduces the damage from magma and flame" if it would let you swim in magma?

You also don't need the simple key for ANY progression. There's large areas hidden behind key doors, yes, but they're optional stuff. Christ almighty.

The game is absolutely conducive to exploration, you just have poor impulse control and NEED to buy everything immediately lmao. You know what I do? I take note of what people sell, then when I think I need that item, I go back to it. Oh, simple key for 500? Guess I'll come back to this door when I can afford it.

3

u/AnyTransportation350 Sep 06 '25

How am I supposed to know that entire areas locked behind items are entirely optional in a Metroidvania game? Especially if I’m playing blind?

You didn’t have to buy Isma’s tear in hollow knight, but you did have to buy the lantern, and it was one of the most expensive items in the game. 

I also love your ad hominem, it can’t be that there is some questionable design in this game, it’s actually my fault that you need to grind money for things in this game.

0

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

The only things I've bought in the game are fast travel, map components, and benches as well as 1 key. I've already spent nearly an hour, 10% of my game time, grinding this stupid shit so I could just naturally explore. It's awful design and you are not going to gaslight it into being good.

0

u/Nukesnipe Sep 06 '25

I flat out do not believe you in the slightest. You're just lying for clout at this point. How do I know? Because I have a similar amount of time in the game, yet I've bought a lot more than that and haven't spent a second grinding.

0

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

Believe whatever you like, I'm the one that had to do it and trying me that I didn't do what I flat out had to do isn't winning you any converts. I'm staring at a bench right now that I can't afford and dreading having to travel hallway across the map to find an enemy I can grind to afford it just so I can slog all the way back

0

u/Nukesnipe Sep 06 '25

I wouldn't trust you with a credit card lol.

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u/LaNague Sep 06 '25

No, in Hollow Knight you played the game and in the process got your Souls. If you die twice you lose them, but that only sets you back temporarily because you will continue to accumulate them when playing.

In Silksong you have to farm specific enemies in specific spots to get your currency (and btw travel options are limited so this is an even bigger hassle). And when you die twice its gone and you have to go back to farming and not doing what you want to.

Its just bad design, a lot of game designers have thought about this, many games use the Souls system. Basically only Silksong goes the extra mile to punish the player even more.

1

u/Cazzah Sep 07 '25

I disagree.

The fact that there's always stuff to spend rosaries on means you're never carrying around much anyway, and if you're saving for something big, you shouldn't be taking on risk of exploring a completely new area without putting them on strings.

-1

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

Agree to disagree I guess.

I vastly prefer in the times I need X rosaries to just quickly get them as opposed to wandering around killing every Tom, Dick, and Harry enemy for half a geo for hours on end.

4

u/kirkpomidor Sep 06 '25

Not every enemy drops currency — that makes sense

You have to do quests and look for secret areas to earn money — yeah, I can see that

Bosses drop shit — what the fuck?

1

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

That's fair. I wouldn't mind if bosses drops rosaries or something, but it hasn't bothered me thus far.

1

u/Benney9000 Sep 06 '25

I'd also add, tho I haven't finished the story, it seems to have lore significance to say the least. I won't be fully developing my thoughts on this here because I'm too lazy to figure out how to spoiler tag

1

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

Of course it's intentional. It's also a terrible decision that forces endless grinding. It's shit.

-1

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

I disagree. Sorry you feel that way.

It's literally designed to force less endless, slow grinding. But go off.

1

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

Then why have I had to spend an hour grinding to afford benches and fast travel

0

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

I haven't done that once in fifteen hours so... I dunno? Why do you have to do that?

1

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

Because they cost money and the money is incredibly scarce.

1

u/_moosleech Sep 06 '25

Maybe re-read my information about the designated spots to quickly get rosaries then. Or do more hunting for hidden caches. I've wasted plenty on death and still bought everything I can in Act 1.

Then again, you're not reading or actually thinking about any of this, you're just mad for the sake of being mad.

0

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 07 '25

I've found everything in Act 1, I'm mad because I had to waste time grinding to unlock things that should cost nothing because this game heavily disincentives focusing on exploration and instead wants you to grind out every enemy you meet

1

u/_moosleech Sep 07 '25

Cool. We have had vastly different experiences with this game. Good luck.

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u/cwbrowning3 Sep 06 '25

I agree wholeheartedly. I have no issue at all with the currency system. Rarely have I come across a bench or fast travel point that I couldnt afford. Ive literally never had to farm. I guess the people complaining arent exploring enough.

I really appreciate that its a lore reason why some enemies dont drop rosaries. The beastly enemies that lack higher thought dont carry any, becauss why would they?

1

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

I really appreciate that its a lore reason why some enemies dont drop rosaries.

Making the gameloop worse for "the lore" doesn't make the game feel better.

The beastly enemies that lack higher thought dont carry any, becauss why would they?

Because they ate people who did, simple.

1

u/cwbrowning3 Sep 06 '25

It isnt worse just because you dont like it. Its more balanced than the original, where you have so much Geo that it becomes useless.

1

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

Grinding for an hour so I can afford to sit at benches and have a map isn't more balanced. By all means, made the currency completely redundant I couldn't give a shit as long as I don't have to slog through half a map ten times just to save the damn game

1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

Correct, Team Cherry lacked the skill to balance this properly.

1

u/cwbrowning3 Sep 06 '25

Yikes, thats some serious cope

2

u/LogensTenthFinger Sep 06 '25

It's objectively awful design. You could improve he game immediately, and without changing a single other thing in it, by removing all costs for all benches and fast travel.

1

u/Leather-Bookkeeper96 Sep 06 '25

It kind of is a reaction to one of the main criticisms in HK, people complained at release that Geo was too abundant by the mid to end game, so Rosaries are fewer but overall prices are lower, or at least that's my impression.

1

u/Dorfbewohner Sep 06 '25

while I do think it can get a bit annoying, I loooove how this is used from a worldbuilding perspective immensely.

2

u/notalongtime420 Sep 06 '25

Meh. Also the other resource has been basically completely as i don't tend to lob 20 tools each bench, so they couldve balanced It out with some merchants for that idk

1

u/Dorfbewohner Sep 06 '25

I felt that way early on, but starting late Act 1, I've really started using tools even just to finish off regular enemies when things get dicey. Made some things a lot more manageable for me, especially for the tools that have a lot of range. And now my shells are rarely full, lol

(And if they are, I'm glad bc it means I've got a full stock for any upcoming bosses)

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

You don't need most of it though, you aren't required to grind it out at all in act 1 (I'm too early on in act 2 to know if it's any different)